Ibanez GAX70

Just an update to my other review. I threw a set of Seymour Duncan pups in it. A 59' in the neck and a C-5 in the bridge. This guitar was made for those pickups. I'd suggest you try them if your going to upgrade the pups.

features have pretty much been mentioned.........i have'nt modified anything its a basic gtar and has taken many a fall.........much to my dismay........ i got a navy blue colour its looks really cool i've had it for 3 years now and only one wood chip(more later)...... my only complaints are on the many loose connections there were

I used to play it through a dodgy 10 watt practice amp and even then it sounded passable. i currently play through a 70 watt beast of a yamaha dg60-fx112 its sounds really nice. i mainly play rock, worship stuff and nu-metal so it really is a nice axe and i love my neck humbucker its just so smooth....

as said earlier my only complaints were with the circutry in the begining but that was easily remedied. however within two years i had belt scratches on the back of the guitar and in 2004 it hit my guitar case and had a major chip thank god for superglue

most of the features for this guitar have already been stated. For the price, they're not bad.

Out of the box, the GAX70 sounds dull and lifeless. There is virtually no power behing the Powersound pickups. I replace the bridge position pup with a duncan custom custom and it COMPLETELY changed the sound of the guitar for the better. I feel like the new Pup put all the value back into the guitar.

Action is pretty good. You may need to adjust the bridge a little, but for biginners, it's a decent set up.

Finish is surprisingly good looking. I have the butterscotch finish and it hasn't lost its lustre over the 5 years i've owned the guitar. Really great finish.

One issue one may have with this guitar (It doesn't really bother me) is that the body is really light, so it tends to tip over on the neck side when you've got it on a strap. Definitely get good strap locks for this guitar.

Wow. This is where I'm amazed with the GAX70. Where other beginner guitars would have fallen apart, this guitar has kept going. I have put this guitar through hell in the past few years, and the only issues i've had are some slight action problems that should be easily remedied with a set-up at the guitar shop. (it hasn't been set up since i got it 5 years ago and still plays fairly well) It's starting to show its age in the intonation area, but overall, this is the toyota of guitars.

haven't had to deal with them yet

Pretty good axe. Get it set up and replace those lame pickups. Other than basic issues that every low-end guitar has, this is one solid buy. Great idea for a gift for beginner guitar players. Forget squiers or really low end epiphones, this guitar is the best beginning guitar i've ever played. I've been playing for almost 7 years, and i just haven't had the heart to part with this reliable and downright pretty guitar.


suggested upgrades: duncan custom custom at the bridge
semi regular set up!
strap locks

This is a solid-body, double humbucker gutiar, bolt on neck, kinda looks like a bloated SG. it has seperate volume/tone selectors for the pickups, 3-way switch, tuneomatic bridge. Mine has a very nice graphite finish. As stated before, the finish on this guitar is amazing. Also has the nice speedy Ibanez neck. Overall it's a nice, unique little axe with features on par with the les paul.

The sound was fine, but I felt the powersound pickups weren't suiting the powerpop / pop-punk style I was working with (they were muddy, w/very little tone difference through the selector), so I replaced them with some cheapy Kent Armstrongs. Totally worth the 50 bucks, now the guitar can be a monster or nice and tame, and I can control it with the volume pots on the guitar now. It's also far less squeally than my other guitarist's SG, even out of my Marshall half-stack. Super-cutting leads are harder to get with this thing, but I rarely use it for that anyway. I'd say it was a 6 with the stock p'ups, and now it's at least a 9. So let's say 8!

I bought this guitar used, and it had already gone through a professional setup. I've played a new one at a music store though, and I couldn't believe how receptive this guitar is to a proper setup. The action was rediculously high on the floor model I played, and it sounded cheap and tinny, even through a full tube combo. The action is nice and low on mine, and the intonation is perfect. I did bring the neck pickup a bit closer to the strings. The construction of this guitar is pretty amazing considering the sub-200 price tag. It feels solid without being overly heavy. The balance problem hasn't bothered me as much as I thought it would, though I could see how it would drive some people crazy. But properly set up, this gutiar is one of the highest quality and easiest playing you'll find in this price range.

