ART120 Review

It has a les paul style body, albeit with a sharper bottom cut. It has a mahogany body with a maple top with set-neck and a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard.

Features:	9
Sound:	9.5
Action:	9.5
Reliability:	9.5
Impression:	9.5
Overall rating:	9.4
Users rating:	8.7
Comments:	16

overall: 10

Featured review by: Zach Dunn, on may 04, 2009

Price paid: £ 180

Purchased from: EMIS - www.EmisMusic.co.uk

Features: Neck is a ART Mahogany set-in neck, a Maple top/Mahogany body, 22 Medium Sized frets, Gibraltar III bridge, Quik Change III tailpiece with a LZ1-N in the neck position and a LZ1-B in the bridge. (Both active humbuckers)

Standard Ibanez Tuners (that keep in tune unless you kick them... Accidently if you're lying it done on the floor - I've invested in a handy guitar stand!)

3 Way selector, 2 volume and 1 tone knob. // 10

Sound: I use this guitar for mainly metal now (sounds really damn sweet through a Danelectro Fish & Chips through a Yamaha GW-10...a practise amp with so much heaviness!). But can also play some classic rock, BeachBoys style stuf (as i've had in my guitar lessons) and they all sound great! No fretbuzz at all (even on overdrive!) (unless the volume is on 10!). // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up by a great guy at EMIS (google it... If you're from the UK). The pick-ups where in their original positions/heights etc and were fine. The neck is also great, with access to every part of the fretboard so solo-ing is easy! I've noticed absolutly no flaws at all in the past few months of owning this monster and it looks great too.

There's also a nice contour on the back that doesn't give you grief if you're sitting and playing for a while. And not to forget the width of the guitar, its slim and light weight too (unlike the Epiphone Les Pauls...I've trialed the Black Beauty and that was REALLY heavy and bulky compared to this ART120) // 10

Reliability & Durability: I'd say this guitar is very realiable and also very durable. I've also dropped it accidently and the guitar stay intune and intact. The strap buttons are solid, haven't fallen off, hasn't come loose etc. I would have a back up (for heavier drop tunnings unless your guitar is set up right...and if you're playing sons in every sort of tunning and can't be bothered to tune your guitar after every song!).

The finish hasn't defected either too! I chose the White model and it looks great too! Looks like it'll take more than a few years for the white paint to fall off? (haha!) // 10

Impression: Overally impression? Personally I think it's an animal of a guitar, great for beginners, great for everyone to be honest. The sound is perfect for recording too (but then again it also depends on the amp you're using!). I've been playing (seriously) for about 2 months now, but have always had a guitar by myside for about 5 years. If this was lost or stolen, I'd cry...and cry some more. Seriously this guitar is idol for anything and also the price is pretty darn good too!.

So if you're looking for a Les Paul style guitar, at a reasonably great price...and also (apparently) a better quality than most Epiphone Les Pauls (according to members of the Ibanez forum) and would like to play anything...this guitar is for you! // 10

Reviewed by: unregistered, on november 05, 2008

Price paid: $ 290

Purchased from: Audiophile

Features: Made in China. 2008 model. It has a les paul style body, albeit with a sharper bottom cut. It has a mahogany body with a maple top with set-neck and a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard. (medium frets) 1 tribal inlay on the 12th fret. I got it in white and it has rather nice binding around the body and fingerboard. Fixed gibraltar III bridge and a quick-change III tailpiece. It has 2 Ibanez loz active humbuckers powered by 2 AA batteries. Also has 2 volume and 1 tone knob(s) with a 3-way selector Switch. It has Ibanez tuners that stay in tune quite well. It came in a box with a manual and some tools. // 8

Sound: I play metal, hard rock, progressive and even alternative and neo-classical. This guitar actually sounds like an EMG equipped guitar. It has a very nice deep kind of warm sound from the neck pickup both clean and distorted. From the bridge pickup though, it is a bit crunchy and great for power chords. I use it on a generic 15-watt practice amp and a Behringer X-VAMP effects processor. The high-output pickups actually overdrive the clean setting on the amp so I have to turn the volume down on the guitar a bit. This guitar sounds great in any genre, from Metallica songs, to Guns N' Roses songs. The great thing about the pickups is aside from their being extremely high-output, they have extremely low noise too. You could have the gain in your amp up to 11 and you won't hear a lot of noise. It's as if you have a noise gate on. I am planning to get a Vox Valvetronix amp and I have tried the guitar on that amp and it sounds very nice. The pickup configuration really gives you a lot of tonal variety from crunchy rhythm tones to warm, sweet, lead tones and nice clean tones. I bet that with a better amp, this guitar is gonna sound phenomenal. If they put a Gibson logo on the headstock, I would believe them. Oh yeah, the sustain depends on the amp you have. But it's pretty decent. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: When I got it from the shop, the action was a little higher than the one I am comfortable with and I soon plan on changing the action. It came with D'addario strings so I did not have to change them. The pickups were adjusted perfectly and did not need any form of configuration. I did not see any problem with the finish of the guitar. Everything from the paint to the fret wire was perfectly set-up. The neck looked and felt perfect. No cracks or signs of strain even after a few months of use. The pickup selector is a bit on the noisy side but if you switch pickups while playing, you won't hear anything. Aside from the action of the guitar and maybe better packaging, this guitar is perfect. // 9

