Hatsubai « P90 power »
Published on 10/03/11 at 15:57This is a bit of a different step for Jackson. Where as they were normally known for their humbuckers and single coils, they decided to switch it up a bit for those who prefer the P90 pickups. Not many people seem to use P90s for whatever reason, but they're great pickups. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, a maple neck-thru design with an ebony fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with the piranha inlays, binding, a hard tail bridge, two P90 pickups, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The quilted on this looked very classy. It had good figuring, and the burst finish helped give it some character that you wouldn't normally see from a plain, clear coated version. The ebony on this was also pure black, and there were no streaks in it. This is good or bad, depending at how you look at it. I don't think it was dyed, however. The neck-thru design of this really helped with upper fret access. Sometimes, the neck joint can get in the way at higher frets, and it can be a real pain for lead work, but these neck-thru designs help eliminate that issue, albeit at a change in tone. The bridge on this is your standard hard tail, and it's good, but I'm not a super huge fan of hard tail bridges.
SOUNDS
The guitar features two P90s, and they absolutely rip. For anybody who has never played P90s before, you really need to check them out. They're like the adult version of single coils. Where as single coils have this very strong top end, P90s help bring that top end into check and give it some more character, I've found. They're more polite sounding, and they can get that super "vowely" kind of sound without any issues at all. The bridge in this had enough output for metal, but it was more setup for rock than anything else. It worked great through a cranked Marshall, and you could really get a feel for how the guitar truly resonated once you started cranking things up. The neck pickup was awesome for those sick blues leads, but I kind of wish it had just a touch more output for me, but I'm primarily a metal player, so I need all the handicaps I can get.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a performance oriented P90 guitar, you'll definitely want to check this guitar out. It's not quite as versatile as some of the other Jackson models, but it's up there when it comes to delivering a great P90 sound. On top of that, the craftsmanship was top notch. There were very few flaws I discovered in this instrument. If it had a floyd, I would have probably kept it.
UTILIZATION
The quilted on this looked very classy. It had good figuring, and the burst finish helped give it some character that you wouldn't normally see from a plain, clear coated version. The ebony on this was also pure black, and there were no streaks in it. This is good or bad, depending at how you look at it. I don't think it was dyed, however. The neck-thru design of this really helped with upper fret access. Sometimes, the neck joint can get in the way at higher frets, and it can be a real pain for lead work, but these neck-thru designs help eliminate that issue, albeit at a change in tone. The bridge on this is your standard hard tail, and it's good, but I'm not a super huge fan of hard tail bridges.
SOUNDS
The guitar features two P90s, and they absolutely rip. For anybody who has never played P90s before, you really need to check them out. They're like the adult version of single coils. Where as single coils have this very strong top end, P90s help bring that top end into check and give it some more character, I've found. They're more polite sounding, and they can get that super "vowely" kind of sound without any issues at all. The bridge in this had enough output for metal, but it was more setup for rock than anything else. It worked great through a cranked Marshall, and you could really get a feel for how the guitar truly resonated once you started cranking things up. The neck pickup was awesome for those sick blues leads, but I kind of wish it had just a touch more output for me, but I'm primarily a metal player, so I need all the handicaps I can get.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a performance oriented P90 guitar, you'll definitely want to check this guitar out. It's not quite as versatile as some of the other Jackson models, but it's up there when it comes to delivering a great P90 sound. On top of that, the craftsmanship was top notch. There were very few flaws I discovered in this instrument. If it had a floyd, I would have probably kept it.