All user reviews for the Jackson USA Select KV2 King V

I bought this goddess in a local sam ash for 299$ CHEAP ASS i thought first but when i plugged dat into my marshall, WOW!

DUUUDDDDEE! This guitar is so friggin HOTTTTT! man i bought this for the shape nd the fact that i can play Megadeth on this unlike my first guitar with humbuckers nd bluesish style. Its the true metal guitar, play megadeth to Guns N' Roses itll all sound good.

WTF is there not to like, i would like the whammy bar though and the bridge is hard to get used to from a Les Paul.

THIS GUITAR IS AWESOME!!! i probably bump my guitars more than anyone and this guitar looks new with 1 yr abuse which would equal 5 yr of abuse for a normal person. Its awesomlly built. nothing comes off

KICKSASS! GO, GET ONE IF U LIKE TO SHRRED METAL!ill rate it 4 nd 1/2 just because nothing is perfect.





-Metal Shall Arise Again, just wait RAP, just wait!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

BOUGHT FROM GUITAR CENTER FOR $1500.00. BEST LOOKING BLUE GHOST FLAMES AND FAST ACTION.

COMFORTABLE FEEL, SUPER FAST ACTION, SLIM NECK.. DEFINETLEY A ROCK MUSIC GUITAR.. IT WAS SET UP FROM THE FACTORY JUST RIGHT, CAME WITH HARD SHELL CASE, AND MAN THIS THING SHREDS.... HAVENT HAD ANY PROBLEMS YET AND HAVE NOT BORKEN A STRING YET EATHER...

I AM NOT LOOKING FOWARD TO REPLACING THE STRINGS WHEN BORKEN, WITH THE FLOYD ROSE...

SEEM STURDY, SOLID.. IT IS A LITTLE HEAVY BUT WITH A GOOD STRAP IT IS VERY COMFORTABLE...

THIS IS A EXCELENT GUITAR... I RECOMEND IT IF YOU HAVE THE BUCKS AND LIKE TO ROCK.. IT IS EASY TO PLAY AND YOU WONT REGRET IT... I THINK I MIGHT LOOK AT THE JACKSON RR5 ON MY NEXT BUY...

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Specific to the form "V", two humbucker, floyd one, three knobs: 2volume and 1 tonne and a 3 position switch. manufactured in the United States. 24 frets, inlay "wing shark."

UTILIZATION

Channel super nice, access to acute is insane! we must get used to the form and find the right position (stall horn with lower leg), light guitar. for its flawless the large metal!

SOUNDS

Impeccable of metal (pantera, metallica ...), I had a couple laney TF 300 120W, a PH-3 phase from home boss and MXR Dime distortion Distorition. Sound very fat with the distortion and clear sound impeccable!

OVERALL OPINION

I use it since February 2004, I love the sound and the unique shape and color (tiger that comes from custom shop). quality / price ratio excellent (purchased in the United States so ...) and now I swear by Jackson and the "V"

Jackson is a "made in United States" please! The CHARACTERISTICS are well known but we will be happy to call them: neck-24 Saddle boxes topped with a button in the back bne "wings Shark" pearl and vritable surrounded by a binding color "ivory". The frets are thin trs Unlike other amricaines Jackson is one of the peculiarities of the King V. May be a legacy of Dave Mustaine, who was fall asleep for 17 years with the MODEL? ... The wings are alder, a wood-sounding balance, a little "catch-all". We will not complain, it's not the crate (such as lime, for example)! The finish on mine is "transparent black" with a sheet of flame on the Saddle on the head and body. The chrome hardware (with original Floyd Rose) is the most beautiful effect. for electronic there are two volumes and a tone for CONTRL two Seymour Duncan humbucker, neck and SH4 on TB4 in the bridge. The slecteur is a "switchblade" three positions. The guitar comes in a standard tui! No worries about its protection! A small BMOL on the finish because I found two default on this guitar: a small piece of bne of the size of a head of Pingle a "jump on down a fret PRS and the guys at Jackson so tight the strap of the handle Lanir situ derrire ceui as it sank and is now at an angle. This words, it fits perfectly, but they could have all the same to be careful ... If not, the rest is perfect. srement I am an exception for those small default ...

