Oh yeah, I was not super impressed with the Preamp and / or pick ups.
But we are talking about a $350 bass, and it is the same with the Ray4 which I love, so it is nothing out of the ordinary for basses within this price range.
Plus the electronics may be better on the newer ones, but I have not evaluated, so I can’t speak to that.
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Yeah. That’s another important point about all basses in this price range. You’re looking at the manufacturer’s entry level models. None of them are expected to be the forever bass you never upgrade from. The things like pickups and electronics are often the ways the manufacturers differentiate their later models from the entry ones.
And that’s not what you should be looking for in an entry level bass anyway; you want to find one that is easy and fun to play, that you will keep picking up, and that you like. You can worry about electronics upgrades once you know what to look for.
Perhaps the worst mistake a beginner can make is to massively overanalyze this and try to pick a permanent bass for their first one. There’s just no way to know what you will like until you try a lot. And the opinions of people in reviews and forums are meaningless for that. Beyond a certain quality bar that almost all of these are well above, all that matters is personal subjective opinion and playability.
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Or, you can buy with upgrading in mind.
This is one of my many favorite things about the Ray4. It is an entry level bass that is built well enough, and looks great and can sound great, and with a little upgrade (or alot), it can become your main bass, maybe not forever, but enough so its a keeper that you will always have.
Unlike my first bass.
HOWEVER,
I would not hesitate to recommend the bass I first got to anybody.
Brand new it is cheap, on sale or with discount, even cheaper.
It has P and J pick ups
It looks cool and sounds good enough for a beginner amp, and / or headphone amp.
It is upgradeable, you could put new pups or preamp and make it better
and most of all it plays great, especially for beginners. In fact, I know Bass Buzz did not rate it very high, but I think it might be the best bang for the buck beginner bass around. It is also almost 1/2 price to the beginner basses that bass buzz rated, so that is a major consideration. I think the bass buzz beginner basses were more “bass you can grow into”, instead of bass to see if you like bass on.
My first was a Ibanez GSR 200, and you can pick them up new for under $200, or used as low as $50 bucks. You will have to put on new strings and do a good clean up, but yeah, they can go for next to nothing.
Also, the neck on the GSR 200 is about a MM thicker all the way thru (not on the sides, it is same width), then the SR basses, so it never felt flimsy.
And Flimsy still did not mean bad, it still played really nice and felt really nice, I just found things I liked better, that felt better for me.
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Yeah, that too
This is why it is almost impossible to make a bad buy. The bass you buy, at least all the ones mentioned, are all going to do the job, and not have any major set backs, but you will never know if its right for you, unless you play it, and play others to compare against. So you may not end up loving or liking your purchase, but either buy used, and re-sell it and get another, or buy new and use the return policy. and don’t be afraid to return it if it is not right. Otherwise it ends up on Offer Up or CraigsList a year or two later, for half price, OR for more then they cost retail
WTF
Yeah, I see it more often then you would think on Offer Up, Most likely a girl selling her ex-boyfriends bass, or parents selling off their kids new bass he never played after he left for college…
And
They look online and see a stingray for $1500,
SO, they list a new Ray4, for $700, PRICED TO SELL 
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Yep! There’s a used BB734A on Mercari right now with visible wear and tear for 5k yen (~$45) less than I just bought my new one for 
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Lobster doesn’t like the Sr300
I’ve seen mixed reviews of it myself, though I am the proud owner of an SR805 which is a fantastic instrument
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I never watched that, kind of because I had one and didn’t really need a review, but that says alot to me. (Edit, I did watch it, I just didn’t remember)
It is still subjective, but I tend to agree with him on the things I do know about, so that makes me tend to value his input.
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Hmm. Off topic, and I know people here like the guy but I don’t really find lobster that reliable, to be honest, in reviews I’ve seen for things that I know about.
A good example was his BB735A review, which wasn’t even internally consistent (he praised it for most of the review then gave it like a 3/5 because whatever strings he put on it didn’t sound good on the B string to him.)
I mean come on.
The thing probably just needed a pickup height adjustment to match his favorite string set, but nope, 3/5 despite an otherwise good review. Made little sense to me.
I’ve heard them myself and the B string sounded great to me. Yamaha’s stock strings happen to be my favorite so I have no idea what he put on them.
Note that this is a bass that is widely considered to be one of the best in the line and routinely gets 4.5-5 star reviews.
Tyler Spicer specifically praising the B string here 
So, not sure what was up with Lobster there, but did not leave me with a good impression.
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“I am going to go with the 4 string for the overall best value”
“Thats Just My Opinion (that means when things like the B string don’t sound good to him, he states it, then backs it up with a statement equaling YMMV) , other then that, this is a great evolution from the original BB series which remained mostly unchanged for a long time”
Need I point out you don’t even have a 5 string. He basically said you bought the right bass.
