Well, we're talkin about active EMGs in this guy, so i probably dont have to say too much on arguably the most popular active pick ups on the market. If then you so happen to not be familiar with these pickups, i'll characterize the sound briefly: extremely tonally bright, lacking a lot of organic sound (what some call sterile sound), loud, clear, sharp, differentiable sounds (when you play chords, you will hear all the strings clealy). in other words, designed for metal, because these pickups were made to cut tone right through a lot of distortion at the price of a really authentic passive electric sound. enjoy.

Well, ive argued this before when i bought the xiphosfx, the more simple the more my friend. 2 tools for adjustments and one damn nice guitar (oh and an amp cable) were all that came with it. Everything was of sturdy build, the moment you pick this thing up you can tell its worth the money.

instructions: take outta box, tune, enjoy. i personally prefer a bit lower action than the out of factory setting, so i took an extra 3 min and lowered the strings, re tuned and then tried again. simple guitar, excellent sound, easy to manage. and on the note of playable, my first guitar was a little $200 rg about 3 years about, and i learned on that. so to fairly rate the easy of play, i cant come at it without a bias, playing this rg vs my old rg was simply not even a transition for me. but, objectively, super thin neck, neck thru, fixed bridge, hot pickups, this thing is just a shred machine in the hands of an average to better than average player.

its ibanez, i have no doubts. my $200 rg is still around today, still plays excellent, my xiphos (about a year ago) is still in great shape, and i have no doubts that this rg was built to last.

haha, for $540 and at an msrp of about 1200 this thing is a steal. my buddy was going to buy a jackson with active emgs and a trem system for $600 used, and then he gets to deal with the trem for tunning and just a used guitar. i got a simple powerful sounding guitar for 540 new through zzounds, which is simply a killer deal.

the best kind of support is one you never have to contact cause they actually took the time to make quality instruments. im sure, however, if i needed something from them it would be fine.

i got the blue chameleon finish in the deal, and its simply stunning. very good looking guitar, perfect for catching the eyes of others, and then on the practical side, it is all the aforementioned items, making it extremely practical.

hobbyist/active musician

metal

amazing, honestly i played this guitar the day i walked in the store for about 1hr and fell in love with it u can reach notes from like cradle of filth to eric clapton. i also tested 2 gibosn the lespaul and sg standard and this guitar blew them away by far.

sometimes you wish it had a tremelo, but everything else about this guitar is "pimp" the pick ups are amazinfg and the neck is comfortable, slim, and fast.

seriously this guitar is easy to play and very good for different sounds.

amazing neck thru, emg,i mean what mnore could you ask for.

seriously for the price it blows away ginsons by far

i have not dealt with them no problems with the guitar

in my eyes the guitar is amazing if you like flashy paint jobs it isnt but this is an incredible guitar.

active musician

death metal, classic rock, heavy metal, speed metal, and punk

Hands down the active EMG's make this guitar sound insane. Normally you have to wait a few hours till your half stack's tubes heat up to get that killer sound. With this guitar you get that the second you plug it in.

Simple to restring and tune. I've been waiting years for a guitar like this from Ibanez. Simple neck through fixed bridge with active EMG's

One of the easiest playing guitars i've ever played.

Solid everything is perfect quality and for the money its nicer than some $2500.00 guitars.

I can't believe this guitar is less than a thousand dollars with a case!!!

Never had a problem

Active musician

Hardcore, Rock, Metal, Metal core, Grunge

This guitar is GREAT !!!! The sound that I have been looking for since I started playing 20 years ago. It does, however, need a tremelo.

Needs tremelo

Active Amateur Musician

Mostly Rock

I love the EMG pickups. This guitar Produces a really nice metal sound, Real Kirk Hammet style if you ask me.

The only thing its missing the tremlo bar. I was playing other guitars at the store the day i bought this one and the way the body felt and the smooth neck had me settled on this one

Very vast, very easy to play. Deffinatly my favorite guitar i have played.

The sound is GREAT! i havent had any problems with it at all as far as hardware goes.

Way more than i paid for. I played my friends SG and Lespaul and this one blows them away completely.

I never had any problems with it

Oh baby, this guitar is pretty damn Sexy ;)