Ibanez RG1XXV 25th Anniversary??

[matt3310]

Have you guys seen these yet? Whats your opinion on them?

[matt3310]

Anybody?

[snowblind56]

I wish they were MIJ Prestige instead of Indo Premium. I know some people absolutely love the Premiums, but the one I tried didn't impress me, compared to my older Prestige's.

[scolfax]

I wish they were MIJ Prestige instead of Indo Premium. I know some people absolutely love the Premiums, but the one I tried didn't impress me, compared to my older Prestige's.

I haven't tried a Premium but I was surprised by this too. Hopefully the price is in line to make this worth it.

[snowblind56]

$899, no case and no bag.

Part of the reason I have such a problem with the Premiums is that I bought my Prestige RG2550, brand new back in 2005 for $800 and that came with the awesome Prestige case. Then they had they're yearly price raises, and now it's a $1400 guitar. Because of that, I still have a problem processing that an Indo made guitar is (supposedly) as good as the MIJ one.

As big of a fan of Pink guitars that I'd rather buy a beat up RG2550 for $400-$500 and paint the body pink.

[macman70]

Hi Matt3310,

Here is my RG1XXV (http://www.jemsite.com/forums/tags.php?tag=rg1xxv) FYE. I post soundclips in a couple days for you guys. It does have a green hint under certain light (but I am color blind, so what do i know), but I sure love it and it looks better in person than pics online or my photos. I can imagine that the pink is also extremely cool and hopefully I get to see one in a store soon. Upon receipt, I just had to stretch strings in then lock down tuning nuts and lock the studs at the Edge II.

The DiMarzios are superb, with the bridge humbucker I was in pure Iron Maiden territory, I jammed to Wickerman and you can really get that organic crunch, just love it. I will probably have to use less gain on some of my Pod HD500 tones as these are powerful pickups.

I am thrilled with it, very nice construction. The polished fret ends are amazing. Always nervous when ordering a new guitar but this seems great.

It come with the premium tool by the way.

link to pics:
http://www.box.com/s/9x2ycv1p15b08jom66j7

[RedTiger]

$899, no case and no bag.

Part of the reason I have such a problem with the Premiums is that I bought my Prestige RG2550, brand new back in 2005 for $800 and that came with the awesome Prestige case. Then they had they're yearly price raises, and now it's a $1400 guitar. Because of that, I still have a problem processing that an Indo made guitar is (supposedly) as good as the MIJ one.

As big of a fan of Pink guitars that I'd rather buy a beat up RG2550 for $400-$500 and paint the body pink.

Ding ding ding! No offense to anyone who likes their Premium but...

5 years ago they sold the Japense-made 20th anniversary RG550 for the same price. That was with a color matching case and all sorts of cool case candy!

3 years ago you could get a Prestige RG1550 with an Edge Pro for the same price, swap out the pups, and have functionally the same guitar as the Jem.

Regardless of how good Premiums actually are, the perception of their quality vs. price vs. the cost of the Prestige guitars just a few years ago - that matters. These days I can't really recommend a new Ibanez, especially when there are still RG1550s from 2008 in stock lots of places for the same price or less. Or you could just buy an older one for far less.

[blood5150]

If it werent for those horrible fret markers I would be all over it...

I had one of the Road Flare Red 25th RG550's and I returned it...

Bad move on my part....

[sixesandsevens]

During lunch today I went to a local GC looking for one of the quilt-top RG premiums and found these instead.

I played the pink and yellow ones for a few minutes each and both played very well. The colors are almost exactly the same in person as the color of the plastic cases for highlighter markers. The fit and finish (including the rolled fret ends) seemed first rate (with one minor exception that's embarrassing as hell, but easily rectified).

I liked the neck a lot. It's a little beefier than my friends '90s JEM which suits me just fine. They have a used prestige for about the same price ($899) as well and I preferred the wizard 3 neck on the premium.

I've never really bonded with an Ibanez despite a lifetime of trying. If I could get past the fret markers and find one of these used, it would be in the running.