I am gonna stop right here before I start going down the path of Rule #2
Yeah @Wombat-metal, the Ibanez video, was spot on with the SR300 I had, even tho mine was older and had even less features for pick up control, but still didn’t hit the mark on any of them well.
He does say that Ibanez has so many great basses, but this one just kind of misses the mark. he owns many other Ibanez basses, and Yamaha’s
He was talking about the 434, not the 734, and thanks for bringing that up because IMO he’s oversimplifying there too - the preamp isn’t the only difference, the 734 also has better pickups and also adds a maple core to the body - it brings a lot more than the 434. It is quite a bit less expensive but whether that makes it the best value depends on what you value.
And remember, he’s reviewing a bass widely considered to be one of the best values in its class - so if he is going to throw out a statement otherwise, either he backs it up or he doesn’t. IMO - he didn’t.
Another good example - the dude talks the bass up like that for most of the video, and then largely because his favorite strings didn’t sound good on it to him for the B string, gives it a low overall rating. Exactly what I am talking about.
You can tack “that’s just my opinon” on any bullshit; that doesn’t exactly improve the quality of the review it’s attached to, overall
Look. Not everyone has to like the guy’s reviews. Based on what I have seen I am not all that impressed. You have a different opinion. That’s fine.
Not everybody has to like that bass either.
You sound like viewer comment hate mail episode.
Every reviewer will have its own “expert” opinion about the product they review. It’s never 100% objective because it’s based on what they think what matters. I always take online reviews with a grain of salt. If there a lot of mixed reviews then you do just some more research until you find something that you agree on. 
Looks slick @RAC ! Would love to see some more pictures of that bass.
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Hey, the guy reviewed something that I happen to know about, and my opinion was that I wasn’t very impressed by the review. As you said, that’s just my opinion
Ask @PamPurrs if her B string sucked, or if she would rate her BB735 a 3/5. 60%. A ‘D’ grade.
I kinda doubt it. But you never know.
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HELL NO! That was the best bass I ever owned!
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That’s what I figured. And it’s widely regarded as such. And through much of that review, he even discussed it as if it were. And then flipped to bomb it at the end. I don’t get it.
So it’s possible Lobster had a bad day, got a bad bass, didn’t set it up correctly, or whatever - but that review just didn’t really make much sense to me, for consistency anyway.
I also kind of don’t get why you seem to be taking this so personally, Toby. It’s fine if other people don’t like a random online bass reviewer.
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@howard, see below for one review.
Although, admittedly, he seems to be in the minority with his opinion, and a few commenters who are versed in the instrument said that from the sound it seemed like one of the pickup coils was defective.
Most of the other negative stuff was more about overall quality and subjective, which is understandable. Most of the reviews for this bass are favorable.
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Do you have the ability to go and try these out yourself? Trying a bunch and finding the ones that feel best to you is going to be worth a lot more than basing the decision on opinions online.
There’s absolutely a quality bar you want to be above. But that said, that bass is definitely above that bar. So are a bunch of others in its price range, and really your best shot is trying a bunch of them and finding which feel good to you in your hands
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Unfortunately, most of the basses I’d like to try aren’t available near me.
Either because they are too new or because of Covid, inventory supply lines are all messed up. Two of my cities largest music stores mostly carry the upper mid range to high end stuff and a very sparse selection of the entry level, or just above entry level range.
I did try one model they had, and I did try an older Ibanez SR300 model which felt nice enough.
The only thing for me is that because I’m a newbie, even when I try one out, it may feel okay, but other than weight and maybe the slickness of the neck, I don’t have enough experience to know what is what, oh and of course how it “should” sound.
It’ll definitely be a buy and try kind of experience for me. Ultimately, if I go with the SR300E, it should be okay, I used to have a GSR200 and to my ear at the time it was more than fine.
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I thought I’d enter the fray!
This is my Epiphone Thunderbird Pro Vintage. It has Probucker Humbucker pick ups and a through neck. I’ve always loved thunderbirds and it’s not as heavy as it looks. Action is a little high at the moment which I’m getting sorted next week. My other bass is a Westbury Track 2 bass with DiMarzio pickups which I bought second hand about 35 years ago🙈 but has a nice tone and is easy to play.
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That’s a beauty @Redkeno ! I’ve got to say there is something very eyecatching about the Tbird . Do you find it neck dives? I must resist… I must resist 
@howard has the right approach imho @Pablo. Go and try some if you can. I do have an Ibanez which I love but it’s a 650e . BUT the secondhand is a really good way to go if you can find one that you like.
I do have a neighbour with a 200 or 300 series Ibanez which I will try and “borrow “ just to try it now. Only to try , honest 
( he doesn’t play btw)
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