Now, a lot of Ibanez guitars are made of Basswood, a generally growly-yet-even-toned wood which is generally felt to be not as warm as Mahogany and not as lively as Alder. So I thought it might be fun to share some of what I’ve found. Personally I’m a huge Ibanez geek (seriously, I think I have a problem – that problem is not enough space for all my Ibanezezes!), and although I consider it my duty as a guitarist to own a Strat, Tele and Les Paul (and some day an ES-335 please, Santa), I have plenty of experience with all sorts of Ibanez guitars and all sorts of Seymour Duncan pickups. You've got to have the intestinal fortitude and the drive, and the ability to stick it out through thick and thin.Seymour Duncan makes a lot of pickups that are great in vintage designs like Strats, Teles and Les Pauls, but there are plenty of more modern-voiced pickups in the line-up too. But to be honest with you, anybody can do it. If it was that easy, then anybody could do it. If it was easy, as some claim, then it would be as easy as starting a TikTok. Why should I apologize for working hard? I always tell people it's easy to dismiss, hard to replicate.
I realize I'm a very fortunate person, but I don't make any apologies for it, because, to be honest with you, that's what everybody strives for. When distractions and other things come into play that tend to take energy away from what you're supposed to be doing, that's the challenge. All my energy is dedicated to the fans that keep me in business and come time and time again. It's also trying to keep in perspective what is it that you really do, because sometimes life comes at you twice as fast as it used to. "It's managing time, managing your energy. "Then a whole 'nother set of circumstances come into play," he says. So, why should anything be normal anymore?" It was an odd record to make because of what we were doing, but it was also an odd time. "We recorded it virtually with Zoom and some other technology where my producer in Australia could get the actual tracks from the session in real time or with about a second latency," says Joe. So, when it came time to record Time Clocks-travel restrictions be damned-they found a way to work together. Shirley produced the guitarist's fifth studio album, You & Me, and has since produced over 30 of Joe's subsequent projects. The two have had a long working relationship and they've been inseparable for most of Joe's career. Kevin "the Caveman" Shirley, Joe's longtime producer, was stuck in Australia due to strict COVID travel restrictions. In February 2021, Joe went to Germano Studios in Manhattan's NoHo neighborhood to record Time Clocks, aka "The New York Album." Because of the pandemic, this recording session was like no other Joe had been involved with. More agnostic aspiring Jonny Greenwoods, Graham Coxons, and Kevin Parkers will dig the less immaculate swirl. Church of Gilmour-goers will probably prefer a cleaner phase that lets more transient tones shine through. But if you're less concerned with headroom for other effects or achieving optimum pick articulation, humbuckers and P-90s (particularly in the bridge position) can lend a thrilling, brash Band of Gypsys tonality and attitude to the Mini-particularly when you add the extra warp of the 6-stage voice. As a result, I preferred working from the cleaner baseline tone of a Telecaster and using my guitar tone and volume knobs to taste.
And anyone who has ever listened in frustration as a phaser goes missing in a mix will love the Mini's propensity to stand out proudly via its pronounced treble peaks. These slightly overdriven shades add a compressed cohesiveness to the output.
It often sounds relatively bright and bigger in the bottom end compared to other analog phasers, and it can feel extra-sensitive to drive from hotter or trashier pickups like P-90s. Compared to a favorite vintage Phase 90 clone, for instance, the Ibanez adds more coloration to fundamental guitar tones. One of the Mini's most ear-grabbing attributes is its slightly less transparent voice.