Jumpstart IJS20 Review

Ibanez wants you to sound great, look great, and play great. Now they've introduced the Jumpstart guitar package, featuring a GAX electric guitar, an Ibanez GTP10 10-Watt guitar amp, and all the guitar accessories you need!

Features:	8
Sound:	8
Action:	5.5
Reliability:	9.5
Impression:	9.5
Overall rating:	8.1
Users rating:	8.1
Comments:	14

overall: 8.4

Reviewed by: JuicyFrets, on may 23, 2007

Purchased from: Rockshop

Features: // 7

Sound: I play rock, classic rock, metal etc and it suits my playing well. I am stil using the tiny practise amp that came with this guitar and it sounds okay through it, but with a DS1 and some delay it sounds amazing on my dads Fender amp. It has a nice clean tone with the pickup selector on middle, and a good solid distorted sound on the bridge pickup. It is tricky to find the sweet spots for pinch harmonics for this guitar, but when you find them they sound great. Overall I am impressed with the sound of this guitar compared to a lot of other guitars at the same, or even double the price. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: Factory set up was absolutly perfect for me with a nice low action and the pickups at a good height. It didn't have any flaws at all that affected the playing or sound. I would have preferred to have had a matt finish rather than a gloss, but at this price there wasn't too much choice. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I have played a few gigs with this guitar and it is very solid and I would gig it without a backup. The hardware if of good quality and the strap buttons are great! The finish shows a lot of fingerprints etc, and a few chips, but personally I don't mind. The durability is great, one thing to watch is the nut on the imput as I lost mine at my friends house and had to get a new one. // 9

Impression: Overall, I play most styles of rock and this guitar is great. I have been playing for around 5 years but properly for 2. I have played many entry level guitars including ephiphones and squires and this guitar eats them all it is great. I own a DS1, a Marshall echohead, and a Behringer hellbabe wah, this guitar, a small Ibanez practise amp, a gloria acoustic and soon a court action bass. If this guitar were stolen I would save up and buy something else as this guitar is exclusive to the package. I love the sound, look and action of this guitar but the most trouble I have had is with the imput jack, the nut has fallen off and some inside electronics are a bit dodgey now(after I stood up fast with something on the cord). The only thing I would change on this guitar is to add two more volume/tone knobs. I tried this guitar against lots of guitars including Fenders, Epiphones and even a Washburn and I think I made the right choice. This guitar is overall a brilliant starter guitar and great value for money. // 9

Reviewed by: unregistered, on july 01, 2006

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: I believe this is a recent Ibanez guitar made. It only comes with the Ibanez IJS20 Jumpstart package tho'. It's a beautiful guitar in black with 22 medium frets and a rosewood fret board. It has a GAX neck, but it will never stay in tune. It has a solid top with 2 volume controls and a 3 way selector. The PSND1 humbucker neck pickup and the PSND2 humbucker bridge pickup make the guitar have a light blues sound, heavy distortion, and a cleaner sound. The BR-EG bridge makess it extremely easy to string this guitar, with the string through. The agathis body makes it very lightweight and the pearl dot inlay on the finger board mae his guitar a very beautiful piece of work. With the Ibanez IJS20 Package it comes with and Ibanez IBZ10 amp, a Ibanez GRX40 electric guitar, picks, standard cables, strap, a manual for basic song riffs, and a DVD featuring famed guitarist Paul Gilbert. // 9

Sound: It really helped me when I first started playin which was about two years ago. I had joined a small garage band and we were playin hard rock like Guns N' Roses etc. This guitar can really fit the standards when playing a hard rock sounds or Blues. I recently bought a Marshall MG100HDFX Cabnet and tried this guitar with it. It makes an absolute beautiful sound. I used a DigiTech RP200A with this and played a show last month with the guitar and it sounded wounderful. Unfortunatly, the Marshall MG100HDFX does not have a lower tone so you bassically have no choice but to play loud hard and rock out with this guitar and amp mixture. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar itself is very beautiful and playes very well yet, I had a couple of problems with it. When I bought the guitar, it seemed to be in fair shape, yet about a year back the bridge humbucker fell out. It just fell out of the guitar. The input Jack had become very loose and the wires disconnected. The guitar never stays in tune. I had a problem with the tuners as well. One broke off of the guitar and I had to replace them all. This guitar is great sounding but the hardware of it is not to great. // 2

