NGD: Ibanez AZ242BC

[jacksonplayer]

So, for my birthday I got to go kid-free to Atomic Music over in Maryland. Well, that's always dangerous...













I've been wanting a more fusion-ish guitar for a while, and this one just happened to be at Atomic today. I'd never had a chance to play one of these Ibanez AZ models, but this one is awesome. This is the Indonesian-made Premium version, but the build-quality is first-rate. The SS frets are crowned well and have rounded ends.

This one has a basswood body with a bocote veneer. I'm not normally a fan of basswood, but it works well on this guitar for liquid leads. For this purpose, it might actually be better than the alder on the Japanese-made Prestige version.

Pickups are Duncan Hyperions. I wasn't familiar with these, but they sound pretty killer in this guitar. Medium-output Alnico V. Five-way switch with a coil tap. Really a ton of usable tones--enough so that you could probably make this your only guitar if you wanted.

Neck is roasted maple with a medium Fender C profile. Very comfortable!


Trem and locking tuners are both Gotoh.

I've only just gotten it, so I can't give a proper review, but so far I'm very happy noodling away through my Axe FX 2.

[Leah]

That looks great. An Ibanez for the Jacksonplayer.

[jacksonplayer]

That looks great. An Ibanez for the Jacksonplayer.

I'm multi-faith, now.

[bigdave]

I love how the burst finish kinda sneaks up on you, the red is subtle and well done to me. I have been told I should try one, that I'd love the neck.

Congrats and enjoy!!

[jacksonplayer]

I love how the burst finish kinda sneaks up on you, the red is subtle and well done to me. I have been told I should try one, that I'd love the neck.

Congrats and enjoy!!

The neck really is great. I loved it right away. It reminds me of a certain Fender profile that has a flatter back but still some size to it. Maybe about like a Gibson 1960 profile. Very shreddable but not thin.

The burst is pretty dark in normal room light. It pops in brighter light. I agree on the red layer. The current model has a burl veneer that isn't as interesting as this 2018 model.

[mpexus]

Congrats

The AZ's are great!! Neck is a bit beefy for my taste but nothing one cant get used to

[Shawn]

Wow….that top is gorgeous! Very nice. Congrats!

[Chris]

Holy wars at once.

[jacksonplayer]

Holy wars at once.

No chance. I haven't played a recognizable song in at least a decade.

[Budda]

Congrats!

[Mike]

That's pretty cool. I've never heard of those Duncans either...

[Chris]

Holy wars, you coward!

[Mike]

Oh, and Atomic is much cheaper than getting smitten by something at Action...

[desertdweller]

No chance. I haven't played a recognizable song in at least a decade.

Ha yeah I hear this! I’ve been wanting to do a cover of an old Dream Theater song for about a year but whenever I pick up the guitar, with the limited time I have to play, I want to play my own music. This guitar looks amazing and classy.

[jacksonplayer]

All I've been doing lately is aimless fusion stuff, so I confess my thrash chops are extremely poor at the moment. I never learned Holy Wars, anyway!

Turns out the Duncan Hyperions are a custom OEM wind just for the AZ series. Someone on the SD forum said that they "share DNA" with the Pegagus/Sentient, but I don't really hear it. The Hyperion bridge is a lot richer and fuller than the Pegasus I tried was. I find it sort of between a Suhr Aldrich and a Wolfetone Timbre Wolf, though not as high output as either of those.

It took some work to set this one up. As some of you know, I prefer a really loose string feel with 9-42 strings, and the Gotoh T1502 bridge (basically a tweezed 510) gives a very stiff feel--probably due to the string holes being right behind the saddles; this causes a sharper downward angle behind the saddle like having the tailpiece on a Les Paul cranked down. The remedy was to raise the baseplate and lower the saddles to about as low as they'll go, with the two E saddles almost on the deck. I also went down to two trem springs. This not only made the feel a lot slinkier, but it opened up the top end and and improved sustain.

Kudos to the fret finishers in Indonesia, because I haven't managed to get any fret buzz yet despite stupid low action.

[jacksonplayer]

Another thing: this isn't a regular coil tap. It's what Ibanez calls a "Power Tap". It's a more complex switching setup where there's a partial tap in the 1/3/5 positions and a full tap on 2 and 4. However, the 2 and 4 on the regular tap switch setting are the fully tapped dual pickup settings that you'd use for funk rhythms etc. Here's a diagram that explains it better than I can in words:



It's pretty cool and adds a lot of great-sounding options for a jazz player on clean sounds, but it doesn't fully replace a Strat or Tele when you need those specific sounds. My G&L is glad to hear that!

[Ken]

Wow. That looks great. I was kinda thrown by the headstock, but that heel looks great. Nice score!

[Leon]

My SR305 has an Ibanez "power tap", and I hate it

I much prefer just the regular ole non-tapping bartolinis in the SR500.

[Bloody_Inferno]

Congrats! Glad to hear these are right up your alley.

It's funny since the premium variants are not far off in build with the prestiges. I was at a music store last year when these were hitting the market and the staff and I were just passing around the HSS premium AZ saying it was the best Ibby in store. The price was a lot more appealing since you're forking out a lot more just for the MIJ prestige name. I should've snagged it then and there.

[Iron1]

Gorgeous body on that one. Congrats! and Happy Birthday!

[jacksonplayer]

My SR305 has an Ibanez "power tap", and I hate it

I much prefer just the regular ole non-tapping bartolinis in the SR500.

The power tap on the AZ 2-hum guitars is actually rather thoughtfully designed.

I'd basically call it the "jazz switch". In regular mode, it's your rock setting, with the 2/4 positions good for Queensryche-ish cleans. In tap mode, you can effectively use all five switch positions for various clean tones. You'd just leave it in that mode for a gig or session that was all clean tones. Having a partial tap on the 1/5 positions allows you to have clean humbucking tones that aren't woofy or clipping.

[Megametal7]

Congrats on a new guitar.

[Leon]

The power tap on the AZ 2-hum guitars is actually rather thoughtfully designed.

I'd basically call it the "jazz switch". In regular mode, it's your rock setting, with the 2/4 positions good for Queensryche-ish cleans. In tap mode, you can effectively use all five switch positions for various clean tones. You'd just leave it in that mode for a gig or session that was all clean tones. Having a partial tap on the 1/5 positions allows you to have clean humbucking tones that aren't woofy or clipping.

Right, so, nothing I'm ever going to want

Really, I think I just don't like the pickups in this bass, so, no amount of preamp jazzery is going to fix them.

[jacksonplayer]

Right, so, nothing I'm ever going to want

Really, I think I just don't like the pickups in this bass, so, no amount of preamp jazzery is going to fix them.

Basses are such a different thing. I can see the value of a full coil split, but a power tap doesn't seem like it would get you close enough to J-Bass tones to warrant the switch being there.

[Drew]

AWESOME, man. I'm really curious about this line, it looks like a LOT of what I like in a guitar. Curious about the power tap too, now - 60 cycle hum doesn't bother me all that much, I don't use a TON of gain and I'm kind of all about those little artifacts of a human performance that get surgically edited out these days, but it's intriguing, and at the very least a pretty creative solution.