Ibanez basses, particularly the Soundgear series, have been pushing toward the middle and upper class ranges (but not boutique, yet) with their basses, and after checking out some of their new releases online, I'm curious to take another look at them.

I've been looking for a more solid extended range bass for a while now, and I've been looking at an MTD Kingston Z6 in particular, but the Soundgear Prestige series and some of Ibanez's new offerings look curiously intriguing.

Any thoughts on Ibanez out there? Overall experience with some of their higher end basses as compared to lower end MTD or Pedulla? I'm looking generally in the $1,000 range. I could probably go as high as $1,500 if things keep going well.

Dude, you should really reach out to Ibanez. I don't have a direct contact, but I'm sure we could find one. Would make for an interesting introduction and ice-breaker.

I briefly owned one of the Soundgear sixers, but I can't recall which one. I got it used for $300, so it probably was about $600 new. Although it sounded good, I found in neck heavy and the neck was a little too thick front to back for me. Of the new basses they released at NAMM, there's a Gerald Veasley 6, but I have no price. It looks fine, but the string spacing at the bridge is only 14mm. That's way too tight for me. I'm used to 19mm at the bridge on my Lakland fives, and anything tighter just feels terrible to me. Even the Music Man five spacing, which I think is 17.5mm, feels bad. Ibannez also has the DR5006E, but its sells for %2,000.

The Kingston looks attractive and I hear they are made very well. Conklin has a couple of basses in that price range, but again I haven't played any of their basses. Over on Talkbass, both Kingston and Conklin have their proponents. There's also the Music Man Bongo for a bit more. I know they sound fine, but there are a lot of guys who just hate the body style.

The problem around Pittsburgh is finding a store that has lots of basses to try.

Chris, I'd love to try and set up an Ibanez contact. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about their line at this point in guitar, bass, and amp categories (as well as experience with their effects). If money was no object, I would have bought the Gary Willis long since now. It was probably the most fantastic fretless I've ever played in my life. Of course, Laklander, I'd forward bass-related news to you as well if you wanted it, since that's your category here.

Laklander, you probably owned the SR406, or perhaps the 506 if it had a set of Bartolini's in it. I checked out the preview of the GV 6-string. Looks like a bass to check out, but it also looks like it's up there with the Gary Willis in price most likely.

And I've never enjoyed a Music Man. The string spacing and tone are just the antithesis of my playing.

Go for the Ibanez contact. They must have an East Coast rep.

Ibanez is great for Rock music, my first bass was an Ibanez, I have only used the lower end SR and GSR basses and I also own a vintage Musician bass I got second hand that has had some major electronics re-working.

Took me until NAMM to get it, but I'm finally getting a promethean bass amp to try out. It's the same one I previewed back in June-ish of 2009, and it's been out for a while. Just saw it at the show and tried it out. Sounds pretty beefy for the package it's in, and considering the sound and size of it, I'm very surprised that it hasn't gotten that much press since. It does everything the Markbass/GenzBenz mini-amp-heads do and puts it's own stamp on the sound and tone section. Curious...we'll see if it holds up in the studio and on the road once it hits my mailbox.