Sound terrific. Nice playing. Any guitar can be used for the blues, because the blues is a feeling, an emotion. As for tone, I love the Tone Zone/Air Norton set for any style of music. Very versatile, cuts through, and you get warm chords and a lot of meat behind every note for solos whether clean or dirty. I have a friend, a great blues player, who has used a Boss Metal Zone as a lead boost for well over three decades now. This pedal gets a lot of hate from players who just don't know how to use it or think for themselves, but it's an amazing lead boost. It always comes down to the player and their needs. A good player can make anything sound great, but a bad player can make the best gear sound like crap. It's very simple.
Agree with all of what you are saying and thanks! Same way you can also play metal with a Tele and sometimes these unconventional choices can make your sound more unique for sure.
@@Ksumsar When you think about it, the first to pioneer a style never asked if they had permission to rock out on a Tele or SG, LP, Strat, Rickenbacker, etc. Because they were on new territory. The reason Tony Iommi ended up with the SG was because of how much easier it was for him to play than a strat, especially considering he was missing the tips of two fingers. Tony would tune way down and use very light strings. It was easier for him to play this way. It also gave him a very heavy sound that had never been explored before in rock and roll, and thus became the father of metal guitar. It's an amazing thing. I've also been surprised to find out how often amps like Fenders or solid-state models were used to record classic metal. Just as it' important to solo with feeling, the same goes to playing chords. For rhythm to have an impact, for our chords to give color to the music we play, we have to focus on knocking it out of the park and playing with authority, playing in the pocket. Any great live band I've ever seen had the rhythm down. Eddie Van Halen, for instance, was a terrific rhythm player. Same with Angus Young and Pete Townsend.
Thanks! It truly is a versatile guitar and I wanted to highlight it with this video, will be doing more demos soon in the future on jazz, metal, rock and other genres 🙂👍
Helix Native have good sounds, have to check it out. But the blues comes out when you put feeling into your playing. Basically it is the tonal equivalent of feeling. Nice playing, watching this video 4th time now.
Thanks! I never could get along with the Gibson necks as I've played Ibanez guitars only since young. The Tone Zone/Air Norton really are super versatile on this guitar and a joy to play :)
Do you think could be possible to shred with this same setup? in my case I still want to buy a single coil middle (TRUE VELVET), I would like to have a versatility guitar from Blues to Powermetal. @@Ksumsar
How do you like the phased setting? Sounded very intriguing!! Great playing... I'm just trying to convince myself to pull the trigger on one of these babies. Not usually an ibanez guy but love the look of this. Reckon it would be good for some easy-core type stuff, i.e Belmont??
Thank you! Not an expert on this subject but from what I've read the Air Norton is an asymmetrical pickup, with the right electronic set-up you might be able to... on the guitar demo'ed you can only get the the combination of split-tones from neck and bridge in position 4. There's no option of playing only one split humbucker, however I must say that the Air Norton connected in parallel does sound a lot like a split humbucker anyway. Hope that helps!
Technically yes, but this sub-model from the factory aren't setup for that. Other 421 models with the same pickups are often seen with a 3 way switch and a splitting toggle. IMO, the best would be to have push-pull pots and an even more elaborate switch if you wanted all the options.
@@ecksant At the time of the video, I had the Ibanez Factory 10-46 Daddario strings. Signal Chain was Guitar - Line UX1 - HELIX software. I used one of the AC15/AC30 presets if I remember correctly. More recently I have moved on from Helix to Yamaha THR II amps for simplicity.
It all goes through a Line 6 simulation on Pod Farm 2 (or possibly Helix), can't exactly remember. I used the AC15 simulation preset I think with a compressor and that was it. No pedals as far as I remember.
@@TuhinTulsyan for home recording it's definitely a practical solution. All you need is a laptop, interface and headphones for a minimalist recording approach. If you go the amp + pedals route then you'll need to worry about more things like microphone placement, turning up the amp for best sound quality etc.
Sound terrific. Nice playing. Any guitar can be used for the blues, because the blues is a feeling, an emotion. As for tone, I love the Tone Zone/Air Norton set for any style of music. Very versatile, cuts through, and you get warm chords and a lot of meat behind every note for solos whether clean or dirty. I have a friend, a great blues player, who has used a Boss Metal Zone as a lead boost for well over three decades now. This pedal gets a lot of hate from players who just don't know how to use it or think for themselves, but it's an amazing lead boost. It always comes down to the player and their needs. A good player can make anything sound great, but a bad player can make the best gear sound like crap. It's very simple.
Agree with all of what you are saying and thanks! Same way you can also play metal with a Tele and sometimes these unconventional choices can make your sound more unique for sure.
