RG550 Review

24 frets, H/s/H made of basswood, 5-way switch

Features:	8.6
Sound:	7.8
Action:	9.6
Reliability:	8.4
Impression:	9.6
Overall rating:	8.8
Users rating:	8.7
Comments:	14

overall: 9.2

Featured review by: UG Team, on august 01, 2003

Features: I'm in love with this guitar its pretty much perfect so here it goes it has a 25.5 scale super huge frets!!! Male neck nice wizard style really thin and quick really nice. It has an edge trem the only problems I have with it is if you pull the bar to far it buzzes on the nuts holding it in position and if u bend 1 string it bends em all but this isnt to hard to fix. H/s/H made of basswood 5way Switch made in japan 24 frets thats about as much as I can say about it really nice. // 10

Sound: It has Vintage style pickups of a high standard for stock pickups I play Rock Punk 80s metal Shred and it does all fine just dont expect perfect sounds. Nice and bright sometimes a bit noisy in distorion. I use it with a Laney tf200 a morley power wah and a Marshall jackhammer. I would rate 4.5 but you cant do half marks!!!!!! // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I don't know from the factory because mine's second hand. There is alot of variety in the action. I have mine very low!:) The selector is 5 way and moves very smoothly unlike my epiSG400!! The finish is quite nice nothing specail it would have been nice to seen some quilted maple or flamed maple tops though!!! The tuners are very high quality no play at all in them. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar could easily stand a battering the hardwear is of a very high standard. The finish seems quite thick so it shouldnt wear too quuickly the strap buttons are large even with my old torn strap it hasnt fallen. The only thing is the floyd if you break a string live its not as easy as other types to change. // 8

Impression: I have been playing 9 months and in my opinion beats Maverick dtox,s and F,s and jacksons cos I tried 5 jacksons 5 Ibanez and 3 maveicks before I spent my money!!! I would deffinately buy this guitar again but Id love to own a jem someday but that is alot more dosh. I love it all mostly just a few minor things I mentioned earlier my favourite feature is that lovely floyd 10/10 for that. I wish it had a scalloped neck (personally) but thats not every1s taste and Id love a reversed head but Im not complaining its still a great guitar. // 10

overall: 9.2

Reviewed by: vulgarmachine, on august 01, 2008

Price paid: £ 185

Purchased from: Phoenix soundworks

Features: This guitar is the late 90s RG550, the model below the RG570. This guitar features a basswood body, and 24 fret maple Wizard neck with rosewood fingerboard. The guitar also has a lo-pro edge trem and Ibanez stock pickups (V6, S1, V7) arranged in true super Strat style (H/S/H). My guitar is finished in a purple sparkle, but other colours are available. The guitar is of typical super Strat construction, with a bolt on neck and back routed body. A 5-way selector is provided, as are tone and volume pots. // 9

Sound: Plugged into a Fender supersonic or Marshall JCM-2000 there isn't really much this guitar can't do. This is helped by the slightly lower output pickups. EMGs these things aren't, so distorted chords sound like they should do. Flicking the 5-way selector into the varying settings really allows the tonal range of this guitar to be opened up. In the neck position, a nasal tone that would do for classic rock/shred, whilst in the next position a tone that would give most strats a run for their money in the blues field. The middle (single coil) pickup, is the only bad apple. It has a tone that really bites for crunchy rock and country twang, but it has a tendency to distort. Noise is also an issue with this pickup. If left with the amp running, a fair amount of hiss/buzzing can be heard with the guitar left in this position. The 4th position on the pickup selector really gives a funky tone, and the bridge pickup is the one for you metal heads. It's packed with clarity and plenty of clearly defined attack. You just have to touch the strings to get squawking pinched harmonics. This guitar also sounds pretty good through a small practice amp, though for obvious reasons isn't as good as through a good quality tube amp. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: Another example of a very well set up guitar. The trem had a bouncy action, making it fun to play. The pickups were set at the right height, and the cavities were all cleanly routed with no flaws. Flipping this guitar over and looking into the back cavity we can see the claws for the Floyd Rose, and then looking into the electrics, there are no obvious amounts of solder around the place and the guitar as a whole works pretty well. // 10

