XPT700XH
Reviewed by:
jeffmetalhead, on january 04, 2010 5 of 5 people found this review helpful
Price paid: A$ 1500
Purchased from: Ellaways in Brisbane
Features: Indonesian built
Comes with a Ibanez case and usual tools, generic lead, and instruction booklet
5pc Maple/ Walnut Neck
25.5 scale
Wizard II thru-neck
Mahogany body
Jumbo 27 frets
Bound Rosewood fretboard
Sharktooth inlay
Edge III bridge
NeckPU: DiMarzio® Air Norton-S
BridgePU: DiMarzio® D Activator
Flat Green (Ibanez calls it Green Shadow Flat)
1 volume, 1 three way, 1 tone // 9
Sound: I play metal and only metal and the D activator delivers, excellent bottom end for chugging and bright rich highs. To my ear it sounds like a quitter EMG 81 although the D activator is passive, so it doesn’t need much gain when setting you distortion level. This is by far the quietest guitar I own. The Air Norton-S sounds full and very smooth bell like tones. Plenty of sustain, I’d say about 7/10.
The tone knob doesn’t do much but dulls the sound like throwing a blanket over your amp’s speakers. (I never use them on any guitar, set it on full and forget) // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: It was set up nicely with 9-42 gauge strings in standard with comfortable action.
Guitar’s finish is great although the flat finish can be abrasive, (More about that later) and I can only see a slight ripple in the finish about 5mm square, like the paint found water while being painted and cause a bit of wrinkling on the back of the neck (think of your finger tips when you have been swimming for a while for the shape comparison) but having said that I only noticed because I was looking for problems and you can’t notice it when playing.
Access to the 24th fret is amazing due to it being a 27 fret but access to th 27th is very tight due to the lower horn not being wide enough for your hand. Now about the extra 3 frets, I've never learnt or wrote a song that uses the extra ones, they are also a bit thinner in comparison to the last 3 frets of a 24 fret guitar so very presice playing is needed to play those extra frets. So very cool to have them but I very rarely use them when playing. // 8
Reliability & Durability: If you look after your guitar it will last, its just common sense. The tuners don’t seem to be all the great as they are your average Ibanez tuners. The black paint is rubbing off on the E and A string locking Allen key bolt but this is to be expected.
The strap buttons are solid and in a nice position on the guitar for a standing Fender Strat guitar position (high and close to your chest) but more on the strap position later. Like all the guitars I own I’ve replaced the standard buttons for Schaller locking ones.
The green flat paint used seems like it would scratch easily but I’ve haven’t managed to do that yet, but you can’t use polish on it and it requires a bit of pressure with a microfiber cloth to get rid of finger smudges or dried droplets of String Ease (aerosol string lube) so it might get thinner over time and expose the wood underneath. // 7
Impression: I play metal so the shape of the guitar is killer as is the pick up choice. I’ve owned this guitar for over 6 months now and here are the things I’ve noticed about this guitar…
1. The paint is flat and kind of rubs off the top layer of skin on my thumb of my fretting hand and makes it feel kind of numb after playing for a while.
2. It is VERY neck heavy IF you set you strap for a low slung position like playing a V guitar. Apparently you can fix this problem by repositioning the top horn strap button to under the top horn (research this on youtube or google)
3. The edge 3 tremolo really sucks. I’m used to a original or licence Floyd Rose. My main problem with it is the bar’s diameter (its way too thing), and how you torque it up. To tighten the bar you have to insert the bar and depress the strings and using the small Allen key supplied you insert it into the base of the assembly where it goes and tighten as required. Now this would be ok IF it didn’t come loose but oh no it comes loose all the time with the amount of torque I put on the bar (stiff but not immovable so I can knock it out of the way without too much effort), it is a really dumb idea. I tuned it to Eb with 10-46 gauge strings and while doing this I came across another couple of annoyances. The springs are too weak (I’m using 4), to remove the springs you must remove a strip of metal (locking the springs in place) held down buy 3 Philips head screws which use the holes to add more springs so that’s now in the case never to be refitted or used again not that a care about that. The 2 Philips head screws used to balance the tremolo’s angle doesn’t go deep enough into the body, although you could easily fix that but this is just using 3 springs and 10-46 hence why I’m using 4 springs for Eb tuning. And to set the right angle of the tremolo you have to look at the diagram in the booklet and guesstimate the right angle they describe in the book.
4. The pick up selector switch is in a crappy position (below the tone knob) because the tremolo bar gets in the way. It should be on the bottom front horn like my Razorback for better access.
