Ibanez GAX70

Like everybody else,plus for the 2 volumes and 2 tones,humbuckers aren't bad I've had worst.

Sounds good to me, very clean,great starter guitar ,tight handling, through a marshall and a peavey.

Set up ,IT's there no complaints.

Live playing? yes, seems solid and could withstand some bashing without falling apart.I wouldn"t worry.

Been playing too long,whish these guitars were around in my days, seem more reliable.If it were stolen I would cry like a baby report it to my insurance co. and use that money to bid on hendricks guitar on e-bay. Great guitar for the money.

2 double hums, volume and tone for each, 3 position switch (top pickup, bottom pickup, both). The tuners stay in tune. A cool aspect is that when one volume is all the way down, the middle position acts as an 'off'... very convenient.

I got it close to new in 2000, and I was amazed at the sound you could get out of $150! I don't play anything clean, so I can't judge... but it takes to distortion like a fish to water.

Store setup, good setup. only flaw is the nutorious hi E getting stuck under the frets.

I've had this thing for about a half a year, and gigged with it quite a few times and havent had any troubles since.

Dont ask, dont tell.

I like it and if somebody stole it i wouldn't notice the $150 missing from my wallet when I went to get another. In fact, I would give it a 10 on cost alone, but there are times when you can see why it didnt cost much, but not often.

made in 98. Traded a peavey tele copy for it. Has a nice maple neck with 22 fret rosewood board. Mine has a transparent red finish. Has dual hummers and volume controls, treble and bass. Tuners are alright but I'll probably replace 'em soon cuz they're about worn out. Has a nice double cutaway body and a tune-o-matic/stopbar bridge.

Simply put, this thing rocks. Well, at least it does now. When I got it I was just happy to finally have a good dual hummer guitar. about a year later I finally got around to replacing the pickups in it. I stuck a pair of DiMarzios in it, PAF Pro neck and Evolution bridge, and now the tone is just incredible. Amazing the difference that good pickups can make. It turned this $200 budget ax into one hell of a rhythm machine. I run it through two different rigs. My practice/small show rig is an early 80's yamaha 2x12 combo with a boss EQ pedal and a boss metal zone for distortion. My performance rig is a randall warhead amp and a peavey 412M cabinet. Suits my hard edged, loud rock tunes very nicely. It's definitely worth all the money I spent on it.

was set up pretty nice when I got it and it's even better now

I've had this guitar for 3 years. It's been dropped and bumped and nothing is wrong with it except for a few small knicks in the finish. Replaced the input jack about a year ago because I dropped it and bent up the plug on the cable and the jack, but it still works fine now. This was my only electric for almost three years until I got my Talman, which I'm in the process of hot rodding. I'd definitely keep using the GAX without a backup if I needed to because it's never let me down.

never dealt directly with Ibanez. It had a warranty but I think that's expired already but that's ok. I work on it myself or take it to a tech to fix anyway.

This guitar is the first I've owned that I didn't have a problem with. All three of the guitars I had before it were strat or tele copies with single coils. I wanted I fatter sound so I got this one. First Ibanez guitar I bought and it definitely won't be the last. I've already bought a Talman and I plan on getting an Iceman and I'm looking for an old Destroyer and one of the weird ass pointy looking ones from the X series back in the 80's. I may buy some other guitars but I will definitely always have more Ibanez guitars than any other because, simply put, they just kick ass.

Quickly, three piece agathis body, dual humbuckers, two volume and two tone controls. Mine is butterscotch transparent finish. Nice neck with so-so tuners.

I bought this guitar pretty much on a whim since it was so cheap ($189). Played it acoustically and it seems to have a kind of natural reverb to it which I thought was sort of nice. Wrong. With distortion this guitar is actually pretty amazing for the price but playing clean it is annoying because the reverb sound doesn't go away. I'm not really sure what causes it either. I don't think the pickups suck but I did change them to duncan 59's expecting to improve the clean sound. It didn't exactly do what I expected. Instead the distorted sound on power chords and rythym improved dramtically making this cheapo an excellent rythym axe. unfortunately the clean sound is actually worse. Not at all what I expected. Playing thru a peavy classic 50 4-10 the distortion is nice with controllable feedback. Played thru my hot rod deluxe the clean is somewhat fuller and more bluesy but still not what I wanted. Distortion still good though. All in all for the money it's good. Love the neck. Even after adjusting the bridge saddle all the way back I'm still not able to get the intonation perfect on the third string. At first it would not stay in tune for more than a couple of bends but while installing the new pickups I filed the nut angle a little more on the third string and it solved most of those problems.

Factory set up was fair on intonation. Pickups adjusted well. Top not bookmatched at all (didn't really expect that for the price). Frets are a guess medium jumbo and filed nicely. Nut poorly cut. Too deep and improper angle. Finish was and is excellent. Pickup selectors work fine. No noise when switching. Volume pots are not too linear though. When restringing I used Ernie Ball hybrid slinkys and while the strings were off I noticed that all!! the tuners were loose at the lock down nuts. Some so much that the tuner actually swiveled around. I tightened those and that may have influenced the staying in tune as much as the nut slotting. Also tightened the phillips screw on the tuning pegs on a couple of tuners. Soldering seemed OK but the wire gauge used on the pots and switches was tiny. I raised the tune-0-matic bridge up on the treble side trying to get rid of a little fret buzz with no sucess. May have to adjust the truss rod a little. Seems to be well made but assembled poorly.

Seems reliable enough. Huge strap buttons.