This is my main guitar for my band, which typically gigs a couple times a month I also own an Epiphone Dot, but it does not suit the style of music I play right now. I bought this guitar to use as an on-stage beater with good sound, and it functions admirably, I use the poop out of it. Strap buttons are amazingly solid, but I'm still going to look for lockers. I have had a minor problem with the strings breaking, but I believe this is a setup issue with the bridge, so I won't fault the guitar just yet on that, but for that reason, I wouldn't go onstage without a backup.

Never dealt with, I like causing and fixing problems by myself.

This is probably my 5th guitar. I went out searching for a les paul or sg copy, and this is what I came up with, I couldn't be happier. I was honestly skeptical of Ibanez and this particular guitar at first, but I liked the look and it felt like it had potential. I've been playing for 10 years or so. If this thing was stolen, I'd be angry. I'd probably buy another one, they're cheap and abundant. With decent pickups and a proper setup, this guitar really beats out all the other cheapy new axes, and it's probably the most solidly built. A great value, if you're thinking about getting one as a backup or even a primary gutiar, go for it.

black finish. 2 vol 2 tone controls. 3 way switch. rosewood fretboard. basswood body. made in indonesia in 2000. fixed bridge. passive electronics.

I guess it was okay after several tries. At first when i practised at home, I thought the sound sux. but when i brought the amp and guitar to my school, I found it sounded better. Maybe because of the increased vol. btw, I use a Marshall G15RCD. The crunch was great. But I feel the bridge pickup sounded a bit too trebly. I play mostly Metallica and Gnr. Generally rock. And yeah, the sound is okay. Plan to install a Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro pickup in the neck.

Action was low. Really low. great for shredding. However, there was a buzz at the 12 fret of the 3rd string. I raised the pickups a bit. Flaws. Yeah, because the guitar is used. so just pick scratches. thats all. besides, i go for sound. and yeah, the balance was horrible. if it was better balanced, man this axe would be great.

I've used this guitar live. And nothing happened. For me its fit for a gig without backup. Finish good enough to last? I feel that if the finish is worn away, it would look better. haha. It kinda gives the guitar some 'flavour'. Solid strap buttons and input jack. If i have the dough I plan to change the chrome harware to gold.

Honestly I feel this guitar is great. Just the stupid imbalance. Yeah. If lost, I'll buy again. but maybe try a diff colour. now mine is black. I feel that it is much better than squiers. I tried my friend squiers and I am proud to own this Ibanez. haha.

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.

My GAX70 was made in 1998 in Indonesia. I bought it new back then. As the other reviews say it has two humbuckers four knobs, 3 way selector switch, 22 frets, double cutaway, stop bar with a tunomatic bridge etc. Being made in Indonesia I just wonder if it wasn't actually made by Samick for Ibanez. It is solid agathis which is a cheaper wood similar to Mahogany but not quite the same. It has a little less bass and is an ugly wood so needs a color coat. At least it has better tone qualities than Nato, another cheap tropical wood also similar to Mahogany. The neck is maple and it is quite nice. It is a bolt on and unpainted but at least the maple looks good.

The sound was generic cheap humbucker. The bridge pickup was especially weak and especially needed changing. It is the same muddy sound whether it is on my all tube Marshall amp or Gibson tube/solid state combo. I play a variety of styles and play different guitars for the various styles but prefer the Gibson shorter 24 3/4 scale length due to my finger length/width. Shortly after I bought it I put in a shaller bridge pickup and that did OK for awhile. But I found that I always took my other guitars to play in public but rarely took the GAX70. So I decided it needed a fusion of better sound. I put a PRS humbucker in the neck position and a TV Jones TV Tron Gretsch type pickup in the bridge pickup with a coil selector on a push pull pot. I also added a bigsby and using the reverse phase pickup on the TV Tron in combo with the neck pickup I get nice classic surf rock tones. So now it is completely different and I am much happier. I have other guitars for rock so this add a new dimension. With a bolt on neck the sustain is not so great.

The guitar was set up OK and the red color is still good looking on the body. The neck is unfinished and a bolt on so the heel joint gets in the way so I am a bit disdappointed in it. The input jack kept coming lose for years until I cranked it down hard. The intonaton and setup were OK. No real complaints except for the lose jack and cheap humbuckers.

