Ironbird MK1 Legacy Series Bass - Gloss Red

Model# IB4RD

UPC 044476862687

By Ken A. on September 07, 2023

First off, the folks at Red Blanket Guitars are fantastic to deal with and I appreciate what they did on my transaction with this beautiful bass. Mine arrived last night, so I couldn't wait to check it out and give it my honest opinion. Just for reference, I'm playing through a Fractal Audio FM3 with the Austin Buddy bass package giving me just about every available amp and cabinet a bassist could ever want right at my feet. It's also a great way to listen to something flat without any "monkey dust" on it, which is exactly what I did to see how the overall tone was. Before we get into all that, let's talk about the construction, which is really well done on this bass. The color is actually a deeper red than in the stock photo and I like it even more because of that. The dual DiMarzio split pickups absolutely scream! Especially for this being a passive bass. I had to dial the trim back a bit and that's saying something, since most of my basses have active electronics if that gives you any idea how much output this bass has. It's very LONG, but incredibly light weight with a beautiful neck that has a great feel to it without any neck dive. The black binding and diamond inlays with the glowing fret markers really set this thing off nicely. It's definitely ideal for playing with a pick, as your fingers come right over the bridge pickup, so you'd need to play a tad forward if you play finger style. Just to get an overall sense of the tone I tried it with everything flat using a Mesa Boogie 400+ with a 15-410 cab, a GK800 with two 410s, an Ampeg SVT with 410 and 1x15, an Orange with 810's and a Marshall 800 with 810s. The bass puts out some thick lows, gritty mids and nice highs without being too bright. The controls are very simple, you have a volume for each pickup, selector switch and a tone knob. The sweet spot seemed to be 60% to the bridge pickup, 40% to the neck pickup and the tone around 3/4 of the way up. When I toured professionally back in the 80's I had this same model bass that ended up getting destroyed by some kids and I was heartbroken, so when B.C. Rich came out with this line I had to get one and so happy that happened because it takes me back to those days of old school metal bands I played with and how much fun I had back then. It definitely grabs the attention and is an absolute blast to play, as I gave it a solid two hours playing to bands like W.A.S.P., Slayer, Motley Crue and the like last night after it arrived. My only gripe is it should include a case or at least a gig bag for the price. B.C. Rich slipped on that one a bit, but overall I'm very happy with it.