Ibanez Gio Series

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 08:16:00 +0000

Ibanez Talman TCY20E

TCY20E Talman Reviewed by: tyjamo, on november 02, 2012
0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 300
Purchased from: zzounds

Features: Here are some features of the Ibanez Talman TCY20E: - Double cutaway body with figured ash top - Mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard - Ivorex II nut and saddle - Ibanez Advantage bridge pins - Ibanez AEQ200T preamp and built in tuner I was a little bit skeptical of the double cutaway on this guitar, but it is one of my favorite features. The Ivorex II supposedly makes the guitar sound better plugged in, it must work because it sounds great plugged in. This guitar is perfect for the electric guitar player who wants the look and feel of an electric with the tones of an acoustic. // 9

Sound: This guitar can fit anyone's music style, it sounds good through the amp, but it sounds amazing unplugged. I am an electric guitar player and I have started to get more into acoustic, and I wanted to be able to play anything I want, and with this guitar you can. Only thing is when you put it on a crunchy setting through the amp, you have to turn the bass and treble down on the preamp. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The finish on this guitar is stunning, pictures do not do it justice. You have to see this guitar to appreciate its beauty. Everything looked great on this guitar when it arrived except there were two tiny little nicks in the trim on the top. The only reason they were even noticeable is because they were right next to the tuner. You can't even feel the nicks, you can just barely see them. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar could stand years of live playing. The finish over top of the natural wood looks and feels thick. Hard ware looks good. Strap buttons are solid. I would depend on this guitar for gigging without a backup. Only problem is is that the built in tuner doesn't work unless it is plugged in. I unplugged my cord from the amp, and just plugged the cord into the guitar, and the tuner worked just fine. But when I unplugged the cord, the tuner turned off immediately. // 8

Overall Impression: I like to play Metal, Classic Rock, a little country now and then, and I didn't have an acoustic of my own. I have been playing for six years, and have been getting more into acoustic, so it was between this guitar, and a blue Dean acoustic-electric. I chose this one because the reviews on the Dean said it didn't last; the finish faded, sound faded, etc., and the reviews for this guitar had only good things to say about, so I chose the Ibanez and I am glad I did. // 10

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:14:00 +0000

reviewed by: pvdimens, on june 03, 2011

Purchased from: Guitar Center Used Items

Features: This Ibanez Destroyer star-shape was made in 1985 in Japan. It's basically aDestroyer with a triangle cut out from the butt-end. It's a bolt-on basswood solid body with black binding. The neck has 22 medium frets, and I suspect has the old X contour thatIbanez likes/liked to put on their DT/X series. I've seen the color in three varieties, dark green (the one I have), red, and black. It sports 2 humbuckers, 1 volume, 1 tone, and a 3-way toggle switch. The Bridge is an archaic Ibanez Pro Rokr that predates the Floyd Rose but tries to serve the same function, such as being a floating tremolo and having fine tuners. The nut is an archaic locking nut as well, a combination of a thin black (plastic?) nut followed by a sort of locking nut on the headstock that also serves as a string tree. // 7

Sound: Many players believe that more body mass conveys more tone, and I am such a player. The body is more resonant playing unplugged than strat-type bodies. But, you don't buy an electric guitar to play unplugged. When I bought this guitar, already 25 years old, it did not come with stock pickups. In fact, the pickups have no make or model on them, so I am hard-pressed to give you any specific details about them. The tone is like a PAF but with a but less output and a bit more twang. I won't get into the details of these pickups since they aren't stock. The pickups that should have come stock were Ibanez V-Blade pickups which I'm told are very hot. I'm sure there are plenty of online resources to look into those at your leisure. Personally, I intend to swap out my current configuration with aDuncan 59 and SH. The archaic Ibanez Rokr tremolo is a pain in the bum. The fine tuners are bulky thumb screws and I removed them so I can keep my palm on the Bridge unobstructed. Don't ever consider actually doing anything whammy related with the bridge. It's built like a tank, but it's as reliable as a drunk's judgement. Can't blame it though, it predates the Floyd Rose. Trial and error, ya know? The current Ibanez Edge 2 and 3 don't seem to get much public praise either. // 6

Action, Fit & Finish: I got the guitar in pretty great condition considering it survived the 80s. Few dings, whatever. The paint is still entirely intact, which I think says something about the quality of the finish. The neck was straight as an arrow too, and the frets are still completely playable at every position. The binding is also entirely intact and not peeling from any point. They just don't make Ibanez now like they used to! // 8

Reliability & Durability: I've gigged with this guitar. I love it like a sibling. It's made for gigging! It's a star shaped guitar- it's made to raise eyebrows and be a crowd pleaser! Would you expect any less from a guitar made in the 80s? The strap buttons are solid and I haven't had the electronics fail on me during any gigs. Like I mentioned above, 25 years and the finish is still in great shape with none of the scratches or dings penetrating the clearcoat. If I lost or broke this guitar, I would be profoundly distraught and try to get my hands on another one. I'm giving it a 10 because it's had 25 years to die or wear away and it promptly refused. // 10

