Hey thanks, that was really interesting. I hope you do this more often. I was at my local dealer yesterday and was able to test a few Ibanez. Specifically, it was a Prestige RG5320-CSW and a Custom RG8570-BRE. I was impressed with the quality. The difference between the two was noticeable. But not that the Prestige was bad. It's more that the Premium was a 9.5/10 and the Custom 10/10. The price difference here in Germany is 800. I can totally understand that this is your favorite guitar. If you can get your hands on an EVH Wolfgang Made in Japan, that would be super cool. It “only” costs 1900 € in Germany. A USA one is just under 4000 €. Having had both in my hands, I can clearly say that the MIJ is just as good as the USA. My EVH Wolfgang Special (1200 €) will arrive next week. I'm curious to see how it compares.
The specials are nice. A subscriber I have just got one and put in titanium saddles and a titanium block. He also put in the american made pups and he absolutely loves it. and yes.....there is a noticeable differed between a J Custom and a prestige. The J Custom just feels more refined everywhere....however.....for 2000 the prestige is the deal of the century. They are amazing guitars and like I said in a world where everything is hyper expensive you just cannot beat them. I think that EVH should have dropped the MIJ at the 2k price point. Here they are 2800.00......and again you are now in J custom price.....and the J Custom is simply amazing. The problem I have here is I simply cannot find guitars to put my hands on them unless I go to Nashville TN, about 3 hours away from me.....and then have to drive for hours around the city to see what they all have. I am going to start calling all the music stores there ahead of time to see if they have one in stock before I make the drive. Really want to play one fo the new ones first. The 1st gen MIJ's were amazing. Hopefully these are just as good. Thanks for the comment my friend.
Thanks for the Q&A. I have tried several guitars. I have several guitars and Ibanez AZ prestige is a super guitar for the price. I tried 3 Suhr guitars. Neck pocket crack on one, dent on another one. I would say they are very comfortable guitars and sound good and are comfortable but the price is too high at around 4400 euros. I would suggest you try Mayones guitars as well specially Mayones Regius. They are nice.
I will take a look at those. I have never heard of them....but there are so many great guitars out there that still don't have a name it is hard to keep up. Thanks bro.
I’m used to my J.Custom having linear pots maybe muscle memory but logarithmic pots throw me off when want to add some dynamics to the tone because of the fast roll off. I agree on changing the Tone Zone it has too many mids it always sounds like there’s a mid boost pedal in front of the amp many j.custom owners change it to Steve’s Special many agreeing the guitar start sounding natural because of the mids are pulled back it’s not scooped just balanced.
I will have to check that pup out. Never played one. Yeah after playing the wolfgangs for 20 years I am very used to the taper to start immediately. the Ibanez messes me up because I have to roll so much to get a really noticeable change....I am seriously going to go with a less hot pup. I have plenty of guitars for metal.....but don't have one Ibanez i can use for that all around sound like I can my wolfgangs. Thanks bro.
I'm looking to get a j.custom soon, but I haven't found one in a color I like yet. I'm going to Atlanta GA this summer, hopefully I find a blue or a red one there... Regarding your views on the Helix, I kind of agree with the amps. Therefore, I just recently got a pair of Friedman IR-X and IR-D tube preamps to replace the Helix amps through the fx-loops.... it sounds so much better now!
Yeah the red J Custom that I have was a sweetwater special I believe. And the amazing thing is I generally don't like red guitars....but for some reason in the J Custom it is by far my favorite color. Yeah the wife and I are thinking about heading over to Nashville to look around. I am going to make some calls first because I really want to play one of the new MIJ wolfgangs. Here in Knoxville the guitar stores suck and unless it is a fender or a gibson....there are simply no guitars here. When you get to Atlanta let me know what you find. I am about 4 hours from there. I am heading home to Florida in October for a week....my wife and I are both from there.....and I will be stopping in atlanta as well to check out a few stores.
