My Sound Clinic

Specs

Price new: £299

Neck type: Bolt-on 3pc Wizard II

Body: Basswood

Hardware: Black

Bridge: Edge III double locking

Frets: 24 Jumbo

Pickups: INF3 neck humbucker, INFS3 single coil middle, INF4 bridge humbucker

Price second hand: Probably not much less than rrp, because they’re still very much in production. £180 - £210

Review
Out of all the 6 string solid body electrics I’ve ever played and/or owned this is most probably the best so far, especially for the price. As soon as I picked It up it just felt right, looked right, played right, and most importantly it sounded right. It was my first Ibanez, and it was this guitar that made me an avid Ibanez player, and I’ve never ventured into other brands since. I wasn’t even intending on buying a guitar that day, I just happened to wander over to the music shop in my lunch break to annoy the staff by requesting to play guitars I couldn’t afford!

Playability
9 times out of 10 when I play a guitar that looks like this it always turns out to be quite disappointing. You’ve probably done it yourself; you see a guitar in a magazine or onstage, you think it looks amazing, then when you get to playing it it’s as dull as shopping with your Nan. Especially when you consider how badly they have the amps set up in music shops. But no, not this time, I plugged it in and it practically played itself. It was effortless, and even on low gain settings I could squeal it like a little piggy. Then when I got it home and adjusted it to my preference it was even more amazing. It had low action, amazing fret access, and a quick smooth tremolo, just awesome.

Sound
I’ve always said Ibanez have the best stock pickups on their guitars I’ve ever heard, and this one is no exception. Second only to the ones on my RG7620, the INF pups have such a bright, mid-crunch tone with a massive output, perfect for heavy metal and shredding. Even when you tune down they retain their brightness, which is a rarity in passive pickups. Usually you sacrifice clarity in the mid ranges when you drop a few pitches, making a sludge, but I’ve had this right down at drop B without having to drastically alter my amp settings at all.

Over all
For its price you cannot fault this guitar what so ever. It looks amazing, very Steve Vai (if you like that sort of thing) with the pearl-effect scratch plate, white paintjob, black hardware and white shark tooth inlays, this axe is a sexual beast and will look the mutts nuts onstage! It’s most certainly giggable, with tight crisp pickups that don’t feedback, and a durable smooth whammy that you can dive all day long, it would definitely be an instrument of longevity for home use, studio, or on the road.

Rating

Sound: 9

Looks: 10

Playability: 8.5

Value for money: 9

Overall: 9

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