I've become a short scale convert and have been hankering for something to deliver a P-bass sound in a smaller package. I decided on the Ibanez Talman TMB30 and received it from my local music shop yesterday afternoon.
After a doing a set-up, I spent a couple of hours playing it, and I'm delighted! It's well made, looks sharp, plays comfortably, and sounds good.
Build: It's light, somewhere around 7.6 lbs; there is a bit of neck dive (feels like a heavy neck mated with a light body), but it's not a big deal at all, and all the hardware is just fine as is. The neck has a pleasant light satin finish (almost an 'unfinished finish,' if that makes sense). The frets are well dressed, with not a sharp edge to be found. I'd call the neck profile semi-chunky, which feels very comfy to me.
Electronics: The pickups are quite bright, which one might view as a positive or a negative. The P pickup is throaty and punchy. The J pickup is strong enough to hang with the P, and they offer a clean modern tone together that I rather like. The J sounds solid, if not very interesting, on its own.
The pots are topped with little Jazz knobs. The tone and volume controls interact a bit strangely--with certain volume settings, the tone control can also turn down the volume. In the end, though, they do what they're supposed to do: dial in a variety of tones.
UPDATE: The J pickup volume pot developed an irritating short (faulty component), so I replaced the wiring harness with 250K master volume and tone controls and a pickup switch (which I prefer to the dual volume setup, but that's just me). That also resolved the tone/volume interaction issue.
Aesthetics: Ibanez calls the color Ivory, but Butter is more like it. Or maybe Antique Ivory, if one wants to sound fancier. But it ain't white, for sure. (The photos on the Ibanez site are accurate--there's a stronger yellow tint than my photos are showing.) It's an attractive design, and I appreciate that it has an original look (even the unusual headstock). Also, it fits in a regular guitar gig bag.
Strings: .045-.105, with silver ball ends and black silks on both ends. Other than needing to be broken in, they sound and feel like decent nickel plated rounds.
So these are my two basses; the Talman is a nice complement to my Hofner CT; between the two, I have a wide tonal palate at my disposal. It's kind of astounding that one can buy such a solid instrument for $179. I've spent some time with the Fender P/J Mustang, and the Talman doesn't come across as being a whopping 400 bucks cheaper. Sure, a few things could be modded/upgraded, but not out of necessity; other than needing a set-up, it's totally ready to go out of the box--even the strings!
UPDATE: It's also true that an electronics upgrade could take this from being a really good bass for the price to being a really good bass, period.
In short (get it?), if you're looking for a production short scale, this one merits consideration.
After a doing a set-up, I spent a couple of hours playing it, and I'm delighted! It's well made, looks sharp, plays comfortably, and sounds good.
Build: It's light, somewhere around 7.6 lbs; there is a bit of neck dive (feels like a heavy neck mated with a light body), but it's not a big deal at all, and all the hardware is just fine as is. The neck has a pleasant light satin finish (almost an 'unfinished finish,' if that makes sense). The frets are well dressed, with not a sharp edge to be found. I'd call the neck profile semi-chunky, which feels very comfy to me.
Electronics: The pickups are quite bright, which one might view as a positive or a negative. The P pickup is throaty and punchy. The J pickup is strong enough to hang with the P, and they offer a clean modern tone together that I rather like. The J sounds solid, if not very interesting, on its own.
The pots are topped with little Jazz knobs. The tone and volume controls interact a bit strangely--with certain volume settings, the tone control can also turn down the volume. In the end, though, they do what they're supposed to do: dial in a variety of tones.
UPDATE: The J pickup volume pot developed an irritating short (faulty component), so I replaced the wiring harness with 250K master volume and tone controls and a pickup switch (which I prefer to the dual volume setup, but that's just me). That also resolved the tone/volume interaction issue.
Aesthetics: Ibanez calls the color Ivory, but Butter is more like it. Or maybe Antique Ivory, if one wants to sound fancier. But it ain't white, for sure. (The photos on the Ibanez site are accurate--there's a stronger yellow tint than my photos are showing.) It's an attractive design, and I appreciate that it has an original look (even the unusual headstock). Also, it fits in a regular guitar gig bag.
Strings: .045-.105, with silver ball ends and black silks on both ends. Other than needing to be broken in, they sound and feel like decent nickel plated rounds.
So these are my two basses; the Talman is a nice complement to my Hofner CT; between the two, I have a wide tonal palate at my disposal. It's kind of astounding that one can buy such a solid instrument for $179. I've spent some time with the Fender P/J Mustang, and the Talman doesn't come across as being a whopping 400 bucks cheaper. Sure, a few things could be modded/upgraded, but not out of necessity; other than needing a set-up, it's totally ready to go out of the box--even the strings!
UPDATE: It's also true that an electronics upgrade could take this from being a really good bass for the price to being a really good bass, period.
In short (get it?), if you're looking for a production short scale, this one merits consideration.
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I had a TMB300, which I loved but it was too heavy. A couple of weeks ago I was looking for some GAS for a light bass... where were you then!?!??
