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alpinestudio · 10-07-2007, 11:27 PM

I've owned at least 1 or 5 of what was listed for brand name guitars..here are my experiences...

Ibanez-Great guitar for the money. I owned a few prestige line guitars. Rg1570, RG 2550, Rg 2570, RGA 121. Excellent build quality..but somehow felt fragile to me..maybe the body is way pointy and the neck is very very thin? Tone wise..I swapped pickups on there..and for metal..it still sounded a bit thin..

Jackson-Owned only the mid to higher end Japanese models. (SL-3 Soloist, DKMG series, SLSMG series. Quality was decent..but the fretjob on the soloist was horrible. My DKMG was perfect except for a paint bubble on the finish in the back. Bought 2 SLSMG's (returned 1), because 1 of them had a centering problem with the neck..and its a neck through...The sound is amazing..much better than Ibanez in my opinion. Sounded fuller and had more sustain. The SL-3 stayed in tune quite well more so than all of my other Ibanez's.

ESP- Owned an early 90's M-I or was it an M-III? Quality was top notch and the sound was amazing. I shouldn't had sold that guitar. That was my grail! lol I also owned a korean made KH-503 Kirk Hammett signature. Sound was great and the quality was very decent. Bought an Alexi-600 model..sound was great but the fretwork was crap. Returned it.

Verdict. I still would go for ESP especially the higher end models if you can afford it. Excels in both quality and sound vs..

Ibanez had great quality but did not match sound.

Jackson had great sound but didn't match the quality.

Mind you folks, I play hard heavy metal on these babies and what I look for is a well distorted guitar yet still retains that great tone.

My vote..ESP with the exception of the crappy Alexi model I got. It's probably a fluke.

10-07-2007, 11:27 PM	#24 (permalink)
alpinestudio Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 471 Thanks: 6 Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post	Re: Metallers: Jackson or Ibanez I've owned at least 1 or 5 of what was listed for brand name guitars..here are my experiences... Ibanez-Great guitar for the money. I owned a few prestige line guitars. Rg1570, RG 2550, Rg 2570, RGA 121. Excellent build quality..but somehow felt fragile to me..maybe the body is way pointy and the neck is very very thin? Tone wise..I swapped pickups on there..and for metal..it still sounded a bit thin.. Jackson-Owned only the mid to higher end Japanese models. (SL-3 Soloist, DKMG series, SLSMG series. Quality was decent..but the fretjob on the soloist was horrible. My DKMG was perfect except for a paint bubble on the finish in the back. Bought 2 SLSMG's (returned 1), because 1 of them had a centering problem with the neck..and its a neck through...The sound is amazing..much better than Ibanez in my opinion. Sounded fuller and had more sustain. The SL-3 stayed in tune quite well more so than all of my other Ibanez's. ESP- Owned an early 90's M-I or was it an M-III? Quality was top notch and the sound was amazing. I shouldn't had sold that guitar. That was my grail! lol I also owned a korean made KH-503 Kirk Hammett signature. Sound was great and the quality was very decent. Bought an Alexi-600 model..sound was great but the fretwork was crap. Returned it. Verdict. I still would go for ESP especially the higher end models if you can afford it. Excels in both quality and sound vs.. Ibanez had great quality but did not match sound. Jackson had great sound but didn't match the quality. Mind you folks, I play hard heavy metal on these babies and what I look for is a well distorted guitar yet still retains that great tone. My vote..ESP with the exception of the crappy Alexi model I got. It's probably a fluke.