SeriesJackson X

Jacksons new X series is a good alternative for people wanting a neck through Jackson but do not want to pay thousands for a USA or Custom shop model. These guitars are some of the cheapest neck though guitars you can get in the market. Jackson is trying to market these like the old Pro series. This is the RRT model of the X series. This is the hardtail RR model. The guitar has a neck through body with a maple neck. The body is made from basswood The neck has a 22 fret rosewood fretboard with Jacksons signature shark fin inlays. The neck and headstock are fully bound. It has a tune-o-matic bridge with the strings going through the body. It has two Seymour Duncan humbuckers. They are Duncan Design pickups so they are slightly lower end Seymoour Duncans. The controls are simple with a volume for each pickup with a master tone and a 3 way toggle switch. UTILIZATION The neck through design means there is no heel so that is good too. Jacksons at these levels come with compound radius necks. This means that on the higher frets the radius is flatter making it easy to bend but on the low frets its more curved making chords more comfortable. The hardtail bridge means you have excellent tuning stability. The Jumbo frets let you really dig in and get a good action on the strings. The offset V shape provides good balance but the highest frets are kind of hard to reach because they are a bit deep into the body. SOUNDS The Duncan Design pickups are alright. They are not as good as a JB/Jazz set but the DNA is there. They are better than what you would have normally recieved in a guitar like this a few years ago. I would have preferred a set of active EMG's like some of the other X series guitars have but this is better than EMG HZ's. These pickups are pretty versatile even though this is a metal guitar. The bridge has nice crunch and decent compression which keeps the clarity good. The neck pickup is decently smooth. It kind of sounds like a Jazz clone. Its smooth but retains enough bite to not be muddy. It is alright. You could certainly get by with these pickups. OVERALL OPINION The X series is a nice line of guitars and it is well priced. You get much of the same features as the USA models but with import prices. If you dropped a set of high end pickups in this guitar it would sound every bit as good as a USA made RR1T. If you are looking at buying a Jackson I would check out one of these X series guitars before you go dropping a ton of money on a USA made model. You can save a ton of money by getting one of these instead and upgrading it to your liking.

This is Jackson's new line of wallet friendly guitars. A clear nod to what ESP's LTD and Schecter are doing with moderately priced guitars with some higher end features. That includes a maple neck through the basswood body, Tonepros locking bridge, EMG HZ passive pickups (on this version), and the very quick 12" to 16" compound radius neck that Jackson is known for. These are made in China, but a high quality build. A bonus perk is Jackson's supplier chain transparency clause that rules out sweat shops. Out of the box, mine needed a good bit of adjustment. I gave it a full turn on the truss rod and I've got about 3 dead spot notes on the neck (14-20th frets) that I haven't dealt with yet. The two EMG HZ pickups have a universal volume and tone with a 3 way selector switch. UTILIZATION This guitar, like nearly all in the Soloist line is a comfortable super-Strat style shred guitar. It's meant to be played and a lot. It's relatively light and has a really nicely carved heel that gives you really easy access all the way down it's 24 frets. It's really easy to use this guitar through long practices or shows without getting any feeling of flimsiness or shoulder fatigue. SOUNDS I'm not a fan of the passive HZ pickups. I think they do a decent job, but I pretty immediately swapped them out for a set of Seymour Duncan active Blackouts. Those aren't my go to EMG actives, but I decided to do a little different and will probably swap those out pretty immediately. That said, the Blackouts are a little more articulate but bump the lows more into the upper mid range which I'm not a huge fan of. This basswood seems a bit more mid heavy and muddy than the punchier alder that the higher end Soloists use. I think the edgier EMG 81 is a pretty usable fix for this situation and I would have no problem using this guitar live without feeling the need to re-EQ my amp once that pickup is swapped. Obviously that sound preference is a matter of taste, but playing more blackened death metal, my amp is on the scooped side based off of the sound of an 81 in the bridge. I do think the Blackouts in this guitar are a better suit for cleaner styles of playing since that articulation counters the (most-likely cheaper) basswood body. I'm putting the sound at 7 in comparison to the higher end Soloists. If anyone tells you that this cheaper version is just as good, they're either happier with the basswood body or probably don't have an ear for it. I think this guitar looks and feels great, but the sound is where the comparison fails a bit. Totally usable and by all accounts a really solid sounding guitar for the price, but it's all relative. OVERALL OPINION The downside to the X Series is the short cuts. If you can live with the basswood body, you'll be good, everything else is easily changeable. I bought this guitar primarily for it's neck and I have absolutely no regrets there. It's comfortable, easy to play, and really easy to get around. I've played a number of Soloists and I think this is a solid homage to their pricier relatives. For this price range, it's hard to beat. But it has it's downsides. The Jackson branded tuners aren't great. I swapped them out immediately for locking Sperzel tuners. The 3-way switch, pots, and input jack, from my experience aren't great on the X Series. With a bit of play you could quickly see their quality drop and get some crackling that you wouldn't want to hear on a relatively new guitar. The good part is that those are fairly easy and cheap fixes, in fact, most new pickup sets come with higher quality parts, which is what I ended up using. In my opinion, the upsides of a maple neck through, excellent neck, fine looking guitar and upgraded Tonepros locking bridge, more than compensate. If you're just getting started, you should feel fortunate that a guitar like this is available in this price range. If you're looking for a touring, back up or whatever guitar, just know that you're better off doing some quick modifications and you'll still be ahead of the curve for the quality.