Impression: I play mostly classic rock through heavy metal. This guitar is my jewel for those styles. Everything fits. I love the balance of the guitar, I like the gloss finish on the neck which remains slick during play (honestly can't explain that). I've played it through aBlackstar HT5, Marshall JCM2000, Marshall JCM800, Carvin X100B, Crate Voodoo 60, Marshall MG100, and Hughes & Kettner 30DFX and it sounds pretty good with the mysterious pickups the previous owner installed. I constantly Switch between the DT350and my Carvin Bolt T when I practice and I love coming back to the DT350. In fact, theDT350 is leagues better than the more recent DT200 that I also had for a while. I prefer it to strats, explorers, V's (yes, Gibson). It's just my kind of guitar, and I'm profoundly upset that Ibanez discontinued them after 2 years of production, and now in it's place is [what I consider to be] the silly-looking Xiphos. I've recently commissioned a luthier to build a replica of the DT350 with a fixed Bridge and a 24 fret AANJ neck. Those were my only two real issues with the guitar, and I hope to build my favorite axe with my preferred features. This guitar is my kind of guitar, and I suppose to each their own, right? // 8

review from ultimate-guitar

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 03:14:00 +0000

Price paid: $ 300.00

Purchased from: Music Workshop, Brownstown, MI

Features: 2005 NOS (new old stock) Korean-made Ibanez AR300. Still had the plastic covering the dual chrome humbucker pickups, the backs of the Gotoh-style tuners and the back plates covering the electronics access ports. This particular Ibanez features 22 usable frets, though the 23rd does, in my opinion, deliver a nice, very high, tone when fretted properly. Fret wires themselves appear to be medium-jumbo and they sit in a rosewood fingerboard. The neck and body are pretty much a single "through-neck" (though it's actually probably a set-in neck with a seamless exterior appearance, as near as I can tell). The body itself is an archtop make. The neck also features a Standard 3x3 (machine head-wise) bound headstock with an inlaid "Ibanez" logo at the top of the figured semi-open book-looking stock. The fluer de lis in the center is more of a decal or applique or something similar, though, and definitely not inlaid.

The guitar features an attractive mahogany body, though I'm told the neck itself is maple (don't ask me how a supposed through-neck guitar is supposed to be able to pull that off, but see my above observation about it possibly being some sort of "set-in"). There appears to be a flame maple cap (it's book-matched, as well) sitting atop the body, which is attractively bound in a nice cream-and-pinstripe motif. The neck itself is bound, as well, in the same cream-colored binding, with that fingerboard featuring rectangular (and highly attractive) inlays of either abalone or Mother of Pearl, starting with the first fret and going all the way down in the traditional pattern right to the 22nd fret. The backside of the guitar and neck, starting from below the binding that runs around the top of the guitar, is an attractive reddish-burgundy color, with black electronics covers, and the neck is finished in the same gloss lacquers that the body's done up in. I've really tried to make the back of the neck sticky (that glossy-ish finish had me worried about that), but--happily--I haven't had any luck in doing so.

As far as body style goes, this solid body axe is done in the classic LP double-cutaway style, making it extremely easy to dive into the frets right down to the 22nd/23rd area. The thing's no lightweight, either, and its heft really helps Drive the variety of tones that--combined with the maple/mahogany body and neck setup--this guitar's capable of delivering.

The AR300 also comes with a typical LP-style Tune-O-Matic bridge (though it employs some sort of proprietary Ibanez design, obviously) and a stopbar that has six (6) grooved-looking channels that are pushed obliquely to the right at about a 15 degree offset. It looks to me to be more for appearance and I have to admit that it definitely helps to contribute to the overall somewhat unique appearance of the guitar.

Electronics are purely passive and Standard LP-style, as well, with a three-position Switch set up near the upper bout, or horn, of the guitar. That Switch is also very easy to use and it's apparent that some attention was paid to ergonomics and ease of use for a player when it comes to using the rhythm-middle-treble switch. There are also four knobs near the lower left-hand (as you're looking at the guitar) body of the guitar, with the forward two being volume controls and the rear two being tone controls. Again, Standard LP-style all the way. The guitar's input jack is securely screwed into the side of the body, down near those knobs and it features a quality metal cover plate (not plastic, like you tend to find in the Epi versions of these sorts of guitars). Two solid-looking strap pegs, one at that upper bout and one at the end of the guitar body, in the center of the side panel, finish things off.

The Ibanez AR300 comes with two (DeMarzio, maybe?) chrome humbuckers that sound nice enough. Typical of humbuckers, it takes very little relative volume, when run through a decent amp, to bring some serious sound out of the guitar. The machine heads that came with this guitar are very good-looking. From the back, they look like some sort of Gotoh-style, and there are no exterior screw heads to mar the look of the back of the headstock. The keyheads, or knobs (whatever you call them) are also very attractive, presenting an ivory-like, or pearl-like (take your pick) translucent look that compliments the overall appearance of the headstock quite well. The keyheads actually look like those Grover types you see on just about every mid-range Epi, Greg Bennett etc. guitar out there nowadays, by the way.

In addition, they (the machine heads) also turn nicely and smoothly and they look to be solid enough, to boot. For some reason, to me, they're both vintage-y in one way, yet completely modern in another. That doesn't make much sense, but it is what it is, at least from my viewpoint. My guess is these were made to spec for the Ibanez Korean plant higher-line guitars, which is most likely one of the plants there that turn out spec-order guitars for Epiphone, Samick/Greg Bennett and other makers today, and who are also trying to take advantage of the cachet of the "Korean-made guitar," especially in light of how the Chinese-made stuff is still getting (somewhat unfairly, in my opinion) a bit of a bad rap among the so-called cognoscenti.

