The Ibanez AZ Standard - Is It As Good As People Are Saying? I Bought One

[@D14V0R05]

Ibanez put stainless steel frets, roasted maple neck AND locking tuners on a guitar that costs 550 bucks, that's impressive.

[@jacksonhall1446]

And it's NOT Poplar!! Yay!

[@D14V0R05]

@jacksonhall1446 It isn't basswood either, but good ol' alder!

[@Sparksnorthern]

Damn, was gonna to promote my sterling Cutlass CT50+ but that's $100 more 😮

[@montyellingsworth4982]

its kinda like Firefly , Eart , Leo James.. ect ect ect.. Fojil , except.. it is Ibanez. Very Nice guitar

[@D14V0R05]

@ Indeed, but it is just odd to see Ibanez doing the same.

[@jeffsadie9496]

Thank you for doing a demo with clean riffs instead of always using distortion. I play clean more often than distorted, and I need to know what a guitar sounds like that way. Great job.

[@lasombra_br]

For the price and features, stainless steel frets, locking tuners and the MIX switch, it's a hell of a guitar. Everything the big sister has.

[@suetruett3812]

I have this guitar ordered only without the pickguard. I'm so glad I came across this video as I got this guitar without knowing what it sounds like. So glad you gave it a great show. Now I can't wait to get it and play it too. Thanks for the review.

[@TheAndreagallo]

All the times I ear you playing I fall in love, no matter the wood in your hands. Inspirational. Thank you man. 🤟

[@dannybrickwell]

"wood in your hands" 😏😏😏

[@Bridging_the_Political_Divide]

John could make anything sound good. 💯

[@hxwnd]

A giveaway for this would be great! Sounds like an excellent Strat-type guitar for a more than reasonable price

[@Ripperx121]

Ya know back when I was young and in my prime Ibanez was "it". I own the cheapest super Strat S670QM. Very thin body... I bought it because being a 80's kid I needed a shredding guitar. I didn't want to put a ton of money into it. I am still blown away by this low end offering. I tune it up and come back to it a month later it is still perfectly in tune. Frets? They are great have not had to work on them. Never count out Ibanez.

[@bmac5085]

When these start going second hand, they would be great to mod. Goto trem, and tuners with a nice new set of pickups.

[@simonlee1225]

this guitar looks and sounds good. will definitely get my first az from ibanez

[@davidlopez1208]

wait is that the The Pedal Show intro chord haha amazing 1:45

[@Guitar_Builder]

This is going to be a hard one to beat for the price. I was leaning towards the yamaha version as it has stainless frets also but I think this has more tonal range and its 25.5" scale which I like more personally. Like you said a touch of work and this one is killer.

[@hollywoodactress]

I agree. This is amazing for the price with those stainless steel frets and maybe cheaper than the schecter Nick Johnston signature guitar

[@jimmykowalksi]

Yamaha is 25.5 as well. Also, has better hardware, pickups and top-notch gotoh trem (ibanez uses the cheapest 6 point one availabe).

[@Guitar_Builder]

@@jimmykowalksi I was thinking of the rev but yea, this is Ibanez's lowest priced option the one with comparable prices uses comparable hardware.

[@Dorian.Pavel.]

I agree, I was actually thinking of slapping a Vega trem in one which is half the price of this guitar,also a tusq nut.

[@hxwnd]

If we’re comparing to the Pacifica 612, the Pacifica is a little more expensive (a little over USD $200 more) and lacks stainless steel frets but comes with Seymour Duncan pickups and a Wilkinson tremolo bridge. My gut feeling is that the 612 is the better purchase if you can spend a little more, but a comparison would be great. (I realize you clarified w/ Revstar below but the Pacifica is the clearer Yamaha equivalent to the AZ Standard)

[@ShredderBenjamin]

The performance in this review was outstanding

[@cinnamonoa]

Looks really good for the money, yeah I don't think there really is anything else at this price range I'd go for to be honest. I think I'm still gonna save a bit for a Vola JZ though.