I am an amateur guitarist, I've only been investing serious time into learning for the past six months. I've been using an old Fender Acoustic that was given to me by my uncle. I am serious about learning to play guitar (possibly making up for not playing any instruments when I was younger - but I'm still only 18). I've been learning to play on acoustic and an Ibanez electric bass I got a good deal on. Trying to find which type of guitar I enjoy playing most - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, or bass - I went down to Guitar Center with plans on picking up a cheap electric to play on. I played a few electrics in the $200-500 range before venturing into the Acoustic section for the fun of it. A friend had said how nice Martins were, so I played around with a few as well as some $2000-3000 Taylors. Then I saw this nice martin sitting there with a $499 price tag. I played it for about 45 minutes and was astonished. Even not knowing a whole lot about playing guitar, I immediately noticed how amazing this thing was. The only guitar I played there that I liked more was a $2999 Taylor. I abandoned my plans for an electric and bought the DX-1. Amazing sound, amazing feel, just an astonishing guitar. Can't beat the price either. If it can really even be considered a negative, it doesn't have the stylish looks as some of the higher end guitars or even my glossy black Fender. But the sound and feel is a whole lot more important than the looks. One word: Astonishing. Unless you're Jimmy Page, I don't think you can go wrong with this guitar. It's only my second guitar, and it will be the one I mature as a guitarist on. I can't see any reason I'll ever need to buy another acoustic. I'm probably better off learning on an acoustic anyway. As an amateur guitarist, I could not justify (even if I could afford it) spending $1000+ on a guitar, but this Martin has just as good as (if not better) sound and feel for a very nice price. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this guitar from Music 123. Musician's Friend did not carry this model or I would have bought it there. It looked like a good guitar for the money. It is my first Jackson and I am very pleased. IT was reccomended by a friend. Plus, it has a duncan firestorm boost switch. I paid $475.99 for the guitar new. I like the quality of this guitar. It feels very well made. The color (transparent red) is really cool too. It looks much better than in the pictures. The Floyd Rose licensed double locking tremelo works very well. The Duncan designed pickups sound good. They are based on the SH6 Seymour Duncan USA pickups. The main difference is that the ones on this guitar are made in Korea. The firestorm boost switch is really neat. It gives you a 0-25 db boost with the flick of a switch. The inlays and reverse headstock looks great. Everything about this guitar sounds and looks good. I didn't know that the boost switch takes a 9 volt battery. No litterature was included about the guitar. This would help a lot. The guitar is slightly heavy, but no big deal. This guitar feels very well made. I can't wait to see a Jackson USA to see how much better it is. This is an excellent guitar for the price. It has good electronics, is well made, and looks terrific. I just would like to get my hands on a Jackson USA. I haven't gotten a case for the guitar yet, but I heard the current Jackson cases are not the best. I think I will go with a Gator Stealth case. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

