when strat players discover Ibanez
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the host explores the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N guitar, which initially seemed unappealing due to its association with shredders. However, the unique features, including the Alder body, roasted Maple neck, and Seymour Duncan Fortuna pickups, piqued his interest. The guitar's 'Altered Switch' offers nine pickup configurations, providing versatility in sound. After testing the guitar in a state-of-the-art studio with various amps, the host reflects on its modern take on the Strat-style guitar, comparing it to Fender and Music Man, and discusses the challenge and excitement of mastering its unique tonal options.
Takeaways
- 🎸 The speaker initially had a bias against Ibanez guitars, believing they were only for 'shredders' and not relatable to their style.
- 🔍 The speaker's perspective changed upon discovering the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204, which piqued their interest due to its unique features.
- 🗓 The Prestige model has been around since 1996, but the specific AZ2204 model has a modern design with an alder body and roasted maple neck.
- 🧲 The guitar is equipped with Seymour Duncan Fortuna pickups, which the speaker is a fan of, adding to their excitement to try the guitar.
- 🔑 A notable feature of the AZ2204 is the 'altered switch', offering nine different pickup configurations, expanding beyond the typical five.
- 🎵 The speaker experimented with the guitar's tonal capabilities, comparing it to Fender and considering how it modernizes the Stratocaster style.
- 🏠 The speaker took the guitar to a friend's studio, which is equipped with a variety of amps, to test its sound through different setups.
- 🔍 After spending time with the guitar, the speaker is no longer intimidated by its knobs and switches but is still learning the best settings for their preferred sound.
- 🛠 The speaker acknowledges the need to relearn and adapt to the guitar's unique features, such as the altered switch, to fully utilize its capabilities.
- 🎶 The experience with the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 has reinforced the speaker's appreciation for Strat alternatives and the exploration of modern guitar design.
- 📺 The video concludes with the speaker encouraging viewers to share their thoughts on modern S-style guitars and Ibanez in general, emphasizing personal preference over their own opinion.
Q & A
What was the speaker's initial perception of Ibanez guitars?
-The speaker initially thought that Ibanez guitars were for shredders and seven-string players, and they didn't relate to them personally.
What changed the speaker's mind about Ibanez guitars?
-The speaker's perception changed after discovering the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N guitar, which had features that intrigued him, such as the Seymour Duncan Fortuna pickups and the altered switch.
What is the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N guitar known for?
-The Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N is known for its alder body, roasted maple neck, Seymour Duncan Fortuna pickups, and an altered switch that provides nine different pickup configurations.
What is the purpose of the altered switch on the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N?
-The altered switch on the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N provides nine different pickup configurations, offering more tonal options than the usual five configurations found on most S-style guitars.
How does the speaker describe the tonal capabilities of the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N?
-The speaker describes the tonal capabilities as being able to provide both Strat-like and humbucker-like sounds, with the pickups being in series for a unique tonal blend.
What did the speaker do to test the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N guitar?
-The speaker took the guitar to his friend Andrew's studio, which is equipped with various amps, to test its sound and capabilities in a professional setting.
How does the speaker compare the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N to Fender guitars?
-The speaker compares the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N to Fender guitars by noting that while Fender is embracing a vintage aesthetic, the Ibanez is pushing towards a more modern S-style guitar design.
What is the speaker's opinion on the modernization of the Strat-style guitar by Ibanez?
-The speaker appreciates Ibanez's approach to modernizing the Strat-style guitar, noting that it offers a different experience and challenges traditional biases behind Strat alternatives.
How does the speaker describe the learning curve for using the altered switch on the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N?
-The speaker describes the learning curve as initially challenging but fun, requiring practice to understand which pickup configurations they prefer and how to achieve specific tones.
What is the speaker's final verdict on the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N after spending time with it?
-The speaker concludes that the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N is a modern take on the S-style guitar that offers a unique and enjoyable playing experience, with the altered switch being a standout feature.
Where can viewers find more information or purchase the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N?