UTILIZATION

Jouabilit spend. While the adchire all! Enjoyable? an empty word! It slides alone! The profile of the handle is ultra ergonomic shape with a fast spcial "KV2". I think the Soloist and Dinky are not exactly the same profile. The key is off, the fingers of the place, what more? To play it sitting a little complicated you have to have the time, but with a little practice you get used to. Standing is excellent! The guitar is perfectly balance, the handle back and is lgrement prs body (your servant). No broken shoulder perspective, the instrument is pluttlger. I personally do not like the fact that there are two knobs for volume and especially the deuxime is located exactly in alignment with the switch. When handling, it comes up most often on the knob before operating the switch. May be is it just me who slouch? Anyway, I prfrerai KVT2 a configuration (MODEL mahogany without Floyd Rose) with only one volume and tonality.

SOUNDS

The sound with microphones silent origins not bad but it lacked ... Finally, it is - say ... "Not enough balls my friend!" yes, Seymour Duncan is a little soft ... So I VIRS and replaced with EMG. An EMG-81 in the bridge position and an EMG-60 prs of the handle. Immediately, happiness intgral returned! I connected all these people in my Rocktron Voodu Valve and my Mesa Boogie 50/50, all restored by my new cabinet Mesa correct, and then ... Incredible! It sounds, but then, as a ring ... There is no wiggle is excellent. large super low Dfine, crystalline highs, mdiums balance (implied, not nasal), and that in clear sound in distortion. Gnrale dynamic sound perfect. You can not just blame the guitar, although sr, but I can only see that a ring name of God! the only thing weird is that the guitar sounds much better branch that "acoustically". Fawn on any tape it, this guitar is made for the electric sauce! From this point of view it is definitely a Queen ... or King? ...

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for two months and I think my next guitar trssrieusement will be another Jackson amricaine. I also know that like I achter the United States directly because the prices in France are simply theft! One can imagine only the margins should be the importer Franais (Fender, not to quote ...) when you see the prices across the Atlantic. It's a totally addictive guitar and one plays it and the less we want the rest and s'arrter! I do it again this choice without hsiter 3 million times and I recommend anyone possde adquate budget, for any Jackson amricaine elsewhere. With others, yell: Jackson Powaaaa!

I'm not going back on this, see previous opinion.
Everything I love, a simple configuration, 24 frets and a floyd rose.
The finisher is superb (see thru black for mine) and shark teeth pearl throws a lot ^ ^

UTILIZATION

The handle is just great, very slightly rounded (I just want to say that it is not as flat as a stick model ibanez steve vai for example), and access to acute can hardly be better because of the form V . As against it is because of this form it will take time to adapt, especially for the game sat.
This is a guitar very slight, and this is something not to be overlooked! especially when you play a few hours later.

SOUNDS

Then it should not ask a clear east metal guitar, even if the microphones origins are still quite versatile.
I use two different (in a Mount EMG81 and the other with original Seymour Duncan) on a peavey 5150 II and frankly it rocks all! It has a very sharp and precise with the scraper in both rhythm and lead solo. The first shot of mediator was understood that a real guitar in your hands!

OVERALL OPINION

I put a 10/10 for this guitar that deserves no problems. Even if the V shape is a little hard to take over at the beginning used to it pretty quickly and now I do not see anything other than play guitar V. I play it since 1999 and has less of a cataclysm in the world of the guitar comes with a guitar out of the ordinary, I would stay above
If you go to the metal, go for it with his eyes closed!

No need to repeat for the specs
Mine is also a transblack ...
No big finish default, just the color on the table that I think are a little darker than on other models transblack jackson I've seen.
And the key grain is a little less flattering to the eye than the RR2.

UTILIZATION

One of the best side I've played flatter than the RR2, much finer than the standart KV2je and V, very nice!
For the rest it is light and well balanced, a delight to play standing.

SOUNDS

I was disappointed by the easel in the symour V standart, but there on the KV2 is very cozy surprised me, more punchy.
But then they will probably be replaced shortly by an EMG kit ...

OVERALL OPINION

it'll be a week and I have and it's already almost my main guitar, the neck is much better than my other guitars of this shape (esp V and Jackson stars kv2Je).
Without hesitation I would do this choice, but only with a purchase in the United States.

