Ibanez GAX70

I'm guessing that mine was probably made around 2002 or so. It's one of the Indonesian models and it comes in a Transparent Red finish and has 2 powersound Humbuckers, a 3 way switch and 2 sets of volume and tone controls along with a tune o matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece. The neck has 22 frets but I'm not sure what scale it is although it is thicker than my Fender strat. I won this on E-Bay so a heavy duty Ibanez gigbag was also part of the deal.

It took me quite a while to get adjusted to the sound of these pickups only because when I got this guitar, I had to do a lot of maintenance on it, which I'll get to later. These pups seem very trebly when you're playing on the clean channel of your amp, at least to me they do, and that's only because I have my amp set up for my Fender Strat. Once I kicked in the distortion, it was obvious that this guitar was made for Nu-Metal, but I could definately throw down some serious lead riffs with it. These pups put out some nice sustain I must say.

I won this on E-Bay through a power seller, so it was obvious to me that the prior owner didn't give two shits about guitar care. When I got this,the neck was extremely bowed, along with a lot of grime and dirt all over the body and inside the electronics. Luckily I do know how to do proper guitar set ups and care, so I was able to restore this at pratically no cost at all. I did a truss rod adjustment,a intonation set up, fret cleaning,cleaned the electronics, changed the strings,polished and buffed the body along with tightening up the tuners and all the hardware. Once that was all done,it looked like it just came out of the box. Now I have to say that it's a keeper.

Considering all the work that I put into it,I think that this guitar will last me a long time. I'm pretty sure that I could use it at a gig without a backup but I wouldn't, only for the reason that I bought it to use as a backup for my Strat. I baby all of my equipment so this will be with me a long time.

Ibanez's customer support pretty much sucks. They don't have any way of contacting them as far as I could tell when I went on their website.

I've been playing over 36 years and besides this,I also own a 2006 MIM Sunburst Standard Strat and a 2007 Crate GTD120 combo amp. I should've asked the guy who sold me this guitar, just exactly if there was anything wrong with it. According to his posting on E-Bay, there wasn't any issues with it. Oh well, live and learn. Next time I buy another guitar,I'll go and buy one in person, no more E-Bay.

All of the features have been covered numerous times. Mine was purchased in early Feb, 2004. I used it as my starter guitar after a bad purchase a couple months prior of a different brand. I give it an average feature rating because it does not have any extras or anything. It's.......average.

My music style is mostly classic rock ranging from soft Neil Young to hard Led Zep. I did change the stock pickups out after a year or so and used some crunchy GFS from guitar-fetish. I'll break out my review to before and after the switch.

Before: I felt at the time that I was not getting enough bite out of the stock pick-ups for harder rock. While that may be true, I'm actually thinking now that it was probably more of an amp issue than anything. What was good about the stock was it's stunningly beautiful sound. Everyone who ever picked it up remarked to that end.

After: I got a lot more bite out of the replacement pickups than I had before. It actually jumps out when you hop on it. I can still coax a nice sweet tone out of it with the proper right hand technique. Ended up making this quite a flexible guitar.

Over All: Maybe it's the Agathis body or the fretboard. I really don't know, but this guitar does have it's own tone and it's quite nice. I'm thinking of experimenting if I see another one floating around for dirt cheap used. Snatch it up and put some of those flat wound strings on it and see what it does for Jazz.

My rating is based on stock pickups, and the bridge was kind of weak before the swap come to think of it. Remember, I'm also amde the rating based on the music I got it for.

The set-up form the factory was fairly decent. I make all my own adjustments every year now, but I didn't do a whole lot to this. The finish is kind of a plain ol' transparent red stain thing. No frills at all, but not ugly. Again, call it average.

Here's it's weakness. The tuners are poor, the neck bolts come loose and the pick-up switch is iffy at best. However, this darned thing stays in tune as good as anything I have. It defies logic. I'd give it a low mark, but in the end, everything boils down to how well it stays in tune. 2 points off for pick-up switch.

never dealt with support.

I own 9 guitars, been playing 5 years and play mostly rhythm. The real benefit to this guitar is that it's nut width was wide enough for my stubby fingers as a beginner. It's the sole reason I bought it. I can play any guitar I want to now, but as a beginner, it kept me playing.

This guitar will probably be with me until I can no longer play. I just keep tightening things up on it from time to time and it keeps on playing and playing. They're $200 now, I paid $190. I play it almost every day. It's easy to play, easy to adjust, easy to maintain and it sounds great (and more versitile with the pick ups I added). For the money, I give it a 7. I do think that better tuners and switch should be required for a higher score.

Ibanez GAX70, purchased in 2008. Manufactured in Indoesia. 22 fret, maple/rosewood unfinished neck, clear cherry red finish, Mahogany double cutaway body. 2 Ibanez Powersound humbuckers w/dual volume/tone, 3-way switch, fixed bridge, pretty smooth standard tuners.

The sound was pretty decent for a <$200 guitar. Pickups were kind of noisy and harsh, but at this price...I play through a Diezel Einstein, which unfortunately, will make any POS guitar sound good. After changing the pups to a Duncan JB-bridge and Pearly Gates-neck, it sounded amazing, even for the Diezel. I prefer a pretty straight guitar sound most of the time, with little use for effects, except for some reverb and a little delay on leads. This guitar can do blues, hard rock, or metal without missing a beat, has a very warm, full sound now with the rosewood board and Duncan pups. I normally prefer ebony fretboards, but this one won me over at the GC store, sounding better than other $400-500 guitars, mostly because of the playability of the neck and wide, flat fretboard. One thing, the neck being maple with a thin and light mahogany body makes it kind of neck heavy-something to consider for gigging as it isn't balanced very well for playing standing.

The setup was remarkable at the pricepoint, with nice low action. Truss rod needed a little loosening, as the neck was slightly bowed, although nearly straight. Pups were a little low. The cherry red finish is very nice, showing the excellent mahoghany grain. Couldn't find any manufacturing defects, all hardware properly tightened.

This would be a good backup for playing out, no plans to at this time. I wouldn't expect the hardware to last under constant playing, but probably good for bedroom usage.

Been playing for about 25 years. Current stable includes 87 Gibson LP Custom, 91 LP Studio, 06 Jackson Dinky (for shredding/whammy bar stuff), and a Yamaha 12-string. Running a Lexicon rack unit and Morley wah through a Diezel Einstein. If the Ibanez got stolen, I'd buy another one for $200. Love the neck and sound with the Duncan pups. I've tried some higher-end Ibanez RG guitars in the past, but didn't like the sound. Guess I lucked out with this one.

The features have already been covered.