NA

Been playing off and on since forever I think. I have several telecasters and acoustics of varying brands and pickup configurations. What I wish is that I could afford the guitars I really want instead of making do. What I really love about this guitar is the neck and the playability. This is really a great beginners guitar which is probably exactly what it was intended for. The stock pickups are OK but not great. If my playing were better I would invest in something that was quality but I bought it to change things around on anyway. They really need to do something about the tuners and nut though. The worst thing one can do besides playing too much is to play out of tune.

same as above

I love playin this guitar the sounds is so nice..like id use my GRX and it would sound like poo than I plug in my GAX it sounds 10X better. This is a very good Guitar for its price. I run through a Marshall G100rcd head then that to a Sonic 4x14(I think) And i use a rogue equelizer .. to give it more bass and a RP100 Digi tech effects procesor and then for my distorion I use Bossmetalzone..

One problem iv had.. the strap screw came out! kinda sucks but i can get it fixed. when im not feeling lazy

This is my only guitar I use.

GO BUY THIS GUITAR FOR A BACKUp OR FOR YOUR MAIN GUITAR ITS A VERY GOoD GuitAR!

Made in 1999 I think. I bought it in april 2000. I paid 190 dollars. Solid Agathis body with a really nice transparent red stain. 2 passive humbuckers, dual tone and volume (allows a good number of sounds) 22 fret neck, kind of a SG/les paul style body. no pickguard, tuners are nothing special. Tune-o-matic bridge.

Really nice sound condsidering the price. I play alt rock. Stuff like Hum and the smashing pumpkins it really comes through good for. I play lead guitar for my band (mostly lead, anyway) the bridge pickup has a nice sound to it. I don't like the neck pickup it is far too muddy. sometimes i will mix it in a bit with the bridge, but generally I leave it off. Both pickups are very bassy. A bit too bassy for the radiohead sound, but they use all single coil pickups so that can be expected.
I play it with a Laney 50 watt tube head through a Yamaha 4x12 cab. lots of effects, Boss DS1 distortion, Boss PH2 phaser, Boss DD5 Delay, adn a snarling dogs whine o wah.
I also use a peavey studio chorus 210 through the same cabinet.
it sounds really good for a $190, I will probably replace the pickups with dimarzios.

Excellent quality. they must be getting that agathis wood for really cheap or something. the neck is top notch, better then a lot of 8-900 dollar guitars I've seen. the frets are even, with no buzz anywhere. The finish is beautiful really, you can see the lines where they put the 3 pieces of wood together, but they are nicely done, no filler or anything. the tuners are kind of crappy. the one for my low e string got loose after a couple monthes, I replaced them with some better ones, which I can't remember the name of.

durable enough, I'd gig with no backup. Nice finish, it's got some pick scratches, but they would be easy to polish out.

no need so far... think it's got a 1 year warranty

Really good for the money.
can't think of a really good reason to buy another guitar for awhile.
I've been playing about a year. in a year or 2 I will probably buy a really nice guitar and spend like 500 bucks but for now this is all I need.

you should already know this by all the other reviews. Same as a Les Paul, all the woods used are all the ones that I wanted on my next guitar. Pretty standard

The tone on this guitar is sweet! I like the very warm tone, with a present treble but not a twangy one, and nice warm bass, and this guitar gave me exactly that...and I think this guitar sounds great for any price that you pay for, and its not fair to say that this isn't a professinal guitar, cuase if it gives you the sound that you want whos to say you can't play it out, cause of the price...again the sound on this guitar is sweet!

There were apsolutly no problems with this guitar. I got the translusant red and its a real bueaty. I am thinking about changing the nut but thats just cause i want to, theres nothing really wrong with it. The neck size is really good and the action was perfect.

I've been really careful with this guitar, i just don't want to mess it up and ruin it, but it seems really really sturdy, nothing is loose on it and i would with no doubt play this without a back up. I put all my guitars through hell when i play and this one really stood up as good as my fenders.

never delt with them.

I've been playing for about ten years and i'm semi-pro. this guitar is awesome, the tone is great and i couldn't get it on any other guitar i own. the look feel and just overall preseces of this guitar is unbelieveable and its not just cause of the price, because i have some guitars that cost well over a thousand and i like the way this plays so much more than them...well i guess thats just my opinion..

It is just the standard gax70. It has the double cutaway, 22 frets , two volume nobs and two for tone. It is a basic guitar for the price it was at. I don't recall the name of the pickups but they are kind of lousy.

I play a lot of different styles of music. Classic Rock, blues, jazz, funk, old school. It does pretty good if you have the right effects. The sound of the guitar is just very dull. It is not warm nor bright it is very bland, effects of course can alter this. I don't know how all of the guitars were made, mine was fretted wrong. If you get up to about the 16th fret and past on the E,A,D strings it really plays out of tune. Tuning is another issuse, The G-string for some reason would not stay in tune period. It is a okay guitar for a beginer, but if you have some experience under your belt i would stay away.

It did pretty well in live situations, other that having to constantly moniter the tuning. One thing is for sure that my skill of ear has greatly increased. It could do fine without a backup. The only thing that broke was my pickup selector, the nob fell off.

I have never tried to contact them, but from what i have heard ibanez is pretty good.

If you are just starting to play great, go for the guitar. If not stay away, the sound is just not what an inexeperienced player wants, unless that is all you could afford, it is a good deal for the money. But sound is worth more than a good deal.

See Ibanez.com for all the details. The GAX70 was a baby of the Ibanez Artist reissue project a few years ago. I bought mine in 1998 (transparent red). I use the guitar as a 2nd or 3rd guitar for alternate tunings at gigs. I run it through an Alesis MidiVerb into a Marshall VS102R. My main axe is a 1981 Ibanez Artist AR50. I really like the Artists from the early 80s so I when I saw this one I was pretty excited-- and skeptical. The low price and non-mahogany body made me wonder if I was wasting my money on a piece of firewood. Anyway, I bought one, see below for what I think about the GAX70.