[@vpovince1001]

Great choice!! I waited a year before I bought one unfortunately because now that I have it, I don’t usually pick up any of my other guitars.

[@ianbarnes1406]

I'll say it again, try a Soloking from Andertons. I have the MT1 and MS1 Customs - great guitars

[@fives.]

That's quite the balloon pop of a snare, innit fam 🎈🎈nah but even 5:06 aside, like I knew you would, you still sold me on one of these. The 24-fret, sunburst H-H version reminds me of Guthrie's old Suhr, and I'm equally as intrigued by that one. Was gonna annoy you on Instagram about getting an AZ Standard in but I figured I'd hold fire until stores were actually stocking them

[@m0ld0va-f2l]

JNC will you please review an Ibanez mikro? I've never been able to play quickly without chunking notes no matter how much I practice, but then the first short-scale GIO/mikro I picked up felt awesome, I could suddenly play smoothly and quickly without chunking any notes, and it completely changed my practicing and playing style. I think someone with your skill showcasing a guitar like that could really do it justice.

[@dannyprovencher7862]

Please review the PRS NF3 if you can. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

[@victorklimov5254]

What a great musician!

[@WoWCopper]

Here we go again! Cheers mate

[@adriansoul7223]

I told you about this one! Its good af on paper.

[@BrennonZSmith]

I'm interested to see how these fair in quality across the board. I have a prestige AZ that I'm just not happy with. The fretwork was awful and quite frankly it has kind of turned me off from it. Ibanez customer service has been great through. I'm getting it repaired through warranty and then probably moving up. The standard series seems like it could be a good mod platform.

[@shirotenkai8180]

Looking forward to the comparison video. I'm currently undecided between those exact 2 guitars once I get orher priorities settled

[@elevenAD]

Gonna be honest here, i was just comparing this to the tone of the PRS satin CE in the "Best selling guitar of the year video" just because they are close in price and stainless steel frets or not i cant imagine buying this Ibby over that.

[@MarkFromHawaii]

Funny... I was noodling on my S6570Q (don't you just love how Ibanez names their guitars?) and I came upon your video on the feed side bar. Yeah, Ibanez is one of those guitars that are built to play in several price ranges. Mine is a Prestige model but I think the real value is in the lower priced ranges. Cheers!

[@CorNigrum]

I like the two-button layout of Ibanez and (some) Friedman guitars, where the volume button is a bit further away from the strings. Reason enough to get one of those, everything else (price, quality) being equal. I think Andy Timmons has a black model that definitely would be worth a try. // Edit: Scrap that, the Timmons model has the three button layout...

[@johnong2655]

How's the tuning stability?

[@Johnny-oy9fh]

Sounds like my 2017 premium AZ

[@Islandsoundzz]

Any comparison to the new Fender Player II HSS Strat?

[@leokent40]

Tried both this and the CE24 today... honestly theres not a lot between them but I did like that the PRS was quite a bit lighter. Both the necks felt great. I wanted to like the Ibanez more by spec, but I think the CE24 felt slightly better. I think the Ibanez looks better. Would be happy with either!

[@geronimo546]

You mean the se ce24 or the core ce24? if it's the latter well I'd expect it to feel better based on price alone

[@duarteestelita7257]

Give me a T-style and specially a TALMAN! In this Standard line, and I'll definitely buy those. S-type..? No thanks. It sounds pretty great, though . Go John ! ;)

[@SuperBatiskaf]

John, in my opinion you need only one 59 Strat and one 51 Nocaster. And you will save family budget once and forever

[@kratosxaep]

What are your thoughts about the new sire guitars announced at the NAMM2025?

[@hawkhead418]

I love my Ibanez MAR10 pure Indonesian bliss

[@handsofdoubt31]

Even though I'm a bit of an Ibanez fanboy I'm going for the Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS FBLB instead. It's the same spec but with a better bridge and tbh the finish is far more appealing to me. It's also about £100 cheaper. I imagine it will need some amount of fret work as is often the case with guitars in this price point. But that's why I buy them, because I can do any work myself and get a very playable good spec instrument for a bargain price.

