Ibanez Prestige 1570 Review
Contents |
Information
Original author: Stratman58
Weapon: Guitar
Make: Ibanez
Model: Prestige RG1570 - Mirage Blue
Price: $750 USD
Playing Style: Rock, metal, neoclassical, blues, jazz
Sound
9 The RG Prestige 1570 features an H-S-H setup with the Ibanez stock vintage humbuckers and single 7 in the middle. These pickups combined with the 1570's basswood body makes the 1570 a weapon for any genre of music you could throw at it. I actually slightly prefer the single coil in this guitar over my mexican strat in terms of clean tones. The neck V7 humbucker is somewhat more muffled, not as clear as the bridge V8, but certainly great for chording. The single coil is great, and when in the 2 or 3position of the 5-way switch, you get a very jazzy/bluesy tone. The bridge V8 humbucker, as predicted, is just superb for leads. None of these PU's hum, which I am very pleased with. I was originally in the market for a Prestige with the Dimarzio/IBZ pickup setup. after a trip to the guitar center, I tried the Vintage pickups and Dimarzio/IBZ OEM's side by side. The only difference I found was that the Dimarzio/IBZ's neck humbucker was a bit identical like the bridge humbucker. I did further study, and read that quite a few Dimarzio/IBZ PU owners were unhappy anyhow, because they were essentially cheap OEM Dimarzios, so they often replaced them with another set of Dimarzios! I am very pleased with the pickups in this guitar, and have no reason to replace them. I find it very hard to fix something that isn't broken! But hey, soundbytes speak a thousand words
(This is a clean sound byte showing the 5-way tones. It starts with the neck v7 all the way down to the bridge v8)
(This is me practicing Muris' funk style lesson! Bear with it, I'm still practicing it! Anyway, this starts with the 2 position, then goes into the 3 position, the single coil.
(Here is one of Gabriel's lessons played through the V7 humbucker, then the V8. It is played through my PodXT, and I couldn't find the exact right distortion I wanted, so it's not as clear as this guitar is capable)
Feel
8 One of the main reasons why I bought this guitar. With the thin prestige neck to the jumbo frets, this guitar makes me play better then I actually am, LOL! Seriously, the feel is just great. Only reason why it isn't getting a 10 is because my personal favorite fingerboard is maple, but I wanted a rosewood guitar in my arsenal. So I can't blame anything for my personal preference. The RG1570's feel is great, although, another point is knocked off because of how low the tremolo bar is set. It's ALMOST touching the volume knob when it is vertical with it, however this can be adjusted.
Value
10 This guitar gets a 10 from the value category. $750 gets you an awesome feeling, sounding, and looking Ibanez Prestige guitar with great tone, and a Prestige hardshell case. Nuff said.
Overall Impression
It's hard to do a review on a guitar when you are looking for something bad to say about it, because when reading a review, you don't want to see 10's or close to 10's in every category, and have someone tell you how great something is, "Buy it now!". But that is what I am going to tell you about this Ibanez Prestige. Sorry if you don't believe me...just go play one! . The thin neck may be quite an adaption to some, but for myself it was just natural. As other Prestige owners have said, your fingers will grow wings and you'll fly on it!
PS - My dad is now an Ibanez fan! 3 weeks ago, he swore to me "Son, I'm a Fender or Gibson man. Everything else feels like it's in between a Fender or a Gibson to me, and I won't play them."
The Rg1570 is the first guitar he picks up off our rack of guitars now
To everyone who read my thread when I announced I was getting a rg2550e...
2 days after writing that thread, the guitar center dude calls me back and basically said Ibanez lied, and that they were going to get the Ibanez 2550e in October-November. After a couple days of research for another option, I read great things about the RG1570, and how the vintage pickups were every bit as good as the Dimarzio/IBZ OEM's, if not better. I went with my gut, told guitar center thanks anyway, and ordered this 1570 from americanmusical.com!
Editorial note: published 14 Aug 2007
