View other reviews for this product:
Hatsubai « Old school Jackson quality »
Published on 09/23/11 at 09:54This guitar happens to be my favorite production model Jackson. While the Soloists are nice, I generally prefer the feel and snap of the bolt-on models, and thankfully, they have this model to help appease people like me. The guitar is pretty much the same as a Soloist but with a thinner neck and a bolt-on configuration. The guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with an ebony fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with sharkfin inlays, an original floyd rose, two EMG humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The fretwork on this was awesome. I was able to get some super low action on this without any issues of fretting out or choking during certain spots. All of the frets were nicely leveled and had a very strong crown going on. The ends were also very smooth, and they didn't cut your hand up all the time like certain other guitars might. The neck joint was nice and tight, and I had no issues getting up to the higher frets, although I'm sure some people out there would find something to complain about since some feel neck-thru is superior for whatever reason. The bridge on this is the original floyd rose bridge, and it happens to be my favorite floyd bridge out there. All in all, extremely solid without any real flaws.
SOUNDS
The guitar had an EMG 81 in the bridge and an EMG 85 in the neck. The EMG 81 in the bridge works great for high gain metal riffs, and this is what I generally play when I pick up Jacksons. They're linear, but they're also very direct and in-your-face. They're a bit sterile with lower gain and clean stuff, but that's not really what I was looking for with this guitar. The EMG 85 works wonders for those fat and smooth lead tones. It's very powerful, and it can even deliver a decent clean tone if you have a clean enough amp. While it lacks overall versatility with these pickups, it gains something when it comes to metal.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are some of my absolute favorite Jacksons. If I had to pick only one Jackson from the production line up, it would be this one. They're killer guitars, and they have all of the specs that I tend to look for in a guitar when I'm buying one. You can find some great deals on these as well since everyone seems to be moving towards ESP.
UTILIZATION
The fretwork on this was awesome. I was able to get some super low action on this without any issues of fretting out or choking during certain spots. All of the frets were nicely leveled and had a very strong crown going on. The ends were also very smooth, and they didn't cut your hand up all the time like certain other guitars might. The neck joint was nice and tight, and I had no issues getting up to the higher frets, although I'm sure some people out there would find something to complain about since some feel neck-thru is superior for whatever reason. The bridge on this is the original floyd rose bridge, and it happens to be my favorite floyd bridge out there. All in all, extremely solid without any real flaws.
SOUNDS
The guitar had an EMG 81 in the bridge and an EMG 85 in the neck. The EMG 81 in the bridge works great for high gain metal riffs, and this is what I generally play when I pick up Jacksons. They're linear, but they're also very direct and in-your-face. They're a bit sterile with lower gain and clean stuff, but that's not really what I was looking for with this guitar. The EMG 85 works wonders for those fat and smooth lead tones. It's very powerful, and it can even deliver a decent clean tone if you have a clean enough amp. While it lacks overall versatility with these pickups, it gains something when it comes to metal.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are some of my absolute favorite Jacksons. If I had to pick only one Jackson from the production line up, it would be this one. They're killer guitars, and they have all of the specs that I tend to look for in a guitar when I'm buying one. You can find some great deals on these as well since everyone seems to be moving towards ESP.