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The guitar seems like it can withstand the live show. All around the guitar is solidly built. |
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| Features: | 8.8 |
| Sound: | 8.6 |
| Action: | 8 |
| Reliability: | 9.1 |
| Impression: | 9.4 |
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| Overall rating: |
8 |
| Reviewer rating: |
8.8 |
| Users rating: |
7.3 |
| Votes: |
87 |
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GSZ120
Recently reviewed by:
unregistered, on february 08, 2012
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 99
Purchased from: Vision guitars
Features: Volume knob for each pickup, one tone knob for both, 22 frets medium, basswood body, standard pickups, full tune III bridge. (I added a DiMarzio X2N to the bridge). // 7
Sound: The original pick-ups are pretty good for classic rock and blues, but they sound pretty thin, almost single coil like, not particularly HOT but to me they seem very smooth. Add a decent pre amp or pedal and you can get a great metal tone as well out of the bridge p-up. The neck pick-up is actually quite sustaining considering is low output, sounds much like a single coil, rich tone and great with cleans. I use a Boss ME-25 and a Marshall MG100HDFX head with a Marshall 1922 2x12 cab. It sounds absolutely fantastic just straight through amp, especially for the price! Surprising it goes very well with my Schecter C-1 Exotic Star. Also to my biggest surprise it pulls off harmonics quite well too. I swapped out the bridge P-up with a DiMarzio X2N and added a magnet to the neck pickup to increase the output, oh boy does it sing! The X2N compliments the tone of the basswood strangely well, reacting to how you play your guitar, if your aggressive it will really show in your sound, and vice versa. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: I bought this guitar second hand, so after setting it up I noticed the action was so unbelievably low. I did the penny test, placing a penny under the strings and it held it pretty tight. I dare say it would go even lower if your into serious fine tuning of the frets. The cut away on the bolt on neck allows full access to the 22nd fret, and the medium frets offer reasonable space for your fingers, especially if you have rather large hands. The neck is pretty quick and quite small so jumping between octaves is sooooo easy! The body for me is quite comfortable and being a particularly small guitar, doesn't weigh you down or get in the way too much. To me It feels small but mighty, however you can't really wear this guitar low, as you would probably look silly with it been a small guitar. I've allowed others to play this guitar and they all say the same thing, its so easy to play, but its a bit small. It stays in tune really well, taking a battering from the hardest of players. The finish is very hardy, its had a few knocks and bumps but the finish seems pretty thick and protected. Sadly the back is pretty scratched from my belt but ah well. // 9
Reliability & Durability: This guitar WILL without a doubt withstand live playing, and does so on a regular basis. So far I have been playing this guitar for 2 years and have not noticed any hardware issues, everything seems so high quality considering the price. There's no oxidised metal, no loose pegs or screws, nothing. I have not had any incidents with the strap buttons, the only incident is the jack nut came loose, a quick tighten and everything is fine. I rarely take a backup to gigs due to travelling issues and I don't fear in any way that I would need one. // 9
Impression: I play a varied style of music, and with the X2N now in the bridge, it fits everything I do. With the X2N and the guitar together it cost me Ј140 and its the best money I've spent on gear. I own a Schecter C-1 Exotic Star and it really does compete with that in all categories. I love the feel of the guitar, the easy playability, the sound, the versatility, the size and the look. If it was lost or stolen I would get another one in an instant. I actually traded in an S470 and almost got an RG instead, but the guy at the counter actually recommended this instead, Genius! I only wish I could have a locking trem with this guitar, and that the X2N came as standard with it. This guitar is like the lonely kid from school who everyone underestimated but after trying out for the team, shocked everyone by just owning a-s! If I ever get famous with my own signature model this will be it! // 9
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GSZ120
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on april 20, 2005
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 194.99
Purchased from: Musicians Friend
Features: This guitar features an SZ body with silver or black finish, two humbuckers, and a three way selector Switch. It has three knobs, two volume knobs and a tone knob. It also has a standard bridge. // 8
