I recently headed up to my area Guitar Center to buy a guitar for $400 or less to use in my studio for writing songs. I can play rhythm on an intermediate level and have lots of ideas for guitar based songs. But, I needed a guitar. After getting sidetracked by about 25 or 30 acoustic guitars, I headed over to check out my intended purchase. The electric guitar selection at Guitar Center is impressive. They offer everything from $4,000 Gibson Les Pauls to $79 overseas models of dubious origin. After sorting through some average "get what you pay for" low end guitars, I found one that caught my eye.

The Indonesian made Ibanez Jet King is a real eye catcher first of all. The one I checked out featured a butterscotch transparent finish on a basswood body. It also featured a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. The neck inlays are reminiscent of the Gretsch tab inlays but the Ibanez inlays look more like dashes rather than the half circles made famous by Gretsch. I liked the medium sized frets and the factory action set up. The pickguard is chrome in color, as are the PSND1 neck and PSND2 bridge pickups. There is one tone and one volume knob, and a threeway pickup selector switch.

The two rocker switches mounted on the face of the guitar that allow for coil tapping grabbed my attention. I plugged the Jet King into a Marshall combo amp and along with everyone else in the room started my power chord frenzy. I was immediately taken by the similarity it had to a Gibson double humbucker. It possessed great chunk, great sustain, and a Gibson sounding tone. I then flipped the rocker switches which put the Jet King in single coil mode, and that's when I got a decent Strat sort of tone.

Once home, I immediately contacted a gigging guitarist friend of mine, Andrew "Ace" Evans of Lochness Johnny. I've known Ace for years. I was honored to assist in recording their latest album, much of it in my studio. He is an accomplished musician. We got together and broke the Ibanez Jet King down against a Les Paul and a Strat.

We tried the Ibanez Jet King against a Les Paul Studio with the same settings. The sound here was almost identical across the board. No matter which positions we tested the results were the same. The Ibanez nails the Gibson sound minus some output level and minus a small amount of low/mid response. Very small turns on your amp could make up the difference. The sustain on the Ibanez was longer and smoother than this Les Paul. We were impressed.

We tried the Ibanez Jet King with single coils enabled versus an American Strat with the same settings. The Jet King in bridge single coil mode comes close to the second (bridge and center mixed) pickup position on the Strat. The jangle is there for the most part. When the Jet King is in neck pickup single coil mode, it comes close to the fourth position (neck and center mixed) pickup position on the Strat. Here, there are thicker, bluesy tones.

What we found was that the Ibanez can't even touch the bridge only or neck only position of the American Strat. Hey, it's not a perfect world.

Finally, we tried the Ibanez Jet King in middle pickup position in single coil model. We found it to be a decent jazz guitar. Ace was dumbfounded, with a "where'd that come from?" look on his face. The tone is clean and warm, just what the doctor ordered for some nice jazz playing.

The Bottom Line: To sum things up, for $299 I've got a "Les Paul" sounding guitar with some "Strat" capability. Coil tapping is your new friend. It's been around awhile but for the most part it isn't offered from the factory. Ibanez is definitely onto something here with the Jet King JTK1. Not only is it a beautiful line, but offers a "modelling" type of versatility. In today's modelling world of amps, microphones, effects and more, the Jet King ought to attract plenty of customers for Ibanez.

Link relating to this review: Ibanez