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Ibanez AW140 QMECE Electro Acoustic Guitar

 

Review of the Ibanez AW140 by The Man in the Jar 

This is a very handsome Dreadnought guitar with single cutaway.

Features of the Ibanez AW140  

Tuners - Sealed Grover tuners in gold with nice fat kidney knobs. As can be expected from Grovers they are smooth and accurate and hold the tuning impeccably. 

Headstock - Traditional and simple, the paddle headstock holds the Grovers three to a side. The face is stained dark and finished in a high gloss lacquer. It bears the Ibanez brand and the AW logo in a subtle abalone.

Nut - Modern style nut made from a hard plastic made by Ibanez called Ivorex. Everything here is tidy and well finished.

Neck - A single piece of mahogany forms this beautifully slim neck. Like many Ibanez Acoustic models the slimness of the neck would not be out of place on an electric guitar. It's instantly playable and in my book that makes it instantly likeable. 

Fretboard - The dark rosewood fretboard is decorated with an elaborate creeping vine inlaid in rainbow abalone. The pairs of leaves on the vine correspond with the normal positions of fretmarkers. This arrangement is very beautiful if a little confusing at first. But as this is a dreadnought-size guitar it's more likely you'll be relying on the black dot markers placed along the white binding on the upper edge of the fretboard. 

Frets - The thin frets are nicely polished. 

Action - The action is set to medium to give maximum space for string resonance while the slimness of the neck allows barre chords to be played right up to the 12th fret. The heel of the neck starts behind the 12th fret and the fretboard joins the body at the 14th. The cutaway allows access beyond the 14th but you will be leaving your thumb behind on the heel.

Body - The dreadnought body has a solid top made from Engelmann spruce in two pieces. The back and sides are made from a very beautiful quilted maple. Visually, the natural finish model I tried is a beautifully well-balanced collection of wood tones, with the mahogany, maple and spruce blending and contrasting nicely. Being a dreadnought, the body is quite deep. But this is offset visually by quite thick white binding to both the back and front of the body. The soundhole has thin abalone and pinstripe rosette and these are complimented by a pinstripe binding around the edge of the top. 

Bridge - The rosewood bridge holds an Ivorex saddle which is compensated at the second string and specially strengthened bridge pins. The design of the bridge is called "Ramparts". This is because there are little slots cut in front of each string as it leaves the saddle. This is to give you scope to drop the action as far as you choose without interference from the bridge.

Pickups - The AW140 is equipped with a Fishman Sonicore bridge pickup and a floating internal microphone. These two sources can be blended together at the control panel. 

Controls - The control panel is set in the top of the guitar's body at the upper bout. There's an onboard tuner which is simple to use and accurate. Turning on the tuner mutes the output, useful for performance, but remember to turn it off again before you launch into Pinball Wizard. Once tuned you have the option of Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass and Brilliance all on mini sliders. The Mic Level Blend is operated by a little roller wheel.  

Pickguard - Mock tortoiseshell teardrop.

Strap-buttons - One large button at the bottom of the body and one behind the heel.

Output - The output jack is inserted into a hole in the strap button on the bottom of the body.

Finish - Really good, this is a very handsome guitar.

Accessories - Spare saddle and one spare bridge pin.

 

Sound of the Ibanez AW140 

Acoustically the AW140 has a lovely, new brightness in the highs that is backed by the authority and depth of mid and bass tone that one can expect from the dreadnought body dimensions. It's also a very loud guitar. This translates extremely well to the amplified sound but like most electro-acoustics a "natural" element of the acoustic sound seems to be lost. This is where the Mic Blend control saves the day. The effect is subtle but good. The mic, situated inside behind the soundhole, adds a certain timbre to the mids that crisps up the sound and makes it feel more "natural" to the ear. The mic is post-EQ but pre-Volume so cannot be used alone. So turning the Volume right down and the Mic Blend right up will result in silence, it does not mean the mic is faulty.

Fishman have thoughtfully provided a number of EQ settings in the manual for Fingerstyle, Scooped Mid, Strummer and Cut-Through. These are a good way to get familiar with the preamp and EQ system and begin to explore the wide range of sounds available.   

 

Overall Impressions of the Ibanez AW140 

Classic good looks, extremely playable neck, beautiful chiming acoustic tone and a lovely "naturally enhanced" amplified tone make this guitar a winner in all departments. Only two things might prevent you from being happy with this instrument; the dreadnought size will be uncomfortable for smaller bodied people and the internal microphone is mounted in foam rubber which will perish in twenty years (if you want to be that picky!).    

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