Ibanez Prestige RG 1450 (WHP) Review
Quick Facts;
Neck Material: 5 piece Maple/Walnut
Neck Type: Wizard Prestige
Fingerboard: Rosewood (24 Frets)
Body: Basswood
Neck Pickup: V6F Neck
Middle Pickup: RTS
Bridge Pickup: V6F Bridge Finish: White
Make: Made in Japan
Review
The Ibanez RG 1450 is an "entry level" Prestige guitar, which offers all the quickness the Pretige necks have to offer, with responsive pickups and a killer feel. All one has to do is to pick up one of these guitars off the shelf and chances are they are ready to perform. Set-up by a team of experts in the Ibanez Japan factory, the Prestige line of guitars come "ready-to-play" right out of the box, with minimal set-up required for those metal heads who love a low action and fast neck. I was honestly blown away at how responsive this guitar was on all pick-up settings, and the intonation was brilliant right out of the box.
For many of you who love heavy metal and play heavy metal music, you would not be a stranger to RG guitars. Once upon a time, I was content with the Indonesian made RGs available. Ibanez always did a great job in producing some fine workmanship on those Indonesian made ones, with the INFs being able to provide a satisfactory crunch, which will leave you happy enough in the jamming studio. Should you start getting serious about your music, and especially for those of you who prefer a quicker attack and savage tone, the Prestige line of guitars are ready to do just that. While the RG 1450 does not come equipped with Di Marzio pickups, I am somewhat happier without them, as it provides me with more room to customize the guitar the way I want, rather than settling in with a set of Di Marzios which could sound a tad too sharp for my liking at times.
The RG 1450 was bred to play a certain genre of music, but it would be unfair to not discuss the crystal clean tones it can produce. More surprisingly to me, was the glassy single coil tone produced by the middle pick up, of which to me is normally useless on any Indonesian made RG I have used. Push the selector up to the neck pick-up to produce a fatter clean tone, suitable for those chunky rhythm lines, or flip it down to the bridge for a thinner lead line with more treble attached. Positions "2" and "4", however, leaves little to be desired, with very little noticeable difference between neck and bridge positions.
In short, the RG 1450 is a guitar which performs extremely well in both the studio and when performing live. It's playability is sure to make any guitarist play faster and quicker than they are used to, as the neck design aids the guitarist to reach those frets with ease and comfort. It's an all out metal guitar, and works extremely well when plugged in to some killer distortion like the MXR Fullbore Metal, but performs equally well when plugged directly into the amp for some clean playing with added reverb. A highly versatile guitar, which any metal guitarist should have in their arsenal.
Overall Rating: 9
1 comment:
I beg to differ on your statement.
No offence but allow me to change your statement a liitle bit to:
"Any serious metal guitarist should have a RG Prestige...."
My first encounter with Prestige was in 1996 in a page of Guitar World. It had John Petrucci holding the neck holding a neck talking to some luthier in the Ibanez factory.
I did not get to hold a Prestige until a friend (the sessionist for local rock Queen Ella) let me have a go on his guitar. It was crazy... The neck was so fluid. With jumbo frets, I was shredding.
Fast forward 2011. I had a chance to have a quick run on your Prestige. While it was a short trial, it was enough to bring back the memories of how I first felt about Prestige. For the record, I had not touch a Prestige since that day in 1997.
It's a Prestige and I have nothing to say. To print that "Prestige" on the headstock requires a certain level of quality. And of course, it was built in one of my fav guitar manufacturing country (and clubs!!).
I am really happy when you told me you got an Prestige.. I remember telling my wife "Finally he justifies his Guitar God cum Shred God cum Metal Warrior status"
One question... what took you so fucking long?
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