I thought the guitar sounded decent when I first bought it. Not much sustain, kind of a weak, empty sound-- definately not a mahogany body. I used it for almost a year as a backup and didn't play it much (I really like my AR50). I decided to see what I could do to get a better sound out of it so I replaced the pick-ups with Lace D-100 & D-150, replaced the nut with a graphite nut and replaced the bridge saddles with graphite saddles. Now I enjoy the hell out of this guitar! The guitar has great sustain now and really does have a cool sound. I've had several compliments from people at shows about the sound of this guitar. I'm not going to tell you that it sounds like a high dollar Les Paul-- it definately doesn't sound that good-- but after the modifications, I doubt you could be ashamed of the sound (especially for the price).

The setup was bad as I eluded to earlier. The stock nut is plastic. The bridge saddles on mine had really deep notchs which killed the sustain and caused tuning problems. The stock pick-ups are nothing to brag about either. Although, like I said, replace these items and this guitar changes from a basically weak sounding guitar to a guitar with some nice tones!

I've had it for a couple years now and I've had no problems. I've had to adjust the truss rod twice, but that is normal.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing guitar for 15 years. I've played a lot of guitars and I'd have to say for the money this is a good guitar, IF you make some changes to it. If you are a beginner who is just wanting to learn how to play then the GAX70 is probably a good guitar for you. Although, if you are looking for a Strat sound, this isn't the guitar. But if you want the GAX70 to have a sound you won't be ashamed of, then replace the Pups, Nut and bridge/bridge saddles.

Made in 2000, in Indonesia.
22 medium frets. Solid-top. 2 tone, 2 volume controls, 3-way switching. H-H Ibanez Powersound pickup configuration. Body is agathis wood, very similar to mahogany, very light and adequate sustain. Agathis doesn't have the crunch of some mahoganies I've tried. Neck is maple, fingerboard is rosewood. I have a transparent red finish, Ganz Toll! Black and transparent butterscotch is also availible. Body is double cutaway sorta like an SG/Les Paul/Schecter Scorpion hybrid. Bridge is an Ibanez 'Full-Tune II,' which is basically a Tune-o-matic. Has a stopbar tailpiece. Non-locking tuners. Very thin neck and quite small. Came with a $30 Music 123.com gigbag, 5 picks, cable, and allen wrench.

My music style is mainly metal and hard rock, like RATM, Coal Chamber, Orgy, System of a Down, Static-X. I also play some Sublime. This guitar suits them all quite well, though I need a better amp to see the guitar's full potential (I have a Marshall Mg-10MKII practice amp). The guitar has a full sound with a little crunch, due mainly to it's agathis body and humbuckers. Basically, the pickups suck, but they have a tone difference. The bridge humbucker is bright, the neck is warm. The 4 control knobs, 2 per pickup, offer a variety of settings and sounds. I can gradually fade in with one pickup and then pop the other pickup into the sound. Very good beginner's geetar. I wish it had better pickups though. A whammy bar would be cool, but it screws up tuning. the distortion is nice and clean on my amp. Ill have to try some other setups first though.

Guitar was set up very well. The action was perfect. everything was perfect except for two little scratches from the shipping that I made worse by dropping the damn thing.

I have not played the guitar enough to know if it will stand through live playing, though it probablywill. The hardware is solid, the tuners were easy to twist and turn. The finish is good to last, I dropped it once and it has no dents or scratches/blemishes/scrapes. Strap buttons are really in there. I'd like to replace them with Dunlop StrapLok's though. Im kinda scared about the regular buttons... I can defintiely depend on this baby durign practice, gigs, whatever. I guess I could use a better guitar at gigs, since this a beginner's guitar but I would use it live.

Never dealt with Ibanez. I heard their customer service sucks ass. We concluded that a virus was spread amongst the whole Ibanez Customer Service Dept. and they've all died, no one has noticed though. The warranty is... I forgot. But it does have a warranty. Doesnt look like Ill be needing any repairs anytime soon though.

Been playing for 1-2 years. I'd like to get another guitar in a year or two, maybe an AX120. If it were stolen, I would find the bastard and beat him to death with my acoustic guitar, take my guiatr back, unscrew the bolt on neck and whip him with the strings. No one messes with my guitars... I love the finish, it's gorgeous. Defintely a beginner's guitar, it's a keeper. I wish it had better pickups, a mahogany body and whammy.

*This is Damien, and this is an update to my earlier review*

Man, I have nothing but good things to say about this guitar!!! Here goes: 2000, made in Indonesia. 22 frets (Dot Inlay). Laminated top w/ beautiful glossy black finish. 2 tone and 2 volume for tweaking. The pickups are a 'Powersound 1" humbucker at the neck and "Powersound 2" humbucker at the bridge. I don't know what the hell active and passive is. I'd guess active, though. Body is agathis mahogany. My finish is glossy black, although transparent butterschotch and trans. red is available. Body is really, in my opinion, a cross of the SG and Les Paul,more on the SG side, however. Bridge is Tune II with a stopbar tailpiece. Tuners are chrome non-locking. Neck is nice and thin, rosewood, and with medium frets for fast action. I got it with a new Crate GX15 amp, gig bag, strap, chord, and picks.

*This is Damien, and this is an update to my earlier review*

This is the most awesome sounding guitar I've played that's actually within my unemployed 14 year old price range. I play hard rock like Metallica and Megadeth, but I also play Nirvana, Foo Fighters, other alternative stuff, and some old classics like Jimi Hendrix and AC/DC as well. This axe masters them all well. I have a Crate GX15 practice amp and a DOD Supra Distortion Pedal. Not noisy, though a bit because this isn't the greatest amp... I get a real good crunch as well as mellow clean tone thouh. Hard full rythym on the PS1 and Bright, Loud tone on the PS2.

"For lack of a better word, perfect."

I've dropped it a couple of times and my dog has accidently knocked it over, but it hasn't even chipped yet. I'd use it for anything right now.

