Wow, she sure is one sexy looking instrument - that was my first thought when I laid eyes on this newly released addition to the Ibanez bass range. The beautiful unpainted wood-grain finish makes some impressive eye candy, more 'Warwick-like' than what you might expect from an off-the-shelf Ibanez.
It comes with a good manual, quality control tags, a starter cable, allan keys and is pre-loaded with a decent set of Elixir strings. No hard case though - in my opinion is a must have for any instrument if you want to keep it in good condition and survive the turbulence of life on the road.
Ibanez have been making the Ergodyne series since the late '90s, a line of comfortable fitting, ergonomically(!) designed basses featuring super-thin necks and player-friendly contoured 'three-dimensional' body shapes. The big difference with this new model is that it is now made from wood. Earlier versions of the Ergodyne series were moulded from a synthetic material called luthyte. Now Ibanez say that new bass making technologies allow the EDB's ergonomic shape to be affordably rendered using good tone wood to give it the rich organic tones that many of today's bass players desire. The body shape is also a little less radical and I would say more elegant than its luthyte predecessors.
On close inspection this Indonesian-made bass is very impressively constructed and finished. It's unbelievably light weight and superbly balanced, you could comfortably sling this over your shoulder all week without ending up a hunchback. The body is constructed from light ash with a walnut-coloured finish and features a scooped out area under the top end of the G where the neck meets the body. This is of course ideal for digging the index finger in for popping on the G. Very convenient for funk players.
The bolt-on five-piece wenge/bubinga neck not only looks beautiful but is also exceptionally sleek and slender making it fast and easy to play. Not necessarily every bass player's ideal however it's true. This one was well set-up with a good medium/low action straight out of the box. Nice.
The bottom cutaway is intelligently shaped to allow easy access to every position of its twin-octave rosewood fingerboard. This neck reminds me a lot of the Ibanez Soundgear that I owned in the late '80s, although the five-piece construction of the EDB neck should hopefully make it a lot more durable than those old Soundgear necks were. Mine suffered an un-repairable warp after a few years of hitting the stage.
So, it's thoughtfully designed and looks fantastic, but what does it sound like?
I plugged it into both my 60W Ibanez practice amp and monster Ampeg valve head with its 8x10 cabinet. Loaded with Duncan/Ibanez pickups and active electronics even through the small rig the sound is big and super hot. Through the Ampeg it indeed sounds massive. This baby packs as much punch as Tua and nearly as much bite as Tyson.
The controls are: two band EQ - centre indented treble boost/cut and bass boost/cut; pickup blend and master volume. Surprisingly, for such a well-thought out instrument, there is no quick access compartment for the 9-volt battery, meaning you have to unscrew the whole back plate to access it. Not a problem unless you have to perform a quick battery change midway through your set. Hopefully your singer knows some good jokes.
With the controls set flat it sounds nice and round and even. Wind in a bit of bass and it really starts to come alive. Fairly rich and tight sounding without too much bottom end boom. This bass is great to slap. The active electronics have a huge amount of range and you can get everything from a round, thumpy seventies disco funk slap to a hot punchy 'Flea-like' bass-in-your-face sound. Obviously designed with the funkster in mind.
Rolling off the treble, boosting the bottom even further and winding the pickup balance toward the neck position you can get a fairly decent reggae sound too. Again the bottom end remains tight and warm without loosing the focus and definition. Very usable tone for the dub-minded among us. The rock tone is also quite impressive. Again the active controls come to the party with an easily achievable grunty, growly aggressive tone when played with a pick.
I would describe it as sounding more like a hot, punchy Musicman Stingray than a warm, fat Fender Precision. The only gripe I have is that the sound, although very dynamic, is perhaps a little sterile and a bit on the character-less side for my tastes. But putting things in perspective, lately I've been playing blues/roots styles on vintage Gibsons that have that fat, warm and perhaps less pronounced sound, a very different kettle of fish and not really what the EDB 550 is most suited for.
Also worth noting is that because this bass is so well defined in the fundamental it's ideal for use with effects pedals. Priced at $1250 rrp it's very good bass for the buck. If you like that up-front, punchy, tight bottom-end bass sound this is definitely one instrument you should consider. With its impressive line-up of tone woods and good craftsmanship it's certainly one of the better-made basses in its price range