Ibanez JEM 10th Anniversary

Made in the United States.

UTILIZATION

The JEM GeneralThe Ibanez JEM series was designed by Steve VAI (www.vai.com). This is professional instruments, which are far from the reach of all budgets (Ibanez offers a model derived, the RG series, which has characteristics of JEM imitated, but build quality obviously less high range, and with different microphones).
Channel 24 cases, fully accessible: no gene for play on the 24th box, is the absolute anti Les Paul!
The button is very wide, and it takes getting used to, nothing to do with the narrow neck of Fender. JEM is a real highway, which allows for maximum speed and cleanliness. Listen to Steve Vai ...
The neck is very stiff, and does not work at all. Perfect tuning stability. Touche very flat, very thin neck. Comfort.
Start body style, much improved. Great ergonomic and beautiful.
The guitar is very light - nothing to do, either, with a Les Paul. Disadvantage: the JEM is relatively fragile, it does not refrain from dropping ...
Ibanez signed floating tremolo, perfect - much better than the Floyd Rose.
Microphones differ depending on the model, see www.ibanez.com for apprécialtion sound, see www.harmony-central.com. These are in any case never V7, S1, V8, unlike writes Jo Gaston Melmef https://fr.audiofanzine.com/guitare-sc/ibanez/jem-10th/-these, we only found on the RG, and are not recommended (the RG is an excellent guitar, as far as to replace the pickups). The JEM, the microphone is emblematic Di Marzio EVOLUTION (www.dimarzio.com - a micro to very high output, super punch, acute clarissimi.
The JEM in particular 10
This is a particular model of JEM, Ibanez has produced to celebrate the 10th anniversary of manufacturing. Black body, picture of very high-end aluminum pickguard, etc.. : http://www.jemsite.com/axes/model/jem10.htm see - one of the finest guitars ever made. There are only 852 in the world, and they are very expensive.

SOUNDS

I use basically a one Line 6 VETTA II: https://www.line6.com/vetta_ii/US/.
The Di Marzio pickups EVOLUTION fully support all electronic processing, and can attack any amp. The sound is always clear and powerful. It is a microphone that does not forgive anything, everything is picked up, including guitarist imperfections ...

OVERALL OPINION

I bought my JEM 10 in Germany, in December 2002. I do not use in the studio: a too fine instrument to risk damaging it on a stage (JEM will prefer, white or blue).
It's a perfect guitar.
The price of the JEM 10, as I said, is very high. Is justified only for lovers who can afford it. The JEM 7 is expensive too, but not more than any other instrument that high quality. If you are considering investing in a great guitar - Stratocaster, Les Paul, ... - It would be ridiculous not to compare with JEM.

This was a special (and expensive) commemorative edition of the famous JEM guitar. The guitar has a basswood body with a maple neck, an ebony fretboard with 24 frets, special vine inlay, unique handle carved out in it, an Ibanez Lo Pro Edge tremolo, last few frets scalloped, HSH configuration, all access neck joint, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar itself was put together amazingly well. There were no issues when it comes to the binding. It was super clean, and it really stood out. The pickguard was odd, but it had some character to it, I guess. The fretwork on this was top notch. The edges were nice and beveled, and the frets were perfectly crowned. I was able to get some super sick low action on this without any issues at all. The neck joint was nice and tight, and bridge felt awesome. The main issue I have is that this thing is just so gaudy, and for that, I had to rate it down a bit. Personal opinion, I know, but this is my review, after all.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounded good with the Evolution pickups installed. They had this real nice bite going on, but the body wood helped cut down on that bite. That said, there were some overtones that I wasn't too crazy about, and I think that was due to the ebony fretboard. Just something to think about. The neck pickup was super clear and powerful, but I was able to achieve a nice, singing lead tone with it without too much of an issue. The pickups split nicely with the middle pickup. I had no problems getting that "in between" kind of sound to get that Hendrix-esque kinda tone.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitar itself is gaudy. In fact, it's too gaudy for me. That said, it sounded great, and it played even better. I really love these JEM guitars for whatever reason. This can be really hard to find, and I've only seen one for sale in my entire life (and that was at my store). If you're a JEM lover and find one, I recommend jumping on it ASAP.