Ibanez GAX70

Features as stated many times in previous reviews below.
The GAX70 has the thickest paint job I've seen on a cheap guitar.
The balance on this thing is horrible, so I re-located the front strap button to the middle of the body just under the neck, right where the neck joins the body. The balance is perfect now. This guitar also has some rinky-dink tuners that really need to have their screws tightened to the max so they don't go out of tune after 3 or 4 string bends. Also, the lower body cut is not quite deep enough, so it is difficult to reach the frets into the body. On the upside, the neck is fast, the frets are large, the guitar is light and it is relatively inexpensive.

I use an assortment of ss and tube amps. This guitar sounded like a 5 out of the box. I thought the PowerSound humbuckers were pretty dull at first, then I brought them MUCH closer to the strings and like magic, they really blast and can even be used clean, as long as the guitar volume pot is kept below 5. The tone controls on the GAX70 have a narrow range, but I find that I prefer both on "bright" anyways.
I did change the stock strings from 9's to 10's right away since I hate the feeble "plink" of the lighter string gauges.
Stock, this guitar was a 6, with no-cost mods a 9.
The PowerSound humbuckers are alot like those Seymore Duncan SH types I think, but boy can these pups SHRED when they are brought close to the strings! Man, pure madness.

The action was set on the high end out of the box, and I did bring it down a bit. Perfect action is really a subjective preference, everybody likes it differently.
These PowerSound pickups were set way too low. I have read many complaints about these, but if you raise them to about fretboard height, so they are very close to the strings, they sound much better IN MY OPINION. You mite hate it though, it's just that I thought it was an improvement.
I must have gotten a guitar made on a Wednesday because I couldn't find any flaws at all. The only things were the cable jack came loose every 5 minutes, but I opened up the back and tightened it from both sides, so now it will NEVER come loose again... and the volume and tone knobs came loose as well and had to be re-aligned and again tightened to end all tightenings.
As stated above, the lacquer is very thick, so that is good. The finish is excellent.

Live yes, as long as you have a tech tuning the second one you can rotate for every time it starts going out of tune... but seriously, I suppose this guitar is ok. Every guitar has something that can be improved upon or modded to an individual liking. Considering the under-$200 price tag, this guitar is pretty good.

Never dealt with them.

Been playing about 10 years. I also own a Carvin, which is the guitar I keep locked up in its case mostly, for I paid over $1000 for it, so I play the GAX70 often. Kinda ironic, huh. Anyways, the $185 I paid was a great deal, though I had to no-cost mod the bejeezus out of it to suit my style and fix the initial dislikes I had. If it were lost or stolen I would NOW probably not buy it again, though only because I have since moved on in a technical sence, but the guitar itself is not to blame. The GAX70 is a good, solid axe to noodle around with and practice, like me, if you don't want to smudge the finish on your showpiece guitar in the vault, that nobody is allowed to touch... not even YOU.
What I'd like to share is: there are many things you can change on this guitar to make it better. Things that cost nothing. So the GAX70 has a lot of potential.

Standard features...see others..mines the transparent red one.

This is the main reason for my review. Like many, I found the stock Ibanez Powersound pickups lacking in all catagories..clean thru high gain distortion and everything inbetween.
Being a fairly cheap guitar, I had a hard time justifing putting higher priced pickups in the guitar like Duncans etc. After doing a bunch of online research for cheaper alternative humbucker pickups, I came across the Lace model "Powered by Lace" humbuckers which I found at the Aamps website: http://www.aampselectricguitarstore.com/guitars.html
for $32 for the set, bridge and neck.
I was skeptical of their cheap price but figured "what the heck" and ordered them. When I installed them, I found the red trim rings a perfect match for the transparent red gax70, however it'd be very easy to swap them out for the stock black ones.
When I plugged her up and hit the first chord I was absolutely floored by the difference in tone. It was like night and day. The bridge postition was smooth and even in frequency resondse without being overly bright..and is brutal when overdriven. The bridge/neck position set clean has really mean bark to it..great for chording and perfect for ska, reggae, or funk tones. The neck is warm and mellow and not the least bit muddy anymore..nice and jazzy.
Before, the tone pots were limited in there range of effect, now they are actually useful at doing what they're supposed to.
If you own or are considering an Ibanez guitar that has their crappy PowerSound pickups in them, you should definitely consider slapping in the affordable set of "Power by Lace" pickups in there...you won't be sorry.
With the stock Pickups 4...with the Lace PbL's 8.. averages to a 6

The neck action is really quite nice for a guitar in this price range...fairly thin and comfortable..standard 1 5/8" at the nut.
Needed the intonation adjusted.

Input jack has a tendancy to loosen up over time other than that no complaints.

