2024 Ibanez RG421S | The best all-round rock and metal guitar under $500?! Review & Demo

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This is the 2024 Ibanez RG421S – a brand new affordable rock and roll machine in a stunning Sea Shore Matte green finish!

Get the RG421S at Thomann:
At Sweetwater:

The Ibanez RG is an iconic guitar for rock and metal players everywhere - and the new RG421S is a great budget way for players looking to get in on the action at an affordable price (you'll pay around $379/€429 as of January 2024!).

On paper, it looks a fantastic value instrument: you get a meranti body and Ibanez's legendary Wizard III neck (in maple). The neck is the RG standard: 24 jumbo frets across a 25.5" scale length, with a super flat 15.75" fingerboard radius and great access all the way up the board thanks to the guitar's deep cutaways.

You also get a pair of Ibanez's own Quantum humbuckers and a 5-way switch, which gives you the usual humbucking options plus some nice coil split action for thinner Fender Stratocaster-esque tones. The guitar's topped off with Ibanez hardware, including its F106 hardtail bridge.

All things considered, then, the RG421S should be a true contender in the world of affordable axes – but can it do more than just metal? That’s what we find out here, as I test the guitar in as many different genres and styles as I can, from country, folk and indie, to pop, rock, punk - and of course some downtuned heavy stuff too!

Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:

00:00 Hello!
00:20 Introduction to the Ibanez RG421S-SEM
01:31 Specs and info
04:39 Today’s rig and plan

Clean Sounds
05:44 Clean tone reference chords on all pickup settings
06:08 Indie pop riff
06:20 Ringing open indie pop chords
06:33 60s rock rhythms
06:44 Country ballad arpeggios
06:56 Country lead sound
07:03 Funk rhythms
07:16 Blues progression
07:27 Neo soul pop riff
07:42 Ascending droning indie chords
07:55 Cowboy chords/tone control test

Overdriven Sounds
08:55 Fat indie rock rhythm chords
09:25 Garage rock riff
09:42 Choppy barre chords
09:51 Kings Of Leon inspired riff
10:06 Upbeat indie barre chords
10:30 Volume control roll off test
10:51 Southern rock picked arpeggios
11:20 Indie octave chords
11:46 Van Halen inspired rock riff
12:04 Driving rock riff
12:18 Hendrix inspired riff
12:41 Airbourne inspired rock riff
12:53 AC/DC inspired riff
13:11 Quacky rock riff
13:20 Groovy classic rock riff

Higher gain drive sounds
13:36 80s rock riff
13:56 Classic hard rock riff
14:12 Hard rock riff
14:29 ZZ Top inspired riff
14:39 Melodic hard rock lead
15:00 NWOBHM riff
15:21 Glam rock riff
15:36 Lead w/added delay + reverb
15:50 Alternative rock riff
16:14 Pop punk riff
16:27 Pop punk melodic lead riff
16:43 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
16:56 Punk rock power chords
17:23 Less Than Jake inspired punk riff
17:34 Slayer inspired thrash riff
17:44 Progressive rock riff (Drop D tuning)
17:59 Modern rock palm-muted chords (Drop D)
18:23 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff (Drop D)

Heavy Distortion sounds (all in Drop D)
18:39 Metal chugging riff
18:56 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
19:07 Hardcore punk riff
19:20 Heavy metal lead sound
19:36 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
19:49 Pop metal riff
19:59 Hardcore punk breakdown
20:15 Metalcore riff
20:26 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff

21:07 My thoughts
22:11 First impressions and looks
22:34 Weight and balance
23:08 Build quality and hardware
24:03 Playability and neck
24:59 Sounds and pickups discussion
27:10 What other similar guitars are out there?
29:26 My conclusions on the Ibanez RG421S and why you should buy it

My setup was as follows: I ran the RG421 into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, also using my Greer Lightspeed and my Revv G3 pedals for overdrive and heavy distortion sounds. The amp went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That's it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.

Here’s some links to those bits of gear:

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H&K Black Spirit 200 at Thomann:
At Sweetwater:

Greer Lightspeed at Thomann:

Revv G3 at Thomann:
At Sweetwater:

Focusrite 4i4 (the new 2i4) at Thomann:
At Sweetwater:

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Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.

#Ibanez #IbanezGuitars #IbanezRG

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