I was able to score the special hard shell arch-topped case with the stamped Ibanez logo on the top with this guitar, and it was included as part of the purchase price, so I had a good buying day last month. It's black with several gold latches and a key, the interior is plush-fur lined, also in black, with a small accessory compartment beneath where the neck rests. It's heavy, just like the guitar, so this one may be something of a grind to transport, but the case also looks extremely solid, so if you're worried about dings and dents to the guitar--which is a very attractive beast, I have to say--go with the case. If you're worried about schlepping the already heavy guitar around, opt for a nicely padded soft gig bag or something similar. // 10

Sound: Typical of humbucker pickups, it takes very little relative volume, when run through a decent amp, to bring some serious sound out of the guitar. The AR300, as well, suits my own particular style and sound needs well enough, I have to admit. Both humbuckers were already set up to the perfect height, by my guys at Music Workshop, in my opinion, for the kind of music I play, which is mainly 50s through today's rock and blues-rock in all its variety. I may eventually swap them out for a pair of Seymour Duncan '59/JB humbuckers (or SH-5s...but it's not a big priority because I think the guitar actually sounds fine as is), but there's no hurry on that. The guitar is suffused with great diversity in tone all-around, anyway.

I'm a big fan of the modern DSP stuff from Crate and I use a 10-year old Crate GX-40C practice amp with two 8-inch speakers as well as a Crate Flexwave 120w 212 (two 12-inch speakers) combo amp for my gigging needs. The only electronics I use comes from the amp (the DSP things) itself as well as it's three-switch stompbox and that's about it. I depend on my fingers to do everything else, though the guitar's also run through a DigiTech Vocalist Live2 unit before making its way to the amplifier.

The guitar's almost preternaturally quiet and that can be disconcerting to somebody not familiar with how humbucker-equipped guitars work, but Ibanez really did a fine job in laying out what it wanted from those craftsmen at the Korean plant where this one was made. The guitar was set up with .11s, with the 'G' string being wound, too, so I had Jerry (at Music Workshop) put on a set of .10s (the pure nickel Slinky Rock ones) and loosen the neck to allow it to relax and accommodate to .10s after being under pressure from those .11s. That's now given this guitar the kind of rock/blues-rock sounds (a bit of bite and some brightness that .11s just can't deliver) that I like, though--because of the humbuckers and the dual-tone control knobs--I can also get a fuller sound if I like. As I said in the features section, though; this guitar is extremely versatile and capable (with a little experimentation) of delivering everything from straight-up metal to smooth jazz (which is why it came set up with .11s, I suppose). // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Given that I had the strings replaced with .10s when I bought it, I had to have Jerry do some tweaking for intonation and action, though it was already butter-smooth with those .11s on it. The folks at Music Workshop just got the thing in last week from a jobber who'd gotten it from a distributor that had been sitting on it for some time (yah...it being a 2005, that's fairly obvious), so they gave the truss rod a twist or two and went over it prior to my taking it off their hands.

As I said, the pickups were nicely adjusted and the top's book-matched in an attractive 'burst flame maple kind of look. I haven't found a single flaw as yet, and the fret dressing work looks to be first-rate across the board. This guitar actually exudes quality of craftsmanship, in fact. // 10

Reliability & Durability: As far as whether or not the AR300 will stand up to live playing, I don't think that's going to be an issue. It's solidly built, with a great deal of attention paid to strengthening all the critical joint points and whatnot, and I'm fastidious about watching where I move the guitar when gigging with it. Hardware-wise, again, it all looks solid enough, though we'll see how those pearloid or ivroid tuning pegs/keyheads do, but so far, so good. This guitar isn't actually going to be my main axe, as I'm more of a Strat man, and I tend to play my Deluxe Players Special (it's a MIM of uncommon quality, with gold hardware and everything) more but, I'd gig live with just the AR300 and no backup if I had to, it's that solidly made.

The guitar's finish also seems built to last, and I don't think there's going to be an issue with wear and tear in that regard, though I always take care to polish my guitars and keep their finishes up because, frankly, I detest that relic'd look that seems to have captivated the younger players among us. I just turned 50 and I've been playing off and on since the late 60s, and if I wanted a used, junky-looking guitar, I'd head to a flea market and buy one...LOL! // 10

Impression: As I said earlier, I play a variety of styles. I like most eras, including Big Band, the 50s Buddy Holly/Chuck Berry stuff, the Beatles/Stones/Zeppelin/Steppenwolf/Airplane things, so-called "classic rock" right up through grunge/alternative (Soundgarden, Concrete Blond, Nirvana etc.) and up through today (Muse's "The Uprising" is a current fave of mine), and the AR300, so far, has been a perfect compliment to those styles. I'm also a percussionist/drummer, playing percussion and drums about as long as I've played guitar (I also play blues harp, piano, alto sax and sing lead and backup, especially when we do three and four-part harmonies), and I'm kind of a fan of music gear, in general, so I own a lot of expensive "boy toys." However: I NEVER solely judge a piece of music gear by how much it cost. This particular axe, in the grand scheme of things, is piddling inexpensive, especially as a NOS and at just $350.00, but it plays nicely at well above its price point for all that.

If it were stolen or lost, I think I'd try to find another, though with solid bodies with through necks or set-in necks or set-necks, each one tends to have just a bit of a unique sonic and tonal quality all its own, so I'm not sure I'd be able to replicate the sound of this one exactly. But I appreciate quality, and the AR300 seems to have that in spades.