i tried it out today at a music ahop near me for about half an hour everything is great. The shape is nice looking and easy to use and its not top heavy like the gibson/epiphone flying vs. The pickups are smooth because its only 2 humbuckers. my ibanez s370 has 2 humbuckers and a single coil and i dnt need the single coil and i find it so easy to use playing a guitar with just 2 humbuckers. the neck is great and so is the tremelo system. Nothing. i read a review where someones bad points were all about the floyd rose and the fact it didnt have a tone knob. for the tone knob youve got one on your distortion pedal use that. for the floyd rose? it takes a long time to restring it yes but the advantages are vast. BRILLIANT tremelo arm system. You will barely ever have to tune it after youve restrung it so the strings stay at the same tightness so it takes about 4 months for me to break strings sometimes. It takes a long time to restring and tune but its worth it because it lasts a HELL of alot longer than a normal bridge. And yes its ont great for playing sitting down but then play standing up it keeps your practiose for concerts better. brilliant as long as youve got a good gig bag or hardcase (i reccomend the hardcase) Brilliant guitar need the money and im definately getting it This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

shopped online for a new bass and was sure i wanted a jackson (megadeth faithful) fell in love with the kbx styling and had to have it got mine at online stage gear for $499 and the guy even threw in a g&g hardshell case i like everything about my jackson from the trans red finish to the ease of operation quick string changes and the rock solid tones it puts out if i had to find a flaw i would say it is a little on the heavy side but if you keep moving with the tunes and dont stand still you hardly notice it very well built top of the line components plays great and sounds even better wouldnt give it up for the world in my opinion irreplaceable This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought it at GCs after Christmas sale. I was looking for a new guitar, and I knew I wanted this one about 3 months ago butwas just waiting to get a good deal somewhere. I paid $275 marked down from $410. The V body looks awesome. The paint (black) is well done and not cheap looking. The Duncan designed pickups are the best stock pups I've heard in a guitar under $600 IMO. The clean sound is amazing, but the bridge is decent. The tune o matic bridge is nicer than I thought it would be. The sharkfin inlays look killer, and the neck is REALLY FAST. Theres a very small paint chip on the bottom fin. Someone must of bumped it before I bought it because I noticed it within 10 minutes of getting home. Very good construction. It's solid and pretty sturdy. The MIJ's are nicer than the Indian ones. The quality is outstanding. Feels better than my friends ESP for almost half the price (more than half if take the sale price) This guitar is awesome. If you want a good looking, good playing guitar without dropping a fortune, get this. All it needs is a pup change to become a real killer guitar, gut the DDs arent bad for stock. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Model Name: Dinky™ DKXT Series: X Series Color / MSRP* / Part # : Black $599.99 291-6100-503 Snow White $599.99 291-6100-576 Transparent Red $666.65 291-6100-590 products specs body Body: (503, 590) Basswood (576) Basswood (with Quilt Maple Veneer on Transparent Color only) Body Shape: Dinky™ Body Finish: (2916100503, 2916100590) Polyester 2916100576 Polyurethane products specs neck Neck Shape: Bolt-On Maple Speed Neck with Tilt-Back Scarf Joint Headstock Number of Frets: 24 Fret Size: Jumbo Position Inlays: Pearloid Sharkfin Fretboard Radius: 12” to 16” Compound Radius (304.8 mm to 406.4 mm) Fretboard: Rosewood Neck Material: Maple Nut Width: 1.6875" (43 mm) Scale Length: 25.5" (64.8 cm) Headstock: Jackson® Pointed 6 In-Line products specs electronics Pickup Configuration: H/H Bridge Pickup: EMG® HZ H4-B Pickup (Bridge) Neck Pickup: EMG® HZ H4-AN Pickup (Neck) Pickup Switching: 3-Position Blade: Position 1: Neck Pickup, Position 2: Neck and Bridge Pickup, Position 3: Bridge Pickup products specs hardware Bridge: TonePros® Fully Adjustable Bridge with Through-Body Strings Tuning Machines: Sealed Die-Cast Tuners products specs miscellaneous Strings: NPS, Gauges: .009, .011, .016, .024, .032, .042 Unique Features: Arched Top, Tone Pros® Bridge, EMG® HZ Pickups products specs accessories Control Knobs: Metal Dome, Black Knurl UTILIZATION It's a Jackson, so it plays like a Ferrari drives - FAST. The string action is impeccable, and the fretwork is really nice for this price area. The sharkfin inlays are mega-cool, as is the pointy Jackson headstock. The tuners are very stable - I didn't have to re-tune once in an hour and a half of extreme shredding and bends! The fact that this axe has a TonePros bridge and a through-the-body stringing increases the sustain a lot, so it's a big, powerful-feeling guitar to play. And the quilted veneer with the transparent red finish is just breath-taking! SOUNDS It sounds good, but it doesn't sound as good as it plays or looks. The EMG HZ pickups are a bit weak to my ears. I adjusted the height upward, to try and get more power from the strings, but it didn't do a whole lot for the tone. It's not that the pickups sound bad - they still sound better than most in this price range - I just thought that since the guitar plays sooooo well and has gorgeous cosmetics, this is just a tad lacking. The sounds are great for metal and rock, even jazz fusion, but I'd still think about replacing these pickups with some good Seymour Duncans. OVERALL OPINION Overall, this is a very good instrument. Any shredders wanting to get serious with a step-up instrument ought to consider this Jackson very seriously. With 24 frets, great natural resonance and acoustic sustain, and some decent pickups, this is a nice instrument to develop the finer points of advanced guitar techniques. With just a bit more money put into this, namely in the area of some better pickups, this guitar could be absolutely scary good. 8 out of 10.

