Ibanez AS103

Made in Japan I believe. Basically the prestige line of Ibanez hollow bodies. Set up very much like an old 335. Two volume two tone. Nice apointments. Good flame and nice hardware. Inlays are pretty decent. Overall there aren't a lot of surprises here if you're looking for a good semi-hollow. It's always good to play before you buy but if you are familiar with these types of guitars you will get what you think you are getting.

UTILIZATION

Very playable. Access is great, and if you look at the guitar this should be obvious. The design is very traditional and obviously geared towards the old school Gibson crowd. For all intents this is Ibanez' take on the 335.

SOUNDS

So let me explain this review. I recently went with a friend of mine to guitar center to get his first "real" guitar. Generally I'm not a guitar center fan but he needed to play a lot of guitars to find out what he liked. So this was the logical solution. He's a jazz guy so he knew he wanted a hollowbody and that was about it. He was prepared to spend $3000 if he needed to. We were looking for "the one" for him. Started with the Gretsches and were not very impressed. They didn't have many but the ones they had were just meh. He seemed to gravitate toward the Gibson semi-hollows which was understandable. He played a 335 for about an hour and it did indeed sound good. Although I played it and thought it was priced a bit high for what it was.

I actually found the 103 and suggested he play it. I'll be honest, the tone wasn't really any better or worse than the 335. Maybe a little more jazzy while the 335 was more of a rock guitar. But the playability of the 103 was far and away better than the Gibson. In terms of build quality I think they were about the same, but the 103 did seem more polished I think.

OVERALL OPINION

Long story short we bought him the AS103 because it was simply the best one in the store. Sorry Gibson. I will say the pickups surprised me. They were quite nice. Sure, some hardcore tone chasers might wanna drop some cash on a hand wound set. But most players will keep these. Neither of us could find anything we hated on the guitar. The bridge is a little different but it does the job. I recommend it highly.

Made in China
Semi-hollow body - maple top, back, sides, and neck
Rosewood fingerboard
Rosewood knobs!
Rosewood peghead veneer
Gold hardware
Ibanez Super 58 humbuckers
Ibanez tuners with pearloid buttons
Tuneamatic style bridge
Stop tailpiece with fine tuners
2 volume, 2 tone pots
3 way toggle switch
Floating pickguard
Nice (but smelly) Ibanez hardshell case

UTILIZATION

This guitar is a dream to play, and very versatile! The tones are great right from the get go. It gets great sounds even unplugged, and warm, clear, rich tones while plugged in. The responsiveness in the sound is fantastic.

The guitar is a touch on the heavy side, and being a semi-hollow, it can be prone to feedback, but I think it's the best 335-style guitar out there for under $1500. It's easy to get up to all the frets, and the fine tuners are a great bonus for tuning stability.

SOUNDS

Of course, blues and jazz tones abounded in spades, but the real surprise was playing metal and country on it! It even pulled off chugging down-tuned distortion very well (with a small bit of feedback-wrestling on my part), and it utterly shined on chicken pickin'! I played this through a variety of Fender, Mesa, and Line 6 amps, as well as a bunch of pedals, and I was never disappointed with the results.

OVERALL OPINION

I'd love to find another one! I've owned two, and sold both due to finances. If I come into the cash again, I'll buy another one in a heartbeat. Amazing value for the money, and great sounds at any price!

My one gripe, and this is very minor, is the smell of the case. The glue that Ibanez used in the case smells something awful, so be aware of this. I honestly would have preferred the smell of a smoked-on case, and I can't stand the smell of smoke.

very very nice finish for this price, but certainly not give bcp cheaper than gibson

UTILIZATION

super nice handle and easy game

SOUNDS

you can hear the sound of this guitar through a POD HD 500 in the 3rd song in this video



the sound can be a little too "fat" sometimes the guitar has a lot of low and medium but for jazz style / blues is very good.

the sustain is impressive

Also the pickups are silent, great when it comes to s studio recording

OVERALL OPINION

3 months

hitherto very satisfied

This is the "high end" of the series AS, Artcore Custom, the quarter with cash beam sustain at an affordable price.
They are built in China by makers of children working 14 hours a day, with no hope of retirement, no social security, one day off per week: progress and sustainable development are underway ... and we can enjoy



This is a guitar blonde, slightly raised from Rimel: all the guitar is maple and acastillage gold, enhanced by elements brown rosewood head veneer, ebony buttons ...
The decoration is successful, the finish is of very good quality.



Plywood body is maple with a flamed maple surface, the most beautiful effect. The table, the gills and back are decorated with a pleated black net / Ivory ... Plastic of course, but quality. The varnish is a bit too much for my taste.
Internal beam in Maple too (but it seems that there is also a fine instrument as bubinga connection between the beam and rounded the table (as far as I can see through the gills).
The handle 3 part maple, separated by two nets bubinga (a kind of mahogany), more for aesthetics than sound or strength. The rosewood fingerboard is adorned with rectangular frames in abalone and mother of pearl (false). A net around the neck ivory: very classy.
The finish of the 22 medium jumbo frets, is impeccable. These frets are quite high, scheduled for tie rods seriously: the 10/48 is a fair bit of 11/50 or higher is preferable.
Bridge-type Tune o-matic, the tailpiece is equipped with fine-tunings ... and we wonder why: the mechanical work very well!
The two microphones, grounded on the beam to sustain, are Super 58 custom, not to be confused with the real Super 58 MIJ: their Chinese version, less efficient. Each has a volume and tone effectively.
The guitar comes with a box, gray ugly black wig inside, low end, but it's still a box, and it is clearly better than nothing poor or nylon cover.