The sound of this guitar is just a typical modern double humbucker sound. There is not much more to say than that. The quality of the picups are more than adequate for the average player. The picups are about the best you are going to find on a $200 dollar guitar.

Ibanez in general is king of the "out of the box" instrument setup. There are very few low priced Ibanez guitars I played on that did not play well out of the box. This one is no exception.

I have played several gigs with this guitar, and never had any trouble with it.

I have had nothing but good dealings with Ibanez overall. Even though I have never had a problem with any of their guitars.

I have read through alot of these reviews. A lot of these reviews are based on preference instead of about the guitar itself. Frankly, there are very few guitars that can compete with this one in this price range. I saw a few comments about Squiers. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! If you are just into "Fender Style" guitars, you may not like this guitar. However, unless you do some work on a Squier(anything), there is no way you can compare this guitar to those. They are not even in the same class in my book. Ibanez gives you a REAL guitar, with decent hardware, that stays in tune. You may find a nice Squier every so often, but most of the time this is not the case with them. Consistency in quality is where Ibanez beats other companies who put out budget guitars.

I have been playing 30+ years. Right now I own an Artcore AF75D, Ibanez ART100, Yamaha RGX-A2, Dean Stylist, Aria ProII CS-400, Austin 762BK(Tele), Fender(Mex)Telecaster and a Yamaha CG-BN. I mostly play through a Fender Princeton Chorus, and a 100watt Kustom. I have owned 2 GAX 70s, but decided to move up to the ART100. The last one GAX70 I had, I kept it for 6 years.

I would recommend this guitar to anyone. Nothing spectacular, just a good dependable and economical axe!

Green shadow flat finish on an agathis SG/LP double cut style body. kind of reminds me of the thicker bodied Tony Iommi SG that Epiphone makes now, but a bit more contoured. 2 vol and 2 tone with a 3-way toggle. TOM type bridge, which suits me fine as i HATE Floyd Rose trem units and such. sometimes simple is better. 21 fret maple neck/rosewood board, with nice medium sized (almost jumbo, but not quite) frets, and (shock of all shocks!) pretty decent factory tuning machines. Would of preferred a set neck over a bolt on, but for under $200, what more could you ask for?

I had to part with a '77 Gibson SG a few years ago, and have been looking for a replacement in my price range for a while now. This fit the bill and then some. Nice, full sound unplugged. And that neck. OMFG!!!
As for plugged in, i really don't understand all the hatred for the Powersound pickups? Maybe it's the whole "just throw some Seymore Duncans/EMGs like <insert famous axe-slinger here> uses" attitude everyone seems to have these days. I like these pickups just fine. They remind me of a higher output Gibson 490T/R. True, they're a bit muddy at high gain. well guess what? High gain means roll your tone knobs back a bit, people. Besides, other than the wood's natural tone, the only other tone should really be coming from your amp anyway.
I'm currently using this with a Behringer Big Muff clone and a Boss Super OD through a little 10 watt BC rich practice amp an old roommate left behind. I hope to change the amp situation soon (C'mon, tax return...lol!). However, if a guitar can still sound good through a crappy amp, you know you've struck gold.

I'm not sure if the Guitar Center where i bought it, or Ibanez themselves, should get credit for an excellent setup. I've been playing for 15 years, so I know a thing or two about a good setup. Everything appears (as well as sounds) fine. I'm pretty sure GC should get the props though, as most factory setups blow the long donkey, and i doubt Ibanez would take the time to do an above average one on a "budget" axe.
When it comes to the finish, ZERO complaints. I never was too crazy about this guitar in the black night or white finishes, and EVERYONE has it in the trans red. It seems like it will hold up pretty well, and may even have a nicer look to it when it starts to fade over time.

I've yet to play out with it. Besides, how could I even consider gigging with a little 10 watt practice amp? LOL! However, if, and when I finally do start playing out again, I doubt there'll be much need for a backup. This thing seems just as solid as my old SG, and i never used a backup for that. An extra set of strings for those unfortunate breakages is all I'll probably need.

Can't say. Never dealt with them. However, they are a big corporation, so it's probably about as pleasant as a full body cavity search.

I think this thing's a definite "sleeper axe." In other words, when they quit making these, people will be selling them for ridiculous amounts on e(vil)bay, and talking about how great they were. Like most of Ibanez's late 70's/early 80's output. If it were lost or stolen, big YES on buying another one. Even if I do have to pay a ridiculous amount to some ebay bandit in the future.

A Trans-red, agathis sg/lps double cutaway body. It's got two humbuckers, both really low output and quiet. Two tone two volume pots, and a three way selector switch. It's got a stop tail style bridge. The neck is a three peice maple/cheap rosewood with a satin finish. It's made in indonesia, which at first I was skeptical about. However after playing many guitars in the shop ranging from $350 and down, this was by far the easiest to play, and the most comfortable.

I'll give it an 8 for features, it could have a lot more junk on it. In this case, being only an 8 is a good thing, because it's nice and simple and not trying to be anything it's not.

Now here is where people will agree to disagree. I personally LOVE the sound this guitar puts out. It can do a really lovely clean sound and handles high gain pretty well also.

The first thing that surprised me was the fact that it put out such a warm tone from the neck pickup, despite it being a low output humbucker. Usually when a company puts a cheap pick up in their guitars, you don't expect much, but after running this thing through a couple tube amps (fenders and a beat up old vox) and then through an older vintage solidstate (yamaha g50-112II, circa 78) the sounds it puts out just on the neck pick up is very nice. It's hard to explain things like tone or color, but to my picky ears, it's pretty sweet. It gets really nice cleans.

I won't even bring up the line6 guitarport I play it through when I'm praticing because well that's over modulated and usually a pretty false sound. Digital amp modeling and effects are nice for practice and what not, but you should never judge a guitar by one, unless that is your 100% sound. I use mostly old amps and like the classic organic sound they produce, but I will admit that this guitar sounds great no matter what I run it through haha.

Now the bridge pickup. This isn't your typical treble based pickup. It's quiet just like the neck, but one thing I like about it, it gives a nice twangy sound. Excellent for chickin' pickin' or tweedy blues. And if you overdrive it or have a good distortion going on with some delay/verb it does a VERY good imitation of that laney paul gilbert sound. Not fat at all, but very thin and fast.

Some shredders like that, I personally think it's fun for playing around with leads, but honestly, I'm more into the fatter sounds.

Basically if you want a pretty versitle guitar and don't want to spend a whole lot, this guitar has a wide range of sounds and tones you can get. I just wish the pickups had a little more output. Nothing a quick pickup swap couldn't fix though =) I'm planning on putting a vintage dimarzio SD-1 in the bridge and maybe a humbucker from hell in the neck, see if that gives a fatter sound.