[@rowanemslie9295]

What about compared to a Sire S7 or S3?

[@thecloudsurfer]

Or the Yamaha Pacifica 612

[@adamcogan211]

This guitar would be an instant buy for me if it wasn’t for the bridge. I’m pretty set in stone on getting a two point gotoh on my next guitar

[@Dorian.Pavel.]

This was a drawback for me aswell,buut...I was thinking of puting a vega trem on one of these(which is half the price of the guitar itself) ,aparently It improves stability greatly and it has the mobility of a floyd..you can bend upwards and it stays in tune well.Greg Howe endorses it and a lot of people swear by them...but..its like 270$ :)

[@amirpedram2266]

That's a nice guitar. I wish all guitars came with stainless steel frets cause wearing down the frets is a real bummer

[@ian2lorimer]

I play a Tom Quayle but woukd like to get one of these to mod. Im guessing dropping in a gotoh 510 might take a bit of routing tbough :-(

[@Smart-Alex]

That’s the best color too.

[@mrcoatsworth429]

I wish they had 2 point trems. Otherwise, pretty much perfect. Also like the finishes of the HH models.

[@tiagoramalhais5493]

Yes, don't really understood why they went with the 6 screw trem

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

When I've played two otherwise-identical guitars, one with 6 screws, the other with 2 posts, those with 6 screws have always had better tone.

[@mrcoatsworth429]

​@@1man1guitarletsgoI highly doubt that there is any meaningful difference. Unless you were able to even tell them apart in a blindtest, I will have to assume you heard what your eyes wanted you to hear.

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

@ Yes, you may be right. Or, _I_ may be right. Next time you get the opportunity, perhaps you could carry out the same test (not blind), to see what you come up with.

[@CSC8393]

@@tiagoramalhais5493 it's upgrade platform guitar IMHO

[@chrisrussoroos6091]

great intro song👍🏼💯 cool vibe

[@-SILON]

I just wish that they had that finish on a prestige

[@donkeymagician]

Giveaway: I'll take it 😊

[@Bridging_the_Political_Divide]

Even my $400 sunburst Sire S3 is amazing.

[@tunnel7]

Well its hard because you can make a stick in a box sound amazing😮

[@WkndWarriorGTR]

Looks and sounds great to me!

[@philandcatherinemuzio9476]

Have you ordered the Nachocaster yet?

[@ksharpe10]

That new Black andy timmons is sweet but expensive.

[@AmericanNationalist852]

A giveaway would be generous and cool 👍🏻 I hope someone who needs it gets it

[@gittarrokker]

Lovely playing as always! Signing on giveaway! 😍🙏

[@jimmcdougall9973]

As far as “super Strats” go, I prefer the higher end Pacifica’s, probably because I own one. I like an Ibanez with the Edge tremolo, better than a Floyd Rose imo.

[@themodernguitarist]

Regarding the frets feeling unpoished, are you sure those aren't the strings? I've had some cheaper guitars that I thought had bad frets, but it ended up being shitty stock strings. Throw on D'addarios and things are perfectly fine.

[@EliasThury]

Ive never loved the ibanez take on strats, good specs but I think id still rather just get a squire or old Mexican strat.

[@BOSSenjoyer]

Probably from the factory that makes Icemans so wood and paint should be pretty good.

[@Anjohl]

You had me until "made in China". Should have had Samick do them in Indonesia.

[@canaldepraticadejesus6600]

Why are Indonesian guitars necessarily better than Chinese ones, especially in 2025 (rather than 20 years ago)?

[@Dorian.Pavel.]

I actually read that Ibanez oppened a new factory in China specifically made for a new line of budget guitars such as these that will adhere to the ,,ibanez quality standard" so I might get one of these to check em out.

