Sounds

The AV3H’s big bass character is paired with plenty of snap and bite, which creates impressive versatility. To this end, you can produce full-on dirty, rock-fuelled humbucker sounds to a clean, country twang with a tweak of the roll control.

The AVH3 lets you go from Cream to clean as easily as it lets you go from open and dynamic jazz to biting punk. This ability to tailor your tone lends itself to sculpting rock and R&B sounds and, like an ES-335, it deals with most other tones with a touch of class too, albeit at a much more palatable price.

Bridge pickup:

Both pickups:

Neck pickup:

Pros: Versatile; great neck profile; comfortable ‘tweaked classic’ shape.
Cons: Slightly rushed finish in places.

4 Stars

Verdict: An original take on the classic ES-335 that offers playability, tone to burn and genuine value.

Next: Ibanez Artcore AS93 price and spec