2026 Ibanez RG653DX | Killer tones, versatility and specs for $1,899? First Look Review & Demo

This is the 2026 Ibanez Prestige RG653DX: a new, Japan-made premium RG model for lovers of high-gain guitar goodness! ----- At Thomann: https://thmn.to/thoprod/633143?offid=... At Sweetwater: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/aOv5mZ At Ibanez: https://www.ibanez.com/usa/products/d... ----- Being a Prestige RG, the RG652DX is a top of the line shredder’s dream. Built to the highest of standards for quick and precise pro-level players, it’s chock full of great specs and hardware, and it comes in two great colorways too: Transparent Deep Blue Flat, as featured here, and White Flat. The RG653DX has an ash body paired with a super sleek and slinky Super Wizard HP five-piece maple and walnut neck. You get a bound rosewood board here and acrylic and abalone block inlays to mark the guitar’s 24 jumbo frets. Pickups-wise, you get a DiMarzio The Tone Zone in the bridge, and a DiMarzio Air Norton on the neck, alongside a 5-way switch that gives you full fat humbucker tones and some nifty parallel and split coil tones too. The bridge is Ibanez’s own Edge tremolo, accompanied by a locking nut, and you get a set of Gotoh tuners to top the guitar off. The RG653DX will set you back $1,899/€1,799, and it comes in an Ibanez hard case. That all seems like a lot of guitar for the money, and in this video I get to put my hands on the guitar for the first tie to really see how well it performs in the sound, feel and playability stakes. As I was at Henning’s house for this video, I was running the RG through his Fractal Audio FM9 – another new experience for me! Enjoy my first explorations with this guitar, and let me know your thoughts in the comments! 00:00 Hello! 01:02 Specs and features 03:09 Clean/edge of breakup sounds and discussion 06:03 Crunch sounds for classic rock 07:12 A brief Henning coffee cameo 08:39 Lower gain alternative/indie rock tones 09:17 Hard rock sounds 10:29 Punk rock and chugging power chords 11:01 High gain metal sounds 11:47 I fail miserably at djent/progressive metal :( 12:38 Final thoughts and goodbye --- My favorite gear at Thomann: https://thmn.to/thocf/jkhog8l06m At Sweetwater: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/LXqdE0 --- #Ibanez #Ibanez2026 #IbanezGuitars #IbanezRG #RG653DX #RichWordsMusic #NewGuitars2026 Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much! ‪@IbanezOfficial‬ ‪@IbanezGermany‬ ‪@EytschPi42‬