I play through a Traynor YCV20-rw EL84 with the Celesion green back and a Traynor YCV80 6V6 with a Weber Blue Dog and Silver Bell and this guitar sounds really good thru both of these tube amps. I also have a Tech 21 Trademark 10 and their PowerEngine 60 active extension cab that I use the Digitech RP-200 and a Yamaha Magicstomp thru, as well a Marshall MG30dfx. Since getting the Traynor tube amps, I'm convinced that solid state amps and digital multi-effects pedals are woefully lacking in tone. You just can't even compare the two. The tones out of a tube amp are so much better/harmonically richer and make you sound and play better and with more soul. Your pickups and amps are key elements to your sound and should be considered with care. The Ibanez GAX70 overall is a nice little unit once the pickups are changed out and for the price range of this guitar the PbL's fit the bill perfectly...note they're 2 wire pickups so no coil tapping but easy to replace ,soldering-wise.

As previously discussed. Mine is a 2002, Indonesia, Silver/Grey in color.

Tuners are cheap and were replaced with grovers. Guitar holds tune excellently now with this modification.

Pickup switch is below near the volume knobs. I don't care for this arrangment.

Tone knobs work great. A full and steady range from bass to treble, unlike many inexpensive guitars.

Out of the box, I hated the sound (but loved the neck and it's general playability.) The neck pickup was muddy while the bridge was brassy. As others have stated, probably best suited for metal.

Since I loved the neck, however, I experimented with an inexpensive pickup upgrade, using a matched set of Mighty Mites. This made a 500% improvement. I didn't really play it much until then, but now I play the guitar regularly through my Traynor YCV40, and a homemade 5W practice tube amp. It is not especially versatile as far as sounds, but what sounds it makes do sound great.

This guitar plays so nicely, so don't just the stock sound as it is awful. This guitar literally cries out to be played with decent pickups, and is inexpensive enough to experiment with.

3 for the stock sound, an 8 with the Mighty Mites. Who knows what if you really installed some premium pups?

I'd comment that the sustain, however, while good, could be considered good at best. Nothing like either of my Gibsons.

This is where this guitar really shines. The only neck I have played which really plays a lot nicer is my bandmates newer American Strat. Pillory me for saying so, but truly I appreciate the neck on this guitar equally with the neck of my Telecaster. The action of this cheap Ibanez is buttery smooth, it practically plays itself. It can be set very low without causing fret buzz. It is a real joy to play. The DC makes for easy access. As others have noticed, the balance of the guitar is awkward, but the guitar itself is relatively light.

The finish is simple and durable. No attempt to be particularly stunning here. It doesn't gather, or show, fingerprints much as all. Overall, it looks as it if could really take quite a beating and withstand a lot of abuse.

Strap buttons are solid. Overall impression is one of solidity.

Never dealt with Ibanez. Never had a problem with any of their products, of which I have owned 3 over the years.

Been playing 30 years. Currently own:

1978 Ibanez PF 200
1974 Gibson s-1
1985 Gibson Invader
1986 Fender Telecaster (MIJ)
2004 Agile LP-2500
2003 Oscar Schmidt OE-30


I try to play all the guitars I can get my hands on, and for the prices you can find these guitars used, this model overall gets my vote for the best in the price range, as long as you are willing to made a few modifications.

Absolutely love the neck and the action. Incredible for a guitar in this price range.

Hated the pups.

Purchased this year as my first electric guitar. Translucent red in colour. Twin volume and Tone knobs. Twin Humbuckers.

Learning to play lead so used mostly clean. Use a marshall 15. Took it to my teacher who has been playing Jazz guitar for 30 years. Hooked it up to his system and it sounded brilliant. This tells me that the sound system used has a lot so do with the sound output. Sounds OK on my Marshall also but I'm far from an expert.

Again took it to my teech who said the action was pretty well set up for me as a beginner. He says he will lower the action a little when I get better. He told me to put gauge 11 strings on it as the factory strings are too thin and can make it sound out of tune if you bend them inadvertantly.
Neck is nice and straight. Paintwork very nice.
One thing that irritates me is that there are pencil marks on the neck where the frets are inlaid. Now that's just terrible workmanship! However, I looked at a few other cheap guitar makes and this seems quite common. The rest of the workmanship looks fine.

Doubtful I'll ever play it live. As stated by a few people, the balance is awful. The thing is neck heavy and you have to balance it if standing up. To counteract I'll buy a thick leather strap and will probably be sitting and playing most of the time anyway. My guitar teech says this is not an issue but I've seen that every other guitar has an extended body at the top to resolve the balance question. If I did stand up gigs, I'd trade this thing in for a balanced guitar.
If the balance was good on this guitar it would be perfect for the price.

Haven't needed it yet.