It has done OK until recently except for the lose input jack. While sitting on my stand it tipped over and the body cracked at the neck joint on both sides. The neck still seems tight and no problems but I haven't changed the strings since the incident. The neck joint is real thick and is a handfull to get around when playing up the neck and I don't know if that hurt or helped it in the fall. It still sounds good so I won't worry about it. I have had other guitars tip over and only my Ovation broke the head off, other guitars held up through such accidents. So this guitar is not quite as well built as most of my guitars but at lead the head didn't break off.

Never had to deal with them.

It is an OK guitar if you are willing to change the pickups or live with a generic cheap humbucker muddy tone. It is pretty and has nice shape and balance. The neck is real easy to play and that is what Ibanez is famous for anyway, nice necks. Apparantly lots of people have bought one so it is quite popular. Change the pickups for the style of music you want and you have a real nice guitar for a cheap price.

I bought my first guitar at 12 years old back in 1966 and have been playing since then. My electric guitars include a Gibson Les Paul Firebrand, PRS Santana SE, Gretsch Thinline Synchromatic, Washburn J-6, Rickenbacker 330-12 and a recently purchased Silvertone Rockit 21 that also needed new pickups for an acceptable tone. For the price it is an OK guitar. I paid more for the pickups I installed than I did for the whole guitar. There are two ways to get a good guitar. Buy a good guitar or buy a cheap guitar and put in better pickups. In the short run buying a good guitar costs more but you get a set in neck for better sustain and better wood for better tone and an overall better guitar. The Ibanez AX series has much better guitars with this body style and a set-in neck but the catalogs don't advertise them. If you want the nice Ibanez neck for a cheap price and good tunomatic bridge with stop bar tailpiece and four knobs this is a good bargain, but the pickups need changing. After really needing to change the pickups on this guitar and the Silvertone Rockit 21 I think it may be better to save up for a better model to start with. Would I buy a new one if it were lost? Probably not. I think I'd go for a model with a set in neck and better pickups to start with. Ibanez has such models available as do many others.

Not much to say about this guitar that a lot of people probably haven't already said. Pretty common features...H/H layout with a tune-o-matic and a tailpiece. 22 frets, 4 control knobs (2V/2T), and a 3 way p/u selector.

This guitar plays relatively well for it's price, but there is definitely some room for improvement. It can play clean alright, but the tone sounds horrible. With medium distortion this guitar sounds a little too muddy with too little clarity.

After only a few months I purchased some used Kramer Quadrails ($41 including S/H) and they have made a world of difference. With coil-tapping and crisp output they have really made this guitar guitar into an 8 for this category...but the numbers must reflect what it was stock.

Action was a little high, but the rest of the fit and finish is about how you would expect from a low-end ibanez...adequate. The guitar is definitely not a $1000 gibson LP, but it is put together well and has decent playability.

The guitar has been very reliable for me and the finish has held up with no digs through anything I've put it through. Ibanez definitely made that guitar look good and hold up well to everyday abuse that begginer guitarists put it through.

n/a

It's a decent begginer guitar and can be made into a good intermediate guitar. I'm not sure if this guitar could ever rival the tone and quality of a Gibson, but it could definitely give it a run for its money.

Four tone knobs, dual powersound humbuckers. Blah blah blah.....

Okay, I don't really understand how this guitar has been given any GOOD reviews. I mean, yes it's a good beginner guitar. But in the sound rating i give it simply a 2, because it's just that, "SOUND." There's no beauty or finesse to the sound it produces at all. The clean sounds like someone took a bag of dirt and threw it in a fan. I suggest that if you've never owned an expensive or at least more expensive guitar, buy one before putting down 10 in here for sound. Don't get me wrong, i'm not a Gibson snob. I actually play Hamer and Fender guitars. But in all reality, spending at least $400 MORE to buy something else would be the best decision you'll ever make as a new musician. As far as, "This thing can do ANYTHING! Jimmy paige, Hendrix, SRV...." Um, no...This thing can do one thing, pound out a wall of distorted sound through a big cheap solid state amp. Play SRV with a texas special guitar and a good fender tube amp. then you'll REALLY know what the SRV sound sounds like. Yes I know stevie didn't actually use the texas specials, but the tone that comes from those.....ouch....it could fry a bird in midflight and bring it back to life. Well. sorry for all my ranting, but really....this guitar should not be bought by anyone serious about their music. By the way....."Tool the king of tone?" Someone must be joking I hope.....

