Ibanez RG470

huh? oh . . . i got this baby for christmas
hmmmmmm if your lookin' to by this baby second hand you'll probably be lookin at 200+.
400 to 500 £s new . . .

Oh wow this baby has it all 2 humbuckers for rocking anthems or groovy blues

also has a floyd rose trem
two way tone knob
5 way pick up switching
solid body
mine has jet black hardware and black paintwork but YOU can customize it how ever you like!

Ohh . . . . theres no real thing i can think of thats bad a scratch plate would be good.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Early Rg470 models were made in Japan and later on production was moved to Korea. The majority of examples around today were made in Korea. The Korean examples feature a basswood body with a 24 fret neck. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. The body has 3 pickups two of them are humbuckers with the middle pickup being a single-coil. This example featured a Lo-TRS tremolo system. The body is a superstrat style with large cutaways.

UTILIZATION

The construction on these guitars is decent. I find a guitar like this will rarely feel as solid as a Les Paul or similar guitar. The fret work can be bad on some examples but on this example the fretwork was good. The Lo-TRS tremolo system is a very low quality unit. Cheap tremolos can ruin a guitar. Without a proper setup this tremolo system will make the guitar go out of tune often. Like most new Ibanez RG's the 470 has the all-access neck joint which makes reaching the highest frets a breeze. This neck joint along with the large cutaways on the body make playing the guitar very easy.

SOUNDS

I am not a big fan of basswood guitars. They do not seem to have the thick sound you would get from mahogany or alder. This combined with the cheap pickups Ibanez puts in its lower end guitars may make the guitar sound bad plugged in. The switches and pots are of a low quality also which doesnt help. A pickup swap is recommended on these lower end ibanez guitars. The pickups ibanez puts in its lower end guitars from the factory are pretty dull and weak sounding.

OVERALL OPINION

With a proper setup Ibanez guitars are some of the best playing guitars out there. On some models a pickup swap is needed to get the tone to your liking. Also, you may want to look for a model with a hardtail bridge or higher quality tremolo unit. For a beginner a bad tremolo unit can lead to major frustration. Low quality units will not stay in tune without a professional setup sometimes.

While some of the RG-470s were made in Japan, most of them were moved over to Korea. The model I'm referring to in this review will be the Korean model. It features a basswood body, 24 fret maple neck with rosewood fretboard, HSH configuration, volume pot, tone pot and 5 way switch. The one notable difference between this and the RG-570 is the Lo TRS trem.

UTILIZATION

The guitar is put together decently, but I find the fretwork to be very hit or miss. The biggest issue I have with these guitars is the horrible bridge. It's made out of really weak metal, and it tends to not sound or act nearly as nice as the Edge trem that was found on the RG-570. Given that it's a budget Korean model, it's somewhat to be expected. The All Access Neck Joint is a very nice feature that I was glad to find on these models, so that's a plus. However, the electronics are pretty horrible, so you might want to replace the switch and pots.

SOUNDS

The body woods on these can be very hit or miss. Most of them are decent, but a lot of them are total dogs. Even with a pickup swap, the guitars might not meet the expectations that some have with a higher end Japanese Ibanez. A lot of the models I played simply made me want to drop it and play the RG-570 instead.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking for a budget Ibanez, instead of looking at this model, try to find a used RG-570 or something along those lines. You'll be much better off in the long run as it'll most likely have better fretwork, sound better, and it WILL have a much better tremolo that'll stay in tune no matter what abuse you throw at it.

Made in Korea
Bridge lo-TRS
handle the most pleasant to my taste ... end, fast and very accurate.
24 jumbo frets
microphones handle INF-1 (hambucker)
INFS mid-1 (single)
easel INF-2 (hambucker)
1 microphone selector 5 positions
A volume
A tone

UTILIZATION

Handle very nice and fast, like all the RG ...
Easy access to acute
Guitar access rather rock / metal, but still okay to crunch sound and clear ...

SOUNDS

for clean sounds, I use the middle pickup hot enough ...
For the distortion, bridge pickup volume and thoroughly ...

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 2 months, and frankly, not disappointed ...
I tried a total of 25 or 30 guitars ...
What I like most is the "mouth" that "she, sound, and comfort of play ..
price / quality ratio excellent ....
Looking back, I would do this choice with eyes closed ...
This is the cheapest guitar I bought, and yet it is immediately become my favorite ...