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tjon901 « New premium line RG »
Published on 08/12/11 at 13:21Ibanez recently started up their premium line of guitars. These guitars supposedly have Prestige level build quality but are built outside of Japan. Personally I think they are just normal quality RG guitars that have a a bit prettier finishes on them. This guitar is your pretty basic RG. It has a basswood body with a quilted maple top veneer. It has maple binding to make it look like it has a real maple top but it does not. It has a 5 piece maple and walnut wizard neck. The fretboard is rosewood with jumbo frets and offset inlays. It has some designed by Dimarzio Ibanez pickups. They are slightly better than the normal garbage they would usually give you but they are not as good as a set of real Dimarzios. It has the Edge Zero 2 tremolo which is pretty coo. The controls are simple with a volume and tone with a 5 way blade switch.
UTILIZATION
These Ibanez play pretty well but they are not much better than a normal Ibanez. They do not have the end quality that you get with a prestige model. With the deep cutaways on the RG body it is very easy to reach all the frets on the neck. The fretboard is nice and flat with jumbo frets so it is easy to get a good action and the jumbo frets let you play easily. The neck is super thin so it is easy to handle if you have smaller hands. Like on all RG's the tuners are close together if you are use to a 6-6 style headstock configuration. Your fingers may hit the other tuners while you are tuning. The newer design tremolo is nice. You can easily adjust the spring tension with a little knob so it isnt as hard to change tunings anymore.
SOUNDS
THe pickups are better than what you would normally get. The bridge pickup is similar to a Super Distortion while the neck pickup is a Breed. The bridge pickup has lots of output and has a pretty bassy tone to it. It can get a bit muddy if you are running a ton of gain. This guitar is just basswood and since the maple top is just a veneer it doesnt affect the tone at all. A prestige model with a real maple top has better clarity in its sound provided by the maple top. The neck position is good for smooth leads and legato runs. The neck position is also prone to getting muddy as well but this is a problem just about every neck pickup has.
OVERALL OPINION
I would recommend getting a used prestige model instead of one of these. If you can get a used prestige model that comes with real Dimarzio pickups that would be even better. I think this is just a way to get people to pay more for an Ibanez that isnt much different than a normal one and isnt made in Japan. If you are dead set on a mid level new Ibanez this guitar is alright but you can get a really nice made in Japan prestige Ibanez for the price these go for new.
UTILIZATION
These Ibanez play pretty well but they are not much better than a normal Ibanez. They do not have the end quality that you get with a prestige model. With the deep cutaways on the RG body it is very easy to reach all the frets on the neck. The fretboard is nice and flat with jumbo frets so it is easy to get a good action and the jumbo frets let you play easily. The neck is super thin so it is easy to handle if you have smaller hands. Like on all RG's the tuners are close together if you are use to a 6-6 style headstock configuration. Your fingers may hit the other tuners while you are tuning. The newer design tremolo is nice. You can easily adjust the spring tension with a little knob so it isnt as hard to change tunings anymore.
SOUNDS
THe pickups are better than what you would normally get. The bridge pickup is similar to a Super Distortion while the neck pickup is a Breed. The bridge pickup has lots of output and has a pretty bassy tone to it. It can get a bit muddy if you are running a ton of gain. This guitar is just basswood and since the maple top is just a veneer it doesnt affect the tone at all. A prestige model with a real maple top has better clarity in its sound provided by the maple top. The neck position is good for smooth leads and legato runs. The neck position is also prone to getting muddy as well but this is a problem just about every neck pickup has.
OVERALL OPINION
I would recommend getting a used prestige model instead of one of these. If you can get a used prestige model that comes with real Dimarzio pickups that would be even better. I think this is just a way to get people to pay more for an Ibanez that isnt much different than a normal one and isnt made in Japan. If you are dead set on a mid level new Ibanez this guitar is alright but you can get a really nice made in Japan prestige Ibanez for the price these go for new.