Ibanez S470

Lo-TRS II Floyd Rose Trem, 22 frets, H/S/H pickups, 5 way pickup selector, Volume and Tone pots, locking nut, black chrome hardware

I play HEAVY metal!! I have 5 springs on the bridge because I use .13-.65 strings (custom set, some are bass strings). My band tunes on drop A (A E A D F# B) And this guitar delivers!! The pickups are incredible. I used to think that the single coil was quite unresponsive, but I've since learned the whole point of the pickup. It's really only there to enhance some tones when combined with either of the humbuckers. I only use the bridge humbucker, and the setting right next to it which uses half the bridge humbucker and the single coil (BEAUTIFUL for clean effects) The neck pickup has SOOO much bass, it's not even funny. If I was tuned standard, I would surely use it. I play through a Peavey Bandit 112 combo that's pushing a crate 412 cab, and using either of them humbuckers on a clean effect, I SMOKE my bass player. The pickups have an amazing range. A 10 isn't high enough as far as I'm concerned.

staright from the factory (when I played on E and D) it was dead on. I adjusted the action and the truss rod to my liking, though it really wasn't needed. After converting to the heavey gauge string set, I had to rework everything on the guitar, but it still holds the tuning EXTREMELY well. I thought I'd hafta get a baritone guitar, but this guitar does what I need. The finish simply glows. It's beautiful. After playing out with this guitar and beating the $hit out of it, it still looks beautiful and holds up to all my abuse well.

I gig with this guitar, and I play HARD. It still perfroms like it did when I bought it. The Black Chrome hardware kinda pissed me off, because it seems like when you touch it, the black fades, but that's all I can really complain about. The strap buttons were small as hell, but I swapped them out for strap-locks, and they seem to hold pretty well. I tighten them up like every other week, just to keep them snug, but that's about it.

I don't think I'll ever need to use it, this thing is SOLID!!

I've been playing for about 8 years, and this is the best thing I've bought to date. I play out frequently and it's my only electric, so you can see I trust it. (I sold my other guitar when I bought this one because I simply didn't need it anymore). If it were stolen or lost, I'd die, because I don't have the funds to get another one. The ONLY thing I wash it had that it doesn't is active electronics, but with the versatility of the OE pickups, it almost seems unnecessary. I HIGHLY recommend this guitar to anyone and everyone looking to get bang for their buck, because this guitar delivers1500 dollar quality for a third of the cost.

Quite a bit of features. 2 H, 1 SC pickups, mahogany body, floyd rose tremolo.

Sounds better than other Ibanez guitars in same price range, such as RG. But that's not saying much. You can buy many other guitars in this price range that are better sound-wise and in other ways.

Bad, bad, bad. Pickups too low, strings too high, I can't get some frets to stop buzzing no matter what. Horrible bridge.

Bridge is made of weak metal that breaks easily. I have broken off the screw that clamps down on the string just by tightening it, without turning it very hard. It is like it is made of rubber. Very awful choice by Ibanez. Very awful. This has happened twice on this same guitar. I sold the guitar to some poor fool on eBay.

Take forever to send the new part, and charge too much for it. Nothing on their website to help anyone. They charge for catalogs - what a bunch of crap. Never responded to some e-mails.

I've been playing over 6 years. This guitar bites very bad. I'm glad I got most of my money back selling it on eBay, and now have a much better guitar that doesn't break all the time. Stupid Ibanez.

1999 S470, Left handed, manufactured in Korea. 22 fret, H/S/H pickup configuration re-fitted with DiMarzio pick ups. Mahogony body, shiny jet black finish. Floyd Rose type bridge. Gotah tuners. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard.

I prefer an EVH, Hendrikx type sound, but this guitar does not deliver in that catagory. The S470 has a very modern, metal type sound to my ear and is be great for todays' heavy overdriven/rectified sounds. I really dislike the middle single coil pickup as it sounds awfully thin. I'm rating the sounds verse my 75 Les Paul, G&L Legacy and G&L ASAT Deluxe and in my opinion it doesn't come close to the "woody", "rich" tones those instruments produce.

