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tjon901 « Designed for super low tunings »
Published on 08/07/11 at 07:26The D in the RGD series stands for downtuning. The RGD series is a version of the RG that comes from the factory with a long scale neck and tuned a step down. That means for this model which is a 7 string it comes setup in A tuning. Lots of modern Djent bands are using guitars like these to help get their djent sound. Other than the long scale neck these are pretty basic RG guitars. They have a basswood body with a maple neck. The neck is the wizard profile so it is super thin. It has two passive Ibanez pickups and simple controls. It has a volume knob and a 3 way toggle right under the neck pickup. It has the Ibanez edge zero tremolo which lets you change tunings easily do to its cool new spring system. It is a pretty modern design and the best Ibanez tremolo currently used.
UTILIZATION
The playability on this guitar is great. I love the bodies on the RGD guitars. They have extra deep cutaways and the edges are not super sharp. The body is almost like a mix between an RG and an RGA arch top. The bottom cutaway extends past the 24 fret which is really what you want for ultimate fret access. The tremolo stays in tune very well because of its modern design. The thin neck means you can really get into 7 string playing without much trouble. The thin neck with the flat profile and jumbo frets mean you can really get a super easy action. On some 7 strings with big fat necks you really feel like you have to man handle it. This guitar barely feels like you are playing a 7 string.
SOUNDS
I played this guitar right after testing the RGA7 and the difference in tone was night and day. The RGA7 has active pickups and the RGD has passive pickups. I always recommend active pickups on extended range guitars because they can handle the frequencies better. I dont know why they didnt put their active pickups in this guitar since everything else on it was designed with low frequencies in mind. With the 3 way switch its like they expect you to put in active pickups. This pickups in this model are pretty weak and can barely handle the low tunings. The extended scale helps tighten up the sound a bit but not as much as a set of good pickups would do.
OVERALL OPINION
Ibanez is still getting close but they cant quite pull it off. Between this and the RGA7 you can get the perfect 7 string Ibanez. If this guitar had the mahogany body and pickups of the RGA7 it would be the best 7 string Ibanez ever made. This Ibanez is good but it suffers from the same problem 90 percent of Ibanez guitars do. You will need to change the pickups on it to reach the full potential of this guitar. The RGA7 is also 1/3 the price of this guitar and the biggest difference is that it is a hardtail, which to me makes it better. The RGA comes with better pickups stock also. I would recommend the RGA over this guitar unless you absolutely need the extended scale and the tremolo.
UTILIZATION
The playability on this guitar is great. I love the bodies on the RGD guitars. They have extra deep cutaways and the edges are not super sharp. The body is almost like a mix between an RG and an RGA arch top. The bottom cutaway extends past the 24 fret which is really what you want for ultimate fret access. The tremolo stays in tune very well because of its modern design. The thin neck means you can really get into 7 string playing without much trouble. The thin neck with the flat profile and jumbo frets mean you can really get a super easy action. On some 7 strings with big fat necks you really feel like you have to man handle it. This guitar barely feels like you are playing a 7 string.
SOUNDS
I played this guitar right after testing the RGA7 and the difference in tone was night and day. The RGA7 has active pickups and the RGD has passive pickups. I always recommend active pickups on extended range guitars because they can handle the frequencies better. I dont know why they didnt put their active pickups in this guitar since everything else on it was designed with low frequencies in mind. With the 3 way switch its like they expect you to put in active pickups. This pickups in this model are pretty weak and can barely handle the low tunings. The extended scale helps tighten up the sound a bit but not as much as a set of good pickups would do.
OVERALL OPINION
Ibanez is still getting close but they cant quite pull it off. Between this and the RGA7 you can get the perfect 7 string Ibanez. If this guitar had the mahogany body and pickups of the RGA7 it would be the best 7 string Ibanez ever made. This Ibanez is good but it suffers from the same problem 90 percent of Ibanez guitars do. You will need to change the pickups on it to reach the full potential of this guitar. The RGA7 is also 1/3 the price of this guitar and the biggest difference is that it is a hardtail, which to me makes it better. The RGA comes with better pickups stock also. I would recommend the RGA over this guitar unless you absolutely need the extended scale and the tremolo.