Ibanez JS1200 Joe Satriani Signature

The Ibanez JS1200 is an updated version of the guitar that Joe Satriani designed for Ibanez all those years ago. Joe's always been more of a vintage guy and his guitar is an excellent blend of the typical Ibanez superstrat and some more classic Strat type guitars that Joe played back in the day. It features a basswood body, rosewood fretboard with 22 6105 frets (taller and narrower in design) the recently added for 2010 Edge Tremolo (replacing the old Edge Pro bridge used for many years prior. It also has DiMarzio signature Satriani pickups - a PAF Joe in the neck position and a FRED in the bridge position. They're made in Japan at the Ibanez factory there.

UTILIZATION

The JS1200 is definitely an ergonomic and streamlined instrument for my tastes. Though it's not quite as thin or fast as a typical RG, it eschews that extra bit of speed for a more comfortable vintage spec'd feel that I personally love. I had an original Ibanez Radius that was quite similar in feel to the JS1200 - nice comfortable medium sized neck and a body that sits very well both sitting and standing. It's a good medium weight that is easy to play for extended periods too. The upper fret access isn't as good as an RG or a JEM but it's fairly good - kind of like an old Strat.

Getting a good sound out of this guitar is pretty easy. Joe tends to like more of a vintage voiced tone than typically is found in Ibanez guitars, so this is a treat for players like me who prefer an old school tone. There is also a high pass filter to create a different set of tones as well... very cool.

SOUNDS

I've tried this guitar through a multitude of amplifiers and have concluded that at its core it sounds like a typical Ibanez RG guitar, but with thicker lows, a more prominent midrange and less spiky highs. The clean tones are excellent for blues or jazz type settings, and with the high pass filter engaged it gets into kind of a Strat territory which is pretty cool. The drive tones are exactly what you'd expect from a Satch guitar - very open and refined but with enough output to work with higher gain modern rigs of today. It's a perfect compromise between the vintage Fenders and the more modern superstrats. Rhythms are fat and chunky, with excellent articulation and clarity on the low strings. The lead tones have great sustain and richness on both pickups, excellent for legato or alternate picked passages.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think the Ibanez JS1200 is a really cool and unique take on the typical Ibanez superstrat. It's a bit expensive at $1,800 new but they can be had for a reasonable price on the used market. It's well crafted and sounds great for hard rock styles, plus the feel is enough of a departure that fans of a more vintage feeling guitar will dig it.

This is really the exact same model as the Prestige JS1000s out there. The biggest difference is that the neck pickup has been replaced with the PAF Joe instead of the normal PAF Pro. The guitar has a basswood body with a maple neck and a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets with dot inlays, an Edge bridge, two DiMarzio humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way toggle switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar has awesome build quality. The frets ends are nicely beveled so they won't cut your hands while moving up and down the neck. The frets themselves are perfectly crowned and allow you to get some low action without any issues. The bridge on this was actually replaced later on around 2010. These guitars used to come with an Edge Pro bridge, but they now have the (superior) Edge tremolo. If you're looking to buy one, I recommend getting it with the Edge bridge as they feel better to me. They have a spongier feel that allows you to flutter better. You can also use the intonation too with these.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounds great. While it's not the best guitar out there for high gain death metal rhythm tones, it does lead tones fantastically. The DiMarzio FRED sounds great in the bridge for lead lines; harmonics jump out like crazy and it has some real cool overtones going on. The PAF Joe in the neck has more of that classic "vowely" kind of tone going on for it. It sounds better than the PAF Pro to me because of this. It just seems to have a bit more character than the normal PAF Pro. Clean tones are especially awesome once you enable the coil split on the tone control.

OVERALL OPINION

Aside from the color and the PAF Joe in the neck, this is pretty much the same as the JS1000 out there. If you're a fan of the candy apple red color, I say go for it. Otherwise, you can get the same guitar out there if you just buy a used JS1000. If you do decide to buy this, try to buy a newer one as it'll have the Edge tremolo instead of the Edge Pro.