Basically, I saw the guitar, sat down and strummed it a bit and found that I really liked what it could do. I wasn't out looking for one and I don't "love" or "hate" things about guitars. They're tools, after all, and the players are the mechanics. And it's a poor mechanic who'd blame his tools for his lack of ability in fixing an automobile engine, right?

Bottom line: Great guitar that provides excellent sounds and ease of use at a price that was hard to pass up! If you see one, you might want to think about grabbing it, because whatever they were putting in the water fountains at the Korean plant where theseAR300s were made really turned those folks into guitar craftsmen, at least when it came to this particular Ibanez model. // 10

Ibanez S-1520 NT Review

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:46:00 +0000

Made in 2000, at the Fujigen, Japan shop. 22 Frets, original wizard neck, cream'ish colored vinyl bindings on the neck only, Rosewood fingerboard 3 piece maple/bubinga neck, Jumbo frets.

Price paid: $ 600.00

Purchased from: EBay

Features: Made in 2000, at the Fujigen, Japan shop. 22 Frets, original wizard neck, cream'ish colored vinyl bindings on the neck only, Rosewood fingerboard 3 piece maple/bubinga neck, Jumbo frets. It's a mahogany body, with a bubinga top. It's a lightly stained bubinga top, with transparent finish. The body style is of course the S-series body style. The bridge is a Ibanez-licensed Floyd Rose Lo-Pro Edge tremolo system (in my opinion the finest they've ever made. Err I've ever played) It had passive Quantum 1 & 2 pickups in it, but those weren't quite nice enough. So I installed a much hotter Kramer quad-rail knock off in the bridge, and a Bill Lawrence XL500 Bridge pup in the neck position. Standard volume knob/tone knob, 5 way selector, running in series and one parallel setting. The pickup topography is H-H, two humbuckers. The tuners are very nice, I think they may be gotoh, but it has a locking nut. I got the case with it, the tremelo, aaaaaand. That was it. No tools, etc. (EBay) // 9
Sound: This suit's my style rather well, I play mostly metal and classical-style guitar. The guitar's extremely resonant due to quality woods, and the hollow intonation cavity. Everyone with any common sense or awareness in regards to guitars knows that Ibanez are the best-built, mass-distributed guitars for. Virtually any style, especially at their price. If you paid 3 times as much as this cost when it was originally bought for a Gibson, you'd still get an inferior guitar. I play through a few multi-effects processors, and various effects looped in, to a digital power amp intended for movie theater surround sound, to multiple JBL Studio monitors.

The guitar always sounds as good as it possibly could, as long as the player is worthy. For the most part, it's tone is suprisely high-end for mahogany (high frequency, that is). It's well rounded as far as EQ goes, but it is on the higher end, it's designed for metal. Pinch harmonics ring out due to this.

As I said, pinch harmonics are a breeze, partially due to my bridge pickup. The neck pickup is, of course, bassier and duller, but it definitely sounds excellent as well. The Lo-Pro Edge is probably the best sustaining Floyd Rose trem, if not the zero resistance trem's they've been making. But the ZR trem's function as a vibrato is definitely not as nice. Overall this guitar sounds excellent. I've actually never found a better one in a store, ever, especially for metal. Don't get me wrong though, this thing sounds excellent either way. It's just not a fat-neck resonator, or puny little Fender. So it can't emulate those sounds. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The lo-pro edge on it actually sit's a little higher than I'm used to. As in the area it's affixed to is slightly higher than I used to like. Now I've actually come to appreciate it. It allows me to loosen the strings by loosening the intonation plate, which creates better sustain, and more exaggerative bends. It feels like my Jackson did when the trem was completely loosened. Which is good, cause it was a stiff little bastard. The pickups that came with it were the best stock pickups I've ever heard... But they were still trash. They sounded about like an EMG 81/85. Which is by slightly too weak for my taste. I wouldn't say there are any flaws with this guitar, after I've rewired it. However, due to the fact that my bridge pickup is a double humbucker and not a normal humbucker, the 5th selector Switch position is now a ground. ie, it's essentially a killswitch that isn't very fun to use. I don't mind that at all though, I can still get series bridge, series neck, series both, parallel both. I wouldn't want any other path arrangements.

Did I mention that it looks beautiful? No dots on the frets, man that's nice looking, lol. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I'd say it's very durable. But it IS any s-series, so it's very thin. I feel like I could easily break it, but it's sustained zero-wear and tear after me totting it all around town to play with various people/groups. Nothing on it seems to be getting damaged. No rust, no warping, no cracks, finish is still virtually perfect on the front. I'd use it in a gig without a backup. In fact, I can barely stand to play on my backup, cause this thing's so nice. // 9

Impression: I mostly play Metal/classical style guitar, this thing is absolutely immaculate for my playing style. I would want it to be 24 fret, but. Somehow I've found it to be more comfortable playing on a 22, and I rarely find myself wishing there were two extra frets. I've been playing guitar at least 8 hours a day for the last year and a half semi-professionally. Before that I'd only tinkered with guitar for a short while as a child. I've played extensively on a Gibson Explorer, a lot of Les Pauls, a few Fender-styled guitars. They all suck by comparison. Very badly. When I played on my first Ibanez, I literally felt as if I had orgasmed. I've never found any guitar comparable to that of finer Ibanez guitars. Or even the cheap ones for that matter. I do not regret owning this guitar in any way at all, I will never sell it. If it were to be stolen, it wouldn't be easily replaced, and I would murder whoever did it. I'd at least castrate someone who thought about it. I will reiterate, it's difficult to compare this guitar to other guitars, the only ones I consider to be comparable are other Ibanez's. Jacksons are trash, Gibsons = trash, Schecter. Trash, ESP = trash, I think it goes without saying that Fenders are trash. I played a fernandez that was moderately nice once. My friend's 80's Kramer is almost as nice, but it's trem, headstock angle, and frets don't quite cut it. That says alot, given that his Kramer was essentially the definitive metal guitar during a period of time when metal guitars were actually really popular.