I give it an 8 for sound, because while it's not perfection, it's definatly very smooth. I've played live with it a few times, and people kinda do the "wtf a cheap ibanez is doing that?" thing afterwards, and all you can really do is just smile.

The action is low with only a small amount of fret buzz from the factory settings. Took only a few seconds to weed it out and correct. The finish was amazing! For a cheap guitar the transred finish was probably nicer than that $999.99 gibson sg hanging on the wall haha. Don't get me wrong, I love gibson products, but come on now, a 10 year old in indonesia is putting a nicer finish than our boys in montana? The world is coming to an end! haha.

The only flaw I saw in this guitar was the nut on the input jack was a little loose, so I threw on a lockwasher and tightened it up, and wala, she's ready to go.

For this, I give the Ibanez a 9. Fret buzz is common on all new guitars from the factory, unless it's a custom shop item that goes direct to player, so I'm not too picky about that. The input jack quality is really the only reason I'm grading a 9.

Reliability? Durability? Well, it hasn't failed me yet live, though I only use it sparingly. Would I have a back up? Well honestly this isn't my guitar, it's the wife's haha, and much to her dismay I use it as a back up.

The electronics are solid and haven't given me a reason to worry. The neck seems a little fragile, but I'm not a thrasher, and I don't abuse my equipment. If you are into jumping around and throwing your equipment around, well then this guitar probably won't last a night. However, if you are going to use it in a studio situation, or gently on stage, it should last you a long long time.

This guitar really isn't made for the stage, it's basically a beginners guitar, for practicing and learning. That being said, use it right and she'll last forever.

I'm going with an 8 for this catagory. The neck just feels a bit too weak, and honestly I don't think it'll hold up if you abuse it; however if you treat it like it's your baby, it'll last a life time.

Ibanez? Customer support? This would be only the second Ibanez I've put my hands on in about 15 years, and in both cases I really don't think I'll ever need to talk to them, unless it's to say "thanks for the great product at an affordable price." =)

Overall I really love this guitar, even though it's not quite my cup of tea. That makes me sad, because I had such high opinions of the other brands of guitars I played before I decided that the wife would like that one the best. I even went a few hundred dollars up in range to make sure I wasn't playing a bunch of bad lots. Compared to the Gibsons in the $1000 range, I was not impressed at all. You'd think with all the money they make, they'd give a better product.

I never thought I'd ever choose a $199.99 Ibanez, (made in Indonesia at that!) over a Les Paul Studio. The LP studio has been the in shop guitar I've used to base off almost all of my purchases of equipment, guitars, amps, ect for YEARS.

I played this little red thing through 6 amps at the store. A fender delux reverb reissue, a fender gdec(what garbage lol), a peavey valveking(holy cow peavey wtf is with making nice amps all of a sudden haha), marshall dsl100, marshall jvm something or another, and a beat up used vox from the 70s that was waaaay over priced haha.

This guitar sang through every amp except for the gdec. I didn't try the line6's, because I never base a guitar off of a digital sound. I'm kinda sad that I played through the gdec. After about a minute with that garbage I gave the salesman a really dirty look for even suggesting I try it out haha.

Anyways, back to the guitar in question. I give this guitar a 9 overall. It's not the axe of legends, no mystics fortold of it's creation, and it's not the best thing under the sun. What it is, is one of the BEST practice/learning guitars you can get for under $350.

There is not one thing about this guitar I would change. It does what it's ment to do very well. It didn't hurt the bank either. If it were lost or stolen, I'd seriously consider another one.

2 humbuckers, 3 way switch, 2 volume and tone knobs, cool finish. Good features for the money, nothing amazing though.

I like the way it sounds, it has been played with a line 6 spiderII 15w, and an old peavey tube amp at my friends house. This was my first guitar, and I enjoy the way it sounds. Admittedly, it doesnt sound as good as the Jackson that my previously mentioned friend just had fixed up sounds, I'm thinking that I should take it in to a shop and have a pro make sure the inotation and such is good. I get a little fret buzz, goes away once I replace the strings.

Overall, I love the finish of the guitar. The wood grain really pops on it.

Not too many problems with durability. One of the pots came loose, but that is more my fault for trying to figure out how to take the knob off instead of looking it up first. Also replaced the strap buttons with straplocks, very nice to have. Otherwise, havent had any troubles, mine also stays in tune quite well.

Havent gone through tech support. Nifty book came with it though. Very explanatory, lots of pictures.

Overall, for a first guitar I love it. Seems like a much better guitar then the squier strat or fat strat that I looked at, and I might wind up simply upgrading it instead of getting a new guitar.

Others have described the components of this instrument. It is built as a standard 2 pickup humbucker guitar, with Gibson style configuration.

As shipped, the guitar does not sound very good when plugged in, since the stock pickups are poor quality. Acoustically, it has reasonably good sustain and the sound of the instrument unplugged led me to believe that it could be made into a great guitar. Please read on, as this review focuses on the modifiability of this guitar.

For the price range of this instrument, they are built very well. I have played 4 of them, and I have bought 2 of them. Of the four, 3 of them were well setup when I first got my hands on them. This is what attracted me to the instrument. One of the four had some issues fretting out at the top of the neck, but this was addressed and resolved in a setup. Two of them had some bridge issues - one of them had slight spurring in the bridge notches that made some of the strings a little prone to breakage - but this was repaired. Another one has some issues with string alignment over the magnet pole pieces. But this is probably resolvable as well. The neck feels very good, and the body feels good too when playing it. The tuners need to be replaced for this instrument to be gig-worthy.

I use this guitar (in its modified state) as my main gigging and recording guitar. If the tuners are replaced, it is reliable. Also, I should note, I replaced ALL of the wiring, controls, and electronics (see below). In the original configuration, I'd be a bit worried about the pickup selector switch and output jack failing due to poor quality.

I own a Gretsch Firebird, Fender Telecaster, a Heritage 535, G&L Legacy, and 2 of these Ibanez GAX-70's. And right now, the Ibanez is the best sounding guitar of the bunch. I bought this instrument as a "project" guitar because I wouldn't care if I messed it up.

The first one, I replaced the pickups with SD JB bridge and 59 neck. Replaced tuners with Grover tuners with the locking cam. Removed and replaced ALL the wiring, pots, and jacks, and switches with high quality components, and added a 3-position series/split/parallel switch for the bridge pickup. After doing all this, and having a pro-setup, this is a phenomenal guitar.

