Ibanez Prestige Rg2228GK

Ok.........

first off, this is not my guitar. A friend of mine had purchased it about 2 weeks ago and had gotten it in about 5 days ago. He was oh so nice enough to let me have a few jam sessions with the guitar and even a night or two with it to explore it's endless possibilites. I have not seen many reviews on this guitar and I know that there are many questions about this thing and hopefully I can answer them thourghly. The rig is not a professional rig but I do get very good tone with it so don't laugh.

Rig: rg2228-->mt2 metal zone--> Digitech rp7--> Kuston kraft 15" instrument amp.

Most of you that has had experience with the metal zone know that the gain is very sharp. I have turned the high's to about 12 o'clock and the mids around 12 o'clock. The lows are around 3 o'clock or so. Trust me it sounds good. Any way I will keep it sweet and simple.

Features:

Standard rg basswood body w/ emg 808 pickups. Fixed edge III-8 double locking system. The traditional 5 way switch is ditched for the EMG 3 way. Gotoh tuners mounted on a very nice 5 piece maple/ bubinga neck. As simple as it could possibly get.

Sound:

My first impression was that the tuning didn't sound very low. It was the clearity. The clean tone is very clear and crisp. Slightly warmer than your typical EMG active pickup in clean. Very nice and smooth. I guess it would be ok for jazz but I don't play jazz.......So time to switch to the dark side.....
The tone is so clean and the tension is incredable. I can't regester enough how clear this is. Very heavy tone. Not sharp, but not explosive low either. Very balanced, smooth and rich in gain. The only thing is there is a little feed back, which I unexpected from a guitar w/ actives. Over all the most clearest smoothest tone I have heard yet. No complaints.


Action, fit, & finish:

Very quick to pick up and convert to. I've been playing sevens for about 2 years (overall 15 years). I felt comfortable with the guitar in less than an hour. The neck is trememdously thin, and fast. The setup from factory was pretty much perfect. Again, no complaints at all.

Over all:

Personally I seriously thought an 8 string was going to be a joke. I was totally wrong. I'm a very prectical guy and tend to lean towards products that are functional. This guitar completely cought me by surprise. Simply put.....I'm going to buy one.....If you played it.....you will want to buy one....

for $1,500 it is worth every penny PERIOD!!!!