Playing 2.5 years mostly acoustic. Just wanted an electric to start playing lead, pentatonics, etc.
I wish I'd understood the balance issue before buying this guitar and then I would not have bought it.
It it were stolen I'd buy something else. Probably a Cort as my acoustic is a Cort and that is a quality instrument.

made in Indonesia, 22 frets, 2 voluje, 2 tone, 3 way selector, and two humbuckers. kinda of cheap tuners but i don't really care

I play sludge and it suits it well because the pickups are very good and i can get a muddy sound out of them, i play through an ampeg v-4 and 8X10 cabinet. This guitar is not very noise but when cranked through an amp i get some feedback and noise.

I bought this at a pawn shop so the action was alredy adjusted buy the person who previously owned it, and they must have brought it into a shop because it was perfect. Their was a small dent in the back but it doesn't matter. my only serious complaint about this guitar is the ballance is has, when i play fast the guitar moves a lot and can get annoying.

this guitar is durable and can take a lot of abuse. I've thrown this guitar into amps, drum kit's, people and knocked out someone teeth with the head and the body is in pretty decent condition, i replaced the strapbuttons when i got it, i can depend on this guitar but i would bring a back up just incase i broke a string, because changing a string in the middle of a set is not cool and you look like a goon for making people wait

none

This guitar is okay, if you're a beginner or you just don't want to spend a lot of money on gear. I probably wouldn't buy another if it was stolen

i already wrote a feedback ... but i want to add something very important!!!

the sound is the same, but now i'm running threw the ibanez half-stack, and when i use the bridge i miss the mids a lot ...

okay ... after a half year (i think so), i realized one big thing about my guitar ...
when i wanted to adjust the octave-tuning, i realized that you can tune each string right, except the high e ... so the zero fret sounds normal, but when you go upwards to the 12th fret, my string is 22-36cents out of tune

i hope you all know what the octave-tuning is - if not ... :
normally you adjust strings at the zero fret (eadgbe).
but with the octave-tuning, you adjust the bridge (normally), so that the harmoniac (12th fret) sounds as the 12th fret ... then you have adjusted the bridge (hmm ... also the string length), that each fret is in tune ...

the only thing i hate now ... that, if you have the black finish, you can easily see the screws - that sucks!

but i've played a lot of gigs in the last 4 months - at the first gigs i used a backup, but now i play without a backup ... this guitar is that reliable - i wouldn't thought off...
the buttons are solid ... the input jack is STILl (!!) solid ...

Well, this guitar was given to me by my uncle, so any information about where it was bought or made is unknown, its a great starter guitar or a baddass backup for the stage, it has a Basswood body, maple/rosewood neck, 22 frets, gibsonesque electronics, i mean shitty electronics, everything on this thing is stock from Ibanez, it has a see thru finish, red, the grain looks tight, thats about it, it has a stop tailpiece for a bridge, and a two way pickup selector, but heave the few warnings i can give you, not that many,

well as of sound, its not that bad, i can play papa roach, staind, santana, cold, and korn on it, deftones, suits it as well, okay for leadwork, great for a rythm guitarist, the stock pickups are good, but not the best, maybe i'll replace them with seymour duncans later on, the tones are great though, as in through the gibsonesque electronics, one volume and one tone knob for each pickup, so as of tones, it is very versatile,

The finish is durable, thank the lord, i've had it now for about 7 months, its held up well, then again i have a hardshell case that I bought for it, the cool thing about it is i've dinged it around so much and it still doesn't mess up the finish, its really solid, the action could be lowered just a tad bit, the fit, well it sucks for me since i like to fell the music and mosh, the fit on this guitar sucks , when it comes to haveing close to the body and moshing , it has no carve for that, so yeah, but if your just practicing with it or standing then its all good, this thing is durable in the way that it was built, give it an eight for holding up, but a 4 for the absence of comfort when on stage,

There's a problem with these things, my friend gots one, his is shot to shit with the electronics, first of all the pickup selector chose not to switch so now his is permanently stuck on the middle position until he gets off his ass and fixes it, then the damn switch came off all together, then the knobs failed to turn, so yeah the electronics side is not good on his, mine, thank the lord, is okay, but then again there is a problem that i have where the bridge pickups just doesn't work sometimes, rarely, thank God, nonetheless i don't want to take thisthing on stage and have it faill on me, especially if its a backup guitar,

i've heard bad things from the company's customer support, i've never really dealt with them, if you call the company, i have just to order a catalog, all you will get is an atomated directory,

Overall its a nice guitar, but the electronics suck, you'd have to change them out anyways since the stock pickups aren't the best, you'll get sound out of them but i don't know about a real great sound, then again mine don't get sounds sometimes, the electronics suck but maybe its just because of the price range, and at the level in which this guitar is made in, i'm on my way to buying the RG1527 a prestige model, there should be better worksmanship there, so they say,