[@mjvicc1952]

In the USA order a Tease Guitars ST-2 for less than half the price and get a guitar of equal or greater value with a comp,eye set-up AND a quality gig bag! 😊

[@jeale778]

OMG Jason Voorhees' knife again

[@worthmoremusic]

AZES series, Tomo Fujita's inspired models...very affordable, and they actually play quite well !

[@RichVandewhatever]

😂 didn’t you just extol the benefits of selling off guitars and pedals? All good- I’m glad you are taking a look at these. I’ve been curious about them

[@tonystartup3817]

I think you have to make the distinction between guitars he's bought for himself and guitars bought for the channel

[@EliasThury]

Yeah I'm imagining this will be moved on pretty quickly, or even returned.

[@pepeowen]

More than respectable, although a decent (not necessarily professional) set-up seems called for. For under £500??? Tough to get soemthing as good. Ibanez have made a huge statement entering a space so far dominated by Squier, Mexican fenders and lately PRS SE’s. I am lucky to have been able to purchase a Cort G300 for £399 on a flash sale in 2023 and I think it puts to shame anything under £1,200/1,500 in the market today. For £500 I’d try to get the G300 or similar in the secondhand market.

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

We're spoilt for choice in the sub-£500 price range. In my experience, Indonesian-made electric guitars are more consistent than Chinese-made ones.

[@bluwng]

Not my experience.

[@Mexxx65]

Sounds so tinny and ice picky. But is you're after Steve/Joe/Andy's tone have we got a guitar for you!!!!

[@themuffinman3135]

I’ll pass on this one. The SA series was built in China with similar specs. The Trem system isn’t very good with a screw in arm with plenty of slop. I’m sure they’ll sell plenty. I think the Sire S5 would be a better choice.

[@honkytonkinson9787]

I like Ibanez stuff and I have one of the AZES guitars. I have a complaint about it though The pots were scratchy so I took off the pick guard and cleaned the pots; big pile of spaghetti wires on the inside. Something got disconnected when I put the pick guard back on and the bridge pup stopped working. If I hadn’t bought it to mod I would have been more upset I would bet this version has the same electronics as the essentials line. The rest of the guitar is amazing, within the context of $300 guitars

[@patrickkish6662]

Looks like a Yamaha Pacifica to me

[@nekkon1989]

I believe you're on a shopping spree...

[@DrDizzleFrizzle]

I was a little interested...until I noticed the bridge. Ibanez is always a step behind when it comes to their budget offerings, other companies have been offering similar guitars atr the same price for a good while now, but every one that I know of comes with a 2 point trem. Hell, even Donner is beating them with the 550 series. Fix the bridge and make this 400-450 and it'll be something cool. Until then, I'll stick with Sterling.

[@rockkstah2550]

With what it has for that price range, there's nothing to complain about except the guitar"player" needs to be better(NOT Talking bout JC)

[@williammolina9792]

6 screw tremolo. No thanks...

[@jayz6008]

Ah so they’re made in China … I was wondering why it was so cheap I thought it was Indonesian made

[@scottbryant9425]

Personally I think the Sterling CT50 plus is better value. But it looks pretty darn good and stainless frets are great.

[@themodernguitarist]

I've heard dreadful things about Sterling QC. Ibanez's Chinese-made guitars tend to punch above their weight quality-wise.

[@mickhofman]

compare to premium

[@fumanpoo4725]

Good guitar, but overpriced.

[@br8801]

I'd pay more for an Indonesian instrument, more still for a European or American one.

[@Steinstra-vj7wl]

Guitars made by very poor people who work 16 hours a day and still cannot make a living. Enjoy your cheap Ibanez AZ.

[@circedge]

As opposed to what? You think builders elsewhere are making big bucks in factories? If the big instrument and mail order companies hadn't killed off physical instrument stores and smaller domestic builders all over, maybe affordable guitars would have a thriving second hand market. Or are we astroturfing for US made trash?

[@jmtab]

9:06 That Pedal Show chord….@thatpedalshow

[@paulparker8298]

Alcohol free thatchers ? Ever heard of sparkling apple juice ffs 🤦🏻‍♂️