NAMM 2025: Ibanez has begun rolling out its 2025 roster of instruments, and while its newly developed AZ Standard models are serving a wake-up call to the mid-priced electric guitar market, its new Blackout series of acoustic guitars represents one of its more inventive releases.
The range is inspired by the brand’s popular Iron Label series of metal guitars, which are typically decked out with high-gain pickups, shred-ready necks, and extended ranges. It’s a left-field starting point for acoustic guitars, yet Ibanez has managed to make that work in its favor here. And yes, there’s a seven-string acoustic among the bunch.
Aesthetically, their heavy metal lineage comes through via all-black finishes and black hardware – because color is for the weak – while all three have been saddled with top-end electronics.
The range comprises two six-strings in the AEWC621 and TCY621, while the seven-string electric-acoustic is called the AEG721.
Look past those browser-generated-password-names, though, and the three models boast high-end electronics and “in-demand woods” – including purpleheart, which is something of a rare breed on acoustics.
(Image credit: Ibanez)
The AEG721 ($599.99) is crafted from Sapele back and sides, a spruce top, and a three-piece Comfort Grip neck made from maple and nyatoh – Ibanez’s go-to mahogany alternative – for its 25″ scaling.
Macassar ebony has been chosen for its bridge and fretboard, with a Fishman S-Core pickup and an Ibanez AEQ-SP2 preamp with an onboard tuner making up its electronics.
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It also features Ibanez Advantage bridge pins – which are easier to take out and put back in, while a special bulb end stops players from pushing them too far into the guitar – black die-cast tuners and a black dyed bone nut and saddle.
(Image credit: Ibanez)
The AEWC621 ($599.99), which unsurprisingly sports an AEWC body shape, offers similar specs. While its neck is strictly nyatoh, it reprises the same 25″ scale, hardware, and electronics, save for the omission of Advantage bridge pins.
Lastly, the TCY621 ($374.99) tries to be the black sheep, headlined by a Talman double cutaway body with a neck joint at the 16th fret.
(Image credit: Ibanez)
Sure, the sapele and spruce construction remains, but there’s an Okoume neck, a purpleheart fretboard and bridge, and an Ibanez under-saddle pickup partnered with the same AEQ-2T preamp as it vies to be a little different.
The model is rounded out with black die-cast tuners and Advantage bridge pins.
It’s not every day that a trio of electric-acoustics inspired by grunting metal beasts snake their way into the marketplace. Ibanez’s eyebrow-raising juxtaposition, though, adds some variety to proceedings.
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