Today, we’re comparing the Ibanez AZES40 against the Fender Modern Player HSS Stratocaster to see how the affordable Ibanez stacks up against the ‘real’ Strat!
Ibanez AZES40 at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/524947?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/an4dOb
This is the closest current new Strat to the Modern Player at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/525027?offid=1&affid=1250
Similar Strats at Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/xkRdJA
Ibanez’s AZES guitars first came out in 2021, and they’re incredibly impressive on specs, performance and price. The $349/€329 AZES40 is packed full of great features, and a mind-blowing number of usable tones. These come thanks to its HSS pickup configuration and an Alter Switch, which gives you even more options and versatility.
I wanted to test the AZES40 against a Squier HSS Strat, but I don’t own one of those, so I have the next best thing: a 2011 Fender Modern Player HSS Stratocaster!
The Modern Player series was launched in 2011, and basically gave players the chance to own a guitar with a Fender logo on the headstock for Squier prices. The guitars were made in China, and they cost back then around d what new Squier Classic Vibes cost in 2022 - between €350 and €500 in Europe. The Modern Player range didn’t last long, but you can still get them at decent prices used… which is exactly where I got the Silverburst HSS Strat.
In this video, I put the two guitars through their paces in a wide variety of musical genres, from country, folk and indie, to pop, rock, punk, metal and more - let’s see which one comes out on top!
Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:
00:00 Hello!
00:17 Intro and what we’re doing today
02:17 Ibanez AZES40 specs/info
06:52 HSS Strat specs/info
10:04 Today’s rig and plan
Clean Sounds
11:06 Clean tone reference chords on all pickup/Alter Switch options
12:10 Poppy barre chords
12:41 Blues progression
13:04 Ringing open indie pop chords
13:30 Country ballad picked arpeggios
13:43 Strummed country cowboy chords
14:02 Funky rhythm barre chords
14:16 Picked indie pop arpeggios
14:35 Strummed indie chords
15:02 60s pop rhythm sound
Overdrive Sounds (Crunch Channel)
15:13 Upbeat indie rock barre chords
15:36 Indie rock rhythm sound
16:09 The Strokes inspired indie sounds
16:47 Indie octave chords riff
17:13 Indie rhythmic chords
17:42 AC/DC inspired classic rock riff
17:57 Airbourne inspired rock riff
18:19 Classic rock riff
18:37 Groovy classic rock riff
19:03 Hendrix inspired classic rock riff
19:19 Thick rock riff
Lead Channel Sounds
19:35 Classic hard rock riff
19:53 Hard rock riff
20:10 Hard rock rhythm sound
20:36 Glam rock riff
20:51 Alternative rock riff
21:15 Pop punk riff
21:40 Pop punk melodic lead riff
21:56 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
22:23 Punk rock power chords
22:36 Progressive rock riff (Drop D tuning)
22:52 Modern rock palm-muted power chords (Drop D)
Clean Channel w/Revv G3 Distortion Pedal (all in Drop D tuning)
23:17 Metal chugging riff
23:51 Hard rock lead sound
24:07 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
24:21 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff
24:55 My thoughts
25:28 I’m a huge fan of the AZES range
26:14 Feel and build quality
27:31 Necks
28:07 Sounds discussion
30:33 Which guitar sounds better?
31:04 The competition: Squier
31:29 Check out the Ibanez AZES31
32:09 Which of these guitars should you buy?
32:56 Final conclusion and goodbye
My setup was as follows: I ran the guitars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, using my Revv G3 for the heavy distortion sounds. The amp went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That's it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.
Here’s some links to those bits of gear:
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H&K Black Spirit 200 head: bit.ly/HKBS200rwm
Revv G3: bit.ly/RevvG3RWM
Focusrite 4i4 (this is the newer equivalent of my 2i4, which they don’t make any more!): bit.ly/Scarlett414RWM
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Enjoy!
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Backing music from the RU-vid Audio Library: Duck In The Alley - TrackTribe.
#Ibanez #IbanezGuitars #FenderGuitars #IbanezAZES #Fender #Silverburst
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4 авг 2022