I own the as93 violin , I replace the pickups with a Kent Armstrong custom made neck, and a Seymour duncan sh5 bridge. I also gutted out the harness and replaced it with a Emerson, CTS larger pots and heavier wiring, jack in put relaced, all tuners with Goto locking nickle/ gold, and put a string butler for string stability. Now it it incredibly tonal and can handle anything. Yes, I wish I also had the amh90 too, but the wife will give me flak. My as93 wood is so beautiful too! Thank you for this video, I feel proud of my guitar!
I always starts my comparison on Ibanez fandom the best source of any information on Ibanez. I have been playing Ibanez for 30years. Now as the time goes on I am much calmer interested in more in ambient or more enthusiastic music. It was great to see your video. This might be my next step! My preference would be the AS, especially unplugged, the difference was huge.
Fantastic video and fantastic comparison, two days ago I bought the AMH90 BLACK, I saw your video later and it confirmed the success of the purchase, I am happy with the acquisition of this beautiful guitar, thanks for your work, very good video, a hug from Spain
Nice content VOYA - love it - :) Keep it coming :) I am a PRS guy, (Mccarty 594) and Taylor - but have found memories from Ibanez - keep it rolling nice move with some different vibes!! LOVE IT!!! Great video!
Thanks! I like to explore, and while PRS is awesome in the high end of things, in the mid range Ibanez, for some models, turns out some amazing instruments :)
Very good (professionally produced)/helpful review. Having recently sold my Casino & regretting it, so when I came across the Ibanez AMH-90 (& quality reviews like yours), I just had to have one. Hollow body = more musical & more versatile. Well done, Thnks.
Would be interesting to see you review Heritage guitars. Made in the original Gibson Kalamazoo factory. I know one can argue the point. For me a solid body sound is based on the pickups, amp and some consideration for the wood. A hollow body is about expressing the sound through the wood. Giving even a similar build a personality of its own. Glad you kept the AMH90. On my small smartphone it sounded richer in tone.
Wow. 1st of all thank you for excellent comparison. Actually I bought AMH90 BK 3days ago and still waiting. But sometimes I confused that I did right choice? This video is perfect for me. Yea! I did right choice. Lol~ thx again
I just tried a AMH90 and agree the factory setup made it challenging to play, with very high action. It looked like I would have to drop the bridge down all the way to get a playable action, similar to your observation. I didn’t want to take the chance and decided to not buy it.
Well done, liked and subscribed. I don't know which would be preferable, both are beautiful guitars. Linden is the same as basswood, I found after doing a search. Linden flowers can be used for tea and medicine, and bees love the flowers - often hollowed-out Linden trees are found full of honey! Basswood is less expensive and easy to work, but it also has superior tonal properties, the reason Ken Parker used it for his fly guitars. Cheers!
I've just acquired an AMH90 BK, and your guide is 100% correct: solid choice price/value. However, I was 30 secs away from not buying it when I tested the AMH90 at the shop, since the factory settings are WORSE THAN TERRIBLE. Bridge mic was super high, neck mic was incredibly down, and the chords were at least 5 millimeters above fret number 14 (should be 2 mm max). As soon as I arrived home I adjusted the mic height, and the bridge to down the chords (1.7 mm above fret 14). Then the magic begun, a very enjoyable guitar, super different in almost everything from the Stratocaster HSS Performer I am used to play.
It wasn’t mentioned but the super 58s in the amh 90 the pick ups are splittable and have a mini toggle switch Giving the one pick up 3 different sounds North side of the pick up south side of a pick up in North and South of pick up combined coils inside of the pick up
Yes, it was mentioned @ 15:05 and the sound examples are provided for each state. Only the neck pickup has the switchable controls and states are parallel, single, and serial.