So… it’s a great guitar except for the Edge 3 tremolo, and the neck heaviness. If it were lost or stolen I wouldn’t get one again. But having said that it’s a great sounding guitar that has a few annoying flaws in its features. // 7
XPT700XH
Reviewed by:
pyro57, on september 03, 2012 1 of 2 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 799
Purchased from: Guitar Center
Features: - Year: 2011
- Frets: 27
- Neck: thin and flat
- Top: solid
- Body: mahogany
- Neck: 3 piece maple walnut
- Finish: Flat green
- Body Style: Xiphos (x shaped)
- Bridge: wizard 3 trem
- Pickups: Passive DiMarzio D Activator on the bridge, and passive DiMarzio Air Norton S on the neck
- Controls: One volume knob, one tone knob, 3 way toggle switch // 10
Sound: The sound of this guitar is unlike any other that I have tried. It can be heavy and brutal, as well as light and relaxing. I play heavy metal so I normally keep it distorted and drop tuned. I play it through an Acoustic 120 watt head, and a Raven 260 watt 4x12 cab. The sounds you can get out of it are amazing, it is more geared toward metal, but can play other things. The low end is really deep and chuggy, while the high end screams through, the D Activator pick up squeelies so well, however because of the trem system it can be a little tricky to find the squeelie point. Over all this guitar is a metal master, and okay at other sounds to. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar came set up nicely in drop c sharp. The action was amazing, the strings were literally as low as they could go with out getting to much fret buzz. The pickups sounded awesome right out of the box, and were well put together. The guitar it self came with a small chip on the corner, but I didn't mind, it kind of gave it character. The controls and everything else were perfect, it was a fine work or ART by the boys at Ibanez. // 10
Reliability & Durability: This guitar is a tank. I have played several live shows with it, and it works perfectly, the hardware seems sturdy, after one year of heavy duty playing everything is still solid. The only thing is the edge 3 need some tlc every month or so, but that's not to bad. The strap buttons are solid as a rock, no problem there. I use this as my only guitar for gigs, no need for a back up, because it is very reliable, and won't let you down, your strap might (mine broke) but the guitar itself is solid as solid can be. // 10
Impression: I play heavy/death metal, and this guitar is perfect for that, the low end is chuncky, but the mids and highs can be melodic, and sing through, and on top of that, it has looks that can kill. I have been playing guitar for 10 years, but only really got in to it 4 years ago. I have owned this guitar for a year. I also have a starter Ibanez GIO, and a Robb Flynn Love/Death Flying V. I wish I would have asked what strings to put on it, the bridge is set for .9s. If my guitar were stolen/ lost after I got done crying I would repurchase it. I love the over all quality of it, as well as the features. The only thing I hate about it is the fact it takes a long time to adjust the bridge for different tunings. My favorite feature is the 27 frets, just that much room for experimentation is great. I have not tried anything that would be a fair comparison, for the GIO was a beginner guitar and the Flying V is a fixed bridge, you can't compare a fixed and a trem, there are ment for 2 different things. I honestly think that it is perfect the way it is, nothing needs to be added or subtracted. // 10
I agree with the Edge thing and the selector if your used to different ones. I also moved my head button on my Jackson, most of the 24 freters can be neck heavy.
EpiExplorer
I agree with you with the looks and sounds but im not sure what problems with a floating bridge on a 7 string would encounter.
And like i say in all my reviews about Durablilty is that if you look after your guitar it will last. It's really common sense...why would you fork out over $1000 for a guitar and treat it like shit?
everyone talks so much crap on the edge's. ive had no problems with mine, and in fact floyd rose even said that "the ibanez edge trems are the best adaptation of our own" so that obviously is coming from people who know more about these things than the rest or us.
everyone talks so much crap on the edge's. ive had no problems with mine, and in fact floyd rose even said that "the ibanez edge trems are the best adaptation of our own" so that obviously is coming from people who know more about these things than the rest or us.
Ahh The Argument from Authority Fallacy.
The fact that you have no problems with the edge is fine.
Your quote from Floyd Rose (where is your source info) if true doesn't make the Edge 3 a better product than their own. That means (in my interpretation) same product in general (ie a floating tremolo) but built to different specs as not to invoke a lawsuit. And these different specs make it a crappy design (in my opinion and many others in fact)as i have stated in my review.
Lastly your statment about your 'quote' from floyd rose saying that it came from people who know more about these things than the rest of us is 'bunk'.
It doesn't matter if they know more or not...if i (the consumer) think the edge 3 sucks then explain why then you should accept it as a personal opinion on the product.
So 'rgman13' list your sources of the quote and don't let your personal opinion of a product make a bad arguement.
Yeah this model had just come out and it was at a retail store...looking back at buying it then it was overpriced but I could afford it so what the hell...I sold it 2 months ago for $500 aus
