Ibanez

I have been in the market for a new guitar but somewhat limited in the finance department.
Today I looked at a Ibanez Artcore AS 73 and the clerk plugged it into an amp and it sounded great (to my newbie ears) :o

Not to let a potential customer go he offered me a package deal of the guitar, a Spider IV 15 amp along with FBV MarkII pedals.

The package deal was just about $425.00 for the lot.

Before I jump in and accept the offer I wanted to check with folks here on Guitar Tricks to determine if this is a reasonable price.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Jazzn

Never played that guitar myself, but after some quick checking, I say - if you like the way the guitar felt - go for it! Sounds like a pretty awesome deal. Musician's Friend lists them for $399 and they get good reviews on Harmony Central. The Spider IV is listed at $99, and I would recommend getting a starter amp that has some modeling and effects capability like this one does. I have heard good things about the Line 6 amps. Sounds like an ample amp :)

The FBV Express MkII pedal is worth another $99 and channel switching = good! It even has a wah and a tuner built in. :) From what I was reading recently, these particular pedals give you the ability to download other presets and/or models or something. (Don't quote me, just going from memory of an ad I saw.)

Overall I would say an [u]excellent[/u] deal, and is something that will give you a lot of variety and some experimenting for a while.

Razbo,

Thanks for the suggestions. Went ahead and bought the Ibanez AS73 along with the Spider IV amp and the FB Express pedals.
FYI: The guitar is absolutely BEAUTIFUL with the reddish sunburst finish!!

Being in somewhat of a rush to hear the sounds I set everything up right out of the box. Everything worked technically fine but the sound was really funky so I had to play with the amp settings for quite a while to get a good sound.
With this spider IV you had better be electronically gifted or take a college course on how to set it up properly as it has sooo many add on's and upgrades!! As Martha Stewart would say "That is a Good Thing"

The pedals were a whole other matter as I had no clue on how to set them up properly but that will come with time.
Overall I agree that it was a good investment and look forward to playing it for a long time.

Again, Thanks for your feedback

Jazzn

Originally Posted by: jazzn01Razbo,

Thanks for the suggestions. Went ahead and bought the Ibanez AS73 along with the Spider IV amp and the FB Express pedals.
FYI: The guitar is absolutely BEAUTIFUL with the reddish sunburst finish!!

Being in somewhat of a rush to hear the sounds I set everything up right out of the box. Everything worked technically fine but the sound was really funky so I had to play with the amp settings for quite a while to get a good sound.
With this spider IV you had better be electronically gifted or take a college course on how to set it up properly as it has sooo many add on's and upgrades!! As Martha Stewart would say "That is a Good Thing"

The pedals were a whole other matter as I had no clue on how to set them up properly but that will come with time.
Overall I agree that it was a good investment and look forward to playing it for a long time.

Again, Thanks for your feedback

Jazzn

I think you done well. The guitar is a nice guitar and reviews seem pretty good from other players so I think you have a winner that you should enjoy playing...at a pretty solid price too.