I will preface my review by stating I have owned, or still own, a large variety of guitars. From cheap to expensive. Harley Benton, Ernie Ball, PRS, Tom Anderson, Jackson, Fender, G&L, Heritage, Ibanez, Gibson. Most of these are the top of the line guitars.
This guitar hits the sweet spot in my opinion.
The setup was pretty much spot on - it plays clean in all registers across the neck. no dead spots.
I also own Ibanez signature models, steve vai and joe satriani.
This RG550 is just as good. (which surprised me)
The guitar doesn't really have a specific sound that can be instantly recognized, which I like, it's a jack of all trades.
Now I know this type of guitar is usually classified/marketed as a shredder guitar (whatever that means) but it can do a lot more than that.
It sounds good playing clean in all pickup configurations clean too.
So, all in all, I would say that it plays as good as a guitar that costs 3 times more, it doesn't really have a distinct sound on it's own, but it gets pretty damn close to all. This guitar is a all trick pony.