NBD (nhc) cheapo IYV 5-er off Amazon

[Jimbilly]

  I've been eyeballing the current fan-fret/multi scale 5ers from Ibanez, I was waiting for the right deal to come along, but noticed the IYV multi scale headlesss (the first ten times I looked at it, I saw it as IVY) - on Amazon for under $300 shipped including tax (my state adds sales tax).

  Gotta be crap, right?  But I started reading the reviews, and watched a few videos, and decided to take a risk, partially because the Eart headless guitar from Amazon has been so good right out of the box. 

It's pretty much what I had hoped for and expected, I think it will be a very good bass, at a fraction of what the name brands cost. 

[Jimbilly]

And I made a short crappy youtube video about what I would have liked to have known prior to purchase (I expect some ribbing/criticism from y'all).

  What I forgot to mention was that the knobs were all a little 'rough' to turn, but that's because they're all push-on knobs and the packing was so minimal that the knobs all got pushed down against the finish during shipping I assume.  I had to loosen the truss rod just about a half turn too, it made a little creaking sound, but all seems to be ok. 

 

 

[hamerhead]

Good grab! The cheap stuff was never this good when I was a kid!

Searching for a cheap Tele, I ended up with a Squire, a Firefly and an IYV.  The IYV is the keeper - super light, cool fake spalted top, plays in tune, and the 2 stock humbuckers sound good enough (we recorded with it).  It was $202 to the door.

Edited July 22, 2025 by hamerhead

[velorush]

I, too, have been looking at the Ibanez, having had them in a cart several times. 

I didn't even know about this alternative. Great video! 

[Jimbilly]

On 7/19/2025 at 9:27 AM, velorush said:

I, too, have been looking at the Ibanez, having had them in a cart several times. 

I didn't even know about this alternative. Great video! 

Yup, that's the one I was looking at too. 

A couple more observations, I played it for 3 services yesterday morning. (if any of you are more interested, pm me and I'll send you a link to the livestream, since it's a church service, and certainly not a pro gig, I won't post the link publicly)

 stable tuning with just a couple of very minor adjustments in a chilly room, 7am - 1pm.

There's a 'whump' noise in the volume pot when set to active while turning up from about "7-9" (I hadn't previously noticed that noise at home, but our soundguy likes loud bass and we have a pretty big rig, so I heard it through the subs), but otherwise pretty quiet on active mode: "hiss"/noise on par with my other active basses. I do most all my eq outboard with the bass Fly Rig, so I just ran it passive, and it is dead-quiet to the house running passive, I actually really like the tone of the passive mode. I'll spray out the volume pot with some cleaner later, if that noise persists 'active' will not be very useful live, without having to add a volume pedal. But: I'd be happy with passive on this one and just pull the battery.  I do like active as an option; rolling back to the bridge pup and adding some bass often makes a nice growl, - we'll see.

 (edit/update: 'whump' noise seems to be gone after a squirt of Caig Deoxit. There's still a click when switching from active/passive if the the volume knob is up at all from zero/off)

  There's a little bit of 'extra fret' on the treble side next to the string, kind of like the bridge wasn't centered quite right, but it doesn't seem to be a playability issue. 

8 pounds even on my fish scale, and it fits in a regular guitar soft gig bag

Edited July 22, 2025 by Jimbilly

[marcnorth]

On 7/19/2025 at 11:27 AM, velorush said:

I, too, have been looking at the Ibanez, having had them in a cart several times. 

I didn't even know about this alternative. Great video! 

I picked one of these up last year. It took me a little while to get used to the fanned frets. I got the Ibanez EHB1005SMS, 32" scale on top to 30" scale on bottom. I've used it a couple of times at practice but have yet to gig with it. I don't like the locking jack, it's a pain in the ass to get the cable unplugged. other than that it's a cool little bass.

[Jimbilly]

1 hour ago, marcnorth said:

I picked one of these up last year. It took me a little while to get used to the fanned frets. I got the Ibanez EHB1005SMS, 32" scale on top to 30" scale on bottom. I've used it a couple of times at practice but have yet to gig with it. I don't like the locking jack, it's a pain in the ass to get the cable unplugged. other than that it's a cool little bass.

My BTB (mik prestige 1205e) has that Neutrik locking jack, I agree; neat idea but a pain in real life especially if you've got any thumb joint issues. I turn the bass upside down and set the headstock tip on the floor to remove the cable.  I replaced the output jack on this one because the original was loose.   I had a made in Indonesia BTB675 10-15 years ago that I don't remember having any difficulty with.

[BTMN]

Bought a pair of IYV guitars in the last couple years. Both under $200. Very little needed to make them decent couch strummers. Total light weight guitars too.  Vietnamese made.

Here is the first one I bought.