Ibanez reinvented themselves with the super versatile AZ series, presenting a true departure from the RG series. But is it good?
Disclaimer: I bought this guitar directly from Ibanez with my own money. The company didn’t ask me to create this video/post.
(The videos above were initially released on December 10th 2019 and August 25th, 2020)
What is Ibanez AZ 2402-PWF Prestige?
The Ibanez AZ Prestige series is the top-of-the-range model made in Japan. It’s one of the most versatile guitars Ibanez produces, bridging the gap between their more rock & metal-oriented RG series and their more traditional semi-hollow and solid-body guitars.
Why I Chose This Guitar
Before purchasing this guitar, I tried out many guitars in the Ibanez AZ range, both Prestige and Premium. While the specifications on both are similar, there’s something about Japan-made guitars that make them feel different. The way the guitar felt, paired with the pearl white flat finish and a fantastic hard case, made it an easy choice.
The Prestige and Premium models both come with the same Seymour Duncan Hyperion pickups designed for the Ibanez AZ range. Comparing the two, the Premium range guitars had more punch and aggression, while the Prestige guitars sounded more balanced and ‘complex’ to me. I ended up with the Prestige model due to the Pearl White Flat finish and the way the instrument felt. The guitar also came with a proper flight case and the Ibanez multitool, adding to the overall premium feel.
What I like about the Ibanez AZ 2402 Prestige
As soon as you pick up the guitar, you notice how high quality everything feels. The body is ergonomically shaped, the neck joint allows easy access to the upper frets, and the oval C-shaped neck fits my hand great. Even though the official specs just say ‘roasted maple neck,’ mine had some flame on it as well.
Ibanez went all-in with this guitar’s neck specifications, as it comes with stainless steel frets, luminlay inlays, and glow-in-the-dark side dots. I appreciate the larger-than-usual control knobs and the placement and feel of the pickup selector and alter switch. The tremolo feels smooth to operate, and there are no sharp edges on it. Overall, the guitar sits well in the lap and feels comfortable to play standing up for extended periods.
What I didn’t like about the Ibanez AZ 2402 Prestige
At this point, you might have guessed that the guitar isn’t perfect. While the positives greatly outweigh the negatives, there are some things I wasn’t happy with. One of those is the tuners. Even after learning how to use them properly, they still felt a bit gimmicky. Some people had issues where a small piece of string would get stuck inside the tuner. I received lots of comments from other AZ owners that they saw a significant improvement in tuning stability after swapping the tuners to another brand.
I appreciate Ibanez trying to keep the headstock of the guitar light, but difficult-to-use tuners with tuning stability issues are not the trade-off I would be willing to make. Luckily, those issues are easy to fix.
How Does It Sound?
The Ibanez AZ, even in its HH configuration, is incredibly versatile sound-wise. While I didn’t love every split coil + humbucker configuration the five-way blade switch and alter switch have to offer, you do get a lot of different sounds out of it. As demonstrated in the review video above, you can get lots of tele-style sounds out of this guitar, and I’d be okay showing up to a studio session with just this guitar. For more ‘authentic’ tones, I would recommend the HSS version of this guitar though.
I’ve seen many posts mentioning how their AZ became a whole different beast after swapping the stock pickup. However, this was never something I explored with my AZ. As time passed, I’ve noticed I don’t use the alter switch at all anymore and just stick with the 5 sounds of the blade switch.
What I Learned over The First Year
Buying a guitar and having it for a year reveals a lot of things about the instrument, especially if you live in a country like Finland. We go through drastic temperature and humidity changes during the year, and how a guitar handles those varies a lot.
In my case, the guitar proved to be a trustworthy workhorse. With my AZ, the tuning stability got better over time, and the very slight fret sprout I had when I got it just disappeared. Even though I played the guitar live many times, I never felt the need to put on strap locks on this guitar.
Overall, I think the AZ 2402 is a fantastic instrument that may lack a bit of personality but makes up for it with amazing build quality and classic looks.
►►Ibanez AZ 2402-PWF at Thomann: http://bit.ly/36NG2jN
►►Ibanez AZ 2402-PWF at Sweetwater: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/JzrmBE
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