If you find one of these guitars on EBay, floating around, and it's not damaged, and you like owning excellent-sounding guitars. I'd suggest you jump on it. I

review from ultimate-guitar.com'm glad I did. // 10

RG 8420 ZD Review

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:36:00 +0000

Price paid: $ 1800

Features: This guitar was made by Team J Craft in Japan in 2008. This guitar is very well built, since it's made by the best builders in The Ibanez Company. The neck is a five piece "super Wizard" neck (maple and walnut). I think this neck is in a good way different from other wizard necks. The neck profile is thin, witch makes it easy to play fast. It has 24 fret fretboard with "Tree Of Life Inlay" inlays.

The bpdy is made of African mahogany and has a flamed maple top that's looks amazing in the color of red. The bridge is the new Edge Zero with the "zero-point" system witch works perfectly fine. When it's set up properly (it comes from the factory very well set up) it stays perfectly in tune, even after heavy use. But I don't recommend you to change bridge settings on a gig, because you'll need to retune the guitar (at least I had to do it). I experienced that the tremolo arm made som sounds, but the seller said that they will go away after some use.

The electronics is passive and this guitar comes with Seymour Duncans. In the bridge position it has a Seymour DuncanR CUSTOM 5 TB-14 and in the bridge position it has a Seymour DuncanR JAZZ model SH2-n. The pickup selector is a 5-way Switch. The guitar also has a volum nob and a tone nob.

It comes with a J custom case identical to the Prestige cases. It also comes with wrenches, straplocks from Gotoh, and the coolest thing is the certificate that comes with the guitar luthiers signature and all other documents. // 8

Sound: The pickups is powerful and has a nice sound for rock and metal. At the same time, you can have a Strat kind of a clean sound, because it can splitt the humbuckers to single coils, so the guitar is very versatile in sound. I only use a Dunlop Crybaby wah wah and a DigiTech Whammy IV into a Marshall AVT 10, and I love the guitar sound. It has a lot of options in sound and all of them sound very, very good. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: Since the guitar is a custom shop guitar, and the seller was the first owner and the guitar only had been played for 3 hours, it was very good set up, it was even tuned perfectly. The pickups are monunted straight to the body and are very well mounted to the body. The bridge is very well routed for the tremolo and you can really pull the bridge up. The hardware doesn't make any sound and works very well. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I haven't tried the guitar Live, but I think it will stand a Live show with out problems, if you use it properly. The hardware works so good that I don't think thats the weak spot on this guitar. The strap buttons are very good, but needs to be tighten now and then, but since the guitar comes with straplocks, it probably won't be a problem. The finish is good and if you polish the guitar and take care of the guitar, it will last for a long time. I've had this guitar for a half week, but I think the finish can take a lot of beating. // 10

Impression: I play a lot of rock and instumental rock/metal like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. The guitar suits my playing styles good. I've been playing for 3 years and was ready for a new guitar. I don't use a lot of effects, and I don't think it's necessary.

When I was going to buy a new guitar, it stood between Music Man JP6, Jackson SL-1 and this one, and I don't regret for buying this guitar. I chose this guitar because I felt that it had everything I needed on a guitar. This guitar is worth trying out, and are worth the money. // 10

Review from ultimate-guitar.com

Ibanez GAX 30

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:23:00 +0000

Purchased from: Long And McQuade

Features: Current model, made in China. 22 medium frets, rosewood fingerboard. Either basswood or agathis body (the site said basswood, the people at L&M said agathis). Really hot jewel blue finish, it looks completely different depending on the lighting, from royal blue to navy to purple. The shape is really cool, almost like a fusion of a LP and a SG, it has the Horns and thickness of the SG, with that big round bottom of the LP. The bridge is HardTail with thru body stringing, when I bought it, it didn't seem that big a deal, but it makes a huge difference once you sit down and play. Two standard Ibanez humbuckers in the bridge and neck positions. I really like them, and they sure beat anything I've heard on the squires and epiphones in this price range. Three way selector neck/neck-bridge/bridge. One volume and one tone (which really works). Generic tuners, but they do the job. Comes with a ten foot patch, but it's garbage, it's really thin, and I only use it to tune the guitar. Spend the ten dollars for a ten foot yorkville patch, it is 100 times better. The rating is not for all guitars, just ones in the under 300 bracket. // 10