Nice finish for a cheap guitar. I like the colors it comes in. The finish is rock solid, moreso than any fender i've ever owned.

This guitar DID get me through a few years ONLY after I put EMG 85's in it........

Never dealt with them.

2004 GAX70.Artist style mahogany body and GRX style neck, 22 fret rosewood fretboard, 2 powersound humbuckers, 2 volume and 2 tone controls and 3-way selector switch,full tune II stopbar tailpeice, transparent red finish

I really like the sound of these guitars. The pickups sound very good for a $200 guitar. Everyone wants to change the pickups and that is good if your trying to get a certain sound for what you play, but I buy guitars that already have the sound that I am looking for. The pickups are not crap. They...well they sound like humbuckers. This is my classic rock guitar(Eagles, Peter Frampton,Styx, etc..)in which I play rhythm and some leads. My setup is a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Boss OS-2 overdrive/distortion, digitech RP50, and talkbox. I don't find it very noisy at all. Overall I am very pleased with it's sound.

The setup on this guitar was not bad. The intonation seemed a little off but no big deal. The action was nice and low. On the back it looks like their was about a quater size chip out of the wood just deep enough to feel. You have to catch it in the right light to see it and who sees the back when your playing anyway.

Only thing I can say about this goes with every guitar, if you take care of it it can last you a lifetime. I do have a telecaster as a backup but I don't exspect this guitar to ever break down on me.

Well guitar center didn't have the color I wanted so they let me take home a black one until it came in, I thought that was cool, but as for dealing with Ibanez directly I never have had too.

I have been playing for about 2 years. I also have a telecaster and Ibanez acoustic and a Dean practice amp. If it were lost or stolen I would definately buy another. Wish it came with a case but for $200 that ain't happining. This guitar is sweet!!

Hi,i bought this guitar back in '02 for $350 new.
6 strings,22 medium frets,rosewood fretboard w/ pearl dot inlays.
Hardware includes 2 tone,2 volume knobs, and a 3 way pickup
switch.Also 2 humbuckers,(not sure what brand,sorry).Input jack
comes loose every so often,but not really a big deal,just make
sure to check it before you go on stage and you should be, ok.
Transparent red was the body color i picked out,the website
makes it look more like a glittery red but once you get ahold of
it you can see the wood very clearly.Personly i dont care to much
for the look of the wood in the light.Actually it looks best in the
dark,on stage the wood look dissapeers and turns to a dark red tint,
almost like a blood red.Looks good though,lol.
The neck is really comfortable in my opinion,nice and thin,
good for fast playing.The strings are kind of high at first touch
but after awile you get used to it.No other accesories included other than a warrenty.

Fits my stile quit well actually,its no music man,but gets
the job done.Im lead/rythem guitarist of a prog rock band,
(so incase you havn't guessed already...i play prog rock.If
you dont know what prog rock is,think of Dream Theater)
Right now i use mainly an Ibanez half stack for gigs.
Affects include,wah ,delay ,phaser ,and the ever assential
distortion pedle.This is a good guitar,but also has many flaws.
The bridge pickup sounds really bad,very high and twangy,almost like
a cheap telecaster.Also it has a terrible sound on clean channels,
(not even a mesa boogie could save this bad boy).Artificial harmonics
and pretty tough to pull out of this guitar as well.So i always
keep the neck pickup switched on,and always with distortion
unless absolutly nessicary.

Action, as i mentioned before is a little high at first, and the input jack comes loose every so often.
Pickups havn't given me any trouble yet,i should probably
replace but ill wait and see how long they last.
I've never had a buzzing, so ide say the truss rod is set
in pretty good, ide much rather double truss rods though and
5 bolt aligment(you know, to make you feel safe with the guitar).
There is a flaw on one of my tone knobs, it looks like in the factory
it wasn't pushed in all the way, and sticks up a little higher
than the rest.

