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Hatsubai « Upgraded model »
Published on 09/06/11 at 13:31The 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.
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.