Upon it’s initial release, the Ibanez RGA quickly became one of the most popular guitars in the metal community. It’s comfortable contours and thick, aggressive sound become a sought-after standard in guitar production. Many musicians have famously used these guitars, such as JB Brubaker (August Burns Red) and Jesse Cash (Erra).  Today, we’re going to look at another take on this awesome guitar. Jake Bowen’s (Periphery) signature RGA model, the JBM100.

We’ll start with the specs!

Features:

– Mahogany Body

– Carved Maple Top

– JBM 3pc Maple/Bubinga Neck

– Bound Ebony Fretboard with JBM Signature Inlay

– Jumbo Frets w/ Prestige Fret Edge Treatment

– 16.9″ Radius

– 25.5” Scale Length

– 24 Jumbo Frets

– Lo-Pro Edge Tremolo Bridge

– Sperzel Trim-Lok Tuning Machines

– Black Hardware/Gold Tuners

– DiMarzio Titan Pickups

– 1xVolume

– 5-Way Pickup Switch

The first thing I’ll say about the JBM100 is that it’s a really fun guitar to play. The neck profile is a just a tad bit rounder than your standard RGA Wizard. It’s definitely a shredder’s neck, but doesn’t feel too thin for someone with big hands. The combination of the flatter radius, satin finish, and Prestige Fret End Treatment make this guitar extremely fast and smooth to play.

It’s clear that Jake Bowen and the Ibanez team spent a lot of time designing this guitar. The guitar is just really attractive, my favorite feature being the gold binding on the neck and body. All of the visual appointments tie into each other really well, and we haven’t quite seen a guitar with these features from Ibanez before.

The Lo-Pro bridge is probably my favorite tremolo-style bridge on the market. It’s insanely smooth, and it has plenty of room for movement. I find it to be one of the easier FR-style bridges to work with regarding setup and string changing, but if you still have trouble, we have a really helpful guide to setting up a tremolo.

Tone:

The Mahogany body with a Maple top is the classic RGA combination. The Maple helps to balance out the low/mid heavy Mahogany, so there’s no troublesome mud. The Maple/Bubinga bolt-on neck makes for a lot of snappy attack, especially when playing faster, “notey” leads.

(To learn more about these classic wood combinations and why they go so well together, check out our ultimate tonewood guide!)

The highlight of the sound for me is the inclusion of Jake Bowen’s signature DiMarzio Titan pickups. The Titans were built in collaboration between Jake and DiMarzio to create an incredible pickup for progressive metal. These are probably my favorite DiMarzio pickups.

The pickups are famous for their note clarity and definition, even when playing massive chords. When exposed to high gain and tuned low, every note of even the most complex jazz chords still shine through the mix. There is a ton of pick attack from these as well, so palm muted parts and lead parts have lots of bite and a snappy, percussive characteristic, which I love. The pickup is mid focused, with an even balance of lows and highs.

There’s no tone knob, but the 5-way switch manages to offer a good variety of sounds.

Overall, the pickup and wood combination makes for a very dynamic tone with tons of attack and a warm focus in the mids. It performs very well for clean tones and crunchy tones as well. I was satisfied with just about any style of playing I could throw at it.

Build Quality:

Prestige Ibanez guitars continue to impress me more and more…

To be honest, I really expected this guitar to play just like my beloved RGA 121, but to my surprise, there is a noticeable difference in quality and playability. This is hands down one of the best built Ibanez guitars on the market.

The Ibanez Prestige Fret End Treatment strikes again with a super smooth fret ends and absolutely no flaws on the frets themselves.

The finish and electronics are immaculate, and the guitar pretty much comes perfectly set up for Drop C.

Final Verdict:

The Ibanez JBM100 is everything I’d want in a high end metal guitar. Epic quality control, massive dynamic range, and the ability to play super low without sacrificing any clarity whatsoever.

At $2500, it’s not a cheap guitar by any means, but it’s absolutely worth every penny. If you are considering this guitar, do not hesitate. It’s easily one of the best Ibanez guitars on the market, and it’s probably one of the best guitars I’ve played in general.

10-10-10

Don’t forget! We are authorized Ibanez dealers and can set you up with a JBM100 or any other current Ibanez model. Not that this guitar needs it, but our Free Guitar Enhancement Package ensures that you get a perfect guitar with an insane setup every time.

We also hope you enjoyed this review. Besides reviews, we write a lot of technical articles, theory pieces, and more! Click here to find those!

This article was written by Zac Buras, our editor located in Louisiana.

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