For me it's pretty durable,(it took a liking for me right from the start) i guesse it depends on the user really. The hardware...hmmm,
not the best, but still not the worst. The finish is actualy pretty
tough, ive havnt had a scratch i couldn't rub right out(does leave streaks though,just use an old rag when you clean it and there shouldn't be any problems).
Im sure your all wondering,"Well Chase, it sounds nice and all,but
is it durable?"
Yes, believe it or not i use it in the studio and on
all my gigs. I have no fear of it ever failing on my, i've
gotten into the habit of not even taking a back up with me.
But like i said, it likes me. So if yours for some reason doesn't,
be smart and please take a back up.

Sorry, ive never had to deal with costomer service.
But im sure the people at Ibanez are very nice :)

Ive played for 6 years now.
Other guitars i own include: Fender Strat(mexican made though,bleh) Ibanez RG, Peavey Mantis(very rare,hehe), Ibanez acoustic, and last but not least an Epiphone x-plorer.
If this guitar were stolen ide be very mad, i would defenitly buy
a new one, but still...it wouldnt be the same :(
Do i compare to other guitarist?
I dont like to say how i play but since you cant hear me
you'll just have to take my word for it.
Ive spent all my time mastering John Petrucci,
Steve Vai and Yngwie Malsteem's methods of playing,
and have no trouble what so ever.(so dont judge a man on what kind
of guitar he plays, but insted by his skills)
I hope this reveiw has been helpful.
And always remember if you decide to buy this guitar, you dont pick
it, it picks you.
So have a great day,man. I gotta run :)
-Chase

I believe mine was made in Korea. 24 frets, solid mahogany (cheap mahogany ofcourse, dont expect the wood that Gibson uses to make their guitars), 2 volume, 2 tone knobs, 3-way selector. Powersound humbucker passive pickups (pieces of crap). It has transparent red finish. Artist body style (which will give you a hard time if you got used to the Strat body). Tune-O-Matic bridge. Gigbag & cable included

My music style is almost everything but i play mainly metal and i started playing Rhythm. Therefore i seek for a tight "chugga" sound. And i think the powersound pu does this job pretty good. D'addario was the original string on it. I use Boss MetalZone and SuperChorus, run them through a Marshall AVT2000, it satisfies me at the beginning. But the more i play it, i realize that its sound has no definition. It sounds really dry and awful, all it has is the power. You can get some harmonics out of it, but not really nice and sustainable( I couldnt get all Zakk's artificial harmonics out of it). Without the distortion pedal, it's even worse. Again: no definition, the body doesnt seem to absorb & resonate the sound. Lately, i switch to lead playing and found the neck pickup was not too bad for a warm, smooth tone, but forget it if you want to lead w/ the bridge pickup. There's still a problem, almost all the notes i play on high E string dont sound good, it has some kind of vibration. Bad bad bad.

The hardware was setup pretty good. Clean frets, bridge and tuner.. But loose output jack, not a big problem though.
The finish is transparent so i can see the poor quality pieces of wood under it, lol.
The action was painfully high when i first got it. I spent time lower the action, adjust the intonation, and got a pretty low action. 1-2 months later, it started buzzing on the first fret, i dont know if it was because of strings wear or not, but i dont play on those frets much hence ignored it. A few weeks down the road, the second fret started buzzing and the low E string buzzed on every fret, and i had to highten the action (like 1.5 time as high as it was). 1-2 weeks later, it started buzzing again, this time worse. I was like "screw it" it and throwed it into the closet. End of story :D

Never gig w/ it, so i dont know...
The hardware will last coz i dont sweat. The finish doesnt easily pickup fingerprints and scratches. I thought i could keep it like new for at least one year but one day, a mo-fu from Harvard (yea, f@#& that) came and managed to let it fall from the stand to the ground, leaving a big crack on the finish. The worst part was he didnt pay for it :(

I've been playing for 5 years and owned some Yamaha and custom guitars. This is the worst one :|. If i lost it, i wouldnt buy it again. The reason i bought it was the fame of well-known Ibanez. I would rate it 7 because i developed alot of techniques w/ it.

2003 model, made in China, 22 large frets, Rosewood fingerboard, agathis body (black), Full Tune II bridge, 3 way selector switch, chrome hardware, PSND1 (H) Neck PU and PSND2 (H) Bridge passive pickups (stock).

