The Ibanez Jem was born back in the late 1980s from a collaborative effort of Steve Vai and Ibanez. The heavy demands on his guitars left him searching for an instrument that could take the abuse and still deliver his signature sound. There are a few different variants of the Jem; one of them being the Ibanez Jem 555. The 555 model is made in Korea and is targeted at a demographic of guitarists that love the Jem model but don’t have the $2,500+ to spend on the higher quality models. The Ibanez Jem 555 price tag is usually around the $1,000 range but still carries many of the high quality features that make the Jem so elite.
When the demand went through the roof for the Jem 555 Ibanez reintroduced it back to the USA. The American basswood body of these Ibanez guitars has a really deep tone to it and resonates beautifully. But, to get the real sense of how great this instrument sounds you really need to plug it in. The Evolution pickups are a bit of a masterpiece of electronic genius. I’ve never played on a pickup that has so much harmonics to it in my life. You really have to have a smooth fret technique as these pickups hear EVERYTHING. All your little imperfections will become apparent, though, the cleaner of an amp you play through. Not to worry as this will only improve your technique and will help you to become a better guitarist.
What does Ibanez, Steve Vai, Jem 555 and RGs have in common? Fast guitar necks. The wizard neck will blow you away when you first play on one. The Ibanez Jem 555 may be made in a lesser quality environment but you still get the great features that make the Jem so elite. Not all the 555 necks come with the Tree Of Life; some come with simple dot inlays but still do the trick. The Jems are known for their low action and the Edge 2 tremolo really allows you to get that action down to the lowest possible height without any string buzz. The tremolo also stays in perfect tune under hard sessions of playing.
The Ibanez 555 Steve Vai helped create is a jewel in an all-star lineup of famous guitar instruments. You can still show off your monkey grip that makes the Ibanez Jem instantly recognizable at first sight, yet still save yourself a couple thousand dollars from owning a 7v. Don’t underestimate it, it is still one fantastic guitar and is really great value in my opinion.