Never had to deal with them but they seemed like good peoples when I talked to an Ibanez guy at Guitar Center.

Been playing for about two years now. I used to have a Washburn Shadow Series. That guitar sucked. Big time. In fact, please go read my review on that and support my claims and write a bad review for it! Thanks! Anyway, if it were ever stolen, I'd definitely get some money and buy a new one. Or I might save up some more and get this axe's bigger cousin, the AX120. All in all my favorite guitar for now.

This instrument was manufactured in Indonesia, which I'm guessing is at least near a source of agathis, from which the solid body is carved (Agathis is a kind of mahogany that sounds like mahogany to me). It has a 22-fret maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. The controls are set up like Gibson solid body; all pots are 500 m-ohm. It has H/h pickups, which I promptly changed out with Duncans. The finish is a lovely transparent red, with zero defects, which I didn't expect for such an inexpensive guitar. What kept the price down, and what distinguishes it most from an SG, is the bolt-on neck, plus a Tune-O-Matic style bridge. The tuners are regular old chrome jobbers, quite solid. Mine were loose too, so I tightened them. The neck and frets are like a Gibson, as is the headstock. I still can't figure out how much graphite, if any, is in the nut, as opposed to plastic.

The GAX70 is versatile. Clean blues ring out like a bell, and it handles distortion in a classic manner, to include saturation; harmonics remain prominent in the tonal spectrum. Noise is minimal, due to internal shielding, an extra I've never seen in this price range. The neck pickup is not at all muddy for all the thick bass available.

The only problem was the aforementioned tuners.

Overall quality is very good, with no items excepted, granted you expect to change out the pickups to taste.

I forget the details of the warranty, but it's respectable.

The 8 is bang for the buck, relative to the other scores I've given. I've been playing since about '88. I own a bunch of other cheap guitars; this is the new best value I could find (in late 2000). I've never seen the butterscotch, but it might be pretty; the lovely black one would likely tune down for a good metal rhythm machine. It's worth getting a second one for the price, provided you don't care about tremelos.
The bolt-on neck gives a little bite, to my ears. The sound is a little different than an SG or an LP, so don't expect a digital reproduction. Pick out some cool pickups to install -- it really does reflect the pickups' nature well -- and enjoy yourself. The finish and body design is aesthetically pleasing, too. If you've decided you want a solid-body, fixed bridge, H/H rig, this is an excellent choice. It's a 400-dollar-quality instrument with 200-dollar-quality pickups.

I don't know where this guitar was made, I just know it wasn't made in the USA, which is where they make the best guitars. I got a red one, it's transparent red, beautiful for such a cheap guitar. It's got a fixed bridge (the main reason I bought it), two humbuckers, two volumes (key), and two tones. It's pretty much like an SG or a Les Paul. I think it's the best setup for someone just starting out, you don't want to be playing with a tremelo when you are changing your tunings to learn songs. The separate volumes for each pickup are great, you can have the neck pickup set at low for a cleaner sound and the bridge set high for a distorted sound. You just flick the switch. The body is made of agathis, which (I heard) looks like mahogany and sounds like alder. I give it a ten, because it has all the features I need. Perfect features for a beginner or pro.

I think it sounds great for $189. The neck pickup sounds great clean, for jazz or blues. It distorts nice to. The bridge pickup is great, even at extremely high gian. You can play heavy metal with it, you can play clean. I think it can do anything. I won't give it a 10. It's not that great. But I think it deserves a solid 8. Again, more than enough for the money. I don't think you could find a better sound for twice the price.

The guitar is setup very well. I had them do it to my liking before I bought it. Ibanez makes some really great playing guitars. The finish is good, I found a few flaws, but way beyond what a $189 guitar should look like. My girlfriend thinks it's pretty, so it may impress chicks. It could be more solid. I own a USA Jackson Soloist, and this Ibanez feels great until you pick up the Jackson. The Jackson is like a rock. But the Jackson cost me $1000 seven years ago. This is plenty solid for a beginner or intermediate guitarist. It's fine for me, I keep it at my girlfriend's so I can play it while I'm there over the weekend. I'll give it a 7. However, it's the best you're going to get for twice what it costs. I compared it to some Epiphone Les Pauls and SGs, all more expensive, all were really poorly constructed and played badly.

I have no idea if this thing will last or not. As I mentioned before, it's not really solid. The tuners seem a little loose. It doesn't have a solid vibration like other guitars. My Jackson feels like it is one solid piece of wood. This thing feels like many pieces not fastened together all that well. I'm probably being a little harsh, because I've never played a guitar as solid as my Jackson. However, for the price of a few setups, I could replace this thing if something happened to it. Who knows, the thing could last forever. The other guitars I played in this price range were absolute junk. So this is the best for the price. I'll give it a 7. Definitely better than average.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing for nine years. I bought this guitar as a backup and also to have an electric with a fixed bridge (never had one before). For under $200, this is the best out there, and I spent a while looking. If you are just starting out, definitely get one. You get all the features of a Les Paul (which are all most pros need), the fixed bridge to allow for easy tuning changes (don't get a whammy bar if you're just starting out, trust me), two humbuckers, a great playing guitar, a great sounding guitar, and good looks. You can't beat the price, buy it. For $189, you can't get hurt. To get a better guitar, you've got to spend about $600. I give it a solid 10 for its value and features. If anybody has any questions, please e-mail me. I'll tell you what I know.

Why bother, the rest of you guy said it already

Ibanez GAX70 > Boss DS-1 > Crate 15X

Sound is great to me. I used to have a Import Strat about 10 years ago. I stopped playing and sold it, I bought this Ibanez as a cheap attempt to get back into playing. I think the Ibanez blows the strat away.

