Question:
What is a better electric guitar? Ibanez RG420EG or B.C Rich Revenge Warlock in terms of sound - heavy metal?
anonymous
2009-06-26 12:32:27 UTC
hey guys which guitar do you recommend to buy out of the two in the title (Ibanez - RG420EG - in spider black, or B.C Rich Revenge Warlock - the £199 one) - i dont care about the pricing, but what i do care about is the sound it makes - i am looking for a good heavy metal sound - preferrable bands are slipknot and lamg of god and disturbed, so the guitar which has a better sound output relating to the bands. so for example i wanna no which 1 sounds better when playing either a slipknot song, disturbed song, or lamb of god song


thanks very much :)
Six answers:
gtarczar
2009-06-26 13:25:56 UTC
The Ibanez is a bit more expensive and has better pickups. The sound of any guitar is produced by the pickups, the better the pickups, the better the sound. Cheap pickups have a tendency to squeal when played with distortion which can be very annoying. As far as getting a better metal sound; that really comes down to what type of amp and/or distortion you are using. any 2 guitars with similar pickups will sound virtually the same depending on the amplification being used. This is also a subjective thing, What I think sounds good you may disagree with so you need to try both axes through the same setup and makeup your own mind.
Saul
2009-06-26 16:16:51 UTC
I think that the tone wood is more important than what pickups come with a guitar - you can always replace pickups (and I always do).



In my experience, having owned both guitars with agathis and basswood, I love basswood. It's light, it has an overall pretty bright and present sound, which means that it cuts through the mix and doesn't kill my back. Pretty important, to me. Construction does impact tone - I have a Jackson that is made from basswood, but has very little bass, while the LTDs that I own are also basswood but have a pretty respectable low end.



My second guitar was a BC Rich Warlock (platinum series), and I grew to despise it. The hardware was soft, so the saddle developed burrs, the pickups were dark and muddy (could barely hear the high E string, so couldn't solo for crap), and because it didn't have a fixed bridge (it had one of those trems where you can go down in pitch but not up... forget what they're called...) it didn't want to stay in tune for very long. Not good times. It didn't even sound that good after I put EMGs in it!



I came to the realization that agathis is a pretty crappy tone wood, at least in the lower price point guitars. Basswood used to be the same way, actually, but the more popular it grew the better the quality became. The least I can say is that the agathis used in my BC Rich was crap - very little sustain, and an overall "dull" sound to it, without that rich mahogany fundamental presence that makes mahogany sound so frickin' awesome. So dull, not warm.



For high gain stuff, the only really two contributing factors that tone wood offers is sustain and overall balance between treble and bass.... and you can even out a skewed balance with the right pickups. Pickups and the right amp are far more important, to me, even than the tone wood, for high gain rock/metal.



Anyways, my vote would be for the Ibanez, even though I don't like the floating tremolo. It will go out of tune faster than a fixed bridge, you won't be able to retune it without re-setting it up again, and if you snap a string the whole guitar will need to be re-adjusted, all of the strings will go out of tune.



Floating trems are a PITA, and I intensely dislike them. I want my guitar to stay in tune, and even a pretty decent Floyd Rose (which the lower priced Edge III trems certainly are *not*) will go out of tune faster than a well-adjusted fixed bridge guitar.



Plus, its harder to set up a floating trem guitar if you use thick strings - and I really *really* like using thicker strings (ie 11's).



Anyways, that's my two cents. I think its better to buy a 200$ guitar and put 150$ worth of pickups in it than to buy a 350$ guitar and leave it stock - I'm big on customization, and I swear that the right pickups can make even a weak guitar sound 10x better!



Either way... play before you buy... good luck!







Saul
anonymous
2009-06-26 12:44:58 UTC
The Ibanez is a lot more versatile - I would probably go with it.



BC Rich makes great guitars, but they are pretty singular of purpose.



The most important factor is going to be your amp & fx. - check out places like guitar center to try out different combinations of gear so you can know what you are looking for, then hunt e-bay, pawn shops, etc. to find something inexpensive but nice and loud.



A good distortion pedal is a must unless your amp has it built in - and even then I usually use one anyway. An ibanez tube screamer, or boss turbo overdrive does a nice job. Electro-harmonix big muff is another good option.



For absolute death metal crunch I usually stick to digital rack fx though - I've got an old Yamaha GEP10 that crushes skulls!!
Kirk's Deciple
2009-06-26 12:47:10 UTC
B.C. Rich definatly!!! The sound is much more thick and natural compared to an Ibanez. Mick Thompson from Slipknot uses a B.C. Rich and I do to even though I play Metallica. Ibanezs have too much treble and less bass and the bodywoods aren't ideal for metal. B.C. Rich is the best choice one hundred percent! You won't regret it!
?
2016-04-02 05:15:41 UTC
I own a gibson sg standard with a fender g-dec junior amp and a squier strat' and the gibson is a great higher priced guitar but if you are looking for more bang for your buck go with a squier stratocaster with a fender g-dec junior amp it's great for heavy metal.
doug
2009-06-26 12:58:23 UTC
mick thompson plays ibanez too,sorry kirks,go for what ever one appeals most and if you dont like the sound change the pickups


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