NGD: Stealthy Spectre Of Sin (Ibanez XPT620 BKF)

[Phantasmagoria]

Eh, NGD thread deleted? ...seriously? ....you'd think I'd posted decapitated heads, not 2 tiny drops of smudged blood

Anyways...

NGD-Stealthy Spectre of Sin (V2)



My new Ibanez Xiphos XPTB620 BKF . Gassed for one of these baby's (Xiphos's) for close to two decades. My fave model being the green chameleon one. but this one ('blackened" Iron Label model) more than scratches my itch as well. As brutal a Metal Machine as they come :bigthumb:

Came in two days earlier than expected which was a nice surprise...

I made an inadvertent blood sacrifice (ut my finger w/ the cutter...a ghastly sight apparently) when I struggled to unpack the box which the store had practically mummified w/ packing tape. Anyway, after completing this dark ritual of gore (unpacking the guitar). Here's what emerged from the shadows :bigthumb:

This axe is equipped with 2 Dimarzio D-Activator's which as expected deliver the brutal chuggzz all day long, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they are also awesome for lead playing & shred, having a nice thick muscular tone w/ insane harmonic overtones.

It was tuned to D Standard & strung w/ far heavier strings than I am used to (10-52) out of the box. which are no joke for bends and stuff, but still manageable w/ a bit of effort/adjustment. I primarily bought this beast to brush up on my rhythm chops anyway..so I will continue with it the way it is.

Apart from that, awesome fit & finish, fretwork, playability, neck, pup's, tone etc..atc..can't complain and I was'nt expecting to.

Giving it the obligatory shred test out of the box.....

....and it passes w/ flying colours :bigthumb:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Also, as I said in my original NGD thread...the .only thing I can find to gripe about this axe is that it smudges easily (finger prints, oily marks, blood-stains etc)

That, and that it doesn't fit on a standard guitar stand..so I'll have to look for something it will fit on...

Luckily it came with reasonably decent gig bag.

Apart from that ...wot a killer axe!! :firedevil

 

[Masta' C]

Oh, look at that...you finally got a REAL guitar!

Welcome to the club, LOL!

:headbang:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Eh? This was my first ever guitar. How much more real could you want things to get??

Seriously, I've also owned a Warlock and have an Ironbird, plus umpteen sweet shredsticks of every descripttion ..I'm no stranger to the Metal pointies

Granted, this new one might just be the most METAL one of them all :headbang:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Well I'm not superstitious, but I can't deny some preeetty strange things have been happening since this guitar arrived. 'Strange' as in King Diamond-esque paranormal experiences that can't be explained. First I'm forced to make in involuntary blood sacrifice to it when it arrives by nicking my finger with the cutter as I struggled to let it out of it's dark confines (box) which had been mummified w/ packing tape..

And now this....a complete 'black metal' aural experience, again wholly unintentional. In case your wondering why this sounds like it was recorded in the toilet, I mistakenly (???) plugged the wrong mic into my interface & recorded the whole thing from the mic that was on the adjacent cabinet :lmao:

Yeah...I kid you not. I kept turning up the amp in the room to get my input levels up (not realising I'd plugged the wrong mic in) and that caused a swathe of room reverb, hum & feedback giving the whole recording a grim and metal-zone-ish distant tone that seemed to emanate from the very bowels of hell..

At first I thought to myself "Wow, these fatass strings really do sound like ****" then I thought maybe I needed to adjust the pickup height or turn down the gain :lmao:

But eventually, on realising what had happened, I had to conclude once again that my hand had been forced by dark powers beyond my control which unknowingly guided me to record this bleak & morbid masterpiece of frigid grim Black Metal purely by strange coincidence :bigthumb:

Sometimes I think I'm getting senile

Fun times....

Who knows what dismal happenings lie ahead :bigthumb:​

 

[Masta' C]

That's cool, man.

I had the original XPT700 (with the smaller edge bevels) in the red/green chameleon finish, then the XPIR20E (original Iron Label) in flat black, and currently have a second-gen XPT700 (with the bigger bevels) in white!

