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tjon901 « Brutal Ibanez 8 string »
Published on 08/12/11 at 21:10The RGA line is Ibanez's line of arch top RG models. These models have a very comfortable feel compared to the normal models due to their arch top design. This guitar is an extended range guitar. This guitar has 8 strings. This guitar features a mahogany body with a bolt on wizard neck. The neck has a 27 inch scale to handle the lower strings. The neck has 24 jumbo frets on a rosewood fretboard. It has a set of active Ibanez pickups which are the same size and look of EMG's and have a similar sound. The controls are pretty unusual with a single volume with a 3 way blade toggle. The extra switch on the guitar is an active mid cut switch. The bridge is an Edge 3 tremolo but it is fixed in place. There is also a locking nut. This combined with a locked tremolo means this guitar stays in tune well.
UTILIZATION
With the thin Ibanez necks it is easy to adapt to the wide fretboard of an 8 string. You do not want a super thick neck when you are going into an extended range guitar because it will just make it even harder to play. The double locking setup does a good job in keeping this guitar in tune. I dont know why Ibanez is making some of their tremolo systems into hardtails but it works I guess. This guitar has a set of active Ibanez pickups which have a battery compartment on the back for a quick swap of pickup batteries. The arch top body is super comfortable. With normal RG's the guitars have sharpish edges that can kinda dig into your body, with this guitar these edges are rounded off.
SOUNDS
Ibanez got pretty close to perfect with this design. When you are tuning low or have an extended range guitar what you want is a mahogany body and active pickups and this is what you get on this guitar. But the extra eq knob is a bit of a miss. The mahogany body gives you a really thick tone compared to the basswood junk they make most of their guitars out of. The mid cut knob is a joke. I thought it was a kill switch when I first saw it which would have been cooler with active pickups. They should rename the knob the tone suck knob instead of the eq cut knob. The active Ibanez are pretty decent. They are pretty much EMG copies. You can get nice high gain tones from both of them. You can get a good high gain lead tone from the neck position but it will get muddy if you pour it on too much. The bridge position has the nice high end sizzle you expect from active pickups. This keeps it from getting muddy in the lower frequencies. With these pickups being oversized you can easily swap in a set of real EMG's which is nice because 7 string EMG pickups are not a direct swap for many guitars.
OVERALL OPINION
With this RGA8 you are on the right track to having a great 8 string guitar. The way the guitar comes it is a perfectly acceptable model which can be gigged right out of the box. If you swap in a set of EMG pickups you will have an 8 string as good as any 4000 custom job guitar out there. If you are looking for a nice 8 string to play your Djent riffs on here is a good example.
UTILIZATION
With the thin Ibanez necks it is easy to adapt to the wide fretboard of an 8 string. You do not want a super thick neck when you are going into an extended range guitar because it will just make it even harder to play. The double locking setup does a good job in keeping this guitar in tune. I dont know why Ibanez is making some of their tremolo systems into hardtails but it works I guess. This guitar has a set of active Ibanez pickups which have a battery compartment on the back for a quick swap of pickup batteries. The arch top body is super comfortable. With normal RG's the guitars have sharpish edges that can kinda dig into your body, with this guitar these edges are rounded off.
SOUNDS
Ibanez got pretty close to perfect with this design. When you are tuning low or have an extended range guitar what you want is a mahogany body and active pickups and this is what you get on this guitar. But the extra eq knob is a bit of a miss. The mahogany body gives you a really thick tone compared to the basswood junk they make most of their guitars out of. The mid cut knob is a joke. I thought it was a kill switch when I first saw it which would have been cooler with active pickups. They should rename the knob the tone suck knob instead of the eq cut knob. The active Ibanez are pretty decent. They are pretty much EMG copies. You can get nice high gain tones from both of them. You can get a good high gain lead tone from the neck position but it will get muddy if you pour it on too much. The bridge position has the nice high end sizzle you expect from active pickups. This keeps it from getting muddy in the lower frequencies. With these pickups being oversized you can easily swap in a set of real EMG's which is nice because 7 string EMG pickups are not a direct swap for many guitars.
OVERALL OPINION
With this RGA8 you are on the right track to having a great 8 string guitar. The way the guitar comes it is a perfectly acceptable model which can be gigged right out of the box. If you swap in a set of EMG pickups you will have an 8 string as good as any 4000 custom job guitar out there. If you are looking for a nice 8 string to play your Djent riffs on here is a good example.