Excellent comparison. Would love to see your apply your trademark rigour and enthusiasm to more instruments and audio tech in the future if you wanted to branch out!! 👏
It doesn't make any difference, as the feedback will originate from your relative position to the amp, orientation, and volume. As both have the identical pickups and fairly similar electronics, you're looking at fairly similar performance. That being said, hollow body guitars are prone to generate a bit more feedback than semi-hollow, but usually it's of the desired kind of feedback, not the bad kind :)
@MyDeepGuide Hello, I received my amh90 the other day, it's an amazing guitar, really! what a beautiful sound! The point is that I have some issue with both tone knobs : at the end of their course, low tone side( on maybe 10% of their course), they produce some cracking sound, not that loud but noticeable, it's surprising on a new guitar. I could put some contact spray on one of them, the more accessible. It's a bit better but it seems to be another cause, it's still cracking. I simply would like to know if it's a normal noise, I know it's made in the east, they may not use the best knobs avallaible. What do you think? Cheers
Thank you for watching! It's actually not that surprising, as a "new" guitar can sometimes be years old and unused in a warehouse, until it reaches your hands. Potentiometers rely on lubrication to deliver smooth, clean and noiseless performance, and can often develop cracking in all guitars, if they stay in a warehouse (or your studio) for a long time, unused. It will be very hard to properly lubricate/clean the pots in these guitars, without taking them out, as you can't really reach or see the lubrication hole that is designed for that, so your attempt may not have yielded results because the lubrication didn't reach the problematic area. Or, it is equally possible that you may have received a unit with slight damage to that area of those pots. I would try to find instructions on how to properly lubricate/clean potentiometers and when you do, you need to do at the very least 50 full rotations of each pot, to allow for the lubrication/cleaning to spread across the pots contacts. If it still is exhibiting problems, then you may want to consider replacing the potentiometers, if that bothers you enough.
@@MyDeepGuide Hello and thank you for your kind and detailed reply. It probably remained unused for several month in a shop or in a warehouse. I generously lubricate the only pot which was easily accessible and turned it at least 50 times. The cracking is a bit diminished but according to me there's a light damage to this limited area of the track. The aftersales responsible answered that I can let the guitar in a shop or resent it to the warehouse, for a repair or a refund. The point is that I had a 175 euros discount on it during the sales. I'm also afraid that a repair would take several weeks or months... I asked about the possibility of an exchange. We shall see... The other solution is to keep it and play it as it is but it's always a bit frustrating to have issues with a new item eventhough I had it at a nice price. I think that the same problem could happen with another new guitar, even a more expensive one... Cheers
Absolutely. If you are otherwise happy with the guitar, and if they'd do the repair locally, I'd go for that option. Replacing a guitar takes around 2-3 months with Ibanez, because they have to send it back to Ibanez, Ibanez has to confirm it, and then send a new guitar for you (I've been through the process with my AZ) and then you get it, and you can't know if everything will be ok on the guitar you receive. So a local repair for something as simple as potentiometer replacement would be far preferable.
@@MyDeepGuide Unfortunately, their shop in Belgium does'nt do the repair, just the usual maintenance. So, I sent the guitar back today for an inspection at their aftersales service in France, return paid by the seller. They talked about one month to have it back. Could I ask you if you encountered the same pots issue with your amh 90? Scratching at the beginning of the pot, low tone side. The other day, I went in a shop to try several guitars, among them the amh 90, just by curiosity, I tried the tone pots and they did the same scratchings, just a bit lighter...Another thing that I noticed while I was cleaning it up before return, the bridge pick-up is loose while the neck pick-up is well fixed. Is that normal? And the other thing is that the guitar doesn't keep its tune for long, after 15 minutes playing, it's out of tune. I have a second hand 45 euros stratocaster copy which keep its tone until the next day ...
@@MyDeepGuide my semi is a Yamaha aex520, and the hollow is a Gretsch G5120, so the story is a bit different. To be fair, Yamaha has taken lots of thumping, being my practice and travel horse. On the other hand, Gretsch is my loved one ;) so i completely agree with your choice. If the hollow had the sunburst option with block inlays that would be perfect for me...
@@MyDeepGuide by the way, re: linden flower tea, it is the second most consumed tea in Turkey, after blac proper turkish tea of course... I like mine wit cinnamon and/or clover... (apple peels also help)
Yes! I have both. An As73 made in china and a am90 made in indonesia. The latter cost about 60% more. But the the quality of the Indonesian was absolutely garbage. Sharp fret ends sticking out. Extremely rough frets. Pickup switch was broken and rattling in all directions. And the setup was bananas. Truss rod had a huge bow and the string height in the high E string was over 3 mm on the 12 fret. Ita a real real shame and a surprise that the have such poor quality control in Indonesia when they produce the more expensive ones. I returned mine because it was such a disappointment.