The King V is the most metal version of the classic Flying V shape. This model was first created in the 80s for the Ratt guitar player. It has slightly different back then. It has a larger body because it was really a double Rhodes. It has two horns the size of the top horn on a Jackon RR. They dialed back the size a bit and the King V was born. This guitar has an alder body with a maple neck through neck. You get locking tuners up top to go with the Original Floyd Rose bridge. The neck has an ebony fretboard with 24 jumbo frets and a compound radius design. The pickup set in this guitar is pretty unusual. I cant think of any other guitar that games with Seymour Duncan JB's in the neck and bridge position. The controls are pretty normal with two volumes and a master tone with a 3 way blade switch.

UTILIZATION

The V shape is pretty big and unforgiving. A lot of people dont like having to play in the classical position when sitting down. I always play in the classical position so it doesnt bother me. The construction on USA Jacksons is always good. The neck-through design is a feature I love and wish more guitar makers would use. The wood for the neck goes all the way through the body and the top and bottom of the body are glued to the side of the neck piece. With this construction there is virtually no neck joint which makes playing up at even the highest frets as easy as playing at the middle of the neck. Not only does this construction let you not have a bulky neck joint it also increases sustain as the pickups are mounted directly to the same piece of wood as the neck. The compound radius makes playability a dream. The compound radius allows the for great playability on both ends of the neck. Near the headstock on the low end the radius is 12 inches which means the fretboard is slightly more curved up there to make playing chord shapes more comfortable. Near the high end the radius is 16 inches which makes shredding and lead playing effortless. The original Floyd Rose is the original double locking tremolo system and its still the best. When properly setup this system will never go out of tune.

SOUNDS

The JB's in the neck and bridge is pretty weird. The pickup is not really a neck pickup. This combined with the natural brightness of the guitar means the neck position tone on this guitar is pretty harsh and biting. A 59 or Jazz would be a lot better in the neck and that is usually what a Jb is paired with. The 59 and the Jazz are much smoother and provide much better neck position tones. The JB in the bridge however is very nice. Many guitars use the JB in the bridge. It can do anything from rock to metal. It is just tight enough for tight riffs but still has some sag for bluesy stuff. This pickup combined with the natural brightness of this guitar means it can really cu through the mix.

OVERALL OPINION

You dont see many people playing these guitars any more. Their image proceeds them. If you see someone playing a King V you can expect some crazy thrash metal or something. It is a modern classic and still retains the great playability that came with guitars in the 80s. If you are looking for a heavy metal flying V that plays like butter this is your V.

The Jackson King V is one of the two most iconic Vs that Jackson has to offer. It's a more "metal" version of the original Flying V that Gibson offered, and while it was originally built for Robbin Crosby, Dave Mustaine is probably the most notable user of this guitar. It features an alder body, maple neck with ebony fretboard and shark fin inlays, 24 jumbo frets, an original floyd rose, HH configuration, volume knob, tone knob and a 3 way switch.

UTILIZATION

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the way Vs are when you sit down. They feel very uncomfortable to me as you have to sit in a classical style and support the neck a bit. That said, the guitar has very nice access to the higher frets thanks to its neck-thru body. The coolest thing about this guitar is the compound fretboard radius. This allows chording at the lower register to be much easier, but huge bends at the higher frets don't fret out like they normally would.

SOUNDS

The guitar, while mostly being portrayed as a rock/metal machine, can do most any style thanks to its pickups. The JB in the bridge is an extreme versatile pickup that can really cover most any style, and thanks to this wood selection, it allows it to really shine. The neck pickup in this guitar is actually a JB as well. While I'm not a huge fan of the JB in the neck, it can work for some people. Personally, I swap it out for a Duncan '59.

OVERALL OPINION

If you've never tried a V guitar before, I highly recommend playing one first. They can be a real pain to sit down with. That said, this guitar is a wonderfully constructed guitar with great fretwork, nice tone and fairly versatile pickup configuration. It's a bit expensive, so I recommend looking for one on the used market.

This particular model of Jackson King V is the highest end model you're going to find from Jackson's production line. Mine was built in March 2009 and is the Snow White model. This line of Jackson is built in the USA and seems very well crafted. It features an alder body, maple neck with ebony fretboard, 24 frets, MOP (mother of pearl) inlays, an Original Floyd Rose tremolo, and two Seymour Duncan humbuckers (A Jazz model in the neck and a JB model in the bridge.) It has two separate volume controls (one per pickup), a single tone control, and a 3 way selector switch. It's a pretty basic setup, but it works well enough.