Reliability & Durability: As with all super strats, you must take them with a pinch of salt. I would never gig without a backup guitar, purely because of the Floyd Rose. This doesn't really reflect on the quality of the guitar. If you have looked on my profile and seen the condition of my RG550 you will see how it can withstand the hells of gigging quite well. It's never needed any repairs, apart from the occasional service. The strap buttons on this guitar are quite large, and the holes on my strap are quite small, so it has yet to break loose on stage. The finish is the only downside. Being made out of basswood, the guitar chips and dents quite easily, but if you're carefuly, this guitar will outlast you. // 9

Impression: I play anything from clean folk to grinding metal, and this guitar covers all of these genres. I've been playing for quite a while now and this guitar seems to suit my playing style. The neck is very quick and will suit all you shredders, and it's also fat enough to play chords and riffing. If it were stolen, I would probably not buy it again, but that's player choice. Comparable guitars would be the higher end Jackson dinky models or any other good superstrat. // 9

overall: 8

Reviewed by: m0p, on september 19, 2006

Price paid: $ 475.8

Purchased from: Evilbay

Features: It is a 2001 model, made in the Japan (or more specificly, the Fujigen factory). It has a 3-piece maple Wizard neck, with a maple fretboard that consists of 24 jumbo frets on a 25.5" scale which is connected to the body via an AANJ (All-Access Neck Joint). The body itself is made from Basswood and has a Sangria (a kinda dark-red, glossy metallic finish), and of course, being an RG, it is your usual superstrat shape. It is equipped with an original Ibanez Edge trem, which, despite being a pain in the butt to setup, is incredibly stable when setup right and will stay in tune no matter how much you abuse it, especially in combination with it's Ibanez Top-Lok III nut. It's loaded with Ibanez V8, V7 and S1 pickups in an H/S/H setup, nothing special, but for stock pickups they get the job done. And of course you have your usual RG controls, 1 tone pot, 1 volume pot and a 5-way pickup selector. The tuners are non-locking (no need for that with a locking nut anyway), and are made by Gotoh. Since I bought mine second-hand, it didn't come with the original Ibanez goodies, but I got a nice Ibanez hardcase with it. Overall I'd give it 8/10 for features. It may just be a superstrat, but it's an incredibly high-quality superstrat with an excellent bridge and an amazing neck. // 8

Sound: My musical style ranges from progressive metal (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment), to plain ol' thrash metal (early Metallica), to 80's shred metal (Racer X), to just plain wierd shredding nonsense (Steve Vai), and this axe plays all of those with no problem at all. I'm not too fond of the stock pickups at all however, especially when you consider Ibanez are sticking DiMarzio's on their latest Prestige reincarnation of the RG550, but that aside, they do the job fine. However, swapping them out for some DiMarzio's will really bring out the tone from this guitar. Played unplugged, it sounds rather pleasant and dark. That's the basswood tone coming out. The sustain isn't brilliant, I blame that on the trem, in my experience floating bridges eliminate the sustain significantly. With a DiMarzio ToneZone/AirNorton set, it deserves 9/10 but to be fair I'll rate it based on the stock pickups. // 6

Action, Fit & Finish: I can't comment on the factory setup since, as I've already mentioned, I bought it second hand, but the setup it had when I recieved it was pretty good. There was almost no fretbuzz, yet the action was comfortably low. The pickups were just right, too. There were a few flaws, specificly a bit of oxidization on the bridge (though not in the saddles, fortunately), a little fret oxidization (though for the most part the frets were perfect), a slightly loose nut (which was causing a few tuning problems, though still loose, I've improved it significantly with a bit of handy work), and a couple of paint chips near the jack socket, but all of which were mentioned in the auction listing by the seller when I bought it, so that didn't bother me in the slightest. At the moment it plays like a dream, the action is superlow with no fretbuzz, and decent tuning stability (I say decent because the wound strings go out slightly when I dive, but go back in tune when I pull up very slightly, which is related to the nut problem I mentioned). Aside from the minor flaws I mentioned, which I was aware of when buying the guitar, it plays near perfect and looks great. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This is a very reliable piece of gear and should withstand live playing and abuse no problem. Aside from the obvious Ibanez weaknesses (neck joint cracks and neck cracks near the nut, the latter usually caused by careless setup), the whole thing is pretty durable. I can't comment on the original strap buttons, as I replaced them with the DiMarzio ClipLock system, but I've got the original ones and they look reliable enough, but I'd still only trust a straplock system these days. I wouldn't gig it without a backup, as it has a floating trem, and with the huge pullup range it has, it'd be all too easy to snap a string if you weren't careful, and believe me you wouldn't have time to replace a string mid-song on a floating trem, but aside from that it's definately suitable to gig with. The finish is pretty durable too, I've dropped screwdrivers, allen wrenches, and all sorts of tools on it before during setup (I'm pretty clumsy with tools) and there aren't any paint chips on it all aside from the ones around the jack socket, which is inevitable with any guitar that has a jack-socket at the bottom like that, so that doesn't really count. // 9

