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Hatsubai « Nice acoustic style sound »
Published on 09/12/11 at 18:13This guitar has a special bridge in it that allows it to get acoustic-like sounds. This lends itself to being a very versatile guitar, although there are a few drawbacks with this model. The guitar has a mahogany body with a maple neck, rosewood fretboard with 24 frets, dot inlays, an Ibanez Double Edge tremolo, HH configuration, all access neck joint, one volume, one tone, piezo/mag switches and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was a bit heavy, and I'm not a huge fan of heavy guitars. I find that they don't sound quite as open as lighter guitars do. Aside from that, the guitar was pretty much on par with the rest of the Ibanez guitars out there. The frets were great, and the trem was solid. One thing about this trem is that it has some special crystals/magnets inside the saddles that allow you to get some of those acoustic-like tones at the flip of a switch. This lends itself towards being more versatile than the average guitar.
SOUNDS
The guitar had the stock pickups in it, and they were pretty annoying. The stock pickups in these guitars are not that great at all, and I have no clue why Ibanez keeps putting crappy pickups in their guitars. The bridge was bland sounding, and it lacked clarity overall. It works fine for that mid gain and clean kinda tone, but they suck with heavy gain as they sound mushy. The neck is much the same, except that it's a bit bright, and I find myself reaching for the tone knob quite a few times. The guitar would benefit from a nice pickup swap, and if you have the extra cash, I recommend doing that.
OVERALL OPINION
With a pickup swap, these are some great guitars. They sound a bit thicker and meatier than a normal Ibanez, and I find that they're better suited towards metal tones than the normal basswood equipped models. That said, you'll want to replace the pickups as they're the weakest link in this. Don't forget that there are other mahogany models out there with the piezo bridge, so don't be fixated on this guitar.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was a bit heavy, and I'm not a huge fan of heavy guitars. I find that they don't sound quite as open as lighter guitars do. Aside from that, the guitar was pretty much on par with the rest of the Ibanez guitars out there. The frets were great, and the trem was solid. One thing about this trem is that it has some special crystals/magnets inside the saddles that allow you to get some of those acoustic-like tones at the flip of a switch. This lends itself towards being more versatile than the average guitar.
SOUNDS
The guitar had the stock pickups in it, and they were pretty annoying. The stock pickups in these guitars are not that great at all, and I have no clue why Ibanez keeps putting crappy pickups in their guitars. The bridge was bland sounding, and it lacked clarity overall. It works fine for that mid gain and clean kinda tone, but they suck with heavy gain as they sound mushy. The neck is much the same, except that it's a bit bright, and I find myself reaching for the tone knob quite a few times. The guitar would benefit from a nice pickup swap, and if you have the extra cash, I recommend doing that.
OVERALL OPINION
With a pickup swap, these are some great guitars. They sound a bit thicker and meatier than a normal Ibanez, and I find that they're better suited towards metal tones than the normal basswood equipped models. That said, you'll want to replace the pickups as they're the weakest link in this. Don't forget that there are other mahogany models out there with the piezo bridge, so don't be fixated on this guitar.