Here is where this guitar really excells. My fretwork is excellent and the neck is very fast. The action is perfect and I've had no problems with the Floyd Rose type bridge since I've owned the guitar.
The finish is very nice although the pick scratches are noticable on the shiny black finish. The S470 is a great looking guitar in my opinion.

I play this guitar 3-4 times per week and it is holding up very well.
The strap buttons are solid, but I've only had the guitar less than 2 years so I can't comment on the finish from a durability standpoint.
I would never use without a backup, especially due to the Floyd Rose type bridge and the potential for a string change.

I have not dealt with the company for any reason.

I have been playing for 28 years and own a 75 LP, a fantastic G&L Legacy, and an equally superb G&L ASAT Deluxe. (G&L manufactures absolutely fantastic instruments both in workmanship and sound).
I have also owned a Fender Strat (75) and a Gibson SG (76). My amps consist of a Soldano Astroverb 16 2x12, a Fender Deluxe Reverb, a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a Marshall DSL 401 which I play though a Marshall 1936 2x12 cab. I believe the S470 to be a great guitar for the newer metal sounds but it is not right for my style, this is my problem and I should have done a better job researching the instrument before I made the purchase. If you're into major overdriven sounds this guitar both looks good and will do a great job in that arena.

the h-s-h configuration with the 5 way switching provide tons of flexibility. i avoid double locking trems at all cost, so i tracked down 2 used older s470's with the stoptail bridge... a mistake ibanez made by dropping this feature.

the tone is pretty good for anything. the mahogany body gives it a sound much fuller than its thin size would imply. the bridge pickup is great. my blue s470 has an inf-1 pickup in the neck position, which gives it a snappier, slightly crisper tone than the original, which sounds a little muddy but cool.

the only real complaint i have in the sound department is the single coil. the humbuckers have such high output that the meager output of the single coil renders it virtually unusable without tweaking the amp volume.

my red s470, which was purchased new the last year it was offered with the stop tail bridge, was perfect from the factory. i may have played with the pickup height, but i do that with every guitar. the important thing was the action... to die for!!! both the translucent blue and vampire kiss red finishes are absolutely beautiful.

although i've heard of the black hardware turning chrome, i've never had this problem. my blue s, which is one of the first years (and has a slightly thicker neck) still has brand new looking hardware. the screws in the strap buttons back out constantly on both guitars. no big E, but worth noting.

for their apparent daintiness, they seem to be really solid guitars, surviving several hard falls from the stand (five cats are worse on a guitar than gigging).

never had a problem

i owned a vampire kiss s470, which i stupidly parted with years ago. since then, it has been a search for another without the stupid tremelo. when i found the jewel blue one on ebay, i was willing to pay any price for it. that's how great these guitars are. i later found another vampire kiss one in a local music shop for $350. i was broke and unemployed... well now i've got an extra $350 in credit card debt! if i ever run into a black or green w/gold hardware with the fixed bridge, i'll be even deeper in debt. best guitar i've ever played!!

I bought a brand new ibanez s470 from a store called washington music center in maryland. 22 fret, solid mahagony body, jewel blue monster.

This guitar is great. it provides a wide range of overtones from blues to death metal. the only complaint is all the damn adjusting you have to do to the damn bridge. i still like it though.

DONT BUY BLACK!!! your fingerprints show quickly and it scratches fast. go with blue. besides that this guitars a winner

great

IBANEZ EMPLOYS THE LAZIEST PEOPLE OUT THERE. tHEYRE NOT VERY HELPFUL.

stop reading and go buy

I have to say that I will review this guitar comparing it to others in the same price range.
I think it was made in 2001, in Korea. 22 frets, volume tone 5-way selector for the H/S/H configuration for the ah1, as1 and ah2 pickups wich I think are roland, ofcourse they are not dimarzio but I think that for the price they are not far away from a good ones. The body is mahogany for which why should I pay 1500 dollars as a minimum to get a les paul or a decent strat? Believe me I have played a les paul in the same configuration that I use now and there is no difference.The neck is basswood with rosewood. The s body style that amazes every individual who sees it. Bridge is ibanez lo trs which did not come in a perfect setup, the springs needed more tension and the action was a little bit high. The neck has jumbo frets and is the wizard II.