Jacksons new X series is a new line of guitars that brings the quality and construction of a USA made Jackson with the price point of an import Jackson. All the guitars are built with the same methods of the USA Custom Shop Jackson guitars but the woods are different and some of the hardware is different and it cuts the price in half if not more. This guitar is the King V model with the red bevels. This guitar kind of reminds me of the new RR models with the painted bevels. This model has a few upgrades. The body is made out of basswood with a maple neck through neck. Neck through construction just like a USA model. The maple neck has a rosewood fretboard with a compound radius and 24 jumbo frets. The bridge is an upgraded tonepros unit that locks in place making string changes easy and giving you a bit more sustain. The pickups in this example where upgraded with the new EMG James Hetfield JH set up. Normally it would come with a set of passive EMG's. UTILIZATION Playability is the name of the game with Jackson guitars. These guitars carry the torch well. They keep on the tradition of great playability all at a price more people can afford. The compound radius fretboard means it plays comfortably on both ends of the neck. On the low end of the neck the radius is more round so you can play chords more comfortably and on the high end of the neck the raidus is flatter so you can slam the action down and rip some leads effortlessly. The neck through design means there is no heel to get in the way when you are playing on the upper frets. The shape also helps with upper fret access. The body shape is more comfortable than it looks. The light basswood body means the guitar doesnt weigh you down when you are playing. The tonepros bridge is great and locks in place. All it needs is locking tuners. SOUNDS The stock passive EMG's this guitar comes with are okay pickups for the price. If you upgrade anything on this guitar let it be the pickups. It will really wake this guitar up and give you all the tone of a flagship model Jackson. The customer had this guitar fitted with the new EMG James Hetfield setup. People are finally coming around to these pickups and in a big way. This pickup set is essentially an 81 and 60 setup but with event more fullness and a bit of a passive edge to it. The bridge position is slightly less dark than the stock 81. People seem to not like the neck pickup as much. I think they are forgetting its basically an EMG 60 which hardly anyone liked before. It too has a bit more of a passive edge to it. With these pickups you can hardly tell this guitar is made out of basswood instead of alder like a USA model would have been made out of. OVERALL OPINION These X series guitars are super solid well built guitars. Before with Jackson you had the USA stuff on the super high end and their super low end stuff that was just junk. There was hardly anything in the midrange. But not there are good guitars that combine the affordability of the import guitars with the quality and construction of the USA models. If you have some money to spend and are looking for a King V this is a good option. If you plan on upgrading it you might as well save some money first and get this model. With some upgrades it is every bit as good as the USA model and even with the upgrades it is still cheaper.