Sound: I bought this guitar because it's the brand of a number of great metal and rock guitarist's, and I didn't want a fruity sounding Strat. I've had it for three days, and right now am playing U2, OLP, SOAD and Finger Eleven with much success. The guitar fits me perfectly (as opposed to the Epiphone Special 2 I bought a little while back and returned the next day). I bought a 15 watt Traynor amp, and they really seem to compliment eachother better than any other pairing I found (I really cannot overemphasize how important it is not to buy a starter pack for your first electric purchase. You wind up paying too much for substandard equipment. I spent only $380, including tax, for everything: guitar, amp, patch, tuner, strap and gigbag, and wound up with much higher quality gear than a Strat Pack which would have cost 100 more). Anyway, playing with the tone (again, why affinity strats suck) and the three band equalizer on the amp gave me a huge spectrum of sounds. I'm talking everything from the Edge's ES-335 in All Because of You, to Steve Mazur's Crunchy Bridge and Screaming solo in Not Enough to the myriad of sounds that Daron produces with SOAD - this guitar did it all. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: Everything was pretty good. No fret buzz, the only prob was that the bridge PU was a bit slanted, closer to the low e that the high e, which took all of a minute to fix. Flawless finish. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I played several guitars while trying to decide which to purchase. Without a doubt this is the most solid of all of them. I was always ginger with strats b/c I felt like I was going to break them, but this thing is solid. The strap buttons aren't going anywhere, and the finish looks like it would withstand prolonged nuclear bombardment. // 10

Impression: This is my guitar! It fits me perfectly. I've been playing casually for a few years on the two acoustics in my house, some Suzuki POS and a Fender F-03. I had the oppurtunity to learn some songs on the acoustic that I transferred right to the electric with much success. If the guitar was lost or stolen today, I would get another. Down the road well in the words of k-Os, heaven only knows. If I get more into playing because of this axe, I'd ideally like to get both an Epiphone Dot and an Ibanez Iceman down the road. However, right here, right now, this is the s--t. My advice to all starting guitarists never compromise. Dont think that because some Fender major guitar manufacturer offers some crappy second line of guitar under another name packaged with a bad amp and a bunch of substandard accessories you have to buy that. Find the guitar that suits your style, taste and price. And if you seem intimidated by the prospects of getting all the required components to get started, remember that the staff of whatever music store you are shopping at are paid to help you. I wound up getting along really well with the woman who helped me get everything together, which is something that wouldn't have happened had I simply walked up to the counter and said "Hi, I'd like the generic Starter Kit that most buy." The bottom line is that you need to be true to yourself, your style, your music, your identity. // 10

Review from ultimate-guitar.com

Ibanez GRG 150 Review

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Features: 8
Sound: 9
Action: 9
Reliability: 10
Impression: 9
Overall rating: 9
Users rating: 6
Comments: 48

Price paid: £ 170

Purchased from: A.salonga music

Features: I bought this guitar about 3-4 years ago in the Philippines for my birthday, it was made in china, and it was my first good guitar. Its a super-strat style guitar with 24 medium frets, on a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard (dotted inlays). Basswood body, and a passive humbucker/pickup/humbucker set-up with one volume dial, one tone dial and a 5-way selector. It has a Standard Ibanez floating trmolo bridge (Fat 10 apparently). The stock pickups are Standard Ibanez pickups. A very good set-up for the price. // 8

Sound: It suits my musical style greatly! You can get just about any kind of sound you want out of it, I play most kinds of rock music and it suits them all fine, from Green Day to Bullet, its suited them all fine. At the moment I'm running my guitars through a Peavey Vypyr 15 watt practice amp and it sounds sick! It has a rather bright kinda sound to it which is something I don't really like, but with a bit of tweaking you can easily adjust it to sound how you want. All in all its pretty sick! // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: When I'd bought it, the action was so so, it was playable. But at the time I was more into thrash metal, so I lowered it as low as it would go without much fret buzz, which was surprisingly very low, the pickups were also set up to an average standard, but I raised them a bit to get a little more volume out of them, other than that it pretty perfectly set up. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I'm not too sure here, I'd had it and played it for about 2 years before going live with it, but during the 2 years my idiot sister had knocked it off its stand onto a tiled floor at least twice, so it had two small cracks around where the neck is joined to the body. But I've played live with it 3 times without a backup so I can safely say that it can definitely withstand live playing. The strap buttons are big and solid, and the finish will last forever. Perfect! // 10

Impression: This guitar was the best I could get at the time and I'm happy I did, it suits whatever I want to play whenever I want to and its always been dependable, I've been playing around 5 years now and I also have a B.C. Rich Platinum Warlock that is admittedly a lot better than this, its suited for anyone really, because it'll sound good to a beginner/ intermediate guitarist and an experienced player could easily make it sound good, and also for the price, this guitar is awesome.

If it were stolen I'd be pissed for a while, but I wouldn't go out and buy another (due mostly to the fact that I live back in the UK now and they're not available here) but oh well. When I bought it, I compared it against a variety of other Ibanez models that were in my price range, and this one came out on top. A great buy! // 9

Review from www.ultimate-guitar.com

Ibanez GIO GRX720 7-string

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:42:00 +0000

Ibanez GIO GRX720 7-string

Ibanez Grx70 Review

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:31:00 +0000

Heres another great Ibanez gio model baby!! Sweet

Price paid: $ 308.7

Purchased from: Trimis Music Shop

Features: This is one of the japanese Ibanez models. It has an Agathis body and 22 frets from which, only the 18 are playable to me! The 5 way selector for one single and two humbucker pick-up is good although the sound gets very poor when you are playing with only the single coil and very bass when you are on the upper humbucker! Oh, and the tuners are not locking causing problems with the string tension! // 6