A major caveat I have with this control layout is that it's very cluttered and difficult to reach. Pickup switch flicks ala Yngwie are all but impossible because the bridge volume control is in the way, and you can't get to the neck pickup volume easily and quickly because again, the bridge pickup volume is blocking it. It's a leftover from the Dave Mustaine era of Jackson King V's and you would think that they'd change it... but it hasn't happened yet. Oh well, it's not a major thing, but it's definitely something you have to get used to if you like to switch pickups or adjust your volume/tone controls often.

UTILIZATION

Being that this guitar is an extremely pointy and large Flying V, I cannot say that it's ergonomic in any sense. It's a fairly reasonable weight (lighter than my Les Paul, heavier than most of the superstrats I've had), and it seems to balance fairly well when you're using a strap, but it's large and cumbersome to move around with because of the large and unwieldy points. The upper fret access is not nearly as good as I would expect from a neck through body Flying V (no cutaways to get around). The neck joins the body at about the 19th fret, so the last 5 frets can be a bit of a chore to get around. Also, the heel itself seems to be a bit clunky for a neck through design... so I was less than impressed there.

As far as the the tones go... the biggest downfall that this guitar has is its lack of versatility tone wise. I was able to get a killer thrash metal or modern shred tone right away. However, when I tried to dial back the gain and play some more classic seventies and eighties riff rock, it was just not happening. I found this odd, because I previously had an alder bodied Charvel with a Duncan JB and a Floyd that I loved the tone off... this guitar just didn't have what I expected. I enjoyed playing Megadeth and such for a week, but once that wore off, I went back to my Les Paul and this went back into the case. Basically, it's easy to dial in metal tones, but if you want to play cleans/mid gain/rock type stuff, it's not the best guitar for that. Though, quite honestly, with a shape like this, I wasn't expecting anything super versatile. However, I hoped it would at least be able to do riff rock (Van Halen, Dokken, Loudness, early Yngwie, etc) but it just wasn't happening.

SOUNDS

When I got the guitar, I was using an Orange Rockerverb 50 Mark I head. I've since exchanged that out for a Mesa Boogie Mark Five. I was not overly impressed with the tones from either amp unless I was playing thrash metal type stuff (which isn't all that often.)

The cleans were generally very flat and uninspiring, and since the pickups weren't wired for split coils or coil tapping, you basically had the sound of either humbucker or both together. Personally I don't much care for the sound of humbuckers played clean unless I'm playing jazzy stuff, so I really can't say the clean tones were or are currently impressive. (Ironically, this guitar has a Seymour Duncan "Jazz" in the neck position.)

The mid gain tones were pretty much the same as the cleans... just very flat and neutral. A coil split might have made those tones a little livelier, but without having one in the guitar I can't judge how that would sound. Quite honestly, given the market of this guitar I'm not shocked at any of this, but it's still depressing that a $2,200 guitar really only does one or two sounds well, especially when the specs look so good on paper. The higher gain tones were great, classic Jackson thrash metal fare, but really, that was to be expected. The JB was very tight and articulate, perfect for those staccato metal riffs. The Jazz was very smooth and great for those Marty Friedman esque lead tones. But in retrospect, I should have assumed that a guitar like this was really designed for one set of tones (look at the shape for crying out loud!)



OVERALL OPINION

All in all, I definitely felt that this guitar was a very narrow focused instrument, really only looking and sounding good for one style of music (thrash metal). I will say that the guitar is very well crafted and displays no obvious construction flaws, but I just can't get into the vibe of the guitar. It was cool initially, but after the honeymoon was over I realized that it just wasn't my type of guitar. I'm not a very big guy so the guitar came pretty close to dwarfing me most of the time. I found it difficult to sit down with as well because the ends were so pointed. The tones as well were cool for metal stuff, but since I don't play that type of music on a regular basis anymore, it just acted as a lesser competitor to my Les Paul, and because I don't care for its rock tones, it just doesn't get played. As a result, I do plan to sell it and move on.

USA Jacksons are a lot like Orange amps in my opinion... they're very expensive and you don't get a whole lot for your dollar in most cases. For $2,200 CAD brand new, this guitar is very limited in what it can do musically. However, if you want a killer metal machine without going Custom Shop... you can't go wrong.