Ibanez: B200

Submitted by banjoestbanjoist on 4/29/2025

Where Purchased: Viken Musikk

Year Purchased: 2025
Price Paid: 6000 (NOK) historic exchange rates / currency converter

Sound

After some setup (not extensive, I still have things I want to try) and having tried a couple different bridges on the thing, the sound is okay. Reasonably loud. Not deafening. Seems to work pretty well with soft playing too. There's a bit too much sustain for my taste and the volume dies down quite a lot whenever you go much past the 7th fret on the neck.

Sound Rating: 5

Setup

The instrument was set up poorly and sounded like utter garbage out of the shop, but I blame that on the shop having no experience working on banjos. Rather than taking any chances they've left everything more or less finger-tight. Either that or that's how it left the factory and they never touched it.

Thankfully everything here is fully adjustable with some basic tools. It has a truss rod and two coordinator rods, so you should be able to get everything to your liking. Mind you, it still won't sound like a pre-war Gibson.

My only issue is that you can't get the angle of the tailpiece fully cranked down to the head, but I'm guessing that can be replaced for those who are interested.

Setup Rating: 5

Appearance

This is about as bling as it gets in this price range. Personally I absolutely adore it, but I see how it can be divisive.
the fit and finish is okay. Far from great, but luckily that seems to mostly go for things that don't affect playability. The ends of the frets aren't great, a couple of the screws for the resonator have gacked threads, the nut seems to be held in place with caulk in a slot that looks too wide for it (doesn't budge though). The tone ring is also mounted a bit off axis.

In addition to all this, my particular example had been in the window of the shop I bought it from for somewhere around four years. The banjo did not take kindly to this and some white piping and especially the nut has started to turn yellow. In addition, there's a pretty big crack in the clearcoat on the resonator (neck looks factory fresh) and some corrosion (?) on the chrome. I try to think of it as patina and make an effort to remember how much I got them to knock off the asking price because of it.

At the end of the day all I ever notice when I look at it is that beautiful neck inlay and headstock pattern, and I think "this is my first banjo, I bought it in large part for the looks, and by some miracle of god it's not complete garbage"

Appearance Rating: 7

Reliability

Hardware seems pretty good overall. I've heard rumors that the hooks for the head are all pot-metal and prone to breaking, but we'll see. I don't mind changing them if they do.
I've talked a bit about the finish already. It has some blemishes and the lacquer is cracking on the resonator. The rest of it looks solid, though. Absolutely reminiscent of your classic Ibanez bazillion-layer paintjob.
It sometimes stays in tune for days on end. It sometimes likes to go out of tune at the slightest provocation. This makes me suspect the tuners. I've left them alone for now, because spending 90 seconds every once in a while tuning really isn't a big deal for me.

I've already gigged this with a hardcase and plan on continuing to do so. Nothing makes me worry more about doing it with this than I would with any other banjo (though I don't have much experience).

Reliability Rating: 7

Customer Service

Shop guy was nice, but he didn't know squat about banjos. Never dealt with Ibanez. Can't remember what sort of warranty Ibanez themselves give, but I'm covered by law for five years for any faults not due to regular wear or gross negligence anyway.

Customer Service: 7

Components

Standout components are of course that wonderfully gaudy neck inlay, and the neck and headstock overall is quite beautifully finished.

It also has an all wood pot which I haven't seen in any other banjo over here at this price point. If I'd known this I would have bought it right away instead of looking at all kinds of other no-names first.

I don't know whether the tone ring really adds much to the party. It's made of some sort of unspecified metal.

Aforementioned hooks might be worth upgrading. Tailpiece and tuners too. After that I don't see how anyone can tell you that you don't have a completely serviceable "proper" banjo.

Components Rating: 7

Overall Comments

When it comes down to it, this thing is a lot more than the sum of it's parts. What it is is a fully tweakable, relatively solid, playable AND upgradeable beginner's banjo at a price I can afford.

I get that it comes up short in places where there's an actual used market and it's priced similarly to Recording Kings and Gold Tones.

That's not the case here, though, and for that, I give it a 10/10.

It also seems to be pretty common in places where banjos aren't, so I would especially recommend this over taking a gamble on some nameless thing from your Gear4musics or Thomanns.

Overall Rating: 10