Ibanez Premium AZ242BC - Deep Espresso Burst Reviews

The neck has a finished, worn-in feel. The weight is balanced - not neck or body heavy, sits well in a strap. it's light. Location of controls allows for tonal adjustments without having to look down - everything is within reach with my hand. The body is comfortable - the contours are perfectly placed. The frets are amazing. The sound is probably the best part. Clean, bell-like "strat" tones to gnarly metal tones - it's all found with this guitar. I'm blown away!

It definitely exceeded my expectations. I bought it because of the maple neck, tremolo, & just 'cause it was pretty... The tone is awesome & the sonic landscapes are endless. Really airy & resonant. It can whistle like a bird & growl like a monster.

I was looking for a more modern strat style guitar. I was set on Charvel DK24 2PT HSH. To be sure I consulted with my Sales Engineer Josh and he recommended I look at the AZ242BC. It was tough because none of my local shops had either in stock, so going solely off reviews and images. The pictures of this guitar on Sweetwater are exactly how it looks. 99% of the pictures you see elsewhere of this guitar are horrible. Even on Ibanez's website the neck looks very light like it's not even roasted. Mine has a very deep brown color. Don't expect this neck to be like a typical wizard neck. This neck isn't as thick as my Strat's neck. Oval C definitely describes the shape perfectly. It's thinner, but still great for chords. You can still shred on this neck just fine as the upper fret access is effortless. I find this neck more comfortable to play than my Ibanez S wizard neck. The thing that really makes this guitar over the top is the tremolo. You can dive like crazy on without losing pitch. The combination of the tremolo saddle shape, the graphtech nut, and the Gotoh locking tuners makes the tuning stability not an issue. Setup was amazing out of the box. Only tweak I made was lowering the bridge pickup alittle. The pickups give you loads of tones! They split well and can go from Telecaster twang to full djent chug if needed. The bridge isn't as hot as a JB, which is a good thing as I find the JB a bit scatered sounding at high gain. Only con is that I wish the route for the tremolo was painted black instead of leaving it bare wood. I wouldn't be concerned with this being an Indonesian made guitar. If I covered the Made In Indonesia you would never know. The frets we're level and no sharp edges on the fret board. Sweetwater definitely takes their time inspecting these, ensuring you don't receive a dud. For what you receive at this price it makes it hard to justify the prestige model.

Been drooling over getting this guitar for months. Out of the box, the guitar was actually in tune, polished and setup to my specs. SW does that well, I must say.
This guitar has so many options to choose from its multitap system. These SD pickup are the very first pair I have ever owned. I normally played for 30 yrs are DiMarzio and a pair of EMGs on my Ibanez RGs. This guitar is light years away from the RG series, not knocking the RGs, always will love them buttttt, the variety of tonal options is mind blowing. Great purchase, great service, Caleb Lowrey is the best! This is now my new #1. Thank you again Caleb and SW!
~D

I have to say I was on the fence a little bit about buying the Premium ibanez rather than prestige, which is what I'd normally go for, but I think the things that make the Premium well worth the value are the appointments on this instrument - The fret ends are amazing, and one of the main reason I bought this was that it came with a baked maple board & neck, and more importantly jumbo stainless steel frets. The fret edges were flawless on mine.

The ONLY thing I noticed that made this a premium rather than prestige, is the edges of the actual top maple fingerboard, was a little rough, like where the binding would be, the edges of the baked maple board could have used a bit more sanding. However, the flawless stainless steel fret work make the edges of the board a minor issue.

I wanted a workhorse guitar that could withstand 2-3 hours of playing 7 days a week, I just bought a strat Christmas 2017, and my frets already have some big divots taken out from bending and playing hard. This AZ242BC is perfect for any pro, or any student looking for a workhorse guitar that can emulate a strat sound almost perfectly, and also emulate a heavy metal/rock guitar.

The pickups - The neck pickup is amazing, I love the neck pickup in ALL positions, the coil split sounds on the neck are all useful.

The bridge pickup on the other hand does normal humbucker sounds GREAT - but the coil split sounds on the bridge pickup with power tap are a little weaker than the neck, but I could see someone who wants a country twang sound to get use out of the coil split neck sounds.