Awesome Awesome Awesome action. Very fast neck

Only had is for 2 weeks, but seems good

Never delt with them

Overall, I love this guitar. I know it's not a professional axe, but I'm not a pro myself. If you looking for a good beginner guitar that will last you until you turn pro, check this axe out.

Mine is a 98' model with 22 frets, H/H pickup configuration with passive Powersound pickups. It has a solid mohogany body that is extremely close to the Gibson SG shape. It is transparent red with a Full Tune II bridge. The neck is the perfect size for speed.

It's sound is fairly vesitile. When I first got it I was mostly into Led Zeppelin but now I am heavily into Metallica,Slayer,Pantera, and other metal and it has adapted nicely. My set is the GAX70 (or Ibanez Destroyer II) into a Morley Bad Horsie Wah into an Ibanez Soundtank Tubescream into a Boss Metal Zone into a DOD VGS50 Processor and into an OLD Randall Commander head which goes into a Crate 4x12 Cab. It sounds very good with heavy, light, or no distortion at all with very little feedback with both the tubescreamer and metal zone going at the same time.

This guitar was set up perfectly for me. The action was fairly High and so were the pickups. the transparent red finish was gorgous.

I think I will have this guitar for the rest of my life. The only problem I have seen is slight rust on the bridge pickup which is easily taken off but always comes back. It is very durable, I dropped during practice in my basement (which has a concrete floor) it must have fallen 3 feet and only took off a small chip of paint from behind the input jack. I would always take a backup to a gig.

I think it had like a 2 year warranty.
Never dealt with Ibanez but I here their service sucks.

I have been playing for about four years and this was my first decent electic. I had a one of those tiny generic ones that was my grandpa's and the pickups were shot, this thing was ungodly. If it were stolen i would probably upgrade to an RG but i don't know. I just got a used Ibanez destroyer II which has nicer electronics but my GAX70 gets 10 times more playing time. I love it.

Not sure of year.Built in Indonesia. 22 frets, solid top body. Two volume, two tone controls. Pickups are H/H and both are open coil. Both are Ibanez Powersound 1 humbuckers. Body is mahogany, neck is maple. Very good looking black finish that is reflective. Body is double cutaway, sort of like a cross between the Gibson SG and Les Paul. Bridge is Tune II with a stop tailpiece. Tuners are non-locking, and are Ibanez. Neck is nice and thin with medium or jumbo frets (not sure). Got it with Amp, Gig bag, strap, cable, and 10 or 12 picks.

I play alternative and rock, and I like blues stuff. This guitar sounds & feels great for all styles. I play it through a Crate GX15 practice amp. It has a rich clean or warm distorted sound in the neck, and twangy clean or crunchy distortion in the bridge. When both pickups are selected, it gets a good mix of both.

Set up great. I've had it for around 5 hours and it's great!!!

I got a crappy strap, but the buttons and knobs and tuners all work fine. I don't have gigs. Yet.

Never done anything with 'em. I got it TODAY!

I used to have a Washburn SHadow Series. (Read my review on THAT.) Nothing Else. This is an awesome guitar. I would recommend it for either a first guitar or andone who wants to pay under $200 for great sound & looks.

made of agathis, but some sources say mahoghany, i did some research on agathis wood. its actually a cheaper foreign mohaghany, but its got a good tone so dont worry about it. double cut away, 2 powersound humbuckers, 3 way selector switch, to volume&tone pots. 22 jumbo frets, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. passive electronics, trans red finish(beautiful) stop-bar tail piece like a gibson, with a tun-o matic bridge. made in indonesia, best features for a guitar, simple use no tricks or secret switches here great beginners guitar excellent value guitar

this guitars tone is amazingly versitile, ive played hardcore, jazz, classical fingerstyle, funk, progressive rock, blues and worship music on this thing and it does a great job copying the basic tonal format for each style. i prefer using the neck pickup for clean/distored stuff like jazz/classical/blues/funk and worship as well as soloing(my ears like the tone of a neck pickup for soloing) at really high volumes the pickups feedback pretty easily but they are stock pickups so what can u expect? i would recommend having the pickups waxed to cut down the feedback. the guitars tone is warm over all, the bridge pickup i use mainly for heavy,gain saturated stuff like hardcore/metal/rock/progressive music. like i said before it does the job for getting the basic tonal formats for these styles of music

action isnt too bad ive adjusted it from time to time to see what i like the best, unless you have a defective one these guitars are pretty well made, and are excellent for the price. pickups like i said before are stock and arent the greates but they do teh job, if you find that they are too muddy for u i would suggest replacing them with dimarzios or seymour duncans, emgs are great if you like that kind of sound. the finish was what made me want to buy it, its my first guitar and ive had it for a year. it looks like a gibson sg trans red finish.i couldnt afford an sg so i got this. only a few problems the bridge pickup had a dramatic loss of volume, one of my friends looked at it and found out that the problem was that the wire for the bridge pickup was "grounding out" so it was an easy fix. the other thing is that when i first bought this guitar i kept breaking the high e string, i took it back to the guitar store and the guy there told me that there were some burrs in teh saddle of the bridge, so i took a small nail file and smoothed the saddle out very carefully. other than that if you take care of this guitar as u should with all intruments you will not have any major problems

i have used this guitar in quite a few live situations. i dont really have the money to get back up guitar so ive been using this thing without a back up with no problems, hardware is great, but jsut clean the tune-o-matic bridge when u change the strings from resting my hand on the bridge it gets some build up on it. strap buttons arent great so i replaced them with dunlop strap -locks but the hole for the screw got threaded out, so i had to put a longer/bigger screw in its place and its been fine ever since. finish is hard and nice ive dropped this thing a few time by accident( slipped on some ice/ and my drummer put it in the back of his truck with out any case whatsoever and my guitar head landed on it! ouch! even with those accidents the finish has held up well besides the usuall wear and tear from using it a lot.

