The Guitar reviewed is from 2006 and Korean made. In gloss black with rosewood fingerboard and the "special" S Series 12th fret inlay. It has a bound Neck and headstock. Standard pickups are INF 1 and 2 pickups.
First thing that struck me was the finish. Even though the one I had had a few dings in the body, the binding on the neck and headstock is very nice. The tuners are nice and chunky and the bridge, with the ZPS system feels very solid. The system itself is very intruiging.
I'm not a massive trem user so I find the backstop system fantastic. It makes string and tuning changes a breeze and the string stiffness wheel means that I can make it feel like a hardtail without blocking the trem and whilst still being able to raise and lower the pitch when I want to. Its worth noting that the backstop can be removed and the trem be set to the loosest settinigs to be more like an EDGE or Floyd Rose setting. The only thing I worry about is the longevity of the hardware as there reports of the arm holder wearing out easily, though mine seems fine, is something worth thinking about. I think this trem should be used accross the whole Ibanez range as I said before its versatility and smooth ease of use is something that they should be proud of.
As with all S series guitars this balances very well and the access to the higher jumbo frets is good and playing fast is a joy.
I have noticed that the Wizard II is slightly thicker than the Wizard II on my RG. Not much but just enough and it fits my hand superbly.
Mine is the gloss finish with the covered INF1 and INF2 Pickups. I will come to those shortly.
I've been playing it through a few different setups. Line 6 POD, Boss ME-5 multi effects and a Hughes and Kettner half valve Combo. With the standard pickups I found the sound to be a little too dark and muddy The bite I was expecting from something designed for a metal guitar was just missing and with high gain it seemed a little lacklustre. I expected some EQ'ing and really noticed the difference when recording using it and that made me swap them out.
The standard pickups are something I find such a let down on the mid range Ibanez products. However I can't help thinking that this is a concious efford, so that they don't shadow the Prestige range. I was lucky, in another cheaper, less frequently played guitar I have I have the Seymuour Duncan Hotrodded humbucker set which includes the Jazz in the neck and the mighty JB in the bridge. The JB is a pickup that divides opinion. I find that its a rich bright, harmonic pickup that also cleans up very well.
I put this in the s520 and WOW what a difference it made.
Suddenly on the bridge the muddyness had gone, string attack is clear, with plenty of gain the guitar growled as I'd expect a guitar of its type to do. A little bit more gain and the mids boosted with just a tiny bit of delay it nailed an 80's metal tone, scoop the mids and you have a chunky chug metalcore type tone and played on a line 6 clean setting, the best thing POD's do IMHO, it rang really nicely with a nice shimmer to it too. Its easy to tame the highs on the JB with a tweak of the tone knob also.
The Jazz in the neck was exacly as you'd expect from a mahogony bodied guitar, smooth sounding and nice and clear.
Overall I'd say the guitar itself unplugged was excellent. It plays well accoustically once setup, and is not bad plugged in. I would suggest a pickup change though. The choice of pickups would however depend on the style you currently play.
Overall I would say a great guitar except for the Standard electronics again. This is the 3rd Ibanez with bland unintersting Pickups and find it such a shame.
Overall 3/5 before pickup change 4.5/5 afterwards!
Keep looking back for some more reviews as I do them!!
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