Sound: This a very good sounding guitar. It's perfect for rock and metal. I own an Epiphone Les Paul and a Gibson SG Special Faded, and this guitar sounds better than both. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The neck on this guitar is one of the fastest I've ever played. Perfect for shred and fast metal riffs. The finish is very well done also. I love the silver finish on mine. The only flaw with the guitar was fret buzz on the first four frets of the A string. // 8
Reliability & Durability: I think this guitar could withstand the live show. Every thing appears to be well built and looks like a very dependable guitar. // 10
Impression: Overall this was a good buy. It's perfect for my style of playing which is rock and metal. I love everything about this guitar. The look of the body, the finish, and it's fast neck. If it were stolen of lost I would probably replace it. // 10
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GSZ120
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on april 04, 2005
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 100
Features: Solid mahogany body. Two pickups with three knobs. Bridge tone, bridge volume, neck volume. Silver and black finish. I bought a silver one. Maple neck and rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlays. 22 frets (medium I think). // 8
Sound: Neck pickup sounds like a Gibson Les Paul but a bit thinner. Bridge pickup sounds like a Fender. I don't think it really sounds the way Ibanez should be (take for example the sound of Paul Gilbert in Just Take My Heart) great sustain, you can let the guitar sing when playing melodic leads, the attack is not that good. Overall it's a good sounding guitar for the price. You can have a great sound with the price paid for it. Just use high end effects for enhancements. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: Action is by far higher than the RG Prestige. But I think it is the standard action. Smooth flowing shred licks and liquid leads. On the body it has a small scratch near the neck. Just about right not a problem at all. // 6
Reliability & Durability: No problems yet. // 8
Impression: I play '80s and '90s rock, heavy metal, trash, grunge, punk, blues, jazz shred and fast licks it responded well to all the genres. I wish it comes with a hard shell case. I wish the neck width at nut is wider and I wish it has a 24 fret finger board. Overall it gives me all that I need for a guitar. You just need a good amp like a Peavey 112 Bandit or a Marshall and good effects like Boss multiples or Zoom for sound enhancements. Without effects it sounds just about how an electric guitar should be. // 8
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GSZ120
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on march 14, 2005
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: MusiciansFriend.com
Features: 22 smooth frets, thicker style body, maple fingerboard with pearl inlays, comes in black or silver finish with black hardware, one volume knob, two tone knobs, high-mid-low Switch, two pick-ups. Nice sharp and classy look that Ibanez is well known for. Great mid-level guitar, especially for the price. // 10
Sound: I play all sorts of music from punk to metal to soft rock. This guitar seems to be able to play them all with no problem, usually the amp and effects are more responsible for the quality level of sound anyways though. I am using my Peavey 15w amp with a Boss MetalZone pedal when I feel the need for distortion. I have used a wah ped as well and sounded fine considering the lack of power in my amp. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: Smooth! I bought this guitar because I absolutely love the playability of an Ibanez. Every Ibanez I've played is well Different people have different preferences, but one of my top ones is that the guitar has to be quick. I like fast riffs commonly associated with metal, and this fretboard is quick. The frets seem to be at an optimal height allowing fast and efficient finger movements. Everything seemed set up perfect, but again thats a preference thing. No flaws physically and the sound doesnt reveal any either out of the box. // 10
Reliability & Durability: Ibanez is a top brand and can be trusted, so I imagine this guitar lasting a lot longer than average. Everything seemed solid and I don't have any issues with the guitar slipping from the strap due to small strap pegs like on my Peavey Raptor (thats so freakin' annoying). I haven't had any issues as far as the reliability and durability parts are concerned. // 8
Impression: Overall, I think this is one of my best purchases. The look, the sound, the durability and reliability as well as playability is perfect. I bought a silver one to change up the color of my collection, but either black or silver looks good. The next buy will be the JS1000, but until then I think this guitar will do more than enough for me and my many different genres of music I enjoy playing. // 10
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GSZ120
Reviewed by:
slippy456, on february 21, 2005
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 200
Purchased from: Dave Phillips Music and sound
Features: The guitar has 22 medium frets on a maple neck with a poplar body. The guitar has an SZ body and a standard bridge. Two pickups and a three way selector for the two pickups. The guitar has knobs for tone and separate knobs for each pickups volume. // 10