Sound: My style varies among american alternative & grunge-like sounds to manchester brit-pop and Indie like Pixies or Dinosaur Jr. And this guitar was always a great performer when I need heavy sounds or distorted wahs and generally heavy effects (flangers,phasers etc.) But when it comes to clean playing it doesn't feel right to play with it...and doesn't compare to my Mexican Strat. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was quite well set up and forgetting those .10 strings and the distance they had from the fretboard that made barres difficult to play after the 8th fret everything else was really good. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I have used this guitar on a live show, and I can't say it was perfect but it was not bad.I don't know if for this mediocre performance was responsible the amp I used then, a Fender 65W Twin Reverb. I think it's a quite good guitar for beginners and people who know exactly what heavy/distorted sound want to create.The buttons and the body look really well built and solid, but of course improving your playing won't let this guitar last for more than 2-3 years as your main instrument. I have it since January 2001 and I have already bought a Mexican Strat and a Squier Tele as main guitars for live shows and studio. // 6

Impression: In the studio I use it with my Marshall JCM 2000 / TSL 100 with an 100W stereo cabinet and the Korg AX100 digital effects, plus a Boss Digital Delay, a Cry Baby and a Boss Flanger pedal and i turn on the amp's crunch channel it's perfect!

Ibanez GRX-70 can give me all this heavy sound I need when playing fast riffs, or distorteed wah solos, fifths. When in the studio, I always use it to record the rhythm guitar parts!

But of course it's not a guitar with great features or very bad ones...Ibanez covers all the average needs of a guitar player in a smart way and doesn't promise something more... // 8

The new Ibanez Mikro GRGM21GB

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 07:01:00 +0000

This is the new Ibanez Gio Mikro Guitar
GRGM21GB

Small hands make big sounds with the Ibanez miKros. These compact guitars keep many of the features of their bigger counterparts and even come with a gig bag for hitting the road.

Specifications:
* 1pc GRGM Maple neck
* Poplar body
* Medium frets
* Fixed bridge
* Standard (H) neck pu
* Standard (H) bridge pu
* Hardware color : Chrome
* Scale : 560mm/22"
* Colors : BKN (Black Night), BMB (Beam Blue)

The Ibanez Mikro GRGM21 can truly shred in smaller places than its competitors.
The Ibanez Mikro is not a toy – made to the same high standards of the other GIO series guitars. The RGRM21 has the same high-output Powersound pickups, the same construction, materials, set-up and inspection. It’s just shorter, a 22.2-inch scale neck instead of 25.5-inch, and smaller. That makes it perfect for tour buses, songwriting, running scales while downloading and, of course, for young rockers and beginners.

Feature:
Love the sound from the pickups! The string action is very light, perfect for a beginner or an accomplished player. They do not come with tremolo systems, which for me would be a drawback, but for my son it actually is great, because it will save me from having to tune it up every time he used it. Great for rock, blues, or jazz.

Quality:
There are no strings but the guitar is in great condition. Dropped it twice, didn’t break a thing. The neck is perfectly solid and beautiful. The finish is very hard to scratch or damage as well as the pick guard. I feel comfortable with lots of use of this guitar. The only thing though is its size can make a worry.

Value:
Its a good price for what you’re getting. Ok for the price I got my red mikro at, 120$ I would pay the price double just to keep it. after looking at this guitar and playing it for the first time I would of never guessed it to be this price. I would guess around 3 or 400 dollars. wow. It has the looks of a 500 dollar guitar with sound of a 300 dollar guitar. so they could of made the price this way because of the bodies size, but really that’s just an added bonus to me. Cheap and sounds like a bought it for 1000000 dollars. Check latest price.

Desirability:
The shark tooth inlay on the fret board makes this guitar stand out from the other Start copies. The pickups are much better than the usual single coil from this type of guitar. This is a great looking guitar. I can sit and look at it for hours. I’m looking to get a Ibanez RG 350dx and this guitar actually looks similar to it. It has the black on candy apple red which is my favorite combination. it is available in other good colors to. The neck is a beauty I love the shark tooth diagrams. Beyond that just set it down and step away and stare at it and u will just want to kiss this thing

Sound:
This guitar produces a way better sound than it looks it would. The pickups can sound great for metal, softy stuff, or just any rock. I think it could have a 5 way toggle switch but it still produces great sounds w/o.

Ease of Use:
It is very playable. The smaller body makes great for good solo play on the 24 fret neck. Its hard enough to get to 21st fret on my start so this makes things all fine and dandy. For a fat metal or rock sound I simply just use the neck pickup. and the bridge pickup is great for a thinner moderate rock sound that cant be beat. If u can play a regular standard sized guitar this one is no different except a lilt easier. Pretty easy to use. I got small fingers and it’s easy to move the strings around without having to strain.

Overall:
This is the perfect sized guitar for my 9 year old son. The double coil pickups and the shark tooth inlay were the reasons for buying this one over the Stratocaster Squire. I was very happy when the guitar came perfectly set up, ready to play. I would definitely buy another one.

The guitar was a backup or extra axe to have when I buy my 350dx Ibanez. but after purchase and playing time with it its now more of my main go to guitars. I love that about it. Great pickups smooth sound. Great for rock, blues, or jazz.