Made in 2000 in Indonesia. 22 frets. 2 volume and 2 tonal control. 3 way selector. H/H. Passive pickups. Basswood. Double cutaway. Rosewood fretboard with pearl dot inlays. Stop tailpiece. I got it used so I didn't get any extra accessories. Its black in colour. Dust kinda easily be seen. Have to clean it regularly. Honestly I think it would look better with gold harware. But its hard to maintain. I don't my not having that though. It looks okay and solid but in my opinion, the headstock could have looked better. Haha.

i play heavy metal. Mostly Metallica. Ocasionally stuff like GnR, Ironmaiden. The stock pickups were okay actually. But the neck pup sucks. Cant provide a decent clean tone. I run it through my Marshall Jackhammer and into Ibanez 10 G amp. Really simple. Since I play mostly rhythm. I use mostly the bridge. Has that nice middle range distortion. But Im gonna change them both to Dimarzio PAF pro pups.

Man, the action was damn low. Great for shredders. But when I strum the low E string, it buzzes at the 1st fret. :( Got my cousin to help raise the action though. Pickup height was okay, as my pick didn't scratch against the pickups. Its tough to bend the strings. Dunno whether its bcuz Im weak or what. But why doesnt it have a scratchplate? Btw, input jack isn't loose... for mine.

I don't know if this guitar will withstand live playing because I have never used it live. Only used it for jamming.

Never dealt with Ibanez.

I have been playing for 2 years. So not much experience. But this is a great guitar. I have a Peavey Raptor Plus EXP guitar too. But I prefer this one as I like the distortion. Besides I personally like the look and feel of this guitar. If it was lost, I'd probably go buy another beeter model of a strat shaped Ibanez or an ESP. Preferably those with folyd rose tremolo. Prevents rusting. But that might take quite some time as i ain't that rich.

22 frets, solid body made of Agathis wood. H/H psnd1 neck pu, psnd1 bridge pu. passive electronics. body wood Agathis, neck wood maple. finish: black. body, double cut away. bridge, stop tailpiece. tuner are no name. neck scale 24.75" , cheap cable ,truss rod wrench included.

the guitar is resonant, quiet at all settings, the pick ups are being replaced with dimarzio pickups, neck: air classic DP190, bride pu: Fred. stock pickups are brittle thin and muddy through my line 6 Pod XT, that is why I am replacing them.

the style of music I play would include electric blues, rock, and the rough side of the melvins ,Flipper, rythm driven noise. I no longer play out, playing only in my home studio. this guitar, ignoring the pickups is actual very good, light, easy to play and even with the questionable pickups can produce good sustain. I like the fact that I can add the dual humbucking sound to my list of options, the hummmer in the neck facilitates a good platform for the E-Bow that I am very fond of.

I no longer use a guitar amp, I use the Line 6 Pod XT, for guitar parts when not using the Roland VG-8 running the both thru the mmonitors in my studio. the effects I use are those in the pod and sometimes I add a line 6 DL4 delay and a MM4 modulation modeler.

the set up out of the box was good.
the pick-ups are adjusted just fine....
the guitar was flawless .the finish was free of dimples , scrathes or chips, a beautiful gloss black.
giving this simple straight forward well construcyed guitar a rating in a field that includes the PRS Dragon or other highly ornate and well appointed guitars is a hard thing to do, this is a very simple instrument which when recieved, performed well with out flaws or defects, everything worked as intended and did so admirably.

I have been playing slide guitar for thiry-five years both acoustic and electric guitar and lapsteel. I own a chandler lap steel, two Roland Ready Strats, Ibanez GAX70 roland VG-8, line 6 Pod Xt large collectoon of Boss Stomp boxes, line six stomp boxes, Roland cube 30 for generating feedback, line6 and lexicon rack mount gear. computer controlled midi software sequencers,
Reason, Acid, Sound Forge, Tracktion. Yamaha AW16 digital recorder and a Boss BR8 digital Recorder.

this guitar is in this collection to fulfill a function to provide all the wonderful things a dual humbucking guitar can do. it does this quite well.

You know all the features already. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Stock sound was ok. The bridge pickup could only be used dirty/noisey. the neck was the better one. I swapped the both out with Gibson P-94s. This is now an extremely good sounding guitar and it has a sort of retro look to it. Gibson should start putting these pickups in one of there own. Stock = 3. Now = 9

This guitar as it came was in need of some seriuos TLC. Getting the intonation on was'nt as easy as it should be. I had to turn all of the saddles facing away from the pickups and adj. them as far away as possible to get it "close enough". Truss rod, another pain in the ass. Finish=8

Solid, keeps tune ok.