One of my FIRST tests I did with this guitar was run it into my djent-heavy setup, ran it on a peavy 5150 with a tubescreamer in front of the amp to see how this bridge humbucker could chug, and surprisingly it held its own, really usable. The pickups may not be as a hot as 18k ceramic humbucker, but it sounded (to me) heavier than a JB, which is exactly what I was looking for, a guitar that is A++++ on clean tones, but yet could also hold its own in a djent prog-metal setup.

As for the finish, personally I think that's the only thing Ibanez could have done better - this Deep Espresso Burst in my opinion was the only finish that looked good on the az except for maybe the Martin Miller AZ and the Ice Metallic Blue flat color, all the other ones didn't do it for me. Luminlay side dots are always nice.

So the walk away points are Stainless Steel Jumbo frets = obviously better than anything nickle, any hardcore player knows this.

Versatile pickup sound, and can actually handle heavy metal distortion really well, the Hyperion pickups are really one of the main selling points.

Roasted Maple for stability and spank

Locking tuners

...i mean this is a no brainer who anyone wants a very versatile workhorse.

my friend brought this guitar over for a setup. purchased from sweetwater, im really jealous now. tried to buy one , but sweetwater was all sold out. anyway, this guitar is maybe one of the best ive ever played. & ive had everything there is available. the playability was unreal. the neck is by far, the most comfortable for me. the bocote top is stunning unreal. the construction is perfect. the pickups are the best ive heard to date. fretwork , top notch. finish , & fit absolutely perfect. the locking tuners are great. this guitar is a keeper for life. i don't think it gets better than this. im waiting for sweetwater to get more in. then i will purchase one. im really blown away with this instrument. didn't need much of a setup, mostly new strings, & a few tweaks . try one you'll love it . buy from sweetwater, their the best. ask for Zach.

I was sold on AZ well before they were available. The hype from NAMM, Youtube etc pretty much had me on the hook. Before that, I was pretty much ready to order a Kiesel. I was in the market for an all-duty, classy, boutique 6 string that I could take to any gig and it would sound and look great. With the DynaMix Hyperion pickups and the great neck profile, I was orettty confident it would play great. Boy was I right. I have truly never played a guitar that feels as good as the AZ. The action is literal butter. The pickups are amazing. I hope Ibanez keeps their word and never releases these pups, so they can remain in the hands of the few. They sound amazing. What I wasn"t expecting was how beautiful the guitar is. Online pics don"t do it justice. When I opened the case I was blown away. The laquer is so lusterous, it"s hard to even photograph, it"s almost mirror like. The neck is just stellar. It"s LIGHT, and smaller than you might think. Not crazy small, but def not a bulky instrument. The cutaway I"m back works well, and the teen (so far) is a super design. I"ve onky had the guitar for a couple of days now, and at that I haven"t had as much time as I"d like to play it.. but I can tell you without a doubt this is the best solid body 6 I"ve ever owned, and I"ve owned ALOT. Way to go Ibanez.

TDLR:
This guitar is truly amazing, get it!

The Deets:
I'm very impressed with the quality of the Premium line, and can only imagine what the Prestige is like. The fret work is well done and the finishing on the instrument is great. The guitar was setup well and in tune out of the box.

One thing that surprised me is how comfortable the contours on the back of the guitar are. Even the contour on the back of the bottom horn really makes a difference in comfort. Elegant and functional design all around.

The pickups are amazing and will provide you a wide range of unique tones as well as familiar ones. No need for aftermarket pickups here (that would actually be sacrilege to the instrument).

The roasted maple neck feels fantastic. Just note, it's much fatter than a classic Ibanez wizard neck - more akin to an acoustic neck, to me. The maple neck/fretboard definitely attributes to some spanky tones, which is where this guitar really shines.

On Sweetwater, my rep Alan Carter, was excellent and helped keep me informed on their in-stock models so I could actually pick the guitar of my choice from the few they had. Top notch service.

The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars is the case. The inside storage compartment flap was damaged in transit and the overall quality of the case feels cheap to me. Sweetwater was great and has contacted Ibanez for me. Ibanez is replacing the damaged case under warranty, which is great, but I still purchased a Mono M80 bag for transport because I just don't like the zip up "hard" case that it comes with. I much preferred the Prestige hard cases.

This has quickly become one of my favorite instruments. Stop debating, get this guitar now!!