Ibanez Prestige AZ2402 Electric Guitar - Black Flat Reviews

Plays like a dream, sounds amazing, lovely all around

I have the Ibanez AZ2204 and love it! The HSS growls and snarls with the best of them and its roasted neck feels great in my hands. But the AZ2402 is a "Horse of a different color". I always wanted the HH "brother" to the "sister" I owned so I purchased one from Bob @ Sweetwater. Of course, it shipped very fast and was in great condition when it arrived! When I plugged it into my Axe-FX III Mk2 I was very surprised at the tonal differences when going through the pickup selections, I thought it would sound/be a little like the AZ2204 was tone-wise. It was not at all like that, the 2402 has its own Mojo, its own vibe, and tone per pickup selection! It Growls and purrs its own way, and I have now doubled my palette of wonderful syrupy tone-filled guitar sounds having both the AZ2204 and AZ2402! The AZ2402 feels just as good in my hands and has its own wonderful vibe, tone and is the perfect "brother" to my AZ2204 "sister"!!! I couldn't be happier with it. If you are a blues/rock player, dont walk, run to the net, and order one of these bad boys from Sweetwater!

Of the dozens of guitars I've owned, I can't think of a single one that plays and sounds as good as this one. This was the perfect storm of features for me — 24 stainless frets, non-locking trem, mid-to-high output humbuckers with coil tap, roasted maple neck, locking tuners, matte finish — it's everything I want in a guitar, down to the last detail.

I got the pro setup add-on from Sweetwater, and the guitar showed up with perfect action and intonation. This guitar, though — it just feels incredible. The stainless steel frets make a huge difference in playability. The neck is a bit chunkier than I normally like, but after just a few minutes it felt like I'd been playing on it for years. Fret access is great all the way up to fret 24 thanks to the scoop on the neck heel, and the fretwork itself is superb (no high frets or notes bottoming out).

I had to lube the nut and saddles, but now the trem is rock-solid — I haven't had to retune after hours of use. It can handle any of the usual tricks as long as you don't expect it to perform like a Floyd, but dive bombs and flutters are fair game.

The only thing I wasn't absolutely sold on prior to purchasing was the pickups (I'm usually a DiMarzio guy), but the SD Hyperions sound great — not really pronounced in any way, just solid and even. I like the neck pickup better than my usual LiquiFire (it cuts better, isn't as muddy), and the bridge is comparable to a JB, though a little better note definition with distortion. The 10 different pickup configurations give you a huge arsenal of potential tones, so you'll likely be able to use this one guitar across a wide variety of genres.

All in all, I can't recommend this guitar enough. It's very much in the same vein as a Suhr Modern or similar boutique guitars, and the price difference doesn't come with a hit in quality whatsoever.

Getting back into guitar after a 20yr hiatus...I bought a Les Paul Standard, a Tele Pro II, and this guitar. Out of the three, this is my best player at the moment. I love my LP and the Tele, but this guitar is so clean, so well put together, fit and finish is top notch, very versatile in the number of tones you can get out of it, and it sounds amazing. It doesn't quite have the sustain my LP does, but it's close, and it weighs two pounds less. I have been working on learning to shred, and this guitar feels like it's allowing my speed to increase b/c it's a shred machine. I love the look, love the SS frets, love the neck finish, no tuning stability issues...this thing is a workhorse. I originally wanted a tri burst, but the flat black is pretty sick.

I've never written a review, but felt compelled to leave one for this guitar. I have the AZ2204 and absolutely love it. It's one of my favorite guitars. I bought the AZ2402 to have an HH option as well. Sweetwater was awesome as always with fast shipping and great customer service, but this guitar didn't live up to the hype. The first issue for me was the neck. Something about it just felt off and nowhere near as comfortable as the AZ2204. At first I thought it was because the AZ2204 has a compound radius and the AZ2402 has a straight 12" radius. Nope. After playing the AZ2402 for a few days it became apparent that it just wasn't as refined as the AZ2204. The edges on the AZ2402 neck were considerably less rolled than on the AZ2204 and the neck width at the 1st and 12th fret was larger than the spec listed on the Ibanez website. I measured it three times! I actually enjoy a beefy neck, but the neck on this AZ2402 just didn't feel quite right. I may have just gotten a dud given the neck on this guitar was slightly larger than spec, but I'd expect a little more attention to fit and finish from a $ guitar.

The next big issue was the pickups. I'm a huge Seymour Duncan fan, but the SD humbuckers in this guitar sound lifeless in comparison to my other guitars with SD pickups. I did a side by side comparison between the AZ2402 and my Charvel DK24 HH with Seymour Duncan Full Shred and Alnico II humbuckers and the DK24 blew the AZ2402 out of the water in every position on multiple amps. The DK24 was more dynamic and just sweater. It's really disappointing when a $ guitar plays and sounds substantially better than a $ guitar. Again, I may have just gotten a dud. My AZ2204 is amazing and I've heard several people say they love AZ2402. Give it a shot if you really want to. However, for the money, I'd get a Charvel DK24 and spend the extra $ on something else. Just my opinion.

I have the AZ 2402 in Black Flat. Beautiful guitar! I had to wait 5 months to get one. However, I wish it had been worth the wait. I got it here from Sweetwater- great customer service as usual! Here's the bad part. I have tried everything I can think of to get this guitar to "play" and "feel" right and it just doesn't. The main problem is when you get the action to where I feel like it should be it frets out, and I mean bad! My settings are 1.5 mm on the high E and 2 mm on the low E at the 12th fret. The neck is fairly flat with a slight bow as per factory spec. I have a $400 RG 450 that plays better- crazy I know! I've tried .09 gauge strings, .10's, pure nickel, nickel wrapped, etc. and it still frets out. Especially when bending the high E and B strings around the 14th and 16th frets. It was a complete let down for me! $2000 for it and a cheap RG plays and feels better. The only way to get rid of the string/fret buzz was to raise the action up really high and then it plays terrible. Huge disappointment with this one. Maybe it's the angle of the neck or maybe I just got a bad one? Apparently, there are a few other people out there that have experienced the same issues. Idk, maybe I'm missing something but for me this guitar is a $2000 piece of junk! If anyone has had a similar experience and figured out how to set one up please let me know. I really want to like the guitar. It looks awesome but it plays like complete garbage. There is no way a $400 guitar should play better than a $2000 MIJ Ibanez Prestige guitar!