-Viewers can find more information or purchase the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N through the links provided in the video description, which directs them to Sweetwater, a music retailer.
Outlines
🎸 Discovering the IANZ Prestige AZ2204 Guitar
The speaker recounts their initial disinterest in IANZ guitars, which they associated with shredders and seven-string players. They had explored various brands but never interacted with IANZ until they encountered the Prestige AZ2204 model. Introduced in 1996, the Prestige series has evolved, and the AZ2204 features an alder body, roasted maple neck, and Seymour Duncan Fortuna pickups. The speaker was excited to try these pickups and discovered an 'altered switch' that provides nine pickup configurations, offering a versatile sound between Strat and humbucker options. The experience at Andrew's studio with various amps highlighted the guitar's modern Strat-like qualities and the potential for unique tonal applications.
🛠 Exploring the Modern Strat Alternatives and IANZ's Innovations
The speaker delves into their experience learning the IANZ Prestige AZ2204's nine pickup configurations, facilitated by an 'altered switch.' They compare the process to learning the controls of aPRS guitar and reflect on how such guitars challenge traditional Stratocaster designs. The speaker discusses the modernization of the Strat style, contrasting Fender's vintage approach with IANZ's innovative direction. They also draw parallels with Music Man guitars and the mid-boost feature, emphasizing IANZ's willingness to offer unique aesthetic and playability options. The speaker concludes by inviting viewers to share their thoughts on modern Strat alternatives and IANZ guitars, highlighting the importance of personal preference in musical instrument selection.
🏠 Reflecting on the Experience with IANZ Prestige at an Advanced Studio
In the final paragraph, the speaker expresses their enthusiasm for the IANZ Prestige AZ2204 after spending time with it in Andrew's state-of-the-art studio. They reflect on the fun and challenge of mastering the guitar's unique features and the personal journey of discovering new tones. The speaker also invites viewers to check out the gear used in the video and supports the channel through Sweetwater links and Patreon. They end on a personal note, asking for feedback on the IANZ Prestige and wishing viewers the best day.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡IanZ Guitar
💡Prestige Models
💡Seymour Duncan Fortuna Pickups
💡Altered Switch
💡Strat
💡Pickup Configurations
💡Modern S-Style
💡Vintage Aesthetic
💡Yamaha Pacificas
💡Music Man
💡Studio
Highlights
The speaker's initial reluctance to try Ibanez guitars due to a preconceived notion of them being for 'shredders' and not relatable.
Discovery of the Ibanez Prestige AZ2204 N, which sparked interest due to its unique features.
Introduction of the Prestige model's history, which has been around since 1996 with significant design changes over time.
Description of the AZ2204 N's construction with an alder body, roasted maple neck, and Seymour Duncan Fortuna pickups.
Excitement about the guitar's nine different pickup configurations provided by the altered switch.
Explanation of the altered switch's function, offering more versatility than traditional five configurations.
Testing the guitar at Andrew's state-of-the-art studio with a variety of dream amps.
Observation of the guitar's modern take on the Stratocaster, with a unique input jack placement and tonal characteristics.
Comparison of the Ibanez Prestige to Fender and Yamaha Pacificas, highlighting differences in approach to guitar design.
Personal journey of learning the guitar's multiple configurations and finding preferred settings.
The challenge of relearning the altered switch and its impact on the learning curve.
Reflection on the modernization of the Stratocaster and how the Ibanez Prestige pushes the envelope.
Mention of Fender's focus on vintage aesthetics and the contrast with Ibanez's modern approach.
The speaker's bias towards Strat alternatives and how the Ibanez Prestige reinforces this preference.
Invitation for viewers to share their thoughts on modern S-style guitars and Ibanez in general.
Acknowledgment of the Ibanez Prestige as a fun and challenging guitar to learn and master.
Encouragement for viewers to check out the Ibanez Prestige and other gear featured in the video.
