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Hatsubai « Hard tail Dinky X series »
Published on 11/02/11 at 15:31This is another version of the new X series that Jackson has been working on reviving. They're working on bringing back budget minded guitars that are a bit higher quality than the previous models that they used to release. I don't think they have the magic that the old 90s ones did, but they're not too bad. The guitar features a basswood body with a maple veneer top, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with sharkfin inlays, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The quality on these guitars is pretty good. Despite the top being a veneer, it looks pretty nice. That's pretty much the only thing that matters to a lot of people. The fretwork on this is surprisingly good for the price. I was able to get some pretty good action on this, and while the frets weren't perfect, they were still pretty good. The ends were nicely beveled so they didn't slice my hand all the time, too. The nut was cut decently, but it could have been done a bit better, in my opinion. The guitar has a hard tail bridge, and while I'm not a big fan of them, I prefer them to the lower quality licensed floyds that Jackson tends to use on these guitars.
SOUNDS
This is where the guitar is a bit lacking, and unfortunately, this is where it matters more than anything else. The guitar has EMG HZ pickups. These are passive pickups that are meant to be somewhat in the vein of the active counterparts. In reality, they don't sound good as a passive, and they don't come close to sounding like the active brothers. Instead, you have this real anemic kind of sound that just doesn't seem to work in anything. With better pickups, this guitar would probably have sounded a lot better. You could tell it resonated nicely, so it's not that the issue was part of the guitar itself. It's just that the pickups that came in this were a bit lacking.
OVERALL OPINION
I'm not sure why Jackson decided to put the HZ series in this guitar when they have real EMGs in some of the other X series that they have. Maybe it was a budget issue. Either way, the guitar is pretty good. Just realize that it could probably use a good setup once you get it, and I would recommend swapping the pickups for something a bit better.
UTILIZATION
The quality on these guitars is pretty good. Despite the top being a veneer, it looks pretty nice. That's pretty much the only thing that matters to a lot of people. The fretwork on this is surprisingly good for the price. I was able to get some pretty good action on this, and while the frets weren't perfect, they were still pretty good. The ends were nicely beveled so they didn't slice my hand all the time, too. The nut was cut decently, but it could have been done a bit better, in my opinion. The guitar has a hard tail bridge, and while I'm not a big fan of them, I prefer them to the lower quality licensed floyds that Jackson tends to use on these guitars.
SOUNDS
This is where the guitar is a bit lacking, and unfortunately, this is where it matters more than anything else. The guitar has EMG HZ pickups. These are passive pickups that are meant to be somewhat in the vein of the active counterparts. In reality, they don't sound good as a passive, and they don't come close to sounding like the active brothers. Instead, you have this real anemic kind of sound that just doesn't seem to work in anything. With better pickups, this guitar would probably have sounded a lot better. You could tell it resonated nicely, so it's not that the issue was part of the guitar itself. It's just that the pickups that came in this were a bit lacking.
OVERALL OPINION
I'm not sure why Jackson decided to put the HZ series in this guitar when they have real EMGs in some of the other X series that they have. Maybe it was a budget issue. Either way, the guitar is pretty good. Just realize that it could probably use a good setup once you get it, and I would recommend swapping the pickups for something a bit better.