I play mostly death/grind/hardcore/crust, and I bought this guitar to play on a Crust/Hardcore band. The stock pickups sounded like crap, so they where the first thing to go. I've since put an EMG 81 active pickup on the bridge, and this baby really came to life. On rehearsals I use a Marshall amp (head+cabinet), I don't know its specs, but I think it's a 200w cabinet and a 100w head (again, not sure). With the stock pickups, the sound was really tiny, it hadn't any punch at all, but with the EMG 81... It even sounds good on my Peavey 15w practice amp!

Since I'm mostly a rhythm guitarrist, all I use is distortion and clean sound, no effects here. Harmonics are really easy to do, even with the old stock pickups. So, in terms of rating the sound, I would rate it a 3 with the old stock pickups, and a 9 with the EMG 81.

Factory setups are kinda lame to my liking, since I like to use lower tunings. There was some fret buzz on the 10th fret, but since I had the setup done, this was fixed. I use D tuning on this guitar, so I had to put some new strings too (0.11 Ernie Ball Medium Gauge). The finish was quite good, I haven't noticed any apparent flaws. I was really surprised to see such a good finish on a cheap guitar like this one.

Well, I haven't played live with this guitar (yet), but I think it would take some abuse on stage with no majour problems. The hardware seems solid enough, but you know that nothing lasts forever, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. The strap buttons also seem solid enough to take some abuse. I think it's a reliable guitar, once you setup it the way you like, but even if I had a Gibson I would use a backup guitar. But in the eventuality of not taking a backup guitar to a gig, I wouldn't be too worried.

Well, I haven't dealt with Ibanez directly, just the music stores that sell their stuff. And note that this is my first Ibanez, so...

I've been playing for some 10 years now (which doesn't mean that I'm an experienced player, but hey), and I also own a ESP LTD H207 7-string guitar (amazing guitar) and a Jackson Perfomer PS4. If my Ibanez GAX70 were stolen or lost or whatever, I would be pissed. Just because I invested a lot on improvements (did I mentioned the EMG 81? lol). But yeah, I guess I would go out and buy another one. It's a really good looking guitar, even though I would change some things if I could, like the headstock. It isn't ugly, but... If it had a PRS-style headstock, then I would be a really happy man!

So, in conclusion: the Ibanez GAX70 it's a good buy, if you're in a budget. And with time, invest on some improvements, like pickups. With some new pickups, this guitar will definitely rock!

I hate these shredder thin tone sucking Ibanez necks, but Ibanez has a lovely clean and price at the same time.
Reliability/Durability has the nightmare I experienced with this guitar which was my first guitar that I have bought( I inherited a REAL Gibson Les Paul Standard from the 80s that would for for about $2500 new, and I inherited an old american Stratocaster from the late 60s)

These guitars have been switched to 10-46 gauge strings like I like from the 9-42 strings.
It helps the tone a lot.

With the stock pickups, I would give it a 3 for overdrive and a 7 for clean, but after I gave it a seymour duncan 59 in the neck and an Alnico 2 in the bridge, it sounded like a 8 in the overdrive and a 9 in the clean.
Good amount of tone with the new pickups and better sustain.
Reliability/Durability has my nightmare

It was all good, except the horrible action.
Reliability/Durability has the nightmare I experienced.

Yep, right now I am afraid it will fall a part. I have had this guitar for 8 months.

I had my local guitar tech put 10-46's on this guitar and it went well for a week....
The guitar has a massive split down the back of the body now that looks like it will cut my guitar vertically in half... I am afraid it will fall apart any minute.
Ibanez is putting out some real crappy bodies if they can't even handle the GUITAR PLAYER STANDARD gauge of strings, a simple 10-46.

I am guessing it will would have broke with the original 9-42 strings, because these things don't "just happen"

This guitar was fine before..
I took the strings off and am going to use the professional wood glue on all the cracks and the massive gap/fault in the middle at the base of the neck. Hopefully this combined with a nice 2 week clamping will work, but the looks of my guitar are ruined now...

I did call Ibanez, and they said that they got a bad wood shipment recently that they WILL NOT be disposing of because it would lower company profits.
Umm ok... I could understand that.. Could I have some of my money back though?

The answer was simply "no, I am very sorry"

Sorry does not cut it for me or the cut in my axe!!!

