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King Loudness « Not bad for a beginner »
Published on 08/14/11 at 19:41The Jackson JS-20 is a fairly low priced superstrat type guitar that is designed to be a way to get into owning a Jackson in a very affordable way. It features an Indian Cedro body, maple neck with rosewood fretboard and 22 frets, sealed chrome tuners, typical Strat style tremolo system (non locking of course) and an HSS pickup layout that is controlled by volume and tone knobs plus a 5 way toggle switch to get some variations on the typical pickup sounds. There's not much remarkable about this guitar (usually made in China or some other overseas factory) but it's basically designed to be a decent beginner's guitar that is backed by the Jackson name.
UTILIZATION
It's a medium weight guitar that feels fairly standard. It's not nearly as light as some of the more refined higher end superstrats, but it isn't a boat anchor like many guitars can be in this price range. The shape is pretty typical superstrat and it sits on the body quite well and is comfortable to hold and play. The upper fret access is decent on this guitar for sure. Getting to the 22nd fret is easy enough and the heel doesn't majorly get in the way of your hand. It's not quite as good as the Ibanez AANJ or a neckthrough guitar but for being what it is, it's not too bad.
Getting a good tone out of this guitar is pretty easy. I like that it's an HSS design which allows for more true single coil tones in addition to some humbucking tones too.
SOUNDS
This guitar is basically designed to sound like a reasonable facsimile of a higher end Jackson superstrat but at a bargain basement price. The stock pickups really are nothing to write home about as far as the tone goes. The single coils have little sparkle or jangle to them... the response is very flat and undefined. I like using the combination of neck/middle pickups for a bit of clean Hendrix tone but that's about it. The humbucker has a high output quality that works well for 80s style rock and metal, but isn't quite tight enough to get into modern metal tones without sounding thin. Considering that they're cheap OEM pickups they don't sound that bad, especially with distortion applied, but given that makes like GFS are available for $30 retail on average, there's really no reason to use these cheaper pickups.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Jackson JS20 is a decent attempt by the company to have a good low end version of their famed Dinky or Soloist style guitars. It's obviously not to the quality of even some of the mid level stuff and the parts are not of the best quality, but the craftsmanship is decent and when you get one that's setup well, you've got a great beginner's superstrat on your hands.
UTILIZATION
It's a medium weight guitar that feels fairly standard. It's not nearly as light as some of the more refined higher end superstrats, but it isn't a boat anchor like many guitars can be in this price range. The shape is pretty typical superstrat and it sits on the body quite well and is comfortable to hold and play. The upper fret access is decent on this guitar for sure. Getting to the 22nd fret is easy enough and the heel doesn't majorly get in the way of your hand. It's not quite as good as the Ibanez AANJ or a neckthrough guitar but for being what it is, it's not too bad.
Getting a good tone out of this guitar is pretty easy. I like that it's an HSS design which allows for more true single coil tones in addition to some humbucking tones too.
SOUNDS
This guitar is basically designed to sound like a reasonable facsimile of a higher end Jackson superstrat but at a bargain basement price. The stock pickups really are nothing to write home about as far as the tone goes. The single coils have little sparkle or jangle to them... the response is very flat and undefined. I like using the combination of neck/middle pickups for a bit of clean Hendrix tone but that's about it. The humbucker has a high output quality that works well for 80s style rock and metal, but isn't quite tight enough to get into modern metal tones without sounding thin. Considering that they're cheap OEM pickups they don't sound that bad, especially with distortion applied, but given that makes like GFS are available for $30 retail on average, there's really no reason to use these cheaper pickups.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Jackson JS20 is a decent attempt by the company to have a good low end version of their famed Dinky or Soloist style guitars. It's obviously not to the quality of even some of the mid level stuff and the parts are not of the best quality, but the craftsmanship is decent and when you get one that's setup well, you've got a great beginner's superstrat on your hands.