Sound: The sound is alot better than my old setup with a Les Paul Junior and a Brownsvile amp. I'm currently running the guitar through a 15 watt Fender Frontman and easily said thge sond is awesome though I have noticed some problems with the bridge pickup when you bend on the upper strings. This guitar does suit my style of play which is a mix of just about every thing. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: The only problem I had was a small black scratch on the body which is a pain on a ssilver body. The only other problems are my 12 fret hardware is oversized and not properly filed down and the pickup selector is kinda noisy otherwise its an awesome guitar. // 6
Reliability & Durability: The guitar seems like it can withstand the live show. All around the guitar is solidly built. // 10
Impression: The guitar is awesome and fit for me because I ike to play modern rock and metal and the guitar can really hold on detuning. // 10
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GSZ120
Reviewed by:
FreeManson15, on november 22, 2007
0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: Music Land
Features: This guitar has 22 frets, The neck feels pretty thin to me, sometimes a little too thin. The paint job on mine features sparkles that reflect the color of all the lights around you, looks extremely cool on stage. The bridge features a stud mount system allowing me to switch bridges if need be quite easily. The stock bridge how ever destroyed my lower strings. It cut into the strings and often my low E string, and my A string would actually break while I was playing. I'm extremely confused about the volume controls and the pickup selector, there's no marking on any of the knows, and the selection seems to change when you change pickups. It doesn't much matter for me since I rarely play on anything but the bridge pickup. // 9
Sound: Suprisingly it does suit the music I play. I'm really into like noise rock like sonic youth stuff and I also play a lot of Sixties esque garage/post modern music, like the Brian Jonestown Massacre. I find that it has a sort of heavy clean tone that really gives it a cool garage rock type of thing. I don't have any effects pedals. I use the spring reverb on my amp and occasionally distortion, occasionally delay. The pickups on this guitar aren't noisy at all, they are very hot. Very good distorted sound if that's what your into. // 7
Action, Fit & Finish: The action was at a medium level out of the factory. It could be lower but I never bothered to fix it. Somehow my pickups were tilted slightly, I fixed it myself with a screwdriver. Not sure what was up with that, or If I even fixed it correctly, but It was the neck pickup which I rarely use. // 7
Reliability & Durability: This guitar will withstand Live playing as long as you don't rough it up too much, the hardware feels relatively well made, the tuner were slightly loose though. Never had any problems with the strap buttons. I would use it at a gig withough a backup, cause I don't realy have anything that could dupilicate the sound. // 8
Impression: I play many styles of music. This guitar is probably not the best match. I find that mostly metal player play Ibanez, and I never stray into that territory with it, I'd probably be better of with a tele or a nice semi-hollowbody. If it were stolen, I would just buy a different guitar. I hate the whole metal look of it really, I'm kind of into the whole sixties vibe, but I got this for christmas and figured I should use it, It actually works better than you'd expect. // 8
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GSZ120
Reviewed by:
Mistaa Man, on october 22, 2007
0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 213.3
Purchased from: Music Stop
Features: 22 Fret Mahogany-Neck guitar. Solid-metallic red body, black headstock with black knobs, bridge, pickups, headstock/keys, all nuts, and selector. Got the SZ body and it cuts away so you can reach the 22nd fret easily (unlike most of the strats I played.) 3-way tone selector, with the volume and tone knobs. Standard pickups, and they sound great. Non locking tuners, no whammy bar (no slot to put one in) but I don't like whammy bars. No included accesories. // 9
Sound: This guitar suits my music style perfectly. I play a lot of (hard) rock, and (Heavy) metal. I use it with a Line 6 Spider III 30 watt amp (which is very loud.)No pedals, just the normal amp distortion. I don't find it noisy at all, sometimes when I first start the amp up on the "Insane" channel (for awesome distortion) it buzzes for a second then I play and it stops. Amazing sound! // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up just about perfect in the store when I tried it out, the only thing wrong with it was that it was out of tune. Pickups were adjusted fine, and still are. The only flaw, as I said, was that it was not in tune. And there is a bit of a paint scuff on the cutaway part, but that's fine, it is gonna happen to a guitarist anyways eventually. That's it though. Otherwise no flaws that really affect sound or playability. // 8
