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tjon901 « My favorite Jackson »
Published on 06/14/11 at 21:37The Soloist SLSMG stands out in the Jackson line. The specs to me are perfect for a guitar like this. The specs are a little different that what you would get on most soloist guitars. The guitar has a mahogany body and neck opposed to alder and maple like you would find on normal soloists. The construction is neck through so they did not skimp on the design. It has a compound radius ebony fretboard with small inlays on the edge of the fretboard for a clean look. It has dual EMG pickups. It has an EMG 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck a classic combination which I think is better than the 81 and 60 combination. The guitar is a hardtail bridge. Stop the presses. You can have a shred guitar without a tremolo. It has a tune-o-matic style bridge with string through stop tail. With the string through design the strings are going through the same wood that makes up the neck. It has a master volume and master tone with a 3 way pickup selector.
UTILIZATION
The playability on this guitar is outstanding and I think it is better than an SL1. The ebony fretboard is super smooth and the jumbo frets let you get a super easy action. The compound radius fretboard means your chords at the low end are nice and comfy while your bends and solos at the high end are greasy fast. Without the locking tremolo system you get rock solid tuning stability and it doesnt take all week to change tunings. I like being able to go from E to D or anything else like that on a whim whenever I want. This guitar lets me do this. With the soloist body you can play every fret with ease and no wood is in your way.
SOUNDS
This guitar is a beast. With the mahogany body and neck this guitar has a huge sound. Normal soloists with alder bodies will give more of a sharp 80s sound that really cuts. This guitar with its mahogany body really knocks walls down. The EMG's sound great too. I like to put the 85 in the bridge. The 85 gives a bit thicker sound then the 81 so when it is in the bridge position on a guitar like this the tone is crushing. The 81 is not great in the neck position though. With the 81 in the bridge you get your traditional high end 81 sound. It gives nice clarity and bite although it does not sound as huge at the 85 in the bridge. If you want even more crushing tone you can do the 18v mod to the EMG's. With the 18v mod you run the EMG pickups on two 9v batteries instead of just one. This gives you more headroom over all and more clarity. It will make your clean tones sound better too by giving them a more natural organic quality.
OVERALL OPINION
I love this guitar. A shred guitar with an ebony fretboard and a hardtail bridge. You do not see that a lot. And it comes from the factory with EMG pickups. Some of the best pickups out there for heavy music. A shred guitar with a mahogany body. Call me a madman but it works great. The EMG's in a mahogany body sound crushing. So if you want a guitar with a huge sound and the best playability on the market the SLSMG Jackson is an awesome option.
UTILIZATION
The playability on this guitar is outstanding and I think it is better than an SL1. The ebony fretboard is super smooth and the jumbo frets let you get a super easy action. The compound radius fretboard means your chords at the low end are nice and comfy while your bends and solos at the high end are greasy fast. Without the locking tremolo system you get rock solid tuning stability and it doesnt take all week to change tunings. I like being able to go from E to D or anything else like that on a whim whenever I want. This guitar lets me do this. With the soloist body you can play every fret with ease and no wood is in your way.
SOUNDS
This guitar is a beast. With the mahogany body and neck this guitar has a huge sound. Normal soloists with alder bodies will give more of a sharp 80s sound that really cuts. This guitar with its mahogany body really knocks walls down. The EMG's sound great too. I like to put the 85 in the bridge. The 85 gives a bit thicker sound then the 81 so when it is in the bridge position on a guitar like this the tone is crushing. The 81 is not great in the neck position though. With the 81 in the bridge you get your traditional high end 81 sound. It gives nice clarity and bite although it does not sound as huge at the 85 in the bridge. If you want even more crushing tone you can do the 18v mod to the EMG's. With the 18v mod you run the EMG pickups on two 9v batteries instead of just one. This gives you more headroom over all and more clarity. It will make your clean tones sound better too by giving them a more natural organic quality.
OVERALL OPINION
I love this guitar. A shred guitar with an ebony fretboard and a hardtail bridge. You do not see that a lot. And it comes from the factory with EMG pickups. Some of the best pickups out there for heavy music. A shred guitar with a mahogany body. Call me a madman but it works great. The EMG's in a mahogany body sound crushing. So if you want a guitar with a huge sound and the best playability on the market the SLSMG Jackson is an awesome option.