Ibanez Joe Satriani Signature JS2450 - Muscle Car Purple Reviews

Best guitar I've every had the pleasure to purchase. Ready to go right out of the gate, sounds great, feels awesome!

A couple of things struck me about this guitar. The first was the compactness and ergonomics of the body. I'm not a big guy so I tend to prefer smaller guitar bodies. It's more trim than a strat body, about the same size as a Washburn N4 body. The second thing was the dynamics and expressiveness of the pickups. They really lend themselves to Satriani style melodic lines. I found myself wanting to turn down the gain and also found myself naturally playing with more dynamics. Bending felt silky (see note below), and the edge tremolo made whammy playing a lot of fun.

One thing I experienced with this guitar is that it took about a day to acclimatize to California dryness. When I unpacked it at the start, some of the notes around the 15-18 frets were fretting out when bent. This issue disappeared by the following day and the guitar plays beautifully now. The setup itself was great from the start.

A special shoutout goes to Ryan Sloan at Sweetwater for making the purchasing experience so smooth and enjoyable. He was great as always.

You'll read a lot of great reviews about this instrument so I will not go on and on on what a great instrument this is but, as a person that builds and plays guitars I'll tell you WHY this is such a great guitar which is what was missing from most of the reviews. #1 - this guitar is so well DESIGNED from so many aspects it makes me think it was designed by aliens or some other advanced civilization (Joe). Start off with a perfect balance, it is balanced on the heel of the neck, it's not neck heavy as some may think with the smaller/thin body. 2nd - PRECISION build - It is built superbly. Precision build quality from Ibanez is what we have all been impressed with Ibanez for so many years and so many great guitars. We all know that right? 3rd: COMPONENTS: The components of this guitar were all picked carefully to play well together and sonically deliver a great tone with a full range of touch sensitivity that is only seen in much more expensive guitars (or the JEM). These all lead to PLAYABILITY: A lesson I've learned from this guitar (yes, this guitar has taught me some things) is to let the guitar do the work for you, don't overly try too hard to play. It will do its job if you let go and focus on your touch and content. This guitar does NOT fight you back, it lets you be free. It took me a while to understand this. It's kind of like - Use the force (from the design/build). It responds well from a light touch as well as a heavy one and also playing from close to bridge or over the neck. It is not a guitar you have to pull tone out of. It will provide the tone - just let it do its thing. Don't over play or play it too hard. it responds like a high performance car, it interacts with you at a micro level (like a biological reaction between you & the instrument). VALUE: your not paying for exotic woods here you are paying for CRAFTSMANSHIP and a DESIGN that will change the way you play and PERFORM for the better (if you allow it to). The only complaint I have is some of the parts (like the jack and trim pots) could be better quality for this price range however, they work so I can't complain too much. Versatility: I have set these up with super low action without buzzing for folks as well as higher actions, so it will do whatever you want to do there. It take precision to be able to set up a guitar super low and these JS series guitars are so solid. I set up mine with about 4/64th clearance at 12th fret and I do not get any buzzing, deadening, or false harmonics. I own much more expensive guitars than this and prettier ones as well but, the JS2450 can hang with the absolute best. Lastly, SIMPLICITY: as performing musicians we need something reliable and easy to maintain, this design lends itself very well to this so you don't have to spend a lot of time or $ taking it to a guitar tech for work. Yep, It's solid from so many aspects.

First of all many thanks to Spencer Kennedy for getting this wonderful guitar to me and making this happen.
That being said, this is a fantastic instrument. Every detail has been meticulously crafted with care. Pics just do not do it justice. Fit and finish are of superb quality.
Many different sounds are possible between the pickups and switching options. But at its core this is just a bad *** rock guitar. I run a Keeley compressor into an Mxr full bore metal into a JVM 800 with delay and reverb going thu the effects loop. Absolute sonic heaven!
Expensive yes but well worth it. You gotta live a little.

I've owned this JS2450MCP for 4 weeks now and the more I play it, the more I like it. It was the last one Sweetwater had in stock. And I feel like I got lucky twice because it is also beautiful in looks, playability and tone. I don't know if Sweetwater did anything to this guitar or if I should give all the credit to Ibanez, but it came to me perfect in everyway. I am so glad that Sweetwater checks & inspects the guitars before they ship them to you. Only because they employ top notch techs (TNT's) your sure to receive a Dynomite guitar.

I really appreciate how user friendly this guitar has been with me. What I mean is I have been strictly playing Gibson Les Pauls & SG's for the past 30 years and this Ibanez is very much different from them. But on my 3rd practice session with it (owned for 2-1/2 weeks) I was really starting to get a good feel for it. And that's when the magic happened. When I finally got warmed up to it's neck and I got my mojo flowing, I heard these amazing tones so full and sustaining that it made me lose my concentration or focus or whatever you call that place your mind goes when the mojo is flowing. I was like "oh my, this is quality equal to a custom shop Les Paul".

And with this guitar I no longer tweek my amp tone or change channels. I have it on the clean channel and leave the volumes set, I just switch & adjust pedals.

My favorite guitar I own is a Gibson 2005 custom shop 1959 reissue Les Paul, an R9. Not all custom shop Les Paul's built are the greatest of Les Paul's.
But my 2005 R9 happened to turn out pretty great. It has great intonation which gives it perfect pitch. and notes that sing out alive & healthy, and it's got that chunky growl Les Paul voice for creamy blues & heavy rock & metal. You just got to know how to fret the neck. That said, in comparison this Ibanez JS2450 is the same as far as Great intonation, alive & healthy. But it does not have the Gibson Les Paul voice. It has a multi-voice that depends on the selection & position of the pup's & tone knob. And also depends on the effects activated. I've had it actually sound like an acoustic, a Fender stratocaster, a heavy metal and more. But it can't do a Gibson Les Paul at all. Which is good for me, to keep using my Les Paul's.