Did you mean AMH90, as I am not familiar of an AM90 model? The AMH90 has a binding around the frets and the fretboard, so it physically can't stick out on the sides, as the binding covers the fret edges, so I'm not really sure what are you talking about? As for the rest of the stuff, it really sounds like you ordered from a terrible store, as stores are usually the ones that open up the package, inspect the guitar, for loose parts, if everything is working or not, at least any reputable store does that. Yes, default action was ridiculously high, and the neck was very much bowed, as I said in the video, but once you do the initial setup (like you'd do on any guitar really), the playing and sound experience is absolutely wonderful, for my needs at least. But I agree, if you were to simply take the guitar out and NOT do absolutely any setup on it at all (even though that is quite an unusual thing to do), then yeah, out of the box experience is not good on the AMH90 and will give a false bad impression when compared to other guitars. That being said, a basic setup is all that is needed to transform it into an excellent instrument, and I can say that after having it now for over 6 months, it's proving to be quite a reliable guitar that I love more and more with each passing month.
I own the as93 violin , I replace the pickups with a Kent Armstrong custom made neck, and a Seymour duncan sh5 bridge. I also gutted out the harness and replaced it with a Emerson, CTS larger pots and heavier wiring, jack in put relaced, all tuners with Goto locking nickle/ gold, and put a string butler for string stability. Now it it incredibly tonal and can handle anything. Yes, I wish I also had the amh90 too, but the wife will give me flak. My as93 wood is so beautiful too! Thank you for this video, I feel proud of my guitar!
Congratulations, this is a scientific sophistication evaluation. I haven't even seen anything like this in this subject.
I always starts my comparison on Ibanez fandom the best source of any information on Ibanez. I have been playing Ibanez for 30years. Now as the time goes on I am much calmer interested in more in ambient or more enthusiastic music. It was great to see your video. This might be my next step! My preference would be the AS, especially unplugged, the difference was huge.
Fantastic video and fantastic comparison, two days ago I bought the AMH90 BLACK, I saw your video later and it confirmed the success of the purchase, I am happy with the acquisition of this beautiful guitar, thanks for your work, very good video, a hug from Spain
Thank you very much for this review, the guitarts' offer is so large, I was undecided and I finally made up my mind for the AMH90 :-)
I would go with the amh90. It gives me Gretsch vibes and sounds like it might do better in a mix IMO.
Why not get a gretsch then?
Thank you for playing them unplugged!
Nice content VOYA - love it - :) Keep it coming :) I am a PRS guy, (Mccarty 594) and Taylor - but have found memories from Ibanez - keep it rolling nice move with some different vibes!! LOVE IT!!! Great video!
Thanks! I like to explore, and while PRS is awesome in the high end of things, in the mid range Ibanez, for some models, turns out some amazing instruments :)
Very good (professionally produced)/helpful review. Having recently sold my Casino & regretting it, so when I came across the Ibanez AMH-90 (& quality reviews like yours), I just had to have one.
Hollow body = more musical & more versatile. Well done, Thnks.
Would be interesting to see you review Heritage guitars. Made in the original Gibson Kalamazoo factory.
I know one can argue the point. For me a solid body sound is based on the pickups, amp and some consideration for the wood. A hollow body is about expressing the sound through the wood. Giving even a similar build a personality of its own.
Glad you kept the AMH90. On my small smartphone it sounded richer in tone.
Awesome conclusion and description dude.... very tnx from 🇮🇷
Wow. 1st of all thank you for excellent comparison. Actually I bought AMH90 BK 3days ago and still waiting. But sometimes I confused that I did right choice? This video is perfect for me. Yea! I did right choice. Lol~ thx again
Excellent video… I was looking at the Epiphone hollow and semi guitars but I just think the Ibanez guitars are just that bit classier..
I just tried a AMH90 and agree the factory setup made it challenging to play, with very high action. It looked like I would have to drop the bridge down all the way to get a playable action, similar to your observation. I didn’t want to take the chance and decided to not buy it.
Well done, liked and subscribed. I don't know which would be preferable, both are beautiful guitars. Linden is the same as basswood, I found after doing a search. Linden flowers can be used for tea and medicine, and bees love the flowers - often hollowed-out Linden trees are found full of honey! Basswood is less expensive and easy to work, but it also has superior tonal properties, the reason Ken Parker used it for his fly guitars. Cheers!
I've just acquired an AMH90 BK, and your guide is 100% correct: solid choice price/value.