nope never called ibanez but whenever i need help wiht this thing i go to my local music store where i bought it and they are always willing to help out

been playing for about a year, using this guitar with a marshall halfstack. if it were stolen i would be pissed its my only guitar! the thing i love the most about this guitar is the neck its nice and thin, but the only complaint that i have is to the ibanez company. my guitar is very different from the others that are supposedly exactly the same, my neck is very different from others i have tried out in stores, some other guitars have fatter wider necks than mine. i wish the guitar had some kind of block inlays and some binding so thats why im getting an ibanez Artist re-issue, that the guitar that the GAX70 is based on, but its got better features like a bound neck and maple top with a mahoghany body and a set neck! plus it just looks better. IF YOUR A BEGINNER OR YOU NEED A CHEAP GUITAR THAT WILL LOOK/PLAY AND SOUND GOOD FOR 200 BUCKS BUY THIS GUITAR UNTIL YOU CAN GET ONE YOU REALLY WANT IT WILL DO THE JOB AND HOLD UP TO INTENSE PLAYING.

This is Ibanez's attempt at a solidbody sg, or LP style guitar, in other words a symetrical double cutaway with the h/h setup with three on a side tuners (unlocking), 22 frets, three way selector switch and and two volume and two tone knobs. The two pickups are passive "powersound" pickups (don't ask me how they got the name). It has an agatis body, which is supposed to look like mohagony and sound like alder, a maple neck with 24.75 scale light rosewood fretboard, nothing top of the line, but the price is right with extra jumbo frets. Comes with a "full tune II" which is basically an Ibanez tunomatic.

sound... this is where I believe this guitar suffers. I play lots of different kinds of music, but mostly Metallica style metal. I'm not sure if its the agatis body, or the tune a matic bridge but this guitar lacks sustain, but has enough to be just barely satisfactory. Also the "powersound" pickups have anything but power. I managed to solve that problem with the installation of an SH-10 seymour full shred in the bridge, it has taken care of most of the sound problems. This guitar has a bit of a noise problem that I noticed before and after the SH-10 but I'm working on totaly sheilding it right now. I'm hoping that with everything done to it it will sound perfect.

The factory set up was done very well, the string action was perfect (I checked) and the intonation was excellent, no complaints. The bridge pickup was actually set up wrong though, kinda thing I'm kicking myself for not noticing when I bought it. The pickup ring was mounted about 3mm off to the one side. I have since then fixed that problem myself, and it works fine. Also I had to tighten the tuners a bit, but I find myself having to do that with all my guitars. The neck is great. Totally fast and thin, and the extrajumbo frets do a nice job of being able to move from place to place smoothly, no complaints. The neck is up there with the best of them. The fretboard isn't made of top of the line rosewood, which can be expected from a guitar under $200 and I really don't have a problem with it. I've actually thought about staining it ebony, but its good enough as is. The finish is beautiful I opted for the gloss black version. The looks of this guitar is deffinately the reason why I'm putting so much into it instead of buying a new one. This guitar is beautiful. The crystal cut body, the headstock with the 3x3 tuners, and the full tune bridge. This guitar has a kind of elegance in its simplicity. Every bit of the shape of it suits my style. I have hade a few modifications though to make it look even better. Two Chrome pickup covers, chrome dome knobs and a chrome pickup selector switch. The thing now looks, if not sounds, like a top of the line custom gorgeous guitar. The grade is withought the mods, with its a deffinate 10. I would not have any other guitar as far as looks go.

Well, as of now the feedback and buzz problem might keep it out of my gigging momentarily, but thats the only reason. I plan on making this my number one guitar though, in the future, becaues of its sheer beauty, and I can't wait until I can take it on stage with me. Also unlike the other reviews I've found once the strings are broken in I've found that it stays in tune nicely.

what customer support?
ok this is the worst, ibanez as far as I can tell doesn't want to be bothered by the consumer. I've looked for ways to contact them about some of the problems, but I haven't found any numbers, or adresses, or any customer support whatsoever. Terrible

ok I've been playing guitar for about as long as i can remember, have tried most every type of guitar at one time or another, from bottom of the line crap to top of the line royalty. I have lots to compare to. I also do a lot of work on guitars, and research for it so I'm not exactly an uneducated consumer. My only problem is my lack of money so normally I just go for customizing bottom of the line guitars. This one I couldn't ask for more as far as looks go now that I have it customized. The sound, well the sound can be worked on too, with the aid of a good effects box (which I frown on but sometimes can't be avoided). overall I love this guitar.

This guitar was made in Indonisia who shows in the price, but has a agathis body, 22 frets, rosewood fingerboard, 3-way toggle switch, 2 volume, 2 tone, fairly medium sized maple neck, pretty decent non-locking tuners, plus 2 Ibanez power-sound humbuckers

I play every single type of music you can think of and it fits me very well actually. I mostly play metal, rock, and jazz, and this guitar fits very well with all the styles. The powersound pick-ups are fairly good, even though i didn't really like the sound of it for a long time, i guess its the kind of guitar that you grow to love the sound of it. I use it with lots of types of practive amps and it sound pretty good, for jazz i use a 120 watt Crate combo, and it sound great on the neck pick-up on the clean channel, it takes a while to get a good sound on it.

THIS IS THE WORST SET UP GUITAR I HAVE EVER TOUCHED! The neck was adujusted fine and so were the pick-ups however a few others occured. I had a problem since the second I got it until a year after i had it with the bridge. I broke over 20 sets of D'addario strings just on this guitar. There were so many burs all over the bridge and tuners. Also on the 12 fret there was a huge clump of dried up glue from when the frets were put on. Also the knobs suck! I took them off becuse they wont stay on. In conclusion the black finish was fine, so was the action, but the other probelms gave it a 1!