You don't see too many neck-thru guitars with these kinds of specs, and in my opinion, there's a reason for it. Jackson is reviving the X series guitars, and they're a bit of a mixed bag on certain things. The guitar features a basswood body with a maple veneer top, a maple neck-thru neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with sharkfin inlays, a licensed floyd rose bridge, two real EMG humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar is a neck-thru design guitar, so access to the upper frets is an absolute breeze. There's pretty much nothing at the higher register to get in the way, and reading that last fret is as easy as can be, really. The guitar had a decent weight that was right around the 7 lb mark, so while it's not exactly "super light" as they say, it's still a pretty light guitar. The frets on this were decent, and I was able to get some nice action with it. The bridge is one if the main weak points of this guitar. It's a licensed bridge that I'm not a huge fan of. One thing that was really annoying was that the arm wasn't perfectly tight in the cavity, even with it screwed down all the way. SOUNDS The guitar itself is mostly maple thanks to its neck-thru design, but the wings are made out of alder. This is a somewhat odd combination of woods, but it's not too much of a big deal thanks to the EMGs installed in it. Before anyone starts, no, EMGs do not sound the same in every single guitar. However, they sound a lot more linear than other pickups in guitars, and I find they're more "compatible" than a passive might be. The guitar had an EMG 81/85 combo, and anybody who has played these knows they work out quite well for heavy metal. For other geners, they're a bit lacking, but for metal, they can do that melodeath/death metal sound with ease. They're compressed, tight and linear enough to get the job done for those who want that awesome grind you normally hear from actives. OVERALL OPINION The guitar is a pretty good guitar, and while the bridge isn't too bad, it's still something that I'd like to see changed up. The pickups in this are good enough to stand on their own, and there's no need to replace them. The guitars are also cheap enough to where you won't break the bank buying one of these, and you can have a pretty good "bang for your buck" guitar.

Jackson has started releasing their new X series guitars lately. They're different from the older X series, so keep that in mind. These are meant for people who want a decent quality guitar but without the huge price tag that normally comes with it. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple neck-thru neck, a rosewood fretboard with 24 frets, sharkfin inlays, a licensed floyd rose bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar was actually put together fairly nicely. The inlays were done quite well, so there was no issue there. I didn't notice any major fillers in the fretboard. The fretwork was pretty solid for the price. It wasn't perfect, but it was more than usable, and I was able to get some real low action without any issues. The bridge on this is a licensed floyd rose. It's not the best in the world, but I've played worse. It would be worth swapping it for either an original or a Gotoh version, in my opinion. The rest of the guitar was pretty much standard. SOUNDS The first thing I should mention is that this guitar does not have the "standard" Jackson tone woods. In fact, maple with basswood wings is pretty unique. Not many manufacturers use this combo, and I'm not sure how good it really sounds. It's kinda odd. The pickups are licensed Duncan pickups that don't really sound that inspiring. They average pickups that I think are most likely going to get replaced by serious guitarists. If you're going to replace them, be sure to get some pickups that aren't too overly bright as the maple neck-thru design can really get piercing at times if you're not careful. Then again, it depends on what kind of tone you're going for and how that particular guitar sounds. OVERALL OPINION I really like the color on this, and while there are features of this guitar I'm not crazy about (basswood wings, the licensed floyd and cheap pickups), the overall guitar is pretty decent for what you're getting. If you wait for these things to hit the used market, with a few mods, they'll be strong contenders if you ask me.

The DX10 is part of the lower end model lineup that Jackson puts out for guitarists who are just starting out. It's not a guitar meant for those who are really serious about playing guitar, in my opinion. While some of these are pretty killer, a lot of them are very inconsistent and just not something I would consider high quality. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 frets, dot inlays, two humbuckers, a licensed floyd, one volume, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar had one major issue right off the bat, and it was the neck joint. The neck joint on this guitar was pretty loose, and it can cause a problem with both tuning stability and tone. It's a bit disappointing to see this. For those wondering how it can cause tuning issues, if the neck gets bumped real hard, the high e can fall off of it, and the change in tension due to the neck being off center can cause some issues. The fretwork on this was very mediocre, but it's about what you'd expect from these kinds of guitars. It's no different from any other lower end guitar when it comes to this aspect. The floyd on this is a licensed floyd that has pot metal or something for the baseplate, and it just doesn't sound or feel good. SOUNDS The guitar has stock humbuckers in it that I believe are meant to sound like Seymour Duncan pickups, but in reality, they don't sound anything like the actual ones they're trying to mimic. The bridge sounds like a very bland high output pickup, and it doesn't really sound that great. The neck is much the same in that it's a very boring sounding pickup. I wasn't able to get the tone I was looking for in these pickups, and if you're going to replace these, be sure that the actual body wood itself sounds good. A lot of these have dead sounding basswood bodies, and it's not exactly the best platform to start out with. That's not to say basswood is bad; it's just that these don't utilize a very high quality basswood from what I've experienced. OVERALL OPINION These guitars are meant for either the super budget minded individual or somebody who just wants a cheap Jackson for whatever reason, be it a beginner or someone who just wants something cheap to throw around. You're probably better off buying something like an Agile or a used LTD instead of getting one of these, in my opinion.