Price paid: A$ 549.00
Purchased from: http://www.ibanezguitarcentre.com.au
Features: The Ibanez GRGA42QA is a GIO RGA series electric guitar model introduced in 2011. It was made in Indonesia and as all the great Ibanez features. It has 24/medium frets on a rosewood fingerboard, with a GRGA Maple Neck this guitar has a fast neck and is considerably easy to play and solo on. The body is made of Basswood, popular among a lot of Ibanez Guitars which makes it a light but durable guitar, perfect for playing live. It also gives a nice crisp tone, especially for playing metal/hard rock music. The body has a lovely quilted ART grain top which comes in Transparent Black and Transparent Red Burst. This guitar is a Strat Styled guitar with a nice deep cutaway to make it easy to access the higher frets. It is also an archtop guitar making it easy to slam down heavy riffs. The bridge on this guitar is a fixed bridge and is very easy to work with and makes it easier to intonate and restring. The guitar has to EMGHz Passive pick ups. The neck pick up is a - EMG H4A and the bridge pick up is a EMG H4. The guitar has 1 volume/tone knob and a 1 three way lever. When I got my guitar it came in perfect condition with a Ibanez Hardcase thrown in. For a fairly cheap guitar it has a lot of great features. // 8
Sound: Like a lot of Ibanez guitars the GRGA42QA is great for the Metal/Hard rock style music which is what I like. I mostly play Death/Thrash metal like: Cannibal Corpse, Slayer, In Flames, Mayhem etc.. And this guitar is perfect for it. Most of the time when playing guitar I don't use my amplifier, I use my Line 6 Studio UX2 with PODFarm which offers so many great effects and tones. So I can basically get whatever sound I want, and it sounds great. When this guitar is plugged into my 30watt Line 6 Spider III it sounds just as good! The guitar has a nice crisp clean tone, on the clean channel but still offers a crunchy yet clear metal sound on the insane channel without it sounding over muffled and distorted. Depending what amp/effects you are using there is a lot of different sounds you can get with this guitar. // 7
Action, Fit & Finish: When this guitar arrived it was in perfect condition, nice and snug in a hardcase. Upon opening the case and inspecting I couldn't spot one single flaw. Everything was pretty much perfect from the paint job to the action. The only problem I had was the poor quality stock strings. But its what you expect from most stock strings. Mine snapped after about a day (I was constantly changing tunings, that is why). At the moment all the controls/pickup selector seems firmly in place. The thing I do love about this guitar the most is the action, it does have really good action and I love soloing on this guitar and its much easier for me to play fast thrashy metal on. // 9
Reliability & Durability: So far I have had a few jams with my band, and I know for sure that this baby could live gig easily. Its actually the reason I bought it in the first place. Its a lighter guitar and the arch-top makes it easy to slam down riffs without hitting my guitar. The strap buttons are solid and all the controls are. I definitely could depend on this guitar during a live gig - But I'm not going to lie, I will never play any guitar with out a back up. And the finish will last - IF you take regular care of it. The finish on this guitar requires regular cleaning and polishing. // 7
Impression: For the style of music I play this is a perfect match. But its not just for metal, I see this guitar as an all rounder, its great for pretty much everything from blues to death metal! I have only really been playing guitar seriously for 2 years and this is my fourth guitar. I also own a B.C. Rich Kerry King Flying V, 2 Fender Strats, and obviously my new Ibanez. If anything were to happen to my Ibanez I would definitely get it again, I highly suggest this guitar to beginners or any other person who is looking for an affordable guitar that does the job great! // 9
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