Ibanez GSR 200

22 frets; two volume controls; tone knob; maple neck; large frets.

Price paid: £ 160

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: The Ibanez Soundgear GSR200 bass I bought in Jewel Blue. It is amazing for an entry level bass. It has two pickups, a P-Bass split style neck pickup, and a J-Bass bridge Pickup, for great tone shaping. There are 22 medium jumbo frets, so there is plenty of playing room. The guitar is a solid top, with a bolt on neck and a rosewood fretboard. The body is a pretty unique shape, similar to the Yamaha bass’s, with plenty of room for access to the higher frets. It has a Jewel blue glossy finish that looks great under stage lights, and the black headstock ain’t half bad. The Tuners are a disappointment, as they are non-locking stock ones. It can get knocked out pretty easy. The bridge is just a stock Ibanez bridge, nothing special.

Sound: It delivers fat thumping lines, or can set to sound bright and trebley. Overall, a pretty variable sounds can come out, and the built in pre-amp helps deliver more power. I run it through a Crate BT100 amp, and it sounds great against drums and guitar. No noise comes out, thanks the the noise gate on the amp, but some of the wierder shreddy-stuff doesn’t work real well.

Action, Fit & Finish: The action was perfect, not so low as to have buzz, but high enough to stay in tune and be easy to push down. Everything is built really tight, and for a guitar made in Indonesia. Nothing has broke yet, and I have had it for about a year and a half. The finish is a jewel blue, and looks amazing under the right light. A beautiful guitar full of life, the knobs look great too. They are pretty similar to the Tele’s knobs.

Reliability & Durability: This guitar seems like a rock. Though not really light, it is still easy on the shoulder and is durable as hell. I have hit it, bumped it, worn buckles, locks, straps and coke cans on it, and it still has not one single dent. The finish is super thick, and it looks like it was melted on (this crap won’t come off).

Impression: It is a great overall bass for anything from rock to funk, and delivers well for it’s price. The Phat Boost knob adds a lot of depth to the sound, making for a lot of customization. If it were stolen, I would replace it at the moment because I have no other bass. It is a great all-around bass, just some flaws with the tuners and bridge. Other than that, a steal for the money.

Source : Ultimate-Guitar.com

Ibanez Iceman X

Black basswood body, pair of Ibanez Powerhouse humbucker pickups, maple neck, 22 fret rosewood fingerboard, volume control, tone control, 3-way selector.

Price paid: $ 150

Purchased from:Springfield Music Store, PA

Features: 22 fret guitar with 3 way selector, 2 high output humbucking pick-ups
(H/H). color: black. body style : Ice Man like Daron has on system of a down, just different color and no graphics.

Sound: Its great for pretty much any music style, except acoustic. I use a 30 watt crate and a 100 watt rogue amplifier with my guitar. Great sound for metal/rock, even on a clean channel the thing sounds beautiful, I like the syle, the playibility-everything, no dislikes here.

Action, Fit & Finish: I think the factory set the guitar up well, the action is great. Pick-ups are great, I couldn’t find any flaws with my Iceman.

Reliability & Durability: I definetly think the guitar could withstand live playing, I believe the hardware will last me a long time, I think I could maybe use it on a gig without a backup guitar. It’s definetly a guitar you can depend on.

Impression: I play both metal and rock, I’ve been playing guitar for about 3 years now. I have a lot of different gear that I use with my guitar. If I had to, I’d buy another Iceman just like the one I have now, the only thing I wish the guitar had was 24 frets, but im not that picky, so I just went with 22 frets.

Source : Ultimate-Guitar.com

Gibson Les Paul Voodoo

Gibson USA’s new Les Paul Voodoo puts a mojo sound and a juju look on Gibson’s most famous solidbody guitar.

Price paid: $ 1095

Features: 2004, USA, 24 fret, ebony fretboard, swamp ash body, basic hardware w/double slug pickups.

Sound: I play in two completely different projects. One is a very heavy hardcore metal, and the other is a rockabilly/country-blues. For the heavy music, the voodoo does not perform worth mentioning. I only used it once, when my other guitar was down for repair. With that much distortion it squealed like a stuck pig. Plus it sounded terrible compared to my Dean. I contacted Gibson about it, they were rude and said the double slugs are the best pickups out there, obviously not when the stock Deans kill them in performance. It does work well for the other music, which I think it was more designed for. As a sad note, the Dean sounds better there, too. Gibson should be ashamed to charge so much money forthe name, when a Korean made production guitar rocks it off the map.

Action, Fit & Finish: Action was high, had some fret rattle around teh 12th fret. I had to adjust it all myself. Again, the music store referred me to Gibson for questions/comments and the guy I talked to this time was rude also. As far as the rest goes, the guitar is beautiful. I mean, hand rubbes stain finish that is black with red wood grains! A skull at the 5th fret! It is nice, heavy, and feel great. I’ll have to give it a 5 here, because it sucked in setup and sound, but is overall built well and looks sweet.

Reliability & Durability: failed the first time I used it live (volume pot went to hell). Got it fixed and it did it again. So, for reliability, I give it zero. I basically put it into a box to hope for collector value in a couple hundred years. So much for wanting a les paul all my life.

