View other reviews for this product:
tjon901 « Ibanez with great metal tone and feel »
Published on 09/05/11 at 11:24This is a great all around metal guitar even if you are not a fan of Slipknot or Mick Thomson. This is probably the best metal RG Ibanez puts out. This guitar has a mahogany body with a bolt on 5 piece neck for stability. The mahogany body provides better and thicker tone to the guitar compared to the basswood Ibanez usually uses on their RG's. The neck has 24 jumbo frets with no Inlays for a clean look. It has a locking nut up top but the tremolo system is locked in place so you get all the fine tuning and stability without having to worry about springs when changing tuning. The electronics in this guitar are rock solid as well. You get Mick Thomsons signature set of Blackout pickups which I prefer over the normal Blackouts. Blackouts are Seymour Duncans set of active pickups which are their answer to EMG pickups. The controls are a single volume with a 3 way blade switch. The only thing letting you know that this is a signature model is the SEVEN logo on the truss rod cover. This is pretty small and barely noticable. Overall the guitar has a neat and clean look unlike a lot of signature models.
UTILIZATION
Ibanez guitars are known for their great playability and this guitar is no different. This guitar has a slightly unusual factory setup for an RG. The fixed tremolo and locking nut is a rare thing but it works well. It is probably cheaper for them to produce the guitar this way than having to get aftermarket locking tuners. They produce a lot of guitars with tremolos that come with locking nuts so this guitar with a fixed design with a locking nut does the same thing locking tuners would do. The guitar is also setup from the factory in Drop B tuning which is cool. This guitar isnt a baritone either so the guitar plays like a normal one. Being setup in this low tuning from the factory mean that the intonation will be spot on for low tuning which is great if you are going to be playing in low tunings.
SOUNDS
The active pickups and mahogany body give you a super thick tone that is great for low tuning and heavy metal. The pickups are Mick Thomsons signature Seymour Duncan Blackouts. These pickups have a much more usable tone than the normal Blackouts. The bridge pickup has a ceramic magnet while the neck pickup has an alnico magnet. They still have good low end but the top end is nice and crisp so the sound never gets muddy. These pickups were voiced for a guitar playing in super low tunings so when you are not in super low tunings the clarity is excellent. With this clarity the neck position is actually useable. On the old Blackouts since the low end was so woolly the neck pickup sounded muddy no matter what you were playing. These pickups with the extra top end crunch you can hear what you are playing on the neck position. This is good because typically people who have neck position pickup want to be able to use them. The bridge is crushing like you would expect but the extra new found clarity brings more useablility to the table. The bridge tone is super tight in the low end and has the top end crunch like you would find on an 81. This allows you to tune to whatever you want and still retain clarity. Through a heavy amp the tone of this guitar is absolutely huge. You will think you are playing a baritone guitar or a 7 string.
OVERALL OPINION
If you play heavy music this is the Ibanez for you. It has the perfect design for metal. Mahogany body and active pickups provide a crushing tone. Its pretty disappointing that they are not selling them with the Blackout pickups anymore. Thats half the guitar right there. If you can get one of these with the good pickups grab it. Even with normal Ibanez pickups this guitar is a better base than a normal RG with its mahogany body.
UTILIZATION
Ibanez guitars are known for their great playability and this guitar is no different. This guitar has a slightly unusual factory setup for an RG. The fixed tremolo and locking nut is a rare thing but it works well. It is probably cheaper for them to produce the guitar this way than having to get aftermarket locking tuners. They produce a lot of guitars with tremolos that come with locking nuts so this guitar with a fixed design with a locking nut does the same thing locking tuners would do. The guitar is also setup from the factory in Drop B tuning which is cool. This guitar isnt a baritone either so the guitar plays like a normal one. Being setup in this low tuning from the factory mean that the intonation will be spot on for low tuning which is great if you are going to be playing in low tunings.
SOUNDS
The active pickups and mahogany body give you a super thick tone that is great for low tuning and heavy metal. The pickups are Mick Thomsons signature Seymour Duncan Blackouts. These pickups have a much more usable tone than the normal Blackouts. The bridge pickup has a ceramic magnet while the neck pickup has an alnico magnet. They still have good low end but the top end is nice and crisp so the sound never gets muddy. These pickups were voiced for a guitar playing in super low tunings so when you are not in super low tunings the clarity is excellent. With this clarity the neck position is actually useable. On the old Blackouts since the low end was so woolly the neck pickup sounded muddy no matter what you were playing. These pickups with the extra top end crunch you can hear what you are playing on the neck position. This is good because typically people who have neck position pickup want to be able to use them. The bridge is crushing like you would expect but the extra new found clarity brings more useablility to the table. The bridge tone is super tight in the low end and has the top end crunch like you would find on an 81. This allows you to tune to whatever you want and still retain clarity. Through a heavy amp the tone of this guitar is absolutely huge. You will think you are playing a baritone guitar or a 7 string.
OVERALL OPINION
If you play heavy music this is the Ibanez for you. It has the perfect design for metal. Mahogany body and active pickups provide a crushing tone. Its pretty disappointing that they are not selling them with the Blackout pickups anymore. Thats half the guitar right there. If you can get one of these with the good pickups grab it. Even with normal Ibanez pickups this guitar is a better base than a normal RG with its mahogany body.