Ibanez Review: RG270

History:

Purchase: I bought this guitar at a San Antonio Sam Ash retailer. The tag read $339.99; taxes included, the final price was somehwere in the range of $380 (I can't remember the exact price - it was awhile back!).

What I Like About This Ibanez RG270: This is just a great guitar. From the top down: The Floyd Rose locking mechanisms allow bends to unimaginable lengths. Combine that with the tremolo and you can get sounds reminiscent of Joe Satriani, especially combined with the pickups. The H/S/H configuration gives you the edge and sensitivity of single coil with the warm smoothness of Psnd-1 humbuckers. I combined those with some nice, crunchy distortion and got a little chill in my spine. The intonation is great. I've played Fender for a long time, but somehow I never hit quite as many harmonics as with this guitar. That implies that the pickups are a tad too sensitive, but you'll quickly fall into the groove with the surprisingly hot single coil. The neck has great action. I'm an advocate of a lot of action, but solidity is a good thing occasionally, and this guitar is a very satisfying medium. I haven't had to retune the guitar for two years -- although the strings play a big part there (D'Addario extra lights) -- even as much as I crush the whammy bar. One more note on the pickups: This guitar delivers awesome overdrive/distortion tone. Clean tone is a little twangy, even with the treble knob all the way down. Amp equalization can fix this, but it can become inconvenient if you're switching between tones throughout a song.

What I Do NOT Like About The Ibanez RG270: For my tastes, the tone knob doesn't do NEARLY enough to change that twangy, edgy lead sound into smooth rhythm, although you can use the 5-way switch to tone shift. On rare occasions, the high action on the bridge can be distracting. Also, although this hasn't happened to me yet, I've heard of problems with the input jack. Be very careful to use shielded cords, too, 'cause using that single coil, a lot of distortion, and a good bit of volume will give you some nasty buzz.

Ibanez RG270 Quality Rating: (on scales of 1-10) Body: 10 Neck: 8 Headstock, locking mech., etc.: 9 Bridge: 10 Electronics: 8 Price: 8 (at $340, what a bargain!) Overall: 9

Review Summary: In conclusion, it's a really great guitar, for anything from classroom teaching to large scale gigs. Choose your amplifier carefully, depending on the tone you want. I use a Peavey brain hooked up to two 26-inch enclosure speakers, and the sound is great. In addition, Peavey offers a damping switch that lowers the channel output by 25 decibels, so I've got a luxury afforded me there. I give this guitar a 5, outright: it's served me faithfully for two years, and it won't be long before I get another.

Rating of this Ibanez product: 5

This Ibanez RG270 Electric Guitars Review Submitted By: Arthur Carvajal

Review Date: 2004-09-27