| Sound |
I'm largely a lead player with metal/prog routes but more recently play a broad range of styles, so I like versatility. Straight out of the box, this guitar is bright, but still sounds very full. The sustain will go on for days, despite the floyd rose, even on the neck pickup. The first things I found myself playing were old metal riffs, it does that really well. You'll notice this guitar has a master volume and two tone controls, rather than the other way round, which at first I thought was a bit daft, but getting used to it, it's actually very useful. The stock Jazz is generally a bright neck pickup anyway, put it in this and it just gets brighter, and using that for leads towards the bottom of the neck is ideal, but move up and you find the sound doesn't round off so well. Enter tone control, and you can go straight back to the bridge pickup after your solo without the sound going all bassy. A very nice feature. This isn't just a metal guitar, the JB is the go-to pickup for most rock and metal styles and unlike a certain American brand of active pickups, can do vintage crunch as well as modern high gain. The guitar being so bright also means that drop tunings for things like Machine Head sound awesome - this guitar is unstoppable.
I will add, however, I recently toned down the metal, and dropped a Mo'Joe and PAF Joe Dimarzio set in under the advice of Steve at DiMarzio UK, and wow. It really compliments the quality of the build and woods, and playing lead sounds really liquid and full. I've also tried some EMG's for a Machine Head cover band, and again, hit the nail on the head. It's not versatile on the fly, but it's the basis for any great rock'n'roll guitar sounds.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
This is what won the guitar over for me. The quality is superb. This guitar is flawless, the finish is great, the pickups were nicely balanced across the strings and against each other. This is the first guitar I've received that made me genuinely speechless. It came with a really nice, low action, but I don't know if the shop set it up before they sent it to me. Either way, Fender are doing a great job maintaining a reputation of quality for Jackson. The only other brands I've seen match this in terms of sheer solidarity and reliability come from the likes of a Mr Paul Reed Smith - sounds odd when talking about a distinctly rock/metal guitar, I know.
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| Reliability & Durability |
No problems, though Jackson sent it to me with a 250K volume pot, which didn't stop the guitar from being bright, it just made it sound weird; not entirely revelant, but be aware.
The OFR is always in tune, the pickups always sound good, I've set it up once and the action is LOW. It's not moved a millimetre since. Perfect
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| Customer Support |
N/A
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| Liked about it |
Top points for sheer quality, also very nicely balanced for a funny shaped guitar and obivously the playability for faster styles is unmatched. It's got a great 80's vibe, but a very modern feel (if that makes sense : S)
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| Didn't like |
Weird volume pot, but that's me being fussy. Some people are probably expecting me to say I can't sit with it, but actually because I play this guitar sat down so much, I now sit with all guitars on my left leg instead of my right...
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
By Fun111 Mar 11, 2010
Last updated: July 14, 2010
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