Jackson Stars ADK-01b

This is the same as the ADK-01. This main difference is that this one has a hard tail bridge where as the normal model has a floyd rose. This one is great for those who are looking for a decent player's guitar without dealing with the floyd. The guitar has the following specs:

Arched Basswood w/Flame Maple Veneer Top
Maple Bolt-On Neck
Rosewood Fretboard with Piranha Inlays
Hard tail bridge
PICKUPS : EMG-H3(Front & Rear)
One Volume
One Tone
EMG Afterburner
Three Way Switch

UTILIZATION

The guitar was put together decently. The neck joint on this wasn't too bad, and it's about the same as any average Fender or other mass production bolt-on guitar. The frets on this were decent, but don't expect to have the best fret job in the world. They could have been crowned a bit better, polished up some more and more time taken on the ends of the frets. Still, it's pretty good for what you're paying for. This model has the hard tail bridge, and I'm actually a floyd rose user. Because of that, I wasn't perfectly comfortable on this guitar, but it's kinda hard to fault it simply due to my personal preferences.

SOUNDS

The guitar has EMG H3 pickups installed in it. These are the passive versions of the EMG pickups. They're kinda like the "mid grade" passive pickups. The H4s tend to sound a little better, but it's not worth swapping them out as they all sound pretty average to being with. Passive EMGs just don't really sound that good, and I'm not sure why they make them. I guess it's simply to throw in these cheaper guitars. If you're going to keep this, I recommend replacing them with real EMGs or your choice of high quality pickups. The guitar has an EMG Afterburner, and it adds a huge amount of boost. On top of that, it adds a ton of noise, so be careful when you use it.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitar is average, and if you're looking for a cool looking guitar that doesn't cost a fortune, this could be something worth looking into. However, the basswood body kinda turns me off of this guitar. It doesn't seem to sound like a Jackson. It's more like an Ibanez, and while that isn't a bad thing, if I want a Jackson, I want that signature Jackson sound.