NBD Ibanez SR250 - Pawn Shop Find

Antisyzygy

Antisyzygy

Dec 8, 2014
3,149
3,119
4,841
Washington
#1
I picked this guy up for 80 bucks plus a holding fee at a pawn shop. They had it mislabelled as a Ibanez Gio. I didn't know what it was right away other than I was sure it was a Soundgear, so I paid a bit for them to hold it, then asked folks here on TB to see what it was. I picked this up this morning.

It's a SR250. It was in great shape. It just had a few small dings in terms of cosmetic wear. There's just a few minor maintenance issues I need to address. That is cleaning the body/fretboard, replacing a screw, and tightening a knob down. It also needs new strings.

The intonation and action were right on so I think it must have had a setup recently. The action is impressively low. With the thin neck I dig it, it's comfy.

Without further ado:

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#3
Well up until the recent years the 20X model was indeed part of the GIO line. But then Ibanez decided to revamp a bit their lowest SR models (was it 2012 IIRC?) and this guy was added as the entry lvl option. Nato body (eastern mahogany), 3 band EQ, Soundgear logo on headstock...an attempt to match the standard SR configuration. Very nice basses, mind you :) I can see why it might have been labeled as a GIO by the shop :)

Congratz for getting a cool bass! Happy playing!
 
#4
IngerAlb said:
Well up until the recent years the 20X model was indeed part of the GIO line. But then Ibanez decided to revamp a bit their lowest SR models (was it 2012 IIRC?) and this guy was added as the entry lvl option. Nato body (eastern mahogany), 3 band EQ, Soundgear logo on headstock...an attempt to match the standard SR configuration. Very nice basses, mind you :) I can see why it might have been labeled as a GIO by the shop :)

Congratz for getting a cool bass! Happy playing!
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is a 2012 according to the serial.

It doesn't have the glued-on headstock like on Gios, and the neck is made of 3-pieces of maple lengthwise. The hardware is also all made of metal unlike Gio with their plastic knobs. The pickups and preamp seem to be the same as what were in the SR300 of the same era.

The bridge looks similar to a Gio bridge with larger saddles. It's not that higher mass one on the SR300. The only other thing that looks cheap is the pickup covers and back control plate. Everything else is pretty mid-range feeling to me, which was a surprise (and why I originally thought this was a SR300-400 or something).

The action is lower than I normally keep my basses. It doesn't have fret buzz, surprisingly. The frets seem wider/flatter than I'm used to as well.

Is that something Ibanez's are known for? This is the first one that I actually bought. I'm a Fender/G&L guy normally.

Anyway, it's a nice player and the price was right. You don't often find fast neck basses under 100 bucks, unless I've just been an idiot for avoiding owning an Ibanez this long.
 
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#6
I ended up boiling the strings on this puppy (just as a temporary fix for the dead, old strings), then tightened down various items and cleaned the bass up. It plays and sounds pretty nice. I doubt I'd bother changing pickups.

I think I'll swap the bridge for one off the higher end Ibanez basses. Other than that I'm debating on a preamp change just so I have passive mode and mid frequency selection available. I'm thinking a ToneMonster (cheaper ones on Ebay) for 60 bucks.
 
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