It suits my style in perfection, and my style is a mixture of almost everything, starting from jazz and ending on metal, going thru progressive rock. I was using a digitech RP14d, but now I am using a GNX2 that is an awesome unit (read my review). It is not noisy at all. It has a rich full sound with both humbuckers, specially with neck, but ofcourse you have to spend a while tuning your amp/guitar processor, I mean you cannot expect that the factory specifications or the former specifications that you had with other guitar will suit a different guitar. Each guitar has different dynamics and you have to setup all your equipment for that specific guitar. This guitar goes from a lespaul to the crispy sounds from a stratocaster, but again you have to get the righ tune.

The guitar was set up I think in the taste of the manufacturer, but i differ, so I had to make some minor adjustments which I had mentioned.
The pickups are well adjusted. For the rest the guitar was excellent.

It has withstood live playing for now and it will unless I go ape and try to break it against the drums or the audience. The hardware will last forever. I am depending on it, but I will never use it without a backup, and it has nothing to do with the guitar, it has to do with the strings, I can not afford to loose a minute or two while I change a string. When the break comes then I will change the string and go back to the s.

I have been playing for 12 years now, I own also a washburn MG44, a ibanez ex series and a Montana electric acoustic. If it were stolen, I would go again with Ibanez, but I will try to improve getting a better axe. I comared this guitar with a PRS swamp ash in the store and the sound was really close, but the action, the ease to play were for the S 470 without a doubt. I also compared it with some guitars in the same price range, and none had anything to do with it. I wish it had a coil tap, but I can live without it.

Features have already been mentioned. The 5 way pickup switch is a plus, there is only 1 volume and 1 tone knob, simple and easier to deal with. You can't fiddle with your tone as much as you can with a Les Paul or strat. The neck is very thin which is better for smaller hands(which I have).

This guitar has a very crystal clean sound. The humbuckers are good but the single coil seems very lifeless compared to others. The humbucker tone is very bassy and three dimensional. The lead is crispy, great for leads. I give it a nine because I took one off for the bad single coil sound.

This guitar is beautiful, from the sleek shape to the finish. I have the transparent red version and I want to play it every time I see it. The main problem of this guitar is the bridge. It's hard to tune, it goes out of tune everytime you touch it so I blocked it off. Don't plan on buying this guitar, if you actually want to use the bridge.

This seems like a solid guitar but the chrome on the knobs and bridge seem to tarnish quickly, it's annoying but isn't a big concern.

Ibanez doesn't seem to have good customer support. They have a do it yourself section on their page, but other than that you'll have to go to one of their certified repairshops and there's only about 12 of them. I give it a five because they have at least something but only if you happen to live close to one of the repair stores.

I give it an 8 overal because it's playable, attractive and has a good tone. The 2 take off is for the worthless bridge and the poor customer service. I would recommend that you get the S520 since it comes with better pickups, one of the best bridges around and generaly better quality(it's made in Japan).

the S470 comes equipped with two humbuckers, one single coil in the middle, fast playing WizardII neck and a double locking LoTRSII(floydrose style). One tone knob and one volume. Not an overwhelming ammount of features, but is very versatile tone wise without making playing difficult.

