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King Loudness « Finally... no more locking trem! »
Published on 12/31/11 at 10:17The Ibanez SV5470 is a guitar that was introduced by Ibanez a few years back as an offshoot to their very popular S series. The one thing about most of those guitars is that they all had locking tremolos. As someone who just doesn't like locking tremolos, I was very interested when I saw this guitar available, as it's basically the same as a typical Ibanez S, but without that pesky tremolo. It features a basswood body, a maple neck with rosewood fretboard and 24 frets, Wizard neck profile, Ibanez tuners, the new design Ibanez non locking tremolo system and an H-S-H pickup configuration with Ibz/DiMarzio pickups loaded within. It's part of their Prestige line and is built in Japan.
UTILIZATION
The design of this guitar is quite ergonomic. It's actually quite difficult to find a guitar that's MORE ergonomically designed than the Ibanez S. It's quite thin and lightweight. It feels very balanced and well made which is good too. The neck is a bit thin for my tastes, but shredders would absolutely love the profile coupled with the thinner body. The upper fret access is fantastic considering the guitar has been designed with that flexibility in mind, and the heel has been positioned accordingly. Getting a good sound out of this guitar is pretty easy. The stock pickups do a decent enough job at getting a range of tones, though as with most Prestige Ibanez guitars, I'd probably factor a pickup swap into the cost of a new one.
SOUNDS
This guitar is meant primarily to be used as more of a rock/shred guitar, but that's not to say it can't do other styles too. It's wired with a single coil and a 5 way switch to allow some great Strat type tones into the mix, and plugged into a clean amp you can get some nice jangle happening for funk or blues. It's a bit bright sounding for jazz music though. Switching to a drive channel is where this guitar shines. It's very smooth and fluid overall and the humbuckers range from a very biting aggressive tone that still smooths out on the bridge pickup to a velvet lined super smooth tone with the neck pickup. It's a perfect guitar for progressive rock or neoclassical leads or even some chunky rhythm work. Obviously it doesn't have the low end of some thicker guitars, but that's not what lead players are looking for tonally anyway.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Ibanez SV5470 is a great guitar for someone who wants a great, lightweight guitar in that classic Ibanez S tradition without having to deal with the pains of a locking tremolo system. The Ibanez non locking bridge stays in tune fairly well... though if you try to do Steve Vai trick with the bar you will have to retune! It's definitely worth a look if you want a well made and good quality guitar that won't break your back or the bank!
UTILIZATION
The design of this guitar is quite ergonomic. It's actually quite difficult to find a guitar that's MORE ergonomically designed than the Ibanez S. It's quite thin and lightweight. It feels very balanced and well made which is good too. The neck is a bit thin for my tastes, but shredders would absolutely love the profile coupled with the thinner body. The upper fret access is fantastic considering the guitar has been designed with that flexibility in mind, and the heel has been positioned accordingly. Getting a good sound out of this guitar is pretty easy. The stock pickups do a decent enough job at getting a range of tones, though as with most Prestige Ibanez guitars, I'd probably factor a pickup swap into the cost of a new one.
SOUNDS
This guitar is meant primarily to be used as more of a rock/shred guitar, but that's not to say it can't do other styles too. It's wired with a single coil and a 5 way switch to allow some great Strat type tones into the mix, and plugged into a clean amp you can get some nice jangle happening for funk or blues. It's a bit bright sounding for jazz music though. Switching to a drive channel is where this guitar shines. It's very smooth and fluid overall and the humbuckers range from a very biting aggressive tone that still smooths out on the bridge pickup to a velvet lined super smooth tone with the neck pickup. It's a perfect guitar for progressive rock or neoclassical leads or even some chunky rhythm work. Obviously it doesn't have the low end of some thicker guitars, but that's not what lead players are looking for tonally anyway.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Ibanez SV5470 is a great guitar for someone who wants a great, lightweight guitar in that classic Ibanez S tradition without having to deal with the pains of a locking tremolo system. The Ibanez non locking bridge stays in tune fairly well... though if you try to do Steve Vai trick with the bar you will have to retune! It's definitely worth a look if you want a well made and good quality guitar that won't break your back or the bank!