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Wow ...that's a lot of Xiphos's haha..

I really GAS'd bad for that Chameleon finish one back in the day. I'd love to get hold of one used, but they never come.up for sale here...

Still...I'm pretty happy with the one I got.

They had the 7 String at a shop down the road from me. But 7 Strings aren't really my thing (I have 2.. & that's enough). Still, it got the gears turning in my head Luckily I was able to an online store based in another city that had this one for sale...

And the rest is history

Here's a fun version though...

​

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Dark Neoclassical track again. This time with the right cab mic'd up

D-Activator Neck pup....first w/o a boost (DOD OD250) & then w/ it on (roughly) halfway through..

I had the Ironheart on the rhythm/crunch Channel..

Still prefer my 9-42's for soloing cuz things sound a bit clearer/sweeter & cut through a bit better esp. w/ high gain..

But I can live w/ the 10-52's

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Still I was pleasantly surprised to notice that going up a fair bit in terms of string gauge did'nt really affect my playing....

This thing plays like butter :bigthumb:

I think I also solved my guitar stand problem...

Pretty sure a wall hanger would be the obvious/ideal solution :bigthumb:

So I ordered a couple from Amazon that should arrive in a day or two....

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Went down to a nearby store earlier this evening & picked up an appropriate strap...

Not usually a leather ('n studs) kinda strap guy but this time I thought I'd make an exception :bigthumb:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Being located in the center of town and surrounded by a bunch of music/guitar shops is both a blessing and a curse..

You go in for something and then something else always seems to catch your eye

 

[Phantasmagoria]

With my AMT Stonehead which looks more like a Soviet missile launching controller for WMD than an amp..

Thought that would be pretty apt.. :firedevil

 

[Phantasmagoria]

^ ^ struggling w/ some of those bends a bit still (cuz10-52's) ...some are a bit flat

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Popped the strap on this morning.

I will say the front strap button is in a bit of a weird place though. It's on the underside of the upper front 'point' Once t's attached it then folds over the front/horn/point of the axe. Not sure if it's meant to be that way or if I need to attach it to the button from the back/rear of the guitar..(kinda confusing). Anyway it seems to balance fine & is comfortable unlike my Ironbird which has pretty bad neck-dive.

Of course, I need to watch out for those spikes when I sling it (strap) over my shoulder :laugh2:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Oh, apparently there WAS a neck dive issue with the older ones .

So now the stock buttons on mine are positioned pretty much exactly where this dude shifted his to (and yeah the strap does fold over the upper horn/point)..

Thankfully it's an Ibanez and not a Gibson or Fender or people would have to re-drill strap-button holes in it for decades to come :lmao:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Gonna post a pic or two of my Ironbird Pro in here too

'Cause brutality loves company :bigthumb:​

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Back to the Xiphos. Plugged it in my JVM..

One thing I have noticed even before w/ heavier strings is that they seem to be a bit beamy/hyper-focused which may be great for tight rhythm but not so much for lead playing..

I was playing the opening riff from Sabbath's "Headless Cross" & some other 80's Sabbbath (Dio/Tony Martin) riffs (badly ) w/ this axe plugged into my Ironheart yesterday & it sounded awesome :bigthumb:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

I did a bit of a setup to it this afternoon. It was'nt holding tune as wel as it should be and as I suspected the locking studs for the posts had'nt been tightened so I did the needful, re-tuned, adjusted the saddles slightly as the intonation was a bit off, locked it at the nut & bam..stable as a rock!

Fun new neoclassical track....

Axe plays like dream after the tweaks..

t's especially great for tapping. I think the thicker gauge strings actually make it more effortless :bigthumb:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

More sounds of sin :bigthumb:

Should've probably dialed the bass back a bit on the pedal &/or amp..it's all too much... the heavy gauge strings, D standard tuning.. the softer/lower notes get sort of drowned out in muddiness :lmao:

 

[ICTGoober]

I'm not crazy about the Ironbird shape, but that sunburst is very appealing to me.