I bought the first one for $150. And I bought the second one for $93. The second one is in the process of being modified (it will have SD Phat Cat P-90 in neck and Stag Mag in bridge). This one will use push-pull for coil tap on a tone control instead of the mini-switch, since I cracked the finish on the first one drilling the hole for the mini-switch. The entire set of upgrades that I did, including setup, cost me $250 (in both cases, these guitars came to me with one good pickup, and I replaced the other). So for about $350 I have a guitar that I choose OVER instruments that cost me up to four times that amount.

Straight forward features, dual humbuckers, dual tone & volume, three way pickup switch. The guitar is simply bread & butter.

With the right strings and setup it sounds better than anything elso in its class and then some. If you want a 335 type sound go with a light guage (8-9s) if you want a warm Les Paul sound go with 11 half rounds, this is what is currently on mine. I can go from a juicy clean to a nice dirty with a flip of the pickup switch. Thats a big plus not having to rely on a stomp box for your sound. The guitar is dead quiet unless you've got the gain turned up to the max, but then everything will make noise. As far as amps, I run two different one a Rolland micro cube and a Marathon. The little tweed Marathon gets miked and sounds better than a whole room full of gear. The Rolland is a blast to take out on motorcycle runs and play at camp, no extra effects are needed, it fits in the saddlebag. There isn't anything that I really dislike about the red beastie, it runs the full spectrum of music from folk to blues to classic rock to metal.

Not sure how it was set up from the factory, I got this one used. I stripped the strings that came on it off first thing. Put a set of half wound 9s on it set the bridge for height and intonation and was off and running. I read others reviews about how bad a guitar was set up this one good or this one bad. There is no perfect factory set up unless you are the one doing it. Think of it as the seat and mirrors when you buy a new car. Its adjustable for a reason people. Fit and finish were good no complaints.

YES it will stand up to live playing, its a solid built guitar. It will be around a long time. It will be able to take the abuse that any other guitar will take. I take good care of my guitars, this one isn't babied but it ain't abused either.
YES, I would gig with it without a backup.

This is my second Ibanez and I've never had to have warranty work or had any major problems either of them.

Been playing for a while, played Bass in two different band with one CD cut and now after a 16 year lay off trying to relearn everything. This guitar has its own shape and sound though it can mimic most others. It plays better than most give it credit for. Maybe they just hate the fact that something this inexpensive plays and sounds this good. Their squires and a dozen more don't, what they are jellous of they put down. I love the looks on poeples faces when I crank up the "little red monster"

Pretty standard guitar: Transparent red finish, SG 'horns' with the area around the bridge wider, kinda like a Les Paul. No pickguard, and it's made of agathis, with a 22-fret rosewood fingerboard, two (shitty) Ibanez stock pickups, plastic nut and a stoptail bridge.

As far as electronics go, you have the standard three way selector, two volume, and two tone knobs, so as far as dual humbucker guitars go, it's as versatile as it can get.

Manufactured in Indonesia in 2001, as best I can figure.

Overall, the guitar looks and feels a bit cheap. To play, it's neck heavy so you'll have to hoist it around a bit, and there's no body contours worth mentioning, so it feels like you're holding a slab.

I play through a Fender FM212R 100 watt amp and a Roland DS-1 pedal, and the sound is distinctly average. The stock pickups are horrific, don't even think about playing clean on this thing, it just won't work. Dirty is slightly more tolerable, powerchordy type rhythms sound good, but leads sound thin and lifeless. I play alternative rock (Dinosaur Jr. style), so I'm pretty reliant on some grunt, which this guitar can deliver, if only just.

The pickups as I mentioned earlier are terrible, the bridge sounds thin and horrible (even with the mid's on the amp turned up) and the neck is muddy and indistinct (even with the treble up at 10). If you wanted to, I suppose you could change the pickups, but it really wouldn't be worth it.

If you want a sound comparision, it sounds pretty much like a cut-rate SG, without the characteristic 'nasal' qualities or growl. It's fairly unremarkable, but you can get some decent Jimmy Page-esque classic rock tones out of it, and if you're a heavily distorted rhythm player, you'll be satisfied enough.

Finally, I have to mention this thing feedbacks horribly at any sort of non-practice volume, so you'll have to roll off a bit of distortion, which is a bit of a catch-22, as that's all this guitar is really capable of.

I bought mine second hand about 6 months ago, and so far the hardware is slightly rusted, especially the frets which look quite dead, and all the screws around the pickup covers have rusted and stripped.

The finish is okay, it looks kinda lifeless, but the paint's quite thick, theres a few big dings in it that don't show any wood.

However, there are a few big bones to pick with this guitars hardware: One, the input jack is awful, it kept coming loose until eventually my attempts to tighten it snapped the wires inside, second, the knobs on the pots have an annoying tendency to come loose and lose their alignment, and the tuners generally become loose and rattly after a few weeks.

You'll also need to give it a proper setup, as there was significant fret buzz when I first got it.

In its defence, the stoptail bridge seems solid, and overall the whole package is pretty sturdy, I've accidentally had a few falls with it, and it still looks the same as when I bought it. The tuners are okay, they do the job fine, mine stays roughly in tune for at least a few days, unless I bang the tuners, and I'm quite vigourous with it.

This guitar is just under 6 years old, and is showing signs of deterioration, as I mentioned earlier, there is a bit of mould on the back of the neck, but it doesn't seem to be growing or affect the balance in anyway.

Personally, I would buy another guitar before I decided to gig, the aboveforementioned feedback problems being my main concern, as well as the general 'cheap' feel of it. Perhaps as a backup, if the situation was dire enough, I'd use it as a backup.

The strap buttons are small and tiny, although metal, and have a tendency to slip out of the strap. I wouldn't try any Angus Young style theatrics with it because it'll probably fall to the ground.

Never dealt with them. It was second-hand.

Overall, this is a distinctly average, intermediate guitar. It's lack of versatility and overall uninspiring sound doesn't really make you want to grab it and play, and it's feedback problem vetoes it from ever playing anything bigger than a garage.

If I could turn back, I would of kept my money, and saved up for a better guitar (possibly an Eastwood) or something. I bought it on account of my like for SG style guitars and the fact I needed something better than my old plywood Strat-copy.

If someone stole it, I'd be overjoyed, because it would give me a guilt-free consciounce to buy something better. Blow for blow, I'd say it's comparable to budget Epiphones or mid-range Squiers, new, it's a good 200 AUD cheaper than a Epi Les Paul, and is free of any 'wannabe' connotations around it, which is definately a good thing.

Overall, for a beginner guitar it's not terrible, it's just really, really, really average.