Transcripts
okay so real quick I got to ask cuz I
got to know do you remember the first
time you saw an ianz guitar and what
actually was it specifically about that
guitar that really Drew you in you see
for years I would walk around different
guitar stores looking at playing and
admiring different guitars from all over
the brand Spectrum trying every strap
from the classic Vibes all the way up to
the American Standards playing every 335
from the dots all the way up to the real
deal Gibsons but for some reason when it
came to the ivanz guitars I never really
touched them in my head I had it that
these ivanz guitars they were for the
shredders the seven string guys
basically all the people that I couldn't
really relate to and it's not
necessarily that I thought they were
like the ugliest things around but my
thought process was that outside of
Guitar Hero 3 me and Herman Lee were
probably never going to have anything
really in common gear lies okay well
that was until I discovered one specific
guitaro I'm going to be completely
honest I think we're in for something
good
[Music]
now for those of you like myself who
might not historically be well versed in
the ianz Cinematic Universe this guitar
right here is the ianz prestige
az2204 n long name I know but they do
that sometimes now the prestige models
have actually been around for quite a
while since they were introduced in 1996
however those models looked a lot
different than what what we have today
the specific model happens to have an
alder body roasted Maple neck and
Seymour Dunkin Fortuna pickups now I've
generally been a fan of most of the
Seymour Duncan that I've had in guitars
before so I was more than just excited
to try these and I knew that I had to
plug it in to see if lightning would
strike Twice But as soon as I did I
noticed something that I hadn't actually
seen before so it's not a push pull it's
actually a switch now it's not uncommon
nowadays for guitars to have a lot of
switches I mean basically every PRS that
I've played in the last year touch has a
coil split I think I know what I'm doing
but just to be sure let me just double
check real quick ianz AZ
what it was at this moment Michael knew
he messed up now this ladies and
gentlemen happens to be the altered
switch which apparently gives this
guitar nine different pickup
configurations instead of the usual five
that you would see on most s style
guitars now the sounds that are in there
are pretty dependa based on the way that
they blade out the pickups but what I
feel like is that they're trying to give
you the Strat
thing and then almost give you a
humbucker option because the pickups are
in series
[Music]
it's almost like the anti-oil split I
feel like there could be potentially a
lot of real world application for that
outside of this space yo bro so I got
this new guitar and I want to like
really see what it can do and I know you
got the amp so you want to take this
thing for a test drive you see this is
my friend Andrew and he recently decided
to convert an entire house into
basically the craziest Studio you've
ever seen and featuring essentially
every amp I've ever dreamed of so I
thought what better place to really test
this guitar to see what it could do well
it looks really nice it's got a cool
body shape you want to plug this thing
in
[Music]
yeah see this is like Nashville tone
right
[Music]
here Hots feel so good what I'm finding
out is it's the most modern version of a
strat
[Music]
the new thing that I've seen everyone do
they take the input jack from the top of
the body to the side but they took it to
like I'm getting some gas right now
you're getting some gas yeah I'm like
there's there's a there's a role for the
guitar in my
studio originally comparing it over and
over again to like what is Fender doing
what is Fender doing like how does this
compare to what Fender is doing but I
think it's a lot closer to like have you
seen like the Yamaha pacificas cuz
everything about what Fender doing a lot
of the time I feel like is trying to
capture the Vintage thing this is like
the modern s style so it's almost
completely different you don't see this
the tone I turned the tone down dude
yeah that's like that quacky thing
[Music]
like it's it's it's completely different
in like how they modernize
[Music]
but as much as I love playing it through
my dream amps in this ideal Studio
scenario I knew I wasn't going to really
get to know the guitar until I spent the
long hours alone figuring everything out
for myself so I've had this guitar for a
couple weeks now I'm at the point where
none of the knobs necessarily scare me
or intimidate me anymore but I'm not yet
at that point of like instant knowing
how to get this exact sound without
experimenting and I want to get there I
want to get there really fast so I don't
know if we're going to be up all night
tonight but I'm willing to try if you
are I'm essentially just going back and
forth using the cheat sheet as like a
study guide pretending I have like a
drill instructor and being like hucker
neck okay now go to Fourth position Tom