Reliability & Durability: I've played many gigs' with this guitar, and it really will withstand loud live playing. The hardware will last, but not for too long if you understand. You can play loud and play hard but if its' too hard, the whole hing will fll apart. The strap buttons are solid and very well attached to the guitar. I've played many shows with it myself without a backup and only one time have I had a problem with it during a gig without a backup. I have dropped this guitar and scratched it and taken it to the limit with heat but there is not one sign of the finish gone. The paint they put on stays on. That is a very posotive feature of the guitar. // 10

Impression: I play a variation of classic rock, hard rock, and some metal. The guitar doesn't fit the look of any, but I get through. I have been playing for 4 years and I own a DigiTech RP80 footpedal, a DigiTech RP200A and an Ibanez Tubescreamer. My amps are a Marshall MG100HDFX Head with a MG412 Cabinet. I own two of these and they are very nice with this guitar, I own a Jackson Dinky in which I recently bought and sounds very nice. If this guitar was lost/stolen I wouldn't have any need to buy another, nor would I buy another guitar I have what I need for a while. I love the body, and it sounds. I do hate the humbuckers the tuing keys and the fretboard, its very rough to play on. Its a very nice guitar for beginers but if your a professional player this is not the guitar for you. If I were to compare it to other products it would be better than some but lesser than others as usuall. I compared this guitar when I was starting out to the Fender squire and I wasnt pleased. so I decided to buy this guitar. I wish that it had more frets, beter humbuckers, and tuning keys. Bsides that the guitar is really nice, I enjoy working with it despite its cons'. // 10

Comments

[Gerard_grr]

I think this is a good guitar, my cousin has this pack and it sounds like a pro kind not like fender starter pack. ibanez always make good stuff

[wingedgopher]

these are decent but the pups on mine suck

[hemi-san]

its ok

[1llusionz]

Wow, the other comments on this sucked.

This is a great beginner Guitar I picked it up, and it comes with everything you need to get started! The acessories are alright. I'll adise to get another Strap and Picks, that's really it.

Nice look. The only thing is the picture on the sites fool you. The guitar isn't a blue-ish color. It is an Black guitar, despite the picture on the screen, it's black. I didn't care, I like black better.

The amp is pretty good, nice volume. It has alright distortion for a beginner. It comes with sample tabs, and a DVD which helps.

The price is very good, I bought mine from geartree.com. It cost me $190, with free shipping. So it was a excellent deal for me.

Thus, this is a great BEGINNER guitar to learn on for any curious fellow wanting to rock out.

[timo1]

ur talking about i different guitar pack mate

[1llusionz]

O.o I'm talking about a different one, when I have it?

If you had a different experience, then post it, it will help other people about buying.

[Venom™]

im gay

[unholy_love]

^ yeahh.. me too

[kfong03]

what! You're cheating on ur mom?

[Nightfyre]

folks, 1llusionz is talking about this pack, not some other pack. the guy that said it was a grx40 had it wrong, its a gax neck and body, but with only one tone and one volume control. the other gax models have two of each. as for my experiences...
the action was too high when i got it, but i fixed that. it can get quite low. intonation was pretty good out of the box, though i had to reintonate when i switched to .010s. thats normal, though. the neck feels a little slow, and the tuners suck. upper fret access is horrible. there were 3 frets that needed leveling, the third, fourth, and sixteenth, but i fixed that too. it won't stay in tune for long, maybe an hour's worth of practise time if you're lucky. that's if you string it properly. a shoody stringing job (not pulling on the strings) means it won't stay in tune 5 minutes. i dunno about the pickups, they're ok. i'd probably say they suck if i had some to compare them too. the amp is really noisy and the distortion sucks. it doesn't feedback easily though. the dvd and book don't go into much detail, you're basically left to fend for yourself. oh, and the guitar is fairly heavy. the strap is alright, and the tuner isn't that good, but it works. the finish is nice, but the little sparkles are kinda stupid and it shows scratches and dents really easily. the sound you get isn't bad, though i can't give a good idea of the sound since my current amp isn't all that great either. it might be a little to bassy, which could be fixed by adjusting the pole pieces. all in all, a good deal, just don't expect too much out of it.

[nfowl11]

i would buy new strings. mine broke in the first week

[rancidryan]

i think the marshall starter packs slightly better

[Warlock86]

good as a starter but i def woud not go giging with it!

[Andro Luigi]

I would gig with it.