With 136 other reviews, you get the idea. It's a clone of the Gibson SG for us cheap guys who want a beater or a learner. 2 humbuckers, 3-way, independent volume/tone. Mine is opaque polished black (Mmm, fingerprints), with a hint of gloss sparklies, nothing too overt. No clue what the body wood is, but the neck is maple with rosewood fretboard. As passive instruments go, this is the quintessential tone monster.

I'm probably not the best judge of guitar tone, being primarily a bass player, but the clean tone leaves a bit to be desired. I almost never have the 3-way on bridge-only, usually either rhythm or full. I play through a bass amp and I actually get a rather good clean sound with either of those two settings. I back the bridge tone off a notch or two and play everything else wide open. Very full, can sound a little nasal when clean and the bridge P/U is in. Obviously you can distort the hell out of the tone and most of the problems with the clean tone go away. This axe was designed for beginning rockers, metalheads and punks, most definitely.

Everything fits well, no complaints on loose parts. I find the tuners to be pretty smooth, but the nut is basically a slab of black nylon to match the rest of the body. Consider a graphite or Tusq nut for your first upgrade; tuning gets much easier, but a white nut will stand out like a snowball on a new highway. The parts are all chrome-plated, and that chrome is pretty soft, so watch out when changing strings.

I think this guitar was built for the stage. It's a pretty solid piece of wood, and if it breaks you're not out much. I'd replace the pickups with something a bit higher-quality (DiMarzios maybe, Duncans might be overkill) before I performed with this axe. I replaced the strap buttons with Dunlop locks. I would not jump around a lot with the stock buttons; they are very questionable. I don't think I'd bother with a backup on this one unless I played in a set-destroying hardcore band.

Never dealt with Ibanez support; this is the first instrument I've ever owned.

Overall, a very good beginner's electric guitar. I play mostly bass, but I am called upon sometimes to play guitar at various gigs, and this thing is up to it. I give it a 10 for value because it's one of the best instruments in its price range I've ever encountered, but be warned, it's far from perfect.

Transparent red, SG type, 2 h/buckers,2vol,2tone knobs

Sustain is surprisingly good. clean/er sounds are seriously lacking no doubt due to the pickups. guitar itself is resonant, not as much middle growl as gibson les paul standard, but sweeter in upper registers and similar tonal quality to les paul. Also, bottom end 'grind'/woody sustain less than les paul, which I feel is down to the wood, and not the pickups, though they are lacking.

bought very cheap second hand on a whim. neck very good, fret finish and set up. slightly worn in. few finish dings(who cares), loose jack plug- this was tightened, but almost instantly became loose again. neck to body alignment poor(off centre), but doesnt appear to affect playing.

With reference to previous reviews: the worst quality part of this guitar is the nut, its shitty soft plastic, strings stick in it, causing tuning problems. guitar is useles until this is rectified(carefully and very slightly widen them if neccessary and lubricate with graphite).

Also, tuners are very stiff - unscrew tuner buttons and remove plastic shim(white)but retain spring washer. tuners become much looser, easier to turn. easier to tune and keep in tune.

Guitar will be fine live after fiddly little issues sorted. replace jack plug. Replace nut (or at least fix) before buying p/ups. sort tuners. After that, I would be happy to use it live, and without a backup. To be honest though, I havent even used this guitar at true gig volumes, so cant comment on how microphonic the pickups are.

Finish is tough, hardware will last.guitar solidly built. and well built when it comes to the frets/ neck.can't say

can't say

Playing 17 years, main guitar Gibson Les Paul standard for 11 of those. high quality small class a valve amps, early 60s valve rectified vox.

Guitar bought used , on a whim, because the neck felt very similar to gibson and would be a guitar I could take anywhere and not worry about it getting broken/stolen etc-(eg, beach!park!very drunk!didnt I have a guitar with me, oops!). surprised at quality of neck for price of guitar new, and it's too good to be treated in the way I intended, so given to younger brother who loves it!

Comes with 3-way pick up, 2 humbuckers (not sure of brand) 2 tone knobs, 2 volume knobs, etc...
I use DR nickel wound extra light strings, which I like very much and sound pretty good with this guitar. Features are pretty good, I guess the only thing else I would want would be whammy bar, and a 5-way pickup.

I have mixed feelings about the overall sound and tone of this guitar. I use it with two different amps: Fender Champion 300, and a Marshall VS15. I use the Fender mostly for heavy distortion, and for its built it effects (which by the way are pretty damn good). I use the Marshall for clean tone, and for low/mid gain distortion. The GAX70 is pretty good for distortion, depending on what you want out of your distortion. I don't think the humbuckers are of very good quality, I seem to get a lot of a noise and fuzz, which is tolerable with heavy distortion (with a good pedal). Something about the clean tone I get out of this guitar doesn't impress me, and it doesn't really matter which pick-up I use, it just seems to be thin and bland. However, with some delay and chorus effects it sounds a little bit better. I don't really ever play on the treble pick up, it sounds way too high pitched, seems to be overly responsive for my taste. I will say that this guitar has pretty good sustain, and the better amp you use with it will improve the overall mediocre sound quality of the guitar itself. I think this guitar is more ideal for hard rock, metal, anything that incorporates mid to high gain distortion.

I haven't really had any problems with the cosmetics of the guitar. The neck is pretty comfortable overall, fairly thin. Not an overly heavy guitar. I get some noise switching between pick-ups. The imput connection is always coming loose which drives me crazy because I always have to tighten it, but thats about the worst of it.

I was smart enough to buy an extended warranity with this guitar fortunately. I've had two problems with it. The first had something to do with the output of the guitar. I would plug it in and get no output what so ever. I brought it to the place of purchase, and the guy said it needed a "saudering job." Not sure what that means, but it wasn't a big deal, didn't take long to fix. The second problem I'm unsure about at this point because my guitar has been sent back for repairs and I should get it back in about a week or so. The guy at the store seems to think the humbuckers are blown, or the tone knobs are dead. Whatever the case may be, I've owned this guitar for less than a year and have had 2 issues with it, that would have probably costed atleast $100 if not more to fix had I not purchased a service plan.

Never dealt directly with Ibanez, so I really have no opinion here. However the place of purchase could not have been more helpfull for what it's worth.