@@Ksumsar When you think about it, the first to pioneer a style never asked if they had permission to rock out on a Tele or SG, LP, Strat, Rickenbacker, etc. Because they were on new territory. The reason Tony Iommi ended up with the SG was because of how much easier it was for him to play than a strat, especially considering he was missing the tips of two fingers. Tony would tune way down and use very light strings. It was easier for him to play this way. It also gave him a very heavy sound that had never been explored before in rock and roll, and thus became the father of metal guitar. It's an amazing thing. I've also been surprised to find out how often amps like Fenders or solid-state models were used to record classic metal. Just as it' important to solo with feeling, the same goes to playing chords. For rhythm to have an impact, for our chords to give color to the music we play, we have to focus on knocking it out of the park and playing with authority, playing in the pocket. Any great live band I've ever seen had the rhythm down. Eddie Van Halen, for instance, was a terrific rhythm player. Same with Angus Young and Pete Townsend.
Very nice tone and playing. Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks! It truly is a versatile guitar and I wanted to highlight it with this video, will be doing more demos soon in the future on jazz, metal, rock and other genres 🙂👍
Helix Native have good sounds, have to check it out. But the blues comes out when you put feeling into your playing. Basically it is the tonal equivalent of feeling. Nice playing, watching this video 4th time now.
Finally a decent demo Ibanez 2 humbucker, 5 way switching!
Thanks! I was surprised too that I couldn't find that many videos covering the tonal range of the switch and that's why I decided to make this video.
It is funny though: a full shred axe playing the blues with more tonal range than a gibson..amazingly wow...thank you!!
Thanks! I never could get along with the Gibson necks as I've played Ibanez guitars only since young. The Tone Zone/Air Norton really are super versatile on this guitar and a joy to play :)
Do you think could be possible to shred with this same setup? in my case I still want to buy a single coil middle (TRUE VELVET), I would like to have a versatility guitar from Blues to Powermetal. @@Ksumsar
What string gauge and brand do you recommend for this style? I usually use heavy gauges for metal but looking to change it up.
How do you like the phased setting? Sounded very intriguing!! Great playing... I'm just trying to convince myself to pull the trigger on one of these babies. Not usually an ibanez guy but love the look of this. Reckon it would be good for some easy-core type stuff, i.e Belmont??
Thanks, I find the phased settings very unique for sure and this guitar just has a massive tonal range so should cover most styles.
This is like watching a Telecaster play thrash metal.
Beautiful playing. Tone is in player's hands, not in guitar neither in amp.
Nice play! I have a question: are the pickups splittable?
Thank you! Not an expert on this subject but from what I've read the Air Norton is an asymmetrical pickup, with the right electronic set-up you might be able to... on the guitar demo'ed you can only get the the combination of split-tones from neck and bridge in position 4. There's no option of playing only one split humbucker, however I must say that the Air Norton connected in parallel does sound a lot like a split humbucker anyway. Hope that helps!
Technically yes, but this sub-model from the factory aren't setup for that. Other 421 models with the same pickups are often seen with a 3 way switch and a splitting toggle. IMO, the best would be to have push-pull pots and an even more elaborate switch if you wanted all the options.
@@stephanematis thank you! You're right.
Is it 6/8?
is this guitar still standard or there is an upgrade in electronics?
It's just the standard RG421 HPAM model, it comes with Tone Zone/Air Norton stock so that's really good value for £500 I'd say!
@@Ksumsar 5 ways switch??
@@ecksant yeah comes with the 5 way switch, PU configurations are as shown in the video ^
@@Ksumsar what's your signal chain? string gaunge?
@@ecksant At the time of the video, I had the Ibanez Factory 10-46 Daddario strings. Signal Chain was Guitar - Line UX1 - HELIX software. I used one of the AC15/AC30 presets if I remember correctly. More recently I have moved on from Helix to Yamaha THR II amps for simplicity.
Tried this guitar recently, had great hopes, but it was really harsh on the fingers. Any idea why.
Which pedals are u using here?
It all goes through a Line 6 simulation on Pod Farm 2 (or possibly Helix), can't exactly remember. I used the AC15 simulation preset I think with a compressor and that was it. No pedals as far as I remember.
@@Ksumsar is helix a good choice to buy in 2023 or should go with pedals or something else?
@@TuhinTulsyan for home recording it's definitely a practical solution. All you need is a laptop, interface and headphones for a minimalist recording approach. If you go the amp + pedals route then you'll need to worry about more things like microphone placement, turning up the amp for best sound quality etc.
This is why I play Ibanez...this is better tone than a Fender and can you imagine trying metal with a single coil strat! Ha!
Tell that to Ingwie.