Opinion of Ibanez Guitars with Piezo Pickup

[Hellaboogie]

Hi does anyone have experience with these guitars with the piezo system.
Ibanez Prestige S2120X Piezo, Double Edge Lo-Pro or any other model,
I'm most interested in the double locking trem models .
if so let me know how you like them what are the pros and cons.

Thanks

 

[fatoni]

no personal experience but i hear people discussing them compared to the ebmm jp6. its a close second (bear in mind this is on an eb forum) so im sure its good. the edge lopro is my fav bridge behind the jp6 and mij s series are some of my fav guitars. id jump on one if i had the chance. i love my s470 and s520wnf, how important is the piezo sound to you?

 

[ketiov]

You can hear some demos on YouTube. From the ones I've heard, I disliked it.

 

[Hellaboogie]

It would be a big factor in buying another guitar as I currently have two Ibanez s540s, so for me the piezo option would be the ultimate guitar. I wish they were still in production, kinda hard to test one out.

 

[MesaENGR412]

It would be a big factor in buying another guitar as I currently have two Ibanez s540s, so for me the piezo option would be the ultimate guitar. I wish they were still in production, kinda hard to test one out.

You could always just get an acoustic Simulator pedal and get one of the ibanez guitars that has a single coil on it, i used to have a single coil in the middle position on my RG470 and it sounded pretty believable when run through the acoustic simulator channel on my old Marshall AVT275. The humbuckers sounded to thick to pass as an acoustic to my ears. Just an idea, if you really need an acoustic sound, but still want an electric guitar and can't find one with a piezo that you like.

-AJH

 

[fatoni]

its not going to be much like your s540 despite the wizard neck, lopro bridge and being made in the same factory. the guitars from the late 80s and early 90s are in a league of their own as far as ibanez production goes sucks but thats the way it is imo

 

[biazzaz]

Hello!

When Ibanez introduced the double edge line I went straight out and bought the first two rg models I could find. The blue RG 2020 6 string, and the amber (vintage violin) 2027x. The first thing I can tell you is the 2027 was one of the best sounding and playing 7 string guitars I have ever played. The piezio was very rich sounding and the neck was like silk. Couldn't ask for a better guitar even when put up against J-customs (and I have owned 4 J-customs). Wait I need to amend that. It was better than the J-customs only after I put a blaze pickup in the bridge. The stock pu's in both these guitars were crap to my ears.

The 2020 had a decent sound but the piezio sound was lacking some of the full ring that the 2027 had. I ended up selling it to my fellow guitar player in the band because it had this really "U" shaped neck unlike the wizard necks I was use to on say the 3120. I'll put it this way I bought the 2027 for $925 in 1999-2000, and sold it 8 months ago for $1800. It was absolute mint though.

Neither of these models had the blend knob that the later ones had. With that knob you could blend the magnetic with the piezio sound which was amazing. Rich at www.ibanezrules.com has a few NOS japan only 2020's in his used section. Basicly its the best of all worlds. It has the wizard neck, the blend knob, and the color of the 2027 but in a 6 string. I have wanted to pull the trigger on buying one of him for some time now.

If your in the market buy one from Rich you will not be let down. Well you still might want to change out the magnetic pu's I think its still the v7 and v8's which I am not a fan of.

Thanks
Mike

 

[dmcguitar]

I have a 2027xvv I love it.. it has sat in its case for a few years though, since i havent had much to play on the seven and my 6 string bassist left the band, so now its all 6 string/drop D. I pulled it out last night, polished the frets with 0000 steel wool and put new stings on it and it play like new. the neck is amazing, as Biazzez mentinoned its very smooth and comfy. The only sucky thing is its either piezo or magnetic. Im mad I missed the chance to pick up a matching Violin 6 string 2020x. I like the U shaped necks much more than the flat thin wizards. I am guessing they are similar to the Petrucci model in shape.

there is a mod though for the 7 string to make both work at once.. I'm debating on it, as I've found when anyone touches my guitars something always goes wrong. But thats another story.

 

[biazzaz]

We are probably getting off the subject of what this guy wanted, but here is a link to that mod.

http://www.jemfest.com/misc/kevan/dewiring-full1.jpg

Kevan and I use to talk all the time. He is always coming up with some great ideas for guitar. Haven't heard from him in a bit though.

Thanks
Mike

 

[RJ2213]

i'm not going to say much here, although i'm a long time ibanez player, i dont have much experience with there piezo pickups. but i did happen to know of these vids on youtube of one of my favorite bands doing a one off performance where the guitarist Jani used a newer model ibanez with piezo's. so here ya go, hope it helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM-jvvJmZkY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT4VJ-n3hRc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCfvi35LKwM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-en8a0pL214&feature=related

 

[Hellaboogie]

RJ2213 Thanks for the links, The sound quality was very good, I think the piezo system sounds great, I hope to have one in the future.