However, I was 30 secs away from not buying it when I tested the AMH90 at the shop, since the factory settings are WORSE THAN TERRIBLE. Bridge mic was super high, neck mic was incredibly down, and the chords were at least 5 millimeters above fret number 14 (should be 2 mm max). As soon as I arrived home I adjusted the mic height, and the bridge to down the chords (1.7 mm above fret 14). Then the magic begun, a very enjoyable guitar, super different in almost everything from the Stratocaster HSS Performer I am used to play.
It wasn’t mentioned but the super 58s in the amh 90 the pick ups are splittable and have a mini toggle switch Giving the one pick up 3 different sounds North side of the pick up south side of a pick up in North and South of pick up combined coils inside of the pick up
Yes, it was mentioned @ 15:05 and the sound examples are provided for each state. Only the neck pickup has the switchable controls and states are parallel, single, and serial.
Excellent comparison. Would love to see your apply your trademark rigour and enthusiasm to more instruments and audio tech in the future if you wanted to branch out!! 👏
Oops, just reached the end. Excited that you are planning to do this more in the future :)
Thank you! :)
Best to $200 more to get the semi hollow Indonesian Artstar AS113 with cedar top and artstar fret edge treatment on the ebony neck
I love my (Japanese) Epiphone (Elite) Casino with p90s and a bigsby. Had an Ibanez Artstar before that. The Casino is fabulous.
Both sound great. I like the hollow body and the matte finish. Red AMH90 on the way!
watching this for the second time, very pleasant video, thank you
Glad you enjoy it :D
Thank you so much for this video! I'm very keen to purchase a 335 style guitar and the as93fm might my number 1 pick for the price!
Super informative. Thank you.
'Alluring' nice word, haven't heard it used about a guitar for a long time!
thank you for such a professional video
Thanks for your usefull review
感谢 我正想要买一把as93
Which semi-hollow with center block on Ibanez would you recommend for jazz beginner...?
Really appreciate your input 👍
Much blessings 🙌
🎸😎👍
I will be receiving my as93fm next week. What would you recommend for pickup height?
I have Ibanez AS113 BS ...Satisfaction! Milan CZ
The 90 sounds like a rock guitar and the 93 sounds more jazzy to me.
Excellent review. Thank you. 🙏🏽
Thanks!
Hi!
I’m between these guitars.
I need your help: If the feedback were a problem ..Which one would you choose?
Thank you in advance
It doesn't make any difference, as the feedback will originate from your relative position to the amp, orientation, and volume. As both have the identical pickups and fairly similar electronics, you're looking at fairly similar performance. That being said, hollow body guitars are prone to generate a bit more feedback than semi-hollow, but usually it's of the desired kind of feedback, not the bad kind :)
@@MyDeepGuide thanks Bro
Thank you for this fantastic comparison. In the video you almost speak about the AS95 but I think mean the AS93?
Yes, there is a text line that does address that mistake :)
What does the letters mean?
Appreciate your input 👍
Ty
🎸😎👍
Do the pickups have a 1 conductor connection or a 4 conductor connection?
@MyDeepGuide Hello, I received my amh90 the other day, it's an amazing guitar, really! what a beautiful sound! The point is that I have some issue with both tone knobs : at the end of their course, low tone side( on maybe 10% of their course), they produce some cracking sound, not that loud but noticeable, it's surprising on a new guitar. I could put some contact spray on one of them, the more accessible. It's a bit better but it seems to be another cause, it's still cracking. I simply would like to know if it's a normal noise, I know it's made in the east, they may not use the best knobs avallaible. What do you think? Cheers
Thank you for watching! It's actually not that surprising, as a "new" guitar can sometimes be years old and unused in a warehouse, until it reaches your hands. Potentiometers rely on lubrication to deliver smooth, clean and noiseless performance, and can often develop cracking in all guitars, if they stay in a warehouse (or your studio) for a long time, unused.
It will be very hard to properly lubricate/clean the pots in these guitars, without taking them out, as you can't really reach or see the lubrication hole that is designed for that, so your attempt may not have yielded results because the lubrication didn't reach the problematic area.
Or, it is equally possible that you may have received a unit with slight damage to that area of those pots.
I would try to find instructions on how to properly lubricate/clean potentiometers and when you do, you need to do at the very least 50 full rotations of each pot, to allow for the lubrication/cleaning to spread across the pots contacts.
If it still is exhibiting problems, then you may want to consider replacing the potentiometers, if that bothers you enough.