Impression: As I've said in the "sound" paragraph, I mainly play prog metal, thrash metal, '80s shred metal and "wierd" shred, and as I also mentioned, it's perfect for that. I've been playing for countless years (I really don't know, but for quite a long time I'll put it that way), and own many similar guitars (ESP M-II, custom-shop Jackson SL and a couple of other Ibanez) and this is my favorite to play. It plays just as well as any expensive Ibanez I've played (with the exception of J-Customs, American Customs and other rarer models), and it's far cheaper too. I just love the neck, it's a bit uncomfortable at first if you are used to thicker profile necks, but once you've adjusted you'll never wanna go back. If it were stolen, I wouldn't be too financially bothered, but this guitar is still very precious to me, so I'd probably hunt down the thief, kick the living crap out of HIM, take the guitar back from HIM, steal his wallet and buy another 550 to go with this one. Only thing I'd change about it is the stock pickups, but that doesn't matter really, as it's not much trouble to swap them over to a set of DiMarzio's. // 9

overall: 9.2

Reviewed by: unregistered, on july 06, 2004

Price paid: $ 350

Purchased from: sigler music center

Features: This guitar is awsome two humbuckers (inf2) in the bridge and neck position and a inf2 single coil in the middle. A floyd rose system (which is a bitch to tune) volume and tone controls 24 frets the back of the headstock says 450? Looks like 550 anyone know anything bout that it was used when I bought it but I still kicks ass. // 8

Sound: This guitar suits my style just fine (heavy metal classic rock ) I use it with my crybaby and a Peavey transtube 110 amp. Only problem is it creates a hums when its on. Not bad though. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The action was low when I bought it but I raised it a bit cuz thats just how I like it the pickups and everything well adjusted no flaws it's a great guitar the black pickguard and finish are sick looking. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar would sound great live when I play live I would use this guitar no doubt I don't think I would even need a backup if I did it would be for d tuning. // 10

Impression: I've been playing for 4 years now and I've hade 4 guitars and this one is the best so far if it were stolen I would buy a new one the same day no joke. // 10

overall: 8.4

Reviewed by: unregistered, on december 08, 2003

Price paid: $ 1006.5

Purchased from: Marcus's Music, Belfast

Features: With 24 frets, an amazing fretboard, tremendous action and a floyd rose I bet anyone could be the next Satriani or Vai with this beast. It has a 5-way selector, one volume and one tone knob. The pickup config is H/S/H ie. V8/S1/V7 Ibanez pickups. Basswood neck with some strange sparkly finish. The floyd rose of course has the nut lock and the bridge locks with fine tuners. // 8

Sound: I like playing along to Satriani using my Marshall AVT 150 with its built in chorus effect. The floyd rose and the amazing action really helps with my style. It has a full sound with top volume and if you turn down the volume knob you get a bright sound. Obviously with the floyd rose there's going to be real problems with tuning, changing strings, action and detuning (which I still don't know how to do after a few years of playing this Ibanez). // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: As far as I know the guitars top notch. Just don't mess too much with the floyd rose and you won't need to worry. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I've used this guitar for a few gigs and it's been great. My worst nightmare is that a string will break during a song because it takes ages to get another string back on and tune up. Fortunately that hasn't happened yet. So I would bring a backup just incase. The finish can be chipped off the edges but nothing too big. // 6

Impression: I compared this to a Fender Fat Strat as I had to choose between them. I wanted a guitar with a humbucker. The Ibanez has two while the Fat Strat has one. I also really like Satriani's style as I figured if he likes Ibanez's and floyd rose's then I will to! May sound a bit stupid but I feel I definitely made the right choice! // 10

Comments

[ixion]