Mish single
coil and just doing that over and over
again so once I really laid it out and
looked at it it took basically no time
at all to just figure out the positions
it was way easier than I thought the
harder thing I think is actually
figuring out which ones you like and
which ones you Vibe with cuz you can
have all of those options and that's
really cool but it doesn't really mean
anything unless you know which ones you
actually like are going to use on a
regular basis it's starting to remind me
a lot of like some of the prss that like
the Grateful Dead guys play and knowing
that they have to learn all of those
knobs
[Music]
I think I've realized that playing
guitars like this they definitively
always reinforce a lot of my biases
behind Strat Alternatives I mean they're
really cool things and we live in this
world and this is how I discovered
brands that I love like G&L we finding
something alternate to what you usually
play or something that's usually big
that's really exciting but specifically
when it comes to strats I feel like
there's a lot of this thought of how can
this guitar out Fender Fender how can we
get back to what Leo's real Vision was
how can we get into this thing of like
oh this is exactly what a strat is
supposed to be or this is why he went to
Music Man whereas that can be really
cool and really important and like I
said that's how I discovered a lot of
Brands like G&L but this is almost
trying to do a completely different
thing in being able to modernize the
Strat and see where it can push because
specifically nowadays when I start to
notice Fender doing all of this stuff
where they're trying to really Embrace
that vintage aesthetic and trying to
recapture that vintage feel especially
with having recently discovered the
American Vintage strats and I know
they're even doing it with some of their
Venta 2 really embracing that 60 thing
it's cool to see what feels like a
completely different guitar now that
does come with a couple different
caveats and knowing when you have a
completely different style of guitar
there's going to be a couple things like
with this guitar specifically with the
altered switch where I was like I'm
going to have to relearn that and that's
going to be a really interesting
challenging fun experience but once I
did it was like okay now I know exactly
which tones I want and like how to get
them
[Music]
and even outside of just a tone
threshold of trying to see how good I
can make this thing sound coming out of
this specific amp it actually reminds me
a lot of the different guitars from
Music Man with the mid boost where we're
going past just having the Push Pull and
being like oh this has a humbucker and a
single coil where they're like doing the
exact opposite of that where it's almost
very blatant in that this is an s- style
guitar it clearly looks like that in a
couple ways but with the altered switch
and being able to have all those
combinations it's like consistently
pushing it to the next level in terms of
how modern it is even with just the
aesthetic going back to where they put
the input jacket and I like that ivanz
just in general is very much willing to
go weird and to give people different
things that whether aesthetically or
simply playability wise are very
different from a lot of the guitars that
I see from a lot of other different
companies hence the Steve VI Guitar by
the way if you want a full video on my
opinion on that guitar please let me
know but at the end of the day I don't
think it matters at all what I think
what matters is what you think so please
let me know what do you think about a
lot of the more modern takes on the S
style guitar what do you think about
ivanz in general have you owned one
please let me know in the comments
anyway thank you so much for watching
this video I wanted to get my hands on
an ivanz actually since I saw the Scotty
La page signature but I still thought
that one was a little bit outside my
wheel bear so finding out about the
prestige models especially with it being
a little bit closer to a lot of Strat
style guitars I'm used to while having
the altered switch presenting that
challenge over the past couple weeks I
thought that was a lot of fun but if you
want to know anything more about the
ivanz prestige I got it from the homies
at Sweet Water the links are in the
description make sure to check it out
it's one of the best ways to support the
channel if that's something you want to
do or if you're just curious about any
of the other gear like quad cortex or
any of Andrews amps make sure to check
out those links also thank you so much
to all my patrons there's some extra
exclusive stuff on there if you want to
check it out if you want to join the
community like And subscribe if you had
a good time most importantly like most
important of all have the most fantastic
day of your life what do you think about
my studio is it cool dude your studio is
amazing what do you think it's not done
what do you think about my guitar
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