Technical Info
Neck: GRGM
Scale: 22.2 in.
Neck Material: Maple
Alder Body: Best known as the body wood for the “classic single coil, bolt on neck guitar,” alder produces clear, full bodied vintage tone that works well for lead or rhythm work.
Fret: 24, Medium
Rosewood Fingerboard: Rosewood offers a strong, bright sound and an attractive appearance with a long grain.
Bridge: Fixed – This design offers thru-body stringing for stronger tone and sustain.
Neck Pickup: PSND1 (Humbucker)
Bridge Pickup: PSND2 (Humbucker)
Inlay: Pearl Dot

Technical Detail
Ibanez GRGM21 Mikro Compact Electric Guitar Specifications
• Body Material: Poplar
• Neck Material: Maple
• Neck Scale: 22.2 inches
• Type: Bolt-on
• Number of Frets: 22
• Fret Type: Medium
• Fingerboard: Rosewood
• Inlay: Sharktooth
• Bridge: Fixed
• Hardware Color: Chrome
• Neck Pickup: Powersound PSND1
• Bridge Pickup: Powersound PSND2
• Controls: One Tone, One Volume

Ibanez Grx20 BKN Review

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 06:45:00 +0000

My Review on Ibanez GRX20 Series
Black Knight Finish, Rosewood Fretboard, Maple Neck, Agatis Body, 2 Powersound Humbucker Pickups.

Price paid: $ 170

Purchased from: Music Centre

Features: The guitar is a normal 22 fret guitar, laminated top. There is one volume and one tone nob which makes for easy control. // 6
Sound: This definitely suits all music styles, I play everything from acoustic emo, to synth rock, to death metal, and it plays all of those very well. I'm currently using a Peavey Blazer 158 amp with the Ibanez Super Tub pedal. Yea I know, old pedal, but it's still kicking and working perfectly. It gives a beautiful rich acoustic clean sound and the heaviest full lead sounds. The tone can give the meatiest bass sound or the crunchiest grunge sounds. I especially love that grunge sound. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: It is a very well set up guitar, well adjusted and great strings out of the factory. The only string that broke on me out of it was the low E and that was about 11 months after i had owned it. The pickups although are a little loose, the one closest to the fretboard is bent down a little after some... tough playing, but it still sounds like it was brand new despite this little incident, and i'm sure it can be fixed if it causes any serious problems. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This guitar will withstand live playing, and I don't need a back up when I've got this. It is the most durable guitar ever, I bet I could smash it against the ground, pick it up, maybe repair a few strings, and it would sound fine. I've had it for a year or so and the hardware is in excellent shape, and I do have a scratch or two on the paint but it's not a problem. The strap buttons although can get very insecure, expecially the bottom one. // 10

Impression: This is a great guitar especially for beginners. I love every part of this guitar accept for the minor problems but like out of tuning a bit. Recommended for beginners and intermediate. // 10

The Ibanez Gio Series

noreply@blogger.com (zuladlee) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 06:12:00 +0000

The history and facts behind Ibanez Gio

The Ibanez GIO Series is a budget guitar series produced by Hoshino Gakki (Ibanez), replacing the Cimar line. The GIO guitars are a "budget" model line similar to Fender's Squier guitars and Gibson's Epiphone line. Unlike those particular budget lines however, these are produced as fully Ibanez branded, with a GIO logo above the standard Ibanez logo to indicate the series. This series of guitars were produced in either China or Indonesia, depending on model.

GAX series: The budget version of the AX series. This guitar's neck is based on the 22 fret AX profile, and the guitar is fitted with a hard-tail bridge and a dual humbucker (H-H) pickup configuration. The GAX75GP comes with a Shortstop bridge and "downshifter" to allow for quick drop-D tuning.
GSA series: The budget version of the SA series. This guitar uses a variety of configurations including a SAT-10 bridge, instead of the SAT-Pro bridge on the SA models, and the body wood is Agathis. This models neck is based on the 22 fret SA neck profile. Hardware configurations include a dual humbucker and single coil pickup (H-S-H) combined with a full locking system, a dual single-coil and humbucker (S-S-H) with a standard floating bridge, and a dual humbucker setup (H-H) with a standard floating bridge.
GSZ series: The budget version of theIbanez SZ series. This guitar uses a Full Tune II bridge instead of the Gibraltar III, and also comes with a Quik Change III tailpiece for easy and quick string changes, these are mounted on top of the body using a wrappiece instead of thru-body stringing. These models use a neck profile based on a 22 fret SZ profile, but use bolt on construction rather than set-neck.
GRG series. Not including the GRGM, these are the budget versions of the Ibanez RGseries. The DX version uses a Fat 10 single-locking floating tremolo bridges instead of a double locking tremolo system. The body is constructed of basswood, although of a lower grade than that found in Ibanez' higher ranges. The neck profile is based on the 24 fret RG-series neck, and comes with shark-tooth inlay. The non-DX model is fitted with a standard Ibanez floating bridge and dot inlays.
GRX series. The budget version of the Ibanez RX series (Similar in design to the RG, and with a similarly thin neck, but 22 frets rather than 24.). These guitars use the Fat 6 floating tremolo bridge instead of a double locking bridge design. The body is constructed of basswood, although of a lower grade than that found in Ibanez' higher ranges. The neck profile is based on the 22 fret RX-series neck. There are a number of configurations for this model including the use of pick-guards, humbuckers and single coil pickups. Models range from no pick-guard and two humbuckers (H-H) to a super-strat design with pick-guard, two single coils and a humbucker (S-S-H).
GRGM series, also known as miKro RG series, this model is a smaller scale guitar designed for smaller hands, with a 22 inch, 24-fret neck, based upon the RG neck. These models use a fixed through body bridge. While normally provided with 2 pickups, a recent model was made available which replaced the neck pickup with an onboard 2.5 watt amplifier. With a recent update, the GRGM now uses Mahogany instead of Agathis for body wood.