Reliability & Durability: This guitar definatley would be able to withstand a gig, I think it will last me a long, long time, I would use it without another guitar on a gig for sure, I don't see any harm in that. Strap buttons are 100% solid, but tip: never use straps the have clamps because they will loosen the buttons and they will fall out, use the leather kind that you slide over the buttons. The finish seems good enough to last, in my opinion, I have no clue where that scratch came from. // 10
Impression: I play a lot of (hard) rock, and (heavy) metal, as mentioned earlier. It matches my style perfectly. I have been playing for about 1 year an 10 months, but I have lots of experience with stuff, I previously owned a BC Rich Warlock Bronze Edition (which sucked), and a Peavey MIlestone III Bass, which was great, but I sold it for my amp. I also have some kind of ION noob guitar, I guess it is a Starter Kit. And a Fender Gemini II 1987 acoustic, and the two amps (Kustom 100 Watt, and the Line6 Spider 30 watt). I don't think there was something I wish I'd asked before I bought this. If it was stolen or lost I would definatley buy a new one of these, they are amazing guitars! I love everything about it, the only thing I used to hate was the headstock because it is kind of small, and it looked funny when I first got it but now I am used to it and it looks kinda cool. Might sound odd, but favorite feater is the bridge, because, compared to the BC Rich Warlock Bronze, the strings are way easier to put in, the BC Rich had a wrap around bridge, this one, you just slide the string in, put it in the little indentation and do the rest, and your done. Also, the indenstation on this guitar are a lot better, they are deeper, ensuriong that your string will stay in there as you tune it. This guitar also sound a lot better then the BC Rich Warlock. I only wish it had a whammy bar, and a lock system. Just so I could say I had a whammy bar on it, plus, they look cool. Love this guitar. You have to buy this guitar it is amazing! // 10
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GSZ120
Reviewed by:
Saffron_Inferno, on august 08, 2007
0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 250
Purchased from: Capital Music
Features: This guitar was made in the states. It has a nice maple neck with 22 frets. The maple neck allows for really fast shred metal riffs. It as a Standard sz body and is built with the quality we have come to expect from Ibanez. It has 2 volume control nobs and 1 tone nob with a 3-way pickup selector switch. The switch looks good on the guitar and is not the same old boring short switches previous Ibanez guitars had. It comes with a standard cable. // 9
Sound: It suits me greatly since I play a lot of rock and metal and this guitar sounds great when playing these genres. I am currently using it with a Starfire Mega 10 and I'm going to get a Boss MT-2 metalzone soon for extra drive. It can get get noisy and I pick up feedback when I turn my master and volume nobs all the way up. This guitar is perfectly made for the rock and metal genre. It probably can play blues and other stuff well but it has been built to be used in rock and metal so that is were it shines. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: This guitar has a brilliant very fast action which is great for very fast riffs. It comes in black and silver. I chose the black cause it looks real awesome. Like a real rock/metal guitar. The pickups were ok but not the guitars strong point. The guitar has no real flaws and has never given me any problems and it is 8 months old. // 10
Reliability & Durability: This guitar is solidly built and it looks like it can withstand the live show. I haven't used it in 1 yet but I'm sure it wont let me down. I would use it without a backup cause Ibanez guitars are 1 of the best brands when it comes to quality and I would depend on this guitar from everything from studio work to live shows. // 10
Impression: I play rock and metal mostly (a little punk here and there) and it is a great match. It sound even better with effects. I have been playing for about a year and a half now and I'm going to buy a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone distortion pedal very soon which I'm very excited to hear on this guitar. If it was lost or stolen I wouldn't buy it again as I would want to try out different guitars but right now this guitar is a machine and perfect for me.I love the sounds this guitar produces and you just know it can hold it's own in different kinds of rock and metal. I hate nothing about this guitar! I chose this guitar because it was the only Ibanez the store had and I was hell bent on getting an Ibanez casue I loved Linkin Park so much during that time (it was their hybrid theory/meteora days) and I knew Linkin Park only used Ibanez. I just wish this guitar would come with a guitar bag, but I keep it in my old hardcase and now I put my old Yamaha accoustic guitar in the Ibanez box this guitar came with. // 10
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