So far I think this Ibanez JS2450 is pretty good and by far the best not Gibson brand electric guitar I've ever played. It's like comparing a Japanese sports car to an American muscle car. The modern refined sports car will run circles around the 4 barrel SS muscle car. It's fast... it's efficient,.. and has options. But the muscle car has style and a 8 cylinder heart beat. It's loud & proud. It only comes with two options, off & on. But it'll shake the ground and you'll feel it's power. But hey, nothing wrong with driving both.

After years of playing Les Pauls and SG's, I missed having a Super Strat in my arsenal. I wanted something with a floating trem, and preferred the Ibanez Edge unit compared to the Floyd Rose. This thing delivers the goods. So comfortable. The tones are amazing. Sure you can get the Satch tone effortlessly, but once you really start honing in on what you want, the possibilities are endless. Ibanez crushed the fit and finish. The chrome pickups really pop visually, and sound great too. I have a hard time putting this down. Joe and Ibanez created something really special.

I had talked myself out of wanting this guitar, then I got to try a used one for sale and there was no going back. Of all the guitars I have this is certainly in the top 3 and will probably end up being number 1. The neck is designed so well that I never knew I'd like such a large radius on a 25.5" scale neck but it's implemented flawlessly. My dream guitar was the S6570Q and I love it, but this one to my shock is even better. Comparing to my S Series, JS, RG and KIKO guitars this one is hard to beat.

My sales guy (Ryan Clapper) is the most patient person in history. I forgot this had a high pass filter on the volume and the coil tap is on the tone switch (all my other split/tap guitars use the volume). Thanks for your fantastic support!

Stunning...beautiful...plays like a dream. This is like his first signature guitar, only better. And the service from Sweetwater is above and beyond. I will only shop here from now on. Thanks!

This guitar is a shred machine and more. As you might expect, a Satriani guitar has great playability. The neck profile blends classic and modern shapes. It's not too thin. The extended cutaway allows great access to all of the frets (this is my first 24-fret guitar) and the edge tremolo stays perfectly in tune.

I think the pickups make this guitar. The DiMarzio Mo' Joe and Satch Track pickups have great clean and dirty tones, but they are not too hot. I think they sound perfect for classic rock as well as shred and metal.

My sales engineer, Jeff Jent, always provides great support. He made sure the guitar was set up as I like it, which involved a change in string gauges and a new setup.

An absolutly incredible instrument! Too much to list. This guitar is triumphantly amazing. Without even changing amp tones this guitar has so much range in the pickups. On a high gain channel this guitar allows the player to use the coil tap, high pass filter and roll back the volume w/o losing tone or signal to go from distortion to dirty blues all the way to an outstanding sparkling clean and back again w/o hitting a pedal. I have played guitars 3x the cost a d they dont come close to how great the JS2450's tonal capabilities are. The overall build quality of this instrument is outstanding. Unplugged, the body characteristics of the wood choices ring as brilliantly as an acoustic with enormous sustain from the wood itself. I was used to The thin profile Ibanez Wizard necks. I found the neck on the JS2450 to be very smooth, easy, and less tiresome to play across. Seems feel more naturally fitting in the hand especially for barre chords and sweeping where you dont have to completely flatten out your hand like plywood like on thinner necks which has actually improved speed for position changes. This guitar sings out a over other guitars. Truly another Satch designed masterpiece. This is an Ibanez guitar fit for any high end professionl player that is picky with every aspect of a guitars quality. This guitar surpasses all expectation and offers way more than most players would even be able to bring forth from it. Lastly, the trem is spot on for this guitar. I am blown away by this instrument.

See my other review for the same model in the Muscle Car Orange. The only difference with this model is the cosmetics which are striking. Pictures do not do this instrument justice. From a distance, it looks black, get closer up and it looks deep metallic purple. Hit it with any significant light, and the purple pops. The chrome pickups are cool too and are so Joe! As usual the people at Sweetwater are tops, Dave Walent is my go to guy and he treats you real well. This guitar plays very smooth with a very good quality Rosewood fingerboard. I thought the last JS model was his best, but this finish is one of his best yet; a must have for any Joe Satriani fan. The last model was a homerun, this one by Ibanez is a grand slam.

The JS2450 is much more versatile that one would imagine. Yes, it can shred, but there are also other tones lurking inside. The combination of a high-pass filter and coil splitting allow for a wide continuum of sounds that range from clean and articulate funk, single coil grind, classic humbucker tones, to full-on extreme gain. All the while, the JS2450 remains articulate regardless of the musical setting. I am also quite impressed that someone finally developed a tremolo system that not only stays in tune but also takes into consideration the bar itself. Rather than allowing the bar to just dangle wherever gravity takes it, the JS2450's bar is secure and stable and will stay where the player can easily access it. The bar also makes it easy to execute crazy harmonic screams and growls. The neck it as smooth as can be and allows effortless movement throughout its 2-octave range. Additionally, this guitar is compelling from a visual standpoint, and its sculpted lines are beautiful. Sweetwater is a company that seems to really care about customer satisfaction and I am impressed with their attention to detail.

Absolutely beautiful guitar perfect craftsmanship
Just disappointed with the electronics just don't understand why the expensive guitars always cheap out on this part of the guitar
Meaning the pots and caps are junk but the pick ups are nice when you change out for some good pots and caps