I've been playing for about 6-7 years, but only acoustic for the first 5years. This was the first electric that I've owned, and all things considered for the price I paid I'm not unhappy. The only thing I regret about purchasing this guitar is that I didn't know nearly as much about the basics on electric guitars as I do now, and didn't really try out many other guitars. It was kind of a spontaneous decision. If I had the opportunity to make the decision over I would probably just spend the extra $100-150 to get a Epiphone Les Paul which is far and away a better quality more versatile guitar.

simple layout, 2 hummers, tune-o-matic, grover style tuners, rosewood fret board, 3 way toggle, 2 vol, 2tone, just like a les paul.

this guitar sounds just fine! for the price, it's the best deal out there!

once again!!!!! it's the best guitar for under $200. Out performs any $300-$400 guitar ie: mex strats, epi pauls. action is low & neck is fairly slim, not ultra thin, but thinner than a standard neck. no buzzes, doesn't fret out, & a straight neck it also comes with a satin finish on the neck. plays fast & smooth!

had it for about 3-4 years minor problem. stap button did loosen up. and the input jack screws loosened also. I fixed it. wood working experience. that has happened to many of my guitars. big deal!

didn't need any

OK here's the deal. I've seen some pretty hard ratings on this thing. I'm giving it a "10". I went to the mega stores, sam ash, guitar center & played alot of guitars. I've also ordered online my fair share. Sent many back! Again, I say this is the best guitar for the money at twice the price. I have played 35 years, owned top quality stuff. most of these reviews must be from younger people who can't afford a really good guitar and just got to be ultra critical.
I bought this for my kid, OK! I can afford better for myself. thats why these reveiws are so poor! they haven,t owned much, and have nothing to compare to. You can buy an american strat for $1100. whammy it once and it goes out of tune! go ahead and re-tune it, try it again, well, what'll you know.... an $1100 guitar that won't stay in tune. their necks are crap shoot also, and fret out on bends. thats why you got to bend every note on the fret board when buying.
that happened to a friend of mine. He let me play his strat, and in about 3 min. I bent notes he never thought of bending (I play satch- eric johnson style) and the notes would buzz out and die. the neck wasn't straight!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS GUITAR TO ANY ONE WHO IS ON A BUDGET!!

Hell, I even used this guitar on some of my digital recordings. I just didn't want to pull my les paul or strat, or parker nitefly out of the case. for the price, I tell my kid to just leave it out in the guitar stand, it's the quickest grab. Now if it were a Fender Squire.... lets just say those recordings would have been done with my expensive guitars. Thats how good this GAX-70 is. Also, when I was shopping for this thing, I found this model level to be the first acceptable quality in the Ibanez line. In other words, the lesser priced Ibanez guitars were sub par to my standard. Don't bother! Above this level are the finest guitars for the price!

Everyone already listed the specs, 2 powersounds H/H ..., yeah..., the're not perfect, but hey, if you can jam, you can jam. I like the double cutaway style..., almost SG, but not quite..., god knows where it was made, India or Indionesia..., one of those I countries. Overall a solid guitar except the strap buttons...,

I play alot of punk, but it handles those crazy blues licks and all the classic rock you can throw at it. I pratice with a little fender 15, and it sounds reeeaaalll nice, no noise (other than PU switching)..., the sound is very flexable, I can make it grind or sing..., with little changes to my amp or the tone knobs and pickups, overall, it's not a SG, but it's a versatile little ax with decent sustain.

Well..., I got it new from a dopehead who had just ordered it from Musician's Friend, and it was set up pretty nice, had to raise the action a little bit to eliminate a little buzz and get that mad sustain. Everything was well assembled and still feels solid after I beat on it, so it's a good guitar!

I play live just about every night with and for my friends, and I have to testify that I've lost a stap and watched it fall to the ground thinking "Well, crap..., there goes that guitar"..., and it still lives..., so it must have something goin for it. The strap buttons suck (see above)..., but..., well, yeah..., most do, get straplocks, nuff said. Overall it's pretty good, I rely on it, but that's because I'm dumb..., and poor..., and only have 3 guitars.

Never talked to Ibanez..., don't know if the have a "Traded from a dopehead Warrenty"

I've been playing for about 4 years, I own another Ibanez, a GRX20 and sevral shitty gift guitars, but the AX is my fave..., it's just a good cheap guitar overall..., if you really want it to howl, just replace the pickups, and you'll have a $600-$1000 sounding guitar for less than 300 bucks..., you really can't lose.

I've been playing Guitar For about 6 years, This was my first electric guitar. I've used it to play metal and anything else I felt like. There are a few things that make this guitar not worth my while, for one; the sustain is non existent, its not that easy to play as others, but the sustain is more of a vibrating rattle, and Tuning heads Die-Cast or not, cannot hold tuning under pressure for more than 10 minutes, especially in Drop D, which completely kills this model.

Not much variety, the treble screeches unpleasently, and the rythm gets too deep for most registers, the sound on any amp becomes distorted beyond recognition, too much string talk especially in treble.

The candy red finish mine came in is an upset....Its more comical than serious....Ill leave it at that,,,,

It will last, but the machinery will degrade in 2 years or less if not worshiped and guarded with your life

Other Guitars That I have played, that blow this away is sadly a fender squire strat..... Which I despise with all of my being, for now Ill stick to my Artcore, my 1964 Alvarez Regent classical, my Cort custom, and of course my austin eclipse custom bass. I would only recommend this to a begginner, after about a year, ditch it for a jackson........

Made in Indonesia..
22 frets, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, unknown type of body wood.
Transparent red finish, 2 humbuckers, 3 way switch.

...An average guitar for $200 bucks or so.

The GAX-70 stock pickups (Ibanez Power-SUCK) pickups TOTALLY SUCK!!!! Do yourself a huge favor and rip out the ridiculous, cheezy, powerless, pickups and upgrade the damn thing with some meaty pickups like Dimarzio's or Seymour Duncan's.

Setup was okay. The pickups were the worst, most horrible, pickups I have ever played, so I tore them out and had twin Dimarzio's installed with a coil splitter.

The finish is fine and the intonation was okay, but the tuners are not the greatest quality. The guitar will go out of tune and almost always has to be checked.

The guitar is okay to play live, but I wouldn't use it as a main guitar. It's just a little $200 guitar!!! You want something nice, you gotta pay for it, you know? Get a $2500 genuine Les Paul if you want the ultimate in quality and tone.

The guitar won't last too many years under hard playing conditions. Again, it's just a $200 guitar.

Never dealt with Ibanez...

I have been playing guitar for 30 years. I've owned Strat's, Les Paul's, Ibanez's, Washburn's, ...you name it. My style is pretty much a mix of everything.

Honest... not to slam on this guitar, but if it got stolen, I would go out and buy something else.

2004 Made in Indonesia. 22 frets. 2 volume and 2 tone controls.
2 powersound humbuckers. Agathis body, rosewood fretboard.
Black finish. Tune0matic bridge.

I play everything, from metal to gospel.
Using a Behringer Vampire modelling amp.
This guitar is not noisy at all. I usually use the bridge
pickup for most things. The neck pickup sounds good for blues.
Sounds best with distortion. The clean sounds can be a little thin.
The amp makes a lot of difference. This guitar sounded great with a
Marshall jcm800 and a Fender Bassman. This guitar is best suited to heavy rock and metal, not as much to country or blues.

