December 5th, 2008 by Andres Gallo

$699

Design

This guitar is absolutely gorgeous. This is my favorite guitar at the moment, with the most comfortable combination of body and neck, which makes it a greatly designed guitar. The body is also made of mahogany, and the neck is a 5 piece neck with a rosewood fretboard to withstand weather changes and such. Another beauty in its design its the 5 way pickup switch which allows for a wide variety of tones.
My only gripe with this guitar is the hardware. The quality of the metal is not the hardest and requires care when locking and unlocking the strings with the allen keys. I changed the hardware on mines to an OFR and its almost perfect.

Sound

The guitar comes equipped with a pair of INF I and INF II pickups. The pickups are pretty good, especially in combination with the 5 way pickup switch which allow them to go from a good clean to a pretty nice heavy tone with lots of “oomph”. The mahogany also adds to that oomph, and helps in creating one of the sweetest sustains possible.
The lows are very powerful and the entire frequency response is very smooth. The sound has a very organic quality to it. There are better pickups out there, but the sound is surprisingly good, considering is an Ibanez made pickup. Once again the 5 way pickup switch is a really nice addition. You can get some really clean sounds with it, that are hard to get with a regular humbucker combination.

Playability

Playability like in most RGs is excellent. The Wizard II necks are one of the faster necks in the market, and the RG body only adds to the experience with its incredibly ergonomic superstrat body. This guitar is in my opinion on the most comfortable guitar in the market. It is so comfortable I recommend upgrading, since I can’t think of a more comfortable guitar.

Reliability

I have had this guitar for a long while, and everything has held up perfectly. However I changed the hardware to an OFR, and the pickups to Dimarzio D-activator X. This is one of those guitar that have such a great feel, that they are worth upgrading. Having another RG with the stock hardware I can say reliability is not an issue, unless you abuse the tremolo system.

Customer Support

Virtually non-existant. It took me a lot of work to find a way in which to communicate Ibanez. It turns out you actually call a completely different company.

December 5th, 2008 by Andres Gallo

$550

Design

There are lots of guitars in the market, but I have to say that most of them are very dull and plain looking. With the said I have to say this is one guitar which has one of the coolest paintjobs I have ever seen.

Appearance aside, this guitar has a really well done wood work. The neck is impressive especially at that price. I have to say it is one of the fastest, smoothest and fastest necks I have played on. The body is also extremely comfortable, and very balanced. Everything about the construction seems very carefully done. The only issue I have about the construction is the metal used in the screws for the locking nut. The metal is very weak and will likely lose the shape for the allen key.

Sound

The most important aspect aside from playability is the sound of course. I think the guitar sounds very good, but the clean does not sound too great, and on distortion can sound somewhat harsh. Most guitars suffer this at this price range, but everything else about this guitar is so perfect, it just hurts to see it suffer this (or more accurately hear it suffer this). I love a really clinical, yet warm clean. The sound is good enough for the price, but it could be better. A pickup change could be the needed solution for this guitar. It sounds decent, but it misses a lot of soul and life. The sound is very dry.

Playability

Here this instrument scores really high. It plays extremely well. It feels like an instrument many times its price. The neck is extremely comfortable, and fast that it is amazing at the price range. Some people may feel weird with the thin and flat feel of the neck. I however, find it to be very versatile for all kinds of techniques. What I mean by that is some techniques really benefit from the added string spacing, and the thinner neck also requires less of a grip, which makes everything smoother and quicker.

Reliability

I have had this guitar for about a year, and everything about it has held up perfectly. With that said reliability is not an issue, unless you plan to abuse the tremolo system, which can wear out with abuse.

Customer Support

Virtually non-existant. It took me a lot of work to find a way in which to communicate Ibanez. It turns out you actually call a completely different company.