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ejendres « Ibanez's stab at a PRS »
Published on 10/13/11 at 13:02This is a Korean made Ibanez with a master tone, individual volumes for each pickup, and a 3 way switch. The scale length is 25.1". It has a string-thru step up with Ibanez's proprietary 'Gibraltar III' bridge, which is very similar to a typical tune-o-matic, except the saddles are more like modern Strat saddles, which makes palm mutes a little easier and strings less likely to break than they are on the sharp tune-o-matic saddles.
Another cool feature Ibanez added is that in the middle position both Humbuckers are split, so it has a really nice clean tone in that position.
The neck is a very similar shape to the Ibanez Wizard II, but with a little more meat. Its one of my favorite necks of all time. Thick enough that your hand won't cramp up while playing chords, but thin enough that it doesn't get in the way of fast lead playing. It has 22 medium frets.
It comes loaded with Duncan designed humbuckers.
UTILIZATION
The heel is very nice, its shaped to make the fret access better. It doesn't have the best upper fret access, but its not as bad as a Les Paul.
The stock pickups are definitely the weakest aspect of this guitar. They kinda flat and muddy sounding. They aren't awful, but they definitely need to be replaced before the guitar can really shine.
The body of the guitar is quite thick, which makes it beautifully resonant and sustain forever. This also makes it on the heavier side. Its not back breaking heavy, but its definitely not light.
SOUNDS
I used this guitar with a multitude of amps, and once the pickups were replaced it sounded outstanding through all of them.
With the stock pickups the guitar can pull off great clean tones, and great OD tones, but once you get into high gain territory the muddiness really starts to show.
OVERALL OPINION
Its probably obvious by now but the think I like least about this guitar is the pickups. They're decent but not great, and everything else about this guitar is great. At the price point, its still a great value. Especially for what they're going used for these days.
Of all the guitars I've owned this has been one of my favorites. I tried out a lot of other guitars before I picked it and I owned it for over 3 years before I sold mine. It a great guitar that with a decent setup and good pickups can be an amazing guitar. Its be perfect poorman's PRS.
Another cool feature Ibanez added is that in the middle position both Humbuckers are split, so it has a really nice clean tone in that position.
The neck is a very similar shape to the Ibanez Wizard II, but with a little more meat. Its one of my favorite necks of all time. Thick enough that your hand won't cramp up while playing chords, but thin enough that it doesn't get in the way of fast lead playing. It has 22 medium frets.
It comes loaded with Duncan designed humbuckers.
UTILIZATION
The heel is very nice, its shaped to make the fret access better. It doesn't have the best upper fret access, but its not as bad as a Les Paul.
The stock pickups are definitely the weakest aspect of this guitar. They kinda flat and muddy sounding. They aren't awful, but they definitely need to be replaced before the guitar can really shine.
The body of the guitar is quite thick, which makes it beautifully resonant and sustain forever. This also makes it on the heavier side. Its not back breaking heavy, but its definitely not light.
SOUNDS
I used this guitar with a multitude of amps, and once the pickups were replaced it sounded outstanding through all of them.
With the stock pickups the guitar can pull off great clean tones, and great OD tones, but once you get into high gain territory the muddiness really starts to show.
OVERALL OPINION
Its probably obvious by now but the think I like least about this guitar is the pickups. They're decent but not great, and everything else about this guitar is great. At the price point, its still a great value. Especially for what they're going used for these days.
Of all the guitars I've owned this has been one of my favorites. I tried out a lot of other guitars before I picked it and I owned it for over 3 years before I sold mine. It a great guitar that with a decent setup and good pickups can be an amazing guitar. Its be perfect poorman's PRS.