Setup was ok from the store. Action was a bit high. Had light strings.
Pickups were fine. The input jack was loose.
The finish is great. Better than a lot of higher end guitars(ie Fender).

I have been playing weekly gigs with this guitar for almost a year now. Has not let me down. Only problem was the p/u selector switch.
The middle position quit working, but I never used that position anyway. Everything seems as solid as the day I bought it. Finish will last forever, not a dent or sratch on it.

Never dealt with Ibanez.
Have looked at their website though, and found some useful info.

Been playing some kind of instrument for 30 years.
Started guitar in 2004. Bought this ibanez because it played easy
and was cheap. Will probably buy a higher end guitar soon.
Compared to other guitars in it's price range, this is the best value.
The neck on this guitar is fantastic, easy to play and super fast.
I would recommend this guitar, especially to a beginner.

This is an update to the previous review. It now has Gibson Chrome Covered Angus Young Signature Humbuckers in it. I've even replaced the tone and volume pots with Gibson and put stock SG tone and volume knobs on it. I took an SG pickguard and modified it quite a bit and put it on there and it really has the SG look now. If I could only figure out a way to move the input from the bottom of the guitar to the top by the control knobs, I'd have me a decent SG Copy. I am gonna up this to a 9 after the modifications.

With these Angus Young pickups and new Gibson pots the difference is fucking incredible. Deep, meaty full blues rock based sound. Think pure AC/DC or Jackyl and you will know what I mean. Fucking good sounding guitar now. I gotta up this to a 10 now.

Made in 2003 probably in China. I bought it new and it doesn't say. 22 frets, laminated top, two volume, two tone controls, 3 way selector switch. It has two open coil humbuckers, which I suppose are stock Ibanez Powersounds. Passive electronics. Don't know what kind of fukcin wood the body is made of but the neck is maple, transparent red, bolt on neck, tune-o-matic bridge, stop tailpiece, die cast tuners, neck is thin and fast, with small frets and a rosewood fretboard. I bought this for my 14 year old son and he lost interest, so now it's part of my collection. Frets are real small, good for someone with small hands. I have kind of a hard time with it because my hands are big and my fingers are fat. I'll give it a 7.

Well, nowadays, I play just about anything. I was a teenager in the mid 60's, so basically everything from the mid 60's to mid 70's is what I like as far as rock is concerned. I like blues and I also like country. I'm not into metal, but I do like hard rock such as Deep Purple and AC/DC. Although I've lived in the Philippines since 1991, I am from the south, so Southern Rock and Outlaw Country have a big influence on my playing style. This guitar does is ok. Not bad, not great - just ok. I quit my band that I was playing in here about a year ago, so I have only kept two amps and that's a Marshall MG10CD which I keep in the bedroom and a Marshall MG30DFX that I keep in the living room. I've never considered any other amps other than Marshall. I've tried them, but for me, other amps just aren't my cup of tea. This guitar is not noisy at all. Has a bright tele like twang on the bridge humbucker and an ok jazz/blues sound on the neck humbucker. The in the middle position is alright for classic rock. I use the bridge for leads and for country, use the middle position for classic rock and use the neck for blues. My only complaint about the guitar is just that for me, personally with big hands, the small frets make it kind of hard for me to play. I feel like a Grizzly Bear on a Moped when I'm playing it. The powersound humbuckers leave a lot to be desired as far as output are concerned, but WTF your talking about a guitar that cost less than $200.00.

It was ok.

I doubt it would hold up to a lot of live gigs, who knows. Hardware is pretty cheap.

Ive been playing for close to 50 years. I've got way too much stuff to list here. I wouldn't get another one if it were lost and probably wouldn't even get pissed if it got stolen. Sometimes I take this guitar with me on trips with the small marshall amp.

2003 model: The features have been posted a lot here. I give it a 5 just because it's, well.... average.

This one is odd. It's got some really bright and clear clean tones. It's not a blues guitar. On the opposite end, the distortion IS somewhat muddy as others have suggested. However, some people like that.
The bottom line, it's got a nice sound for $190.

I adjusted my bride height and got some improvement on action. Actually, some very good improvement. With EB 9's on there, it's pretty nice. I also raised the neck pickup quite a bit just recently. That made the sound seem more, um, powerful I guess. No cosmetic flaws. Looks pretty darned good for a cheap unit. My only deduction is for adjustments I had to make.

I've had it for 1 1/2 years. I have 3 or 4 loose tuners. Keeping it in tune is a bit of a challenge, even with newer strings on it. The switch, knobs and and pickups are all in good shape still.

Would I buy it again? If I could only spend $200, yes. I must say that this IS a $200 guitar. For those of you expecting top of the line quality, you'll be unhappy. For those hoping for a good value and sound out of a $200 guitar, you'll be thrilled. I have no problem suggesting it to a friend. One other note, the fretboard is easy to play. It's wider than standard buy just a bit, but it helps. Newbies, take notice. This will help.

My overall rating takes into account the value and price paid.

Stock standard, from the shop.

I like overdrive / distorsion. I have a small 30W Fender amp and a boss metal zone (which can produce overdrive as well if you know how to tune it) as well as a Korg AX150G multi effects unit. I play from Old heavy metal to U2, GNR etc. The reason why I decided to add my review is due to all the bad reviews on the guitar's sound. I also see a big difference in oppinion, from 3s to 9s. A mate of mine has a jamming studio with some awesome gear. He has quite a few 600+ pound guitars (of the ibanez range) and the other guys I jam with also have guitars priced x3 of what mine does. I gotta tell ya, I'm not a professional but when I plug this baby into the Marshall 100W full stack it kicks ass. Not just me saying it, but I get to play the Marshall cos my guitar sounds better through it than any of the other blokes by far.

So my question is, is it a difference in taste (rate 3 or 9) or are these guitars just inconsistent? Everyone I know love my guitars sound, through a 30W fender or a 100 Watt Marshall. Not just "for the price".

I think the best is try it for yourself.

The action is above average. I'm sure you will find better, but you will find allot worse as well.

YES, THE JACK IS A PAIN IN THE ARSE. Make sure you get a spanner to tighten this thing once and for all.(try some Lock tight).

I also find my volume knob's scratchy, but it wasn't like that when I bought it. Probably dust.

Live playing? Mine's done fine, no probs.
Hardware will last. like I said, sort out the jack on purchase\
No probs with finnish.
Dunno about the strap buttons. Seems fine, but nothing uber spectacular.
All you need is a set of backup strings and u'r sorted.

dunno, no need for it as of yet

I think this is a sexy little guitar. Good quality components. I read on the Ibanez website something in the lines of "everything you need, and nothing you don't". So true.

