Yeah, it's a silly topic, but hey, besides being a bass player, I've been a comic book fan and collector for a long time now. I thought it would be fun to write about how I view my basses as they relate to Marvel characters. Interestingly, out of the 4 basses I'm going to talk about, 3 are most closely aligned to Marvel villains. Hmmm...I wonder what that means?
Part 1 of 4 - Task Master
Starting off with my main bass, my Ibanez SR 1400E
So this bass is most like the Marvel character Task Master. He's a villain in the Marvel Universe that first appeared in the 1980s in The Avengers. His main power is his ability to learn and duplicate any physical activity after seeing it done only once. Daredevil's boxing and billy club antics? No problem. Iron Fist's martial arts mayhem? He's got it. Captain American's shield wielding shenanigans? Check. Hawkeye's archery ability? Yeah, set-up that apple. And did I mention he's got a killer costume and a skull face? No? Well he does.
That's how I view my SR1400E, part of the Ibanez Premium line. It has that classic Ibanez bass body shape and a cool color scheme, like Task Master. Well, the color scheme, not the shape. Umm....right. Let's continue. The comfortable contoured body and fast neck make this a bass that gives you the confidence to tackle any style. Plus, the electronics, both passive and active, with tone shaping ability for both, make the bass at home in pretty much any setting. (On a side note, the Ibanez Premium necks seem just a little thicker than the standard SR models. According to Ibanez's specs, that's not the case, but it sure feels that way. And it's a feel I really, really like. End side note).
My Ibanez SRq400E is my go-to, favorite bass, just like Task Master. Well, not the marauding and killing aspects of him, but his ability to handle anything you throw his way.
Part 2 of 4 - Terrax
My original Ibanez SoundGear SR800LE
I purchased this beauty back in 1988! It was my first Ibanez bass. I remember going to the music store (which was your only option back in the day), finding this bass, playing this bass, and instantly falling in love with it. This is the bass that started my life-long obsession with Ibanez guitars.
The SR800LE has a super thin neck: 38mm width at nut; 18mm thickness at 1st fret; 20mm thickness at 12th fret. Man, that is thin! Much thinner than today's Ibanez SR basses. The body's polyurethane coating was also applied to the back of the neck. Not sure that's even an option today.
Like the Marvel Fantastic Four villain Terrax - a man of stone (or, at least, something like stone) - this bass is solid. Never had an issue with neck warp or bad electronics. And those magnet pickups? Super energized, like our bearded Birjan badass! This was my go-to axe for many, many years. How appropriate then that Terrax carries around a supremely seasoned battle axe. Lastly, both are a bit old and a little worn for wear, but near unstoppable!
Part 3 of 4 - Deathlok
My Ibanez SR700
I bought this bass in 2010, some 20+ years after getting my SR800LE. Yes, a long time. It's a good bass. A mid-range bass in the Ibanez SR line. After a few years and a few more basses, I started to experiment on this one.
Shaved the back of the neck to give it a different feel. Drilled holes in it so I could put a Hipshot double-stop D-Tuner on it. (For some reason, this headstock is super skinny and wouldn't accommodate the D-tuner. Had to reset it on an angle. Oddly, this is not the case with my bass from 1988! I've since removed it.). Pulled knobs off of it. Cranked the truss rod left and right to experiment with different neck bows. Played with the bridge. Tried all kinds of string gauges on it. Cranked that truss rod some more. Things like that.
That's why this bass is most like the Marvel villain Deathlok (the Luther Manning version). They're both experiments and they're both not quite what they originally were.
Part 4 of 4 - Machine Man
My Ibanez SR300ESMB
Seashore Metallic Burst. Seashore. Metallic. Burst. Ugh. What an ugly color. But it's a great bass! It's a 2018 Ibanez SR300ESMB with that classic, slim and silky SR neck and surprisingly good pickups. I got this bass new for under $200. A perfect candidate to create a hybrid fretted/fretless bass. I brought it to my local luthier and had him remove the frets from the D and G strings. E and A remained fretted. (Hear this bass on: "The Invisible Enemy" | "H2")
Playing this bass reminds me a lot of the Marvel hero Machine Man, aka Aaron Stack, aka X-51, aka Mister Machine. Both struggle with their identifies. Machine Man, as his name would imply, is both machine and man. This hybrid bass is both fretted and fretless. Each not fully one or the other. A complex amalgamation of two very different worlds.
But it works.
So there it is. Four of my basses if they were Marvel comic book characters. A pretty silly concept, I agree. But, hey, it was a lot of fun to do!
- DD Bass
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