Ibanez Iceman Guitar Reviews
  • [Submit YOUR reviews of the guitar right here!]
    Updated February 26, 1999

  • Lee
    I kind of stumbled across my PS-10 Iceman. I have been a KISS fan since 1977 and although I've generally leaned towards Gene as my favorite member, it was Paul's Iceman I fell in love with. I saw the band during their Love Gun tour at the Cow Palace in San Fransico in 1977. I remember them dedicating "Rock And Roll All Nite" to Elvis who had died just recently. Anyway, in the years that followed I set out on a quest to find myself one of these bitchen guitars that my idols played.

    Notice I said "years"........

    I came to find that tracking down an Iceman, not just a PS-10 but ANY Iceman, was more than I had bargained for. And when I did happen to find one, it's owner was usually not interested in selling. These things are coveted by EVERYONE, let me tell you!

    Finally, in 1990, I chanced upon an orphaned Iceman in a little "hole-in-the- wall" music store in Lake Tahoe, NV. It wasn't a Paul Stanley model, but at that point I hardly cared. This little beauty was a tobacco sunburst IC-400 model built in August of '77 (yes, I did some bookwork LOL). After bartering with the store keeper a bit, I purchased the Ibanez for $500 (w/hardshell case). And the kicker is I was on my honeymoon!!

    Flash to 1992. I've had my Iceman awhile now and love it to bits but it just doesn't have "that look" like Paul's did. I decide to start looking for an actual PS-10. Venturing into my local music store, I talk to all my buddies at the store and tell them of my search. The manager of the guitar shop, whom I had built a good customer relationship with over the years, tells me he recently heard news that Ibanez would be re-releasing the PS-10 in a limited quantity of 200 units to comemorate it's 20 anniversary. Once I regained consciousness (LOL), I told him flat out, "ORDER ME ONE!!!" And order he did. That was in March. Finally, in MAY I got the call. My dream guitar had arrived!!! After all was said and done, I ended up paying a cool $1000 for my PS-10 with it's hardshell case.

    I've come to find that it is WELL worth the money. This thing cranks! I've had it 7 years now and it just keeps sounding better all the time. If you ever get the chance to blast one of these babies thru a Marshall stack, do it, and make sure that sucker is on 11! Aside from the Les Paul, this is what rock guitars should sound like. Warm, great tone, crisp highs, gritty lows and more than it's fair share of punch! The action is awesome, I use Ernie Ball regular slinky's by choice. Plug this guitar in and go! It looks great, plays great, sounds great, and it's signed by the man himself, Paul Stanley. I wanted the best and I got the best, the PS-10!!!

    P.S. My 20th anniversary edition is #46 out of the 200 (approx.) made. By the way, does anyone know when they plan to do a shattered mirror Iceman edition? LOL

  • Jerry Cornish
    Back in the fall of 1994, I noticed that the "Iceman" was reissued. It was released in the following editions: IC-300 (available in black or white), IC-350 (available in black or white), and the IC-500 (available in black only). The IC-500 was a premium mahogony/maple guitar with cosmo hardware and a carved top - it also sold for $1,500! So...being a KISS fan without that much ready-cash on hand at that time, I had to purchase the cheaper IC-300 which I got for $439 (this of course is the guitar that Paul has been smashing on stage on the Reunion tour). I got the guitar home and played around with it but was not too impressed. I pretty much bought the guitar because I have never (up until that point) been able to get my hands on a 'real' Iceman - the PS-10! Well, thankfully for me Ibanez reissued the Paul Stanley PS-10 in two versions in 1995. The first one being the PS-10LTD (this is the same one that Paul is offering signed, with gold hardware for about $1,800 - I called the number to get the price quote). The other, more affordable one was the PS-10II. I wanted this one because it looked like the PS-10 I fell in love with -- jet black with chrome hardware and abalone binding. The body is mahogony with a carved maple top and the rosewood fingerboard has pearl and abolone block inlays. The mirrored T-Rod cover has Paul's signature on it and it of course has the mirrored pick-guard and tail-piece ornament. The sound of the PS-10II if fantasticly improved over the IC-300 - but maybe it's in my head because I just think it looks wickedly cool! I was very lucky when I ordered my PS-10II back in January of 1995. I called evey guitar dealor in my area to get the lowest price quote and finally found a KISS fan who sold me the guitar for $699 and a case for $119! That's $300 lower than the '95 list price! It turned out that the PS-10II was made in the regular shops so the dealors had more room to deal with the price as opposed to the pricey PS-10LTD which was made in the cusom shop. That's when I discovered that it pays to shop around. The PS-10II was also offered in 1996 for an increased list price of $1,099. It was dropped after the 2-year run. I couldn't be happier with my PS-10II - I've wanted one since I was 12 years old when I first saw Paul use it in 1977 and I'm completely satisfied.
    21-year KISS fan, Jerry Cornish

  • Brian Wheeler
    Hello, my name is Brian Wheeler and I would like to tell you a little about the Ibanez Iceman.
    I bought my Iceman IC350 last Christmas. It is black with chrome hardware and a double locking Floyd Rose Licensed Tremolo. When I first saw the guitar in the store, I fell in love with it's awesome shape. So I immediately decided that I wanted that guitar! So I delt with the salesman on the price. I asked him if a case came with it and he said " Yeah, but it's 169$". I thought to myself, man, what am I getting into...

    So I asked him if he had a gigbag for it and he said "hold on, I'll check". So I waited a while until he came back with a gigbag that I knew would not fit. And after about 2 minutes of painstakingly trying to get it in there, he finally said "well, have you given anymore thought about the case"? So I said hell with it and bought the case too. If I remember correctly, I think the final price was about 700$ total. The case is quite luxurious with clothlike insides and a little storage compartment. It perfectly hugged the wild shape of the Iceman. So then I finally got it home. I was very anctious to play the thing through my Peavey Transtube 112 to see if it would deliver. Well, it did! I think that the Iceman has a very warm sound to it. My particular guitar has 2 Ibanez Axis humbucking pickups that are medium output. The double locking Floyd appears to be a high quality design. But I had a few problems with the intonation and the thing riding up on me. ( Hey, it was my first Floyd). I saw on the Ibanez guitar catalog that my guitar has been discontinued for 96'. But the guy at the Ibanez Iceman website said that they are collectors items if you happen to come across one. Most fans probably know that Paul Stanley does not play these regular Icemans, but his own model with mahogany and maple instead of the standard Basswood used in this. Even though this guitar has been discontinued, the almost identical IC300 version is still available. It has a regular tune-o-matic style bridge.(No Tremolo). And the same Axis humbuckers with Basswood body. So for good lucks and a nice sound, I think that the Ibanez Iceman is a good buy for all of you guitar playing Kiss lovers!
    Big Kiss fan,
    Brian Wheeler.