Impression: Not a good match. I had to order it, because it was a “special order” guitar, so I couldn’t even try it out. The salesman loaned me a Studio, saying it is identical in all aspects. It wasn’t, but the studio sucked just as bad. It sounded good, but the action was higher than Robert Downey Junior on prison leave, and the intonation was the worst I ever heard in any guitar. I couldn’t even get it in tune. Shame on you, Gibson! I’ll give it a 5 because it looks really cool.

Source : Ultimate-Guitar.com

Gibson Angus Young Signature SG

Gibson’s new Angus Young Signature SG is a faithful reproduction of the artist’s trademark axe. Designed and manufactured to Angus’ exacting specifications, this SG has exactly what it takes to rock ‘all night long.

Price paid: $ 2000

Purchased from: online

Features: The Angus Young is made in the USA, like most Gibsons. Mine is a 2000, but bought brand new in early 2005. The SG has 22 frets with trapizoid inlets. The neck is rather flat but almost perfect with my small hands. The SG is made of mahogany and is painted a realy nice red-brown look, just like Angus’ early SG. (Back In Black and before). It lookes like any other SG, but there is a devil school boy painted on the head. For the accessories, it has the classic two tone and two volume controls but the knobs are larger than most Gibson’s, it also has the three way selector Switch. The accesoried are nickel. There is a tail piece with the harp logo and isted of “Gibson” written on the bottom ti say “Angus” of course it also has the whammy bar. The pickups are great, in the neck is a classic ’57 humbucker, and at the bridge position is a Angus young signature humbucker. Both have nickel covers. It also comes with a special Gibson hardcase. The case has a custom inlining with the school boy devil emblem on it. The features are outstanding. I love it. I set it up where the front pickup has a tone of ten and the back has the tone of 0, and I have a perfect sound for a solo, rhythm, and during verse. And for the whammy bar, it is icing on the cake.

Sound: I play AC/DC, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and other classic rock, as well as a little soundtrack music, and some beatnick music. This SG is best for it, just play the Godfather on that one, it is wonderful. The whammy bar is the best on almost any other model. I used to play Strats, but the Gibson whammy bar is a ton of alot better than the Fender whammy bar, just a finger tip on the bar is wonderful. You can pull up and down on the bar. For amps and effects, the guitar carries it self. I need little to no gain, and sometimes a little reverb, pending on song. The sound is great and the way it vaires is outstanding.

Action, Fit & Finish: I have had it for about five months now and the only problem was I had to change the D string twice. It came to me in what I believe to be near ment condition. The wear and tear was caused by me. The nickel does spot alot compaired to the crome that I usually use.

Reliability & Durability: I used I live and it sounded perfect. The hardware is still perfect, and I never had a problem with the strap buttons. There is no real problem with wear, but when I rest my forearm on the back top arch, after a wile a little fill builds up, but you can scratch it off with you pick, just be delicate, to not scratch the paint.

Impression: It is a good match for any rocker out there. I own one other SG, but this one is my main axe. If it where stolen I would not hesatate to get a new one, except comming up with the money would be a little hard.

Source : Ultimate-Guitar.com

Gibson Les Paul Special Bass

Les Paul Special Bass has a classic look and solid performance combined with basic functionality.

Purchased from: Music Store

Features: – Mahogany Body, no top, Les Paul-style
- Close to a P-Bass proportioned Mahogany Neck; Truss Rod; non-Locking Schaller Tuners, stacked 2+2-tyle
- Ebony Fretboard (w/Mother-of-Pearl dot inlays)
- 20 Low-Wide Frets
- Dual Black Humbucker Pickups
- Active Electronics (9-volt system)
- 4 Knobs: Volume, Pickup balance, Treble Cut/Boost, Bass Cut/Boost
- Bridge w/Saddles for each string (not-through body)
- Laminated Cherry Finish

Action, Fit & Finish: I got this thing froma music store used so the setup was probably different from the factory setup. It was setup for playing slap from what I can tell, with wide string spacing. I adjusted this to be a little closer and lowered the action (I like to play chords and octaves). The pickups were adjusted normally, neck pickup being nice and low & the bridge pickup was real high, near the strings. All I have to say is that the setup doesn’t matter because seemingly everything is adjustable on this instrument.

The finish is beautiful was no cracks from its 11 years of existence and it’s age VERY slowly, I put it next to my friend’s brand new Gibson Les Paul Guitar (which is in Cherry, as well) and it’s the same tone and color. Good job Gibson.

Reliability & Durability: This thing has taken a bit of crap from me alone and it’s still kicking like it’s never left the factory. No scratchy pots. I can’t tell you how many times it’s hit it’s neck on something and it hasn’t phased it a bit. I been playing live the whole time I’ve owned it, 1 tour without a case, just a gig bag! It’s built to last, you know why? It’s a Gibson. I gig without a backup.

Impression: This is the bass for me. The only other bass I want to add my collection (of 1) is a Rickenbacker 4003 for it’s Trebly tone. I played Precisions & I played Jazzes & I played Stingrays. They all sound so cheap after I play my Gibson again. I’ll never sell it. If someone steals it, I’ll go nutters. Then buy a Les Paul Bass Standard.

Source : Ultimate-Guitar.com