This guitar is very relyable however certain things make me worried about it at gigs. The strap hooks seamed fine until my guitar fell on concrete and destroyed the finish (which was a well finshied guitar). Also, the tuners suck so badly, my 3rd string is so messed up becuase the tuner wont lock.

It was under a year warranty, and brought it back a few times for repair. Then shop i got it from just did the repairs. However i was convinced for a while i had a defective bridge, and it would have took a long time to get it taken care of, so i didnt bring it back or anything.

I had it for over a year, and dipite a few bad problems, i couldnt live without it. A few friends wanted to buy it from me. If you would like to buy this guitar, make sure the bridge i good.

This guitar is set up nicely, similar to many les pauls. It is a double-cutaway Ibanez les paul with the traditional two tone knobs, two volume knobs, and a 3-way toggle switch. The body is a les paul, but with the double cutaway, it looks like a mix between an SG and a Les Paul. It has two Ibanez powersound humbuckers and a Gibson-style tune-o-matic tremlo with a stop-bar tailpiece. Mine has a nice see-thru red finish which makes the guitar look really nice. It looks much more expensive than it really is.

Although many reviews I've seen say that the powersound humbuckers don't sound that great, I feel differently. I think that they are good pickups and they sound great as long as you have a decent amp and your strings are not two old. I play mostly Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Motorhead, AIC, and many other heavy metal music. I love this guitar.

This guitar is strung for .009 strings and it works well with those stings. I noticed that .010s are kinda tight and the action's not as good, but with .009s, it has extremely good action. The finish as i said is very nice. I've seen the black and butterscotch versions of this guitar and I would definitly recommend the red version. The only bad part about this guitar is that it is slightly imbalanced. The neck is kind of heavy, but it's not a problem because the body is light and it doesn't take much to hold up the neck.

I haven't gigged with this guitar yet, but I've got 3 planned in the next few months. I'll probably use my friend's warlock for a backup, but I don't think need it. I play this guitar harder at my band practices than I probably will at gigs, and I've never had any problems. A few months back, my little sister dropped my guitar and broke off the toggle switch. I was so afraid that the sound was messed up or the neck broke or something, but it's worked without a problem (other than the bwoken toggle switch, which still functions properly) for months, every week at band practice.

I love this guitar and definitly would buy another if it broke (but I know that it wouldn't). I don't think about nor do I care about the fact that it's only a $200 guitar. It's no Gibson, I'll admit, but it's greatly made and it's got great sound and looks, $200 guitar or not. I recommend this guitar to any beginners or intermediate guitar players who are looking for a great value.

It has a three way tap and has 2 volume controls and 2 tones 22 frets the tuner is non locking the finish is nice

this suits my music style very well because of its powersound pickups i would chose this over any good guitars because of the cheapness of the guitar its affordable and good for the price

I have noticed one thing and that is my nobb slip and the twist then the wire snaps off which is a pain cause soldering sucks oh and i suggest buy better nobs

this is a good gig guitar sure its not like a fender but for the price you could just say its like a fender and get away with it cause of its great sound

nope

I have been playing for 3 years now and find it affordable great to use and i like the feel of the guitar as you strum a chord

Unknown make year, made in asian country, 21 frets, 2 volume and 2 tone controls cutaway design similar to an sg or prs mcarty 2 powersound humbucking pickups 3 way selector, fixed bridge, non-locking tuning keys but did not seem to have the problems with going out of tune as much as everyone else reviewing says. No extras

I was totally hooked on a strat until I played this model. It is a very versatile guitar I played rock, blues, jazz and it sounded good on all styles and for the price I payed for this it is absolutely perfect. I think if I were to change the pickups I could probably get this baby to get santana's or a meaty gibson sound out of this guitar

The factory setup was great the action is nice and low, the pickups are adequate for now and no noticeable flaws mine is transparent red very easy to tune and everything seems perfect

Unknown have not used live yet the only thing that looks suspect is the pickup selector and the strap buttons for those who move and jump about a lot it may be a problem. The finish seems like it will last a while though and I would say I can depend on it but would still never gig without a backup.

Forget it I emailed them a few times with no response no phone numbers to call that I saw on their website. It seems like buy it and leave us the heck alone "jabroni"

I have been playing for a few years and own a few acoustic guitars, this is my first electric I usually played my friends strat for gigs this guitar seems to suit a variety of styles easily. If it were lost or stolen I definitely would buy another one. Like I said the only thing bad is that the customer support totally sucks so dont even waste your time with them (I hope they are reading this and do something about it) For the price paid for this guitar it is quite easy to fix it up with new pickups and locking tuners if you so wish. I compared this to other guitars and for me this guitar had the most potential along with epiphones for those of us who cant or do not want to spend $2,000 or more on a guitar. If anything I can add I see a lot of people buy guitars through the mail this I do not recommend because they are all different and you need to play them to see which one you like the best end of sermon. Good luck and I hope my review helped.

Features. Double cutaway. Two powersound humbucking pickups. Bolt on neck. Two tone knobs two volume knobs. 22 frets I think. Indonesian made. Transparent and one solid finish available.

Sound.....Well for a $200 guitar it sounds great. I play mostly punk,hardcore, and emo and ocassionly some blues and jazz. It has a pretty good crunch sound. I play it through a peavey supreme transtube head and 4x12 cabinet. It sounds good through that amp. The GAX70 also has a nice clean sound too. Basically I bought this guitar because I was not satisfied with the sound of my fender strat and wanted a guitar with humbuckers and on my tight budget this guitar was a good buy. It really is a decently versatile guitar.

I have had this guitar for about 6 months and It seems to be set up nicely. The finish looks great still. The one big complaint I have about this guitar is goes out of tune easily.