Lesson learned kids, Stay the hell away from Ibanez guitars, they are selling crap.

I could get a way better fender standard for the same price or a squier and then just modify the pickups(but the original sound is already awesome)

If you are getting an Ibanez for metal, just go get an ESP, Epihpone, schecter, gibson, or a Fender Deluxe Double Fat Strat(duel humbuckers, killer guitar for all music styles, I am going to buy one to replace this one)

The ibanez needs too much modding anyway. It is not worth it with how much good pickups cost these days. ya know?

Imported, solid-body, bolt-on neck, 2 open coil humbuchers, 3 way switch, 4 control knobs, metalic grey finish.

The sustain is great for a bolt-on neck guitar. Rich, warm tone from the bridge pickup and assertive, bright tone from the neck pickup. I tend to play ultra-heavy, doom/stoner rock (think Wino) and find the sound pretty good. I could use a little more richness but this is a great starter axe. I'm running it through an old-school Boss DS-1 and it's pretty thick.

I bought it from a pawn shop ($150.00) and the low E buzzed a lot up to the 7th fret. I adjusted the bridge and tooc care of that issue. The neck pickup was too high and I had to sink it a little to get rid of the violently bright tone. The bridge pick up is perfect. This is a really pretty guitar. The bright chrome hardware really pops and the finish is deep and glossy. The neck is smooth but a little thin for me. It is perfect for people with smaller hands.
It's really heavy and you will need a good strap to avoid shoulder strain, but it is as solid as a rock.

The guitar stays in tune wonderfully. The workmanship is solid and the finish seems like it will last. There is no pick guard, so if you are a manic shredder, you may want to install one to protect the body. The 3 way switch had a short but access was easy from the back.
I don't play ot but I do feel confident in this guitar's reliability.

This is a great guitar for a beginning player. It's solid and versitile offering many features for little cash. I recently upgraded to a Samick AV3 as I wanted a warmer tone and a fixed neck, but I will keep this Ibanez as a backup. I may replace the bridge pickup for a higher quality one down the road.
This is a great guitar for starting out and getting your chops. I recommend it if you're looking for a cheap axe.

i bought mine in '04. beatiful agathis body, 3 way toggle, 2 tone and 2 volume knobs. i have the black finish, because it looks more elegant than the transparent red. 2 humbuckers, called POWERSOUND. the body style is Les Paul SG. non-locking tuners (schaller), 22 frets. the setup was fine - the neck was perfect, the strings quite ok.

this guitar is perfect for rock/punk/metal ... this is my opinion ;) ... the humbuckers aren't noisy, and have the sound you need. full and bright ... i think, that the guitar doesn't make many types of sounds, but it does the esential sounds. the body is the most important thing of this guitar - the sustain is amazing!!!!

the set-up at the factory was perfect. there were only two things i dislike:
.) you can not really play this guitar in a sitting position, because of the cutaways.
.) the guitar is out of balance ... to much weight on the neck - so the guitar always goes down to the horizont ;) - it will not stand in an ancle of 20?-30? ...

the pickups are great, they make the right sound for rock/punk.

i don't have any problems with the frets, my guitar doesn't go out of tune. the electronic inside is perfect - not a single cable too much ;)

i think that you can smash this guitar against a wall, and it would happen nothing ...

i will soon gig with this guitar, and i think that i will not make a backup - everything at this guitar seems very durable to me.

none ... unknown

the guitar is perfect for the price ... 275? ...
2 perfect humbuckers (i know they are not the best), a perfect fretboard, ...
i played already 5 hours with this guitar non-stop ... and it didn't go out of tone, but my shoulders hurt ...

if it breaks i will buy another one, because i love the sound and the shape of this guitar so much.

i have also played with an ax125 (the "better"-verison), and i prefere the gax70, because it is cheaper, it has nearly the same features, and i didn't noticed any difference!

i think that this guitar is a beginner guitar - for sure - but it is also good for pros ... i play since 7 years now, and i played a lot of guitars ... ovasion, gibson, ibanez, fender ...

ovasion has got the perfect fretboard, but a shit of a body - gibson has got a fine body, perfect humbuckers - ibanez has got a lot of variety (i own a rg220 ... i think the gax70 is much better) - fender has got such a bright sound, i would not miss for lead ...