@@MyDeepGuide Hello and thank you for your kind and detailed reply. It probably remained unused for several month in a shop or in a warehouse. I generously lubricate the only pot which was easily accessible and turned it at least 50 times. The cracking is a bit diminished but according to me there's a light damage to this limited area of the track. The aftersales responsible answered that I can let the guitar in a shop or resent it to the warehouse, for a repair or a refund. The point is that I had a 175 euros discount on it during the sales. I'm also afraid that a repair would take several weeks or months... I asked about the possibility of an exchange. We shall see... The other solution is to keep it and play it as it is but it's always a bit frustrating to have issues with a new item eventhough I had it at a nice price. I think that the same problem could happen with another new guitar, even a more expensive one... Cheers
Absolutely. If you are otherwise happy with the guitar, and if they'd do the repair locally, I'd go for that option. Replacing a guitar takes around 2-3 months with Ibanez, because they have to send it back to Ibanez, Ibanez has to confirm it, and then send a new guitar for you (I've been through the process with my AZ) and then you get it, and you can't know if everything will be ok on the guitar you receive. So a local repair for something as simple as potentiometer replacement would be far preferable.
@@MyDeepGuide Unfortunately, their shop in Belgium does'nt do the repair, just the usual maintenance. So, I sent the guitar back today for an inspection at their aftersales service in France, return paid by the seller. They talked about one month to have it back. Could I ask you if you encountered the same pots issue with your amh 90? Scratching at the beginning of the pot, low tone side. The other day, I went in a shop to try several guitars, among them the amh 90, just by curiosity, I tried the tone pots and they did the same scratchings, just a bit lighter...Another thing that I noticed while I was cleaning it up before return, the bridge pick-up is loose while the neck pick-up is well fixed. Is that normal? And the other thing is that the guitar doesn't keep its tune for long, after 15 minutes playing, it's out of tune. I have a second hand 45 euros stratocaster copy which keep its tone until the next day ...
Ibanez for the money is just astounding
Hi ‘ I think you have AMH in ebony
Very helpful thank you :)
You got to be kidding! Now you're reviewing my all time favourlte subject; hollow or semihollow guitar! (I have both)
Sweet :) Do you have a preference?
@@MyDeepGuide my semi is a Yamaha aex520, and the hollow is a Gretsch G5120, so the story is a bit different. To be fair, Yamaha has taken lots of thumping, being my practice and travel horse. On the other hand, Gretsch is my loved one ;) so i completely agree with your choice. If the hollow had the sunburst option with block inlays that would be perfect for me...
@@MyDeepGuide by the way, re: linden flower tea, it is the second most consumed tea in Turkey, after blac proper turkish tea of course... I like mine wit cinnamon and/or clover... (apple peels also help)
@@karaadaekkik
Thanks.
The bigger one has a fuller, richer tone. 'Shocking'.
Yes! I have both. An As73 made in china and a am90 made in indonesia. The latter cost about 60% more. But the the quality of the Indonesian was absolutely garbage. Sharp fret ends sticking out. Extremely rough frets. Pickup switch was broken and rattling in all directions. And the setup was bananas. Truss rod had a huge bow and the string height in the high E string was over 3 mm on the 12 fret.
Ita a real real shame and a surprise that the have such poor quality control in Indonesia when they produce the more expensive ones.
I returned mine because it was such a disappointment.
Did you mean AMH90, as I am not familiar of an AM90 model? The AMH90 has a binding around the frets and the fretboard, so it physically can't stick out on the sides, as the binding covers the fret edges, so I'm not really sure what are you talking about?
As for the rest of the stuff, it really sounds like you ordered from a terrible store, as stores are usually the ones that open up the package, inspect the guitar, for loose parts, if everything is working or not, at least any reputable store does that.
Yes, default action was ridiculously high, and the neck was very much bowed, as I said in the video, but once you do the initial setup (like you'd do on any guitar really), the playing and sound experience is absolutely wonderful, for my needs at least. But I agree, if you were to simply take the guitar out and NOT do absolutely any setup on it at all (even though that is quite an unusual thing to do), then yeah, out of the box experience is not good on the AMH90 and will give a false bad impression when compared to other guitars. That being said, a basic setup is all that is needed to transform it into an excellent instrument, and I can say that after having it now for over 6 months, it's proving to be quite a reliable guitar that I love more and more with each passing month.
Or just call No n Monday