This is my third guitar, and it's the only one that has satisfied me at any price range. I've tried everything from strats to PRS models, to LP's. The best way to describe this guitar is to say that it's humbucker tone has all of the vintage warmth you could ask for without sounding vintage. If you're looking for a guitar to produce Satriani-style leads, this is the guitar. I'm also a session guitarist, and this is my choice for sessions. This guitar pulls off any style. I did however replace the mid pu with a dimarzio Virtual2 middle to give a humless strat(SRV) sound, and I replaced both humbuckers to give more definition in the neck (Dimarzio AirNorton) and the bridge (Dimarzio Air Zone) to give more warmth. This guitar (mated to the right amp) can sound like SRV in the middle, Hendrix(wind cried mary) in the 2postion(Neck/Mid) funk in the 4 position, and Satriani/Eric Johnson in the bridge.

I ordered my guitar through AMS, and it arrived perfect, no fretboard buzzes, and the action was perfect. The only negatives are that the black crome on the hardware discolors to crome when you touch it. No ammount of cleaning will prevent this. This guitar plays fast, and stays in tune perfectly thanks to the Floyd style bridge. I've owned a strat with a Khaler locking trem, and this bridge stays in tune much better than the Khaler. The pickups did need a little adjusting to get the sound I desired, but that's to be expected with any guitar.

Ive had this guitar for almost two years now, and its very dependable. I play this guitar an average of 3 hours a day, and the wear on the guitar is minimal. also, the frets have surprisingly wan very very little in the two years(my strat needed a redressing by this point). The only things that have been problems are: the screw in arm became fused to the socket, and one of the bridge saddles became defective. Both of these seemed in my opinion to be major flukes, and both were easily and inexpensively replaced. I haven't known this to happen on this guitar.

If you can get Ibanez on the phone, they are eager to try to avoid replacing anything under warranty. If you have to replace a part out of warranty(as I did) They charge outrageauosly high prices, and take atleast three weeks to get the parts to you. Not good. I had to replace my defective tremelo arm with an AllParts arm because of this.

Regardless of the lousy service, I've got to rate this guitar highly because of the beautiful tone, versatility and Ferrari-like play of the instrument.

mid 90s i believe, not sure, got it used, mediterranean green finish, axis H-S-H configuration, 5 way toggle, one volume, one tone, ibanez double-locker, 22 frets. korean made i believe, etc etc. look downwards, they're all the same :)

after coming from a no-name strat copy and then an RG270, i was quite impressed with the sound of these pickups. the bridge pickup seemed a little weak, so i raised it a bit closer to the strings for a little more gain. i don't know if the previous owner had lowered it, or if that was the original position. the single coil is fairly weak but has a nice tone. i'm contemplating replacing either/or the bridge or single middle. also the floyd kills a bit of sustain with the bar and bends.
i'm using it with a crate gx-130C and either a korg ax-30g direct into the effects return, or a metal zone into amp input.

my guitar was used, so i really can't comment on factory specs, but the action was nice as was the finish. however the shop i bought it from had 10s on it when it was obviously not setup for them, as it was tight and the bridge was seriously raised. once replaced and setup it played like a dream. also my neck was very loose (almost movable with barely any strength), once again from the previous owner, but some wood putty and some re-tightening fit it up just fine. :)

this guitar has sustained fine live, and feels like a solid piece of equipment (much unlike the rg270). i replaced the strap buttons with straplocks, but they seemed large and nice (i never trust 'em). i wouldnt go without a backup because of the floyd, but who does. ;)

never dealt

I do enjoy the guitar, it feels nice to play and has a nice tone. i love the thinness of the body, i would definitely purchase a new one (probably an s470qs tr) if this was stolen.

Korean made,24 frets, solid top transparent black(laminated)mahogany super-strat body, volume-tone-5way selector, H/S/H stock pickups, Floyd Rose bridge w/ locking nut, thin neck w/ jumbo frets.

Versitile guitar good for many sounds. Solid distortion but clean tone is a little too weak.

Action was perfect. Bridge pickup didnt work and was not properly adjusted.Otherwise perfect condition.

Durable in all aspects especially finish although smoked chrome around pickup trim rubs off easily leaving regular chrome.

Havent tried to repair pickup yet.

Overall good guitar-very comfortable and easy to play producing many sounds.