Hatsubai « A bit limited in tones »
Published on 11/01/11 at 17:49Scott Ian has been using Jackson guitars for pretty much as long as I can remember. For someone who has used them so long, it's somewhat surprising that it would take so long for him to get a signature model, but then again, I'm not a huge follower of Anthrax, so maybe he's had some in the past. The guitar features a mahogany body with a neck-thru mahogany neck, an ebony fretboard with 24 frets, lighting bolt inlays, a hard tail bridge, one Seymour Duncan Scott Ian signature pickup and one volume knob.
UTILIZATION
The guitar itself is put together pretty nice. One thing that really irks me is the way the finish ends and the neck beings. There's a very sloppy tape line right there, and it bothers me. Aside from that, the guitar is great. The fretwork on this was top notch, and getting low action was no issue. The mahogany neck felt very nice, and the guitar had a nice weight to it. The nut was cut quite well, so no issues there. The guitar has a hard tail bridge, and while I'm not a major fan of hard tail bridges, it's a pretty high quality hard tail. The rest of the guitar is on par for the course when it comes to stuff made by Jackson.
SOUNDS
The guitar only has one pickup, so it's more meant for you guys who hate the neck pickup more than anybody else. The pickup is a Seymour Duncan Scott Ian signature pickup. It's a very high output pickup, and it kind of reminds me of the X2N at times. There is a strong amount of bass, some slightly dipped mids and an even treble to round everything off. It's not the most versatile pickup I've ever tried, but it's not a one-trick pony, either. If you roll down the volume knob and switch to a clean channel, you can get some pretty cool clean tones. The pickup might sound a bit better in an alder bodied guitar, but that might just be my playing style. Considering I'm more of a lead player who likes smooth neck tones, the guitar didn't really do it for me, but it was still great sounding.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is nice, but keep in mind that you're very limited in the overall tones you can get with this thing. It's true that the pickup in this isn't a one trick pony, but you're not going to get much variety with this guitar considering you only have one pickup. Good guitar if you like Scott Ian, but I prefer the floyd one.
UTILIZATION
The guitar itself is put together pretty nice. One thing that really irks me is the way the finish ends and the neck beings. There's a very sloppy tape line right there, and it bothers me. Aside from that, the guitar is great. The fretwork on this was top notch, and getting low action was no issue. The mahogany neck felt very nice, and the guitar had a nice weight to it. The nut was cut quite well, so no issues there. The guitar has a hard tail bridge, and while I'm not a major fan of hard tail bridges, it's a pretty high quality hard tail. The rest of the guitar is on par for the course when it comes to stuff made by Jackson.
SOUNDS
The guitar only has one pickup, so it's more meant for you guys who hate the neck pickup more than anybody else. The pickup is a Seymour Duncan Scott Ian signature pickup. It's a very high output pickup, and it kind of reminds me of the X2N at times. There is a strong amount of bass, some slightly dipped mids and an even treble to round everything off. It's not the most versatile pickup I've ever tried, but it's not a one-trick pony, either. If you roll down the volume knob and switch to a clean channel, you can get some pretty cool clean tones. The pickup might sound a bit better in an alder bodied guitar, but that might just be my playing style. Considering I'm more of a lead player who likes smooth neck tones, the guitar didn't really do it for me, but it was still great sounding.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is nice, but keep in mind that you're very limited in the overall tones you can get with this thing. It's true that the pickup in this isn't a one trick pony, but you're not going to get much variety with this guitar considering you only have one pickup. Good guitar if you like Scott Ian, but I prefer the floyd one.