UTILIZATION

Half-boxes are generally large guitars, compared with boxes full. Result: she plays very well seated, it is perfectly balanced (allow time to adjust its size if it has a full case).
The handle is very good, suitable for all types of games, barely wider than a round of Start '(2 mm). The 22 frets are usable, you just dislocate a bit for the last 5.
Originally, the sound is very balanced, intermediate between a "real" semi-hollow and solid body. In fact, I think this guitar is more similar, relatively speaking, to Lucille as a Sheraton, for example. This is an interesting compromise: you lose some wood in the sound, but it becomes more versatile.
Sound vacuum is not very powerful, but you can play without the amp for training.



SOUNDS

This guitar can take in a lot of genres, from jazz to heavy rock work through the reggea. His favorite is the Funk-Blues-Rock.

Sounds original configuration.
Neck pickup: warm sound, a little woody turning down the volume and tone, vibrant good (it also comes from the maple). The saturation is quite dark, but lack of grain. The type of pick used the sound changes a lot.
Micro Bridge: a more aggressive, a little loud in the clear, much better saturation. Harmonics are present, but not easy (you must pick them up with your fingers).
Interesting intermediate position: the sound is dug, the less powerful permetttant playing funky or country with a lot of authenticity: it is the highlight of the guitar in original configuration.

Connected to an old Roland Spirit 30 (transistors), the correct, but very flat. It comes from the amp of course, but it confirms that this guitar needs a good amp to express his qualities.
Plugged into a Vox AD30 (modeling), the couple works well, the models can use the guitar in any situation.
Plugged into a Vox AC 15 (lamps) it takes another dimension. The guitar is really more expressive through the exploitation of the dynamics of the amp.
Plugged into an amp sound ... I have not tried, it would be interesting to do to see if it highlights the side of the woods.

Here are some samples made initially to remove the evil which I lampooned the AS 103 could do jazz sounds.
This is a piece of the theme of In a Sentimental Mood.
Neck pickup: http://media.putfile.com/AF103NeckDug
Intermediate: http://media.putfile.com/AF103IntDug
Bridge pickup: http://media.putfile.com/AF103BridDug



From my point of view, and according to my tastes, the limit of this guitar is the pickups, they are good, usable in all styles ... because very neutral in terms of grain.
Now I wait a guitar it has a type, color, type, that we should fight a little with his character. So I ask Gibson '57 Classic, and now, great!

Sounds custom configuration.
Neck pickup ('57): its very hot, hotter and more wooded than the original, very good dynamic. The microphone captures better the influence of the violin, and reduces the heat a little dominant snapping provided by Maple. The dynamic is reinforced. Saturation is dark, raging, roaring, nothing to do with a Les Paul anyway, but we are not far from a 335 maple, I like! The clean sounds are much more flutes and singing. The nuances of games are faithfully reproduced.
Micro Bridge ('57 +): more aggressive sound, but still exploitable clear: acute are not garish. Saturated, it is the purpose of this microphone, there is the angry side, but more aggressive harmonics come easily.
Middle position: it is great. The sound is cut, always a little less powerful, very sensitive to the nuances of the game: great singing and flute playing when you cast when you brush slamming funky, very country in picking the legate to crunchy blues-rock is a wonder, the control is total saturation with a pick

Anything plugged into it works! Of course the sound is not the same as the amp, but the change is sensitive enough to be noticeable on all system

Meanwhile other samples, this is a start of work on the theme of Autumn Leaves: Neck pickup, Vox AC 15 amp output resumed Line, wha wha pedal Snarling Dogs. http://media.putfile.com/AutomnLeaves
And some samples made before, to see his customized compare to the original: Korg PX4D preamp direct into the sound card, modeling JazzChorus.
Neck pickup, volume-bottom: http://media.putfile.com/Mood-GibV10
The same, volume 4: http://media.putfile.com/Mood-GibV4



OVERALL OPINION

Children Chinese luthiers are working really well: the level of finish is quite imprressionant for this price range, and having in hand a beautiful thing really matters in the pleasure of playing
It is perfectly balanced and easy to play, including a sitting position.

Should I change the pickups?
Not necessarily: the compromise on the sounds and neutrality of origin seem positive. The guitar is quite usable with a good amp.
I customized a guitar for less versatile and more typical. In retrospect, the choice of Classic 57 'seems appropriate to this view (it's still € 300 more ...), but it was not a necessity for the guitar sounds.

Does it cost the maple finish?
There are indeed other less expensive models in the range. With the original pickups, they blies me slightly back from the NT model 103 ... but barely, and I'm not sure that my decision was not influenced by the fact that I love the look of this guitar. Try, then, for example, AF 73