Reliability & Durability: Since this is my main guitar, I use this one all the time both in practice and Live. The guitar itself looks like it can take a beating. Obviously, it is heavier than the average guitar but that's a small price to pay for a guitar like this. I would recommend you getting a pair of strap-locks for this guitar just to be safe. I still use the stock strap buttons with a Levy's strap and it holds up pretty well. Fortunately, the tuners are pretty reliable and keep in tune well. Restringing only takes a second or two so I can go out there and gig without a backup. But even if I had a Gibson, I would still bring backups just to be safe. The finish looks very beautiful now and it looks like it will stay that way even after 20 years or so. Probably the best guitar in it's price range and it can compete with guitars twice or Thrice it's price. // 9

Impression: Since I play mostly Metallica, Guns N' Roses and Steve Vai songs, this guitar is a perfect fit for almost all genres. As I said before, the tonal variety here is excellent. You can probably perform Metal one second and jazz the next and it will perform well. I have been playing for 3 years and this is only my 3rd guitar and my 2nd electric. Maybe I should have changed the action first before buying it and if it were lost, I would get it again in a different color. Because it's really good. I would recommend this over PRS SE guitars and Hamers and half the Epiphone les pauls that they have. I love the sound, the price, the finish and how imposing it looks on stage. I hate that I only thought about buying it a few months ago. I compared this to PRS singlecuts and all the Epiphones and the Gibson LP studio. I actually feel as if this guitar was made for me. Maybe with a Floyd Rose on it and some EMG's and this will be the greatest guitar ever made. // 9

Comments

[leviticus_22953]

I compared this to PRS singlecuts and all the Epiphones and the Gibson LP studio. I actually feel as if this guitar was made for me. Maybe with a Floyd Rose on it and some EMG's and this will be the greatest guitar ever made.

as far as i know, Audiophile does not carry Epiphone, Gibson and PRS guitars.

[Papa_Het32]

Yeah. Audiophile only carries Ibanez guitars. I had to go to other shops for the other brands.

[leviticus_22953]

Papa_Het32 wrote:

Yeah. Audiophile only carries Ibanez guitars. I had to go to other shops for the other brands.

how about Epiphone? i know there are no epiphone dealers here in the philippines. and gibson stopped supplying guitars for RJ. so where did you try them?

[sambargun]

Why would you want EMGs on a guitar that is otherwise sounding good for many genres? I feel that EMGs are excellent for metal and pretty much useless for other styles. I'm not the most knowledgable guitarist but somehow Ibanezes and Dimarzios sound really good together.....

[Papa_Het32]

Well my friends have a lot of gibsons and epiphones so I borrowed their guitars just to have a try.

[jam22]

How thick is the body of this guitar?

[jam22]

Also whats the neck like? i know it's no wizard, does it compare say to a ibanez gax 70. I found a gax quite slim compared to most other non wizzard and fast neck guitars.

[blues_to_thrash]

Well its a different (less tense) feel thanks to the les paul scale but when i was used to it i felt it was a fairly fast neck. Not quite a match for my RG prestige but still fast. I think of this guitar as what superstrats are to strats, this is that to a les paul but still keeping more of the original les paul properties like the woods.

[sg madness]

I've got a epiphone sg i like the guitar but i fancy the 120 i find the sgs neck a bit fat and not very slim and its pretty much a heavy guitar whats the 120 like and what does it mean that the pick ups are powered by aa batterys this desn't

[sg madness]

I've got a epiphone sg i like the guitar but i fancy the 120 i find the sgs neck a bit fat and not very slim and its pretty much a heavy guitar whats the 120 like and what does it mean that the pick ups are powered by aa batterys this dosn't mean i have to put duracell in the guitar lol does it have a slim nek like the ibanez rg

[Zach Dunn]

jam22 wrote:

How thick is the body of this guitar?

i'd say just over an inch...seriously..

[Zach Dunn]

jam22 wrote:

Also whats the neck like? i know it's no wizard, does it compare say to a ibanez gax 70. I found a gax quite slim compared to most other non wizzard and fast neck guitars.

the neck is great and doesnt compareto any of the Gio's, this next is perfect and probably slimmer than the gax

[sg madness]

what does it mean the pickups are powered by AA batterys ?

[k33p1tr34l]

sg madness :
what does it mean the pickups are powered by AA batterys ?

Cause the picups are active pickups, you have to put batteries in them to make them work, I think you can use them without the batteries but it just sounds awful, also you can tell by the decrease in sound quality when the batteries run out.

[k33p1tr34l]

So here's a question, I bought the black version today and I plugged in like I did with the display model in the shop, and when I payed it, I had my peravey up at FULL overdrive it still came out with a blues tone, almost no distortion or overdrive and it sounds clean as a bitch, does anyone have any idea what could be the problem?

[aksak]

k33p1tr34l wrote:

So here's a question, I bought the black version today and I plugged in like I did with the display model in the shop, and when I payed it, I had my peravey up at FULL overdrive it still came out with a blues tone, almost no distortion or overdrive and it sounds clean as a bitch, does anyone have any idea what could be the problem?

As the pickups on your ART 120 are active ones, check 1st if there are batteries in the battery compartment. If yes, check if they are ok.