I have used this guitar for about four shows and it has done great. The hardwear looks like it should last. The strap buttons were replaced with dunlop strap locks. I don't trust straps that aren't locked in. It seems pretty dependable but I would bring another guitar to a gig. I would not be without a backup.

I have never dealt with Ibanez. It has a one year warranty.

Overall like I said before for about $200 I think it is a great guitar. If it were lost or stolen I probably would get an epiphone Les Paul. I am seriously considering buying an Epiphone Les Paul Standard in the not to distant future. I don't think I would sell it though. I really like the sound out of it but It isn't the best guitar out there but for the price it is great. I compared it to a hamer slammer and thought this was a better buy. So if you are looking for a good new guitar and don't have much to spend you should definately check out an Ibanez GAX70. It is a wonderful beginners guitar too.

Alright. The features are pretty nice for a beginners guitar. Nice pickup array, 4 knobs, nice neck feel. There is no locking trem system on this Ibanez model and it definitely is not needed since it IS a beginner guitar. The frets and the neck really are comfortable and its easy to go up and down quickly. The bridge style is tune-o-matic and this guitar has 22.5 frets.

I think this guitar was made for for the bluesy type of person. Me, I play HARDCORE METAL and this was a GREAT beginners guitar. Dont let people call it a bluesy guitar and scare you if your not into blues. I would classify it pretty damn heavy and it fit my needs for 2 years. Now thats great for the price! The sound is rich and I never really kept the pickup switch in the up position. I always used it in the dowb position meaning that I am using the bridge pickups. it was great. An excellet distortion pedal that I used this with and I still use would be the Danelectro Fabtone..they're great!

When I got the guitar everything was perfect. The action wasnt too high and it was set up fairly nicely. No nicks or scratches. Nice condition. The pickups were in properly and the bridge was routed properly. There were no flaws on this guitar that would prevent me from getting it at all.

Since this guitar is a beginners guitar, it would not go too great for playing live obviously. The hardware is great. I never lost a knob, or a tuning key or anything like that. The finish would NOT wear off. Never in a million years I tell ya. I put this guitar through hell and back and then back again..No sign of a single grain of wood. I would gig with it w/ out a backup, but I dont know if I would go crazy with it like I usually do....ONE thing about this guitar. The electronics inside..UGH. After about a year, whenever I moved the guitar in a certain position it would shut off and then i would have to move it into another position in order for it to work. What it was, was the soldering inside on one of the wires..it was a pain in the neck so keep re-soldering and to this day still gives me problems.

Only reason why I gave this uitar a 7 is because it IS a beginners guitar and it went thru hell and back and only had so few flaws..I just wish the electronics were good or else it would get a 9. I have been playing for about 3 years and I own this ibanez guitar, epiphone flying v, blade/guild guitar, ibanez bass, and jay turser bass. If this guitar were stolen or lost, I would have just gotten a new guitar and a different model instead of getting it again. The thing I love the most is the action, the neck, and the playability. It's great! I just hate the electronics in it. Eww.

2 humbuckers 24.75 neck scale (kind of short, same as Les Paul and SG's) Agathis body (whatever that is... I heard it's like mahogany). Stop Tailpiece. Made in Indonesia. Has Ibanez Logo, but its painted on top of the headstock varnish, so can be scratched off by your fingernail in 30 seconds. Two tone and two volume controls.. one for each pickup. Three position toggle switch. Looks like maple neck. Body style is like SG, kinda sorta but w/ smaller cutaway horns.

Well, no matter what anyone says, my experience (25 years, plus) says that pickups are the most significant part of the electric guitar's sound. Unfortunately the so-called "Powersound" humbuckers this guitar came with didn't sound so powerful. Sure anyone can plug this thing into a Marshall stack turned up and compensate for that, but the fact is these pickups werent so good to me. That's forgivable, though, given the low price and also because I've heard this is what alot of guitars are like in this price range. Anyway, I replaced them with Schaller Golden 50's and now it sounds way better (new rating would a 7 or 8. Nuff said. Rating is based on original pickups.

The guitar is built sturdy and solid and seems to have a good neck, but, like others reviewing this, I had some fretbuzz at around the 11th fret. I did some neck and bridge adjustment and sanded the frets a little (kids don't try this at home unless, like me, you're willing to risk screwing up your guitar) Anyway, after this, the neck was way better, and now is really a nice fast guitar to play. I really feel that in spite of its minor imperfections, its built as good and plays as good as more expensive guitars like Gibson. Partly due to the shorter scale, its much easier to play than my Fender Strat. The tuning keys are fine and they stay in tune for me. This guitar plays really nice now. One other thing though... I moved the strap button on the cutaway "horn" to the back of the neck near the body (like an SG) because this guitar was out of balance... rather neck heavy. After these minor mods, this guitar plays and feels great. It would be a 9 if I didnt have to make them, so I'm deducting 2 points because I did have to make them.

I've used this guitar for several gigs. I've brought my Strat and this Ibanez planning to use it as a backup. However, I've always ended up using the Ibanez as my main axe, because its easier to play than the Strat, plus really light and comfortable. So when the stress of live music is on, I opt for this one because I feel more confident that I won't be screwing up my riffs. Its been very dependable, which is saying alot for an inexpensive guitar.

Honestly know nothing about them.

I bought it so I would have that humbucking Les Paul sound in addition to the more Strat type sounds availible from my Strats. But the pickups werent cutting it, so I had to replace them. The action was'nt quite cutting it, so I had to adjust it, too. It really was'nt anything to boast about before I made these improvements, but it was still a fair deal for the low price. After I made these improvements, which were minor, I feel I have a very acceptable, nice sounding and nice playing electric, with a sound similar to an SG or a Les Paul. But I thing I'd rather have a good SG or 335 with really high quality pickups. But since this guitar is doing the job, it makes more sense to use my money on other things I need more.