If you find the pickups weak, try moving them a little closer to the strings. You WILL be amazed the difference it makes.

You will find better guitars out there. But for at least 3 times the price. Its all about prefference and I prefer this axe above anything else I have played before.

I bought this guitar essentially as a inexpensive Gibson SG 'roadie' guitar. I have an original Gibson SG that I never take on the road for fear of damage or theft, so I got the GAX70 as an inexpensive alternative. Now I'm chuckling at all the comments/comparisons of the GAX70 to the SG becasue it seems other folks have the same opinon! It feels very similar to my Gibson SG. Not sure of when this guitar was made, but I bought it in the fall of 2003. Built in Indonesia. It has 22 frets, solid top body (maple) with red reflective finish. Two volume, two tone controls. Pickups are H/H and both are open coil. Both look like Ibanez standard humbuckers. Body is mahogany, neck is maple with a nice tight & low feel that allows fast action. Body is double cutaway similar to the SG too.

I play both old rock & roll (Beatles, Pink Floyd, Mountain) and metal type songs (Black Sabbath, others). I found the sound crisp, clean and bright when played straight through a clean amp (small baby Marshall - no gain, lower volume) but I can also obtain grungy metal sounds through an FX box (Digitech RP1000). I can even get my favorite Gilmour-phasing/flangy-type sound with the right amount of FX tweaking and make it sound credible. It doesn't have the long sustaining resonant sound that my SG has, but I'm still very happy with it. I basically play for hours and hours with blissful enjoyment.

Factory setup was fairly basic & non-descript with crappy strings installed (apparently installing crappy strings is standard practice for most guitar manufacturers). I replaced the strings with 9 gauge D'Addario XL for maximum pitch bending; mercifully & happily the guitar doesn't go out of tune that often with this very light gauge. Pick-up setting seemed fine and no other apparent flaws were noted.

Overall, this is a very reliable & sturdy guitar, but the input jack has caused me a few pesky problems. I've had to tighten up the jack screw on more than one occassion. Not a real big deal, but annoying nevertheless, which makes me wonder about it's durablity on the road if you gig heavilty & regularly (I don't). The rest of it seems solid and fairly dependable.

Never had to deal with customer support - testiment to it's sturdy design and construction.

I have about 4 other electric guitars (Gibson SG, Ephiphone SG double-neck, Peavey T-60. Peavey T-40 (bass)) and 2 Ovation acoustics (6-string & 12-string). Although most of my other guitars are more feature-rich and sound-rich, I always come back to my GAX70 as just a plain ol' fun guitar to play. It has a great feel, terrific neck action and very nice sound. Pound for pound, this guitar offers EXCELLENT value for the price. If it were lost or stolen, I would probably replace it with another one (until I can afford a personal bodyguard for my real SG).

This is a long term update to my review dated 08/15/01 @ 9:09 by Anon. Guitar is stock except I replaced the tuners with Gibson diecast Grovers. I originally bought these tuners for another guitar
but I would have had to drill more mounting holes so I decided to use them on this one. Tuning stability has improved. I also flipped the saddle for the G string to improve the intonation.

Sound for any kind of clean playing is so-so. Bridge pickup is still
bright and well suited for punk and nu-metal. Neck pickup is still muddy. The reason I haven't changed pickups is that they fill a niche that my other guitars don't. Moving the pickups closer to the strings has improved the sound, though.

After 4 years of playing almost every day, the neck has not needed adjustment. I have not babied this guitar. I have a gig bag for it and it has spent much time in hot cars (Miami climate!). There is a little fret wear which will need to be addressed in a year or two. Note that I use nickel strings which are easier on the frets.

Others have noted that the guitar is neck heavy. I won't disagree. Something I have been thinking about is installing a bigsby vibrato which would correct the weight balance and make the guitar much cooler in the process.

After an initial period of tightening things, this guitar has surprised me by being as solid as it has been. Like I said I haven't babied it and it has been knocked around a bit. The finish looks like new and the neck is in good shape with some discoloration at the headstock and heel.

N/A

I bought this guitar on a whim and I definately have become attached
to it. It is comfortable to play, looks good and sounds OK. I wish this guitar was available when I was starting out. I am surprised how well this axe has worked out.

If it were lost or stolen I would get another or a more expensive one in the same model line.

Made in indonesia in 2000. 2 Ibanez "Powersound" humbuckers, 3 way switch, 2 volume 2 tone controls. Maple Neck with rosewood fretboard. unsure of body wood, feels like basswood. When i got this guitar, i had to remove about three layers of stickers only to find that the body itself had been written on in permanent marker. That aside, the graphite finish was pretty decent to look at. Tune-o-matic style bridge and tailpiece. The tuners weren't great, but better than i expected for the price range. The neck is thin and surprisingly comfortable to play.

i play all styles of music, but i mostly play blues, instrumental surf rock, and 60's traditional Jamaican ska. this guitar isn't very well suited to any of those styles, but it still has its place. i play through a ProCo Rat II, and a boutique Fuzz Face clone into a 60's Gibson Minuteman amp. The stock pickups are unimpressive, but improved after adjusting string height. This guitar performs best when playing trashy garage rock or punk styles.

Since i got this guitar used, i don't know about the factory action. I had to give it a set-up because of excessive fret buzz, and the intonation was way off. the finish looks good, but chips very easily. there were several dings and chunks missing from the previous owner. I slipped once when using a scraper to take off the stickers, and instead of a tiny scratch, a chunk of paint the size of a pea flaked off. Oh well.

I haven't used it for live playing, probably won't because it just doesn't fit my style. I can imagine having to tune constantly on stage with it, but i bend strings a lot. The previous owner installed Dunlop Straplocks (and did a really bad job), so i can't comment on the factory strap buttons. I put Schaller straplocks on all my guitars anyway, i wouldn't play live without them.

I have been playing over 10 years. My main guitars are a Washburn HB-30 (es-335 copy)w/ pickups from a '62 Les Paul, a customized Fender Telecaster (Duncan Custom p-90 in the neck position), and a restored '64 Harmony Stratotone with lipstick pickups and a bigsby. If it were stolen, i wouldn't be too upset. i don't think it will be leaving the house much.

All in all, it's not a bad guitar. With better pickups and tuners, it would be pretty good. For a guitar under $200, it's better than a lot of guitars in a similar price range. I'll probably hang on to it in case i ever have kids who want to learn.

If i was 16 again and looking for an affordable guitar for rock and punk, this would be a great choice.

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 ...