Ibanez IC400

I bought this new from a local music store for the manufacturers suggested retailing price of £450-I have since discovered that you can get it via the internet for a possible £400, but that doesn't include postage and packaging. I walked in to the shop to kill a few minutes, saw it on the wall and had a go....30 minutes later I walked out with it!

I have always loved the shape-it's a real "marmite" guitar; you either love or hate the way it looks but either way you'll have an opinion!
The sound quality is excellent- the ibanez humbuckers that come as standard on this model are superb, although one needs to be careful not to let them overpower your sound and make everything sound too bassy.
The guitar is solid mahogany and features a great glued in neck. The access to the higher frets is superb and the frets themselves are fat and well finished. The fret inlays are similar to those on a Les Paul, abalone block inserts.
It's so "rock" that it only comes in black with cream binding and chrome hardware.


The fact that I'm having a really difficult job getting a case-Ibanez have discontinued the case that fits the iceman,(which makes no sense to me) and so I'm having to have one custom built

The construction and quality of this guitar is top notch. It's basically a Les Paul, but far funkier looking (in my opinion!) and a thousand pounds cheaper. The way it plays and feels is all its own though.
The finishing is superlative with no rough edges at all. The guitar hangs nicely when strapped on and sits well on your leg when you're not. It is heavy, but you'd expect that from a solid mahogany guitar like this.

For a whole host of reasons this guitar is a winner. If I had to single one out, it would be the quality of the instrument (irrespective of it's styling) for the price. Quite how Ibanez can produce this for this price when other big manufacturers can't or won't follow suit speaks volumes. If you're in the market for a real rock guitar with killer looks and tones to boot, check the iceman out!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

BOUGHT IT AT GUITAR CENTER FOR $500

THE GUITAR PLAYS WELL. TONE IS FANTASTIK AND LOOKS REALLY COOL. PLAYED IT ON STAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME A WEEK AGO. GOT MANY COMPLIMENTS ON ITS LOOK. MANY KISS FANS STILL HANGIN OUT IN THE CLUBS IN NEW JERSEY

HEAVY AND VERY UNBALANCED. LET GO OF THE NECK AND THE GUITAR FALLS HEAD FIRST.
BECAUSE OF THIS THE GUITAR IS VERY UN- COMFORABLE TO PLAY. ALL THE WEIGHT OF THE GUITAR RESTS BETWEEN YOUR THUMB AND 1ST FINGER. I FRONT MY BAND AND THE UNBALANCE OF THIS GUITAR MAKES IT VERY DIFFICULT TO DO MY JOB. I WILL BE RETURNING IT TO GUITAR CENTER THIS WEEK...

BUILT GREAT

IF YOU DON'T MIND PLAYING AN UNBALANCED AXE THIS ONE IS COOL.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Ibanez is known for their very inexpensive guitars as well as they're highly used overdrive pedal such as the tube screamer pedal which is probably the most famous overdrive distortion pedal in existence. These guitars I believe came out in the late 70s early 80s and had a unique body style but really a huge influence from the Gibson style of guitars. These guitars happily have an interesting look and an interesting body shape but the overall feel is a very Gibson type feel. If you have ever play to Gibson Les Paul or a Gibson explorer then you'll notice the balance weight and feel of thebody can be very similar to his guitar.

UTILIZATION


This guitar features a three-way selector in between the two humbucker pick ups as well as well as a pick up selector. You have two volume control knobs and two tone control knobs, which is very much like to Gibson guitar. You have 22 frets along the fretboard that is a rosewood fretboard with its block inlays. It features a bolt on neck and has a nice overall black paint job.

SOUNDS


This guitar sounds pretty good in a rock setting because of the thick double humbucker pickups. It can have a warm sound that is going to be comparable to a Gibson sounding guitar. These guitars primarily used mahogany wood and a mahogany neck wood. So you'll then have a very thick and warm tone. If you see Paul Gilbert then you can see a similar body shape to this guitar only his guitars feature single coil pickups rather than humbucker pickups.

OVERALL OPINION


These guitars of been discontinued for a while now but you can find them in the used section and in the classifieds very easily for right around 500 or $600. That's a pretty good price for good quality guitar mating Korea. They are fun guitars and definitely have a unique look to them.

The IC400 is a slightly upgraded model when compared to the IC300. This model has a mahogany body instead of the basswood one, but aside from that, they're fairly similar in overall construction. The guitar features a mahogany body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 extra jumbo frets, no inlays, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

This is the upgraded model, but it's still not quite in the league of the IC500. The guitar has a nice mahogany body with a black paintjob. Honestly, I'm a bit sick of black paintjobs as I see so many of them come and go, but I guess that's a very personal thing. The frets on this needed some attention, as did the nut. I would be spending a good $200 extra on this with my luthier if I decided to keep this thing. That aside, the guitar wasn't too heavy, and it was fairly lively.

SOUNDS

The guitar had the standard Ibanez electronics installed in it. I've never been a huge fan of electronics, and I almost always replace them. The bridge sounds like it's lacking something. It doesn't have that organic quality to it, and it doesn't seem to be as touch sensitive as some of the other pickups on the market. The neck pickup is much the same way. It lacks the clarity that I look for, but what's more is that it doesn't seem to respond to my picking as much as something like a DiMarzio Air Norton would. If you're going to get this, I recommend replacing the pickups.

OVERALL OPINION

These are better than the 300 series, mostly due to the fact that they use mahogany instead of basswood. I'm not a hater of basswood guitars, but I find that mahogany tends to sound a bit better, especially once you start playing heavier stuff. For leads, basswood is good, but the basswood used on the lower end models doesn't seem to be quite as nice as the higher end RG basswood. Replace the pickups and you got yourself a good player.