I have a 550 too... I am also in love with it.. :P

[jeff_7676]

ixion posted recently so I will too...I got my rg550 in 94 it was used 90...I played for two years and sold it to a friend of mine under the terms I could buy it back at the same price...oddly this guy was a really trustworthy friend and stable...I gave him a deal 150USD...anyway he moved to san diego about three weeks ago...i went out there and got my ibanez back...ten years later...I dont think he played more than a few times...he was kind of embarrassed...now I got it I adjusted it a bit...and it rocks...I also play 76 strat...and gibson lp...I love all these guitars...but the ibanez has the floyd rose...which is cool...I never whammy the strat cause it will go out of tune...but the rg550 still kicks ass after all these years...mmm

[dxtrs200sx]

i just bought a used 550 on ebay and it looks like it has been to hell and back and since there's no "RG series" on the head i guess it is very veeeery old but it still sounds great and now i think about doing a new paintjob and replace the floyd rose with a fixed bridge cause i already have a rg 470 with trem ... good idea? ^^

[Creandog]

Anyone know the retail price for this guitar? if so, please state which currency

[Calum_Barrow]

^ Well, you can't get them anymore and the closest thing to one now is a RG1550.

I've recently bought an RG550 off eBay in dire need of an overhaul. Took it to bits and cleaned it all up and it's wonderful.

[nickwarhead]

I love how the guitar plays with the big frets. Restringing is kinda a bitch though. The trem level sits different then other floyds or floyd copies.

[mikeymike4g63]

dxtrs200sx wrote:

i just bought a used 550 on ebay and it looks like it has been to hell and back and since there's no "RG series" on the head i guess it is very veeeery old but it still sounds great and now i think about doing a new paintjob and replace the floyd rose with a fixed bridge cause i already have a rg 470 with trem ... good idea? ^^

BAD IDEA DO NOT REPLACE THE TREM. your 470 trem is junk compared to the EDGE that comes with the 550... instead learn how to use and set it up properly at www.ibanezrules.com

[mister_crowley]

I just ordered a limited edition RG550XX. And it doesn't look anything like this :/ I'm not a complete guitar nob that goes on looks btw i have an S series and an RG320MDX, just saying. Hm.

[limefan913]

For god sakes, its NOT a FR trem. Its an Ibanez Edge. Trust me, the Ibanez trem pwns.

[CigarKid]

I bought a used Ibanez 550 2 months ago. I love the action and the trem, it keeps perfect tune. The only real problem is that the strings buzz on the frets really bad. The only way I can eliminate the buzzing is raising the action at the bridge, but then the great action is gone. I took the small plate off at the top (bottom) of the neck to try to adjust the rod inside the neck, but the adjusting nut does not turn. There is a washer under the nut which touches the wood. So I figured this is set permanently so I took the neck off hoping that an adjustable something would be there, but there wasn't.
The neck looks strait if you look down it at a light so why is this thig buzzing soo much?

[BlisteringDDj]

Which Ibanez Edge is it?

[Eternal Acacia]

I used a terrible, strat knock off starter guitar for the first 4 years of y study of guitar, when my fsther decided that I'd get more use out of his old electric than I would, so he handed his RG550 down to me. It's one of the first models, from 1986, first year they were made, and let me tell you, my skill has progressed exponentially faster with this guitar than my pervious one. The neck is blazing fast, the stock pickups are great for what I play (Mastodon-ish prog/experimental metal) and the 5 way offers plenty of great sounds if I want to venture away from the metal realm. Though some people dislike the Floyd Rose bridge, I love it. It's held it's tuning for weeks of hardcore playing, only needing minor adjustments on the bridge here and there. I love this guitar, and would hunt one down, no questions asked, if I ever lost this one.

[duckncover400]

I traded a suzuki 1100 that was far from running for a 90 550 with blue finish and a mirrored pick gaurd. every body comments on how bad ass it looks. then they play it ( provided they know how.) and they usually make an offer, at wich point i say suck my balls or something like that. this guitatr is so rad. the guy also threw in 2 distortion pedals. a dod ( wich is shitty) and a boss ( wich kicks ass) 2 coards and a travel amp. I'd say i got the better deal. alot of people are buying rg 550's and puttint evolution pick ups to get jem quality at the sweet price of 900 or less. thats what i'm going to do. after that any flaws that you might have with the sound all fly out the window. in other words i love this AXE!

[inhatredofme]

i've got an '87 RG550 and it was the best deal ever! mainly because it was free, my uncle actually found it in a dumpster in pieces, last "owner" had stripped it down and never put it back together i guess, was in an ibanez case too! i'm currently restoring it to it's former glory so the sonic mayhem can begin.