This Jackson Pro Series Soloist Followed Me Home Today

[toomanycats]

I really tried to walk away from this guitar, honest I did try mightily.

I looked at it,
I picked it up,
looked it up online,
handed it back cross the counter,
Walked away,
Then looked it up online some more,
Then I walked back,
and the next thing I know . . .
I was walking out the door with it.
G.A.S.is a terrible affliction.

At least I got a great price on it.

By name it is a Jackson Pro Series Soloist SL2FM MAH Coffee Burst. Some of the specs: Mahogany body (bound), maple neck, neck through body construction, ebony fretboard, Floyd Rose 1000 Series Trem, Seymour Duncan Distortion pickups.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ffee-burst

It is pristine, with not so much as a scratch on it. I haven't tended to like Duncan Distortions in the past. I had them in a Charvel So Cal, and I don't know if it was the alder body, the bolt on neck, or what, but I found them totally uninspiring. But in this Jackson they sound fantastic. Maybe the mids heavy mahogany body is balancing them out, making them warmer, softer, and less shrill and abrasive to my ears. They're staying in this guitar . . . though this does not discount the possibly that I'll slip an A2 magnet in them to approximate the RTM sound. I'm an incurable tweaker.

Overall the guitar gives the impression of a baby who is the product of Superstrat and a Les Paul making sweet love. It's got the bark, authority, classy good looks of it's LP daddy, and the thoroughbred lines and speed of it's mama. Okay, that probably sounded stupid, but you get my point.

[slowhand84]

I really tried to walk away from this guitar, honest I did try mightily.

I looked at it,
I picked it up,
looked it up online,
handed it back cross the counter,
Walked away,
Then looked it up online some more,
Then I walked back,
and the next thing I know . . .
I was walking out the door with it.
G.A.S.is a terrible affliction.

At least I got a great price on it.

By name it is a Jackson Pro Series Soloist SL2FM MAH Coffee Burst. Some of the specs are mahogany bound body, maple neck through with an ebony board, Floyd Rose 1000 Series Trem, and dual Seymour Duncan Distortion pickups.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ffee-burst

It is pristine, with not so much as a scratch on it. I haven't tended to like Duncan Distortions in the past. I had them in a Charvel So Cal, and I don't know if it was the alder body, the bolt on neck, or what, but I found them totally uninspiring. But in this Jackson they somehow seem to work. Maybe the mids heavy mahogany body is balancing them out, making them warmer, softer, and less shrill and abrasive to my ears. In any case, they're staying in this guitar.

Overall the guitar gives the impression of a baby who is the product of Superstrat and a Les Paul making sweet love. It's got the bark, authority, classy good looks of it's LP daddy, and the thoroughbred lines and speed of it's mama. Okay, that probably sounded stupid, but you get my point.


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Sweet! Tough to go wrong with a nice Jackson, I speak from experience. Enjoy it!

[Rollin Hand]

Jackson is making some nice stuff these days. HNGD.

[redman]

Nice score @toomanycats but GAS can sure weigh heavy on your credit cards errrr at least mine.

[thepezident]

Make us all angry by telling us how much you paid for it.

[toomanycats]

Make us all angry by telling us how much you paid for it.

Unlike some of the gear I've scored in the past, I didn't "steal" his one, though it was a pretty good deal at $513.

This guitar is $1,134.00 at Sweetwater, though they have a demo available for $1,034.99. Seems like used ones are being offered in the $700 range.

[bc rich]

Congrats on astute score , imagine it plugged into a TRAYNOR YCV40-WR . Neck joints ,who needs them.

[Rollin Hand]

I had a Jackson in my hands the other day (Indonesian-made SLAT-7 loaded with Dimarzios) and it nearly followed me home (bridge issuea and $100 too much IMHO). If people could get past the pointy, they are really good, versatile instruments for the money.

[toomanycats]

Here's a belated sound demo of this Jackson in the form of a song. The main rhythm, which is panned to the left, is played on a EVH 5150 Standard. The Jackson is panned to the right, and is used for all of the lead guitar.





Some observations from playing the Jackson for many hours tracking this tune:

The combination of the neck through body construction and graphite rod re-enforced neck make for a super stable, rigid playing platform. There is zero neck flex on this instrument. While I appreciate a Les Paul that has sufficient neck flexibility to allow me to do the Dough Aldrich neck dive, I want a guitar outfitted with a full floating Floyd Rose trem to be stable. Otherwise, everything is going to be wonky. This Jackson is rock solid in that regard.

While I generally prefer PAF type humbuckers, the Duncan Distortions in this Jackson really kill for higher gain lead playing. In the neck position notes are tight, articulate, and snappy, with no ice pick, and pleasing harmonic content. The bridge position is like a cutting laser, slicing through the mix while dispersing a prismatic display of harmonics.

[Partscaster]

Thats a classy strat.
Great song/playing.
Awesome song ending.

[toomanycats]

Thats a classy strat.
Great song/playing.
Awesome song ending.

To be totally honest, I haven't played this Jackson a whole lot since I bought it, and I've never played it live. There's a couple reason for that.

Regarding the live thing, any guitar with a full floating Floyd is not a reliable instrument when you have a small gig and want to only bring a single instrument. You break a string and you're dead in the water until you take the 10 minutes + to change it. With a fixed bridge instrument, or even a Strat with a standard trem that's decked, I'm up and running again in a couple minutes.

The other issue is (and I never thought about it when I bought the guitar) is the lack of easily visible position markers. There are only tiny shark teeth inlayed into the ebony board on this guitar, not the big triangles you see many Jacksons. I find it problematic, which would seem to indicate that I'm as much visually as tactically oriented regarding the guitar neck. It's probably something I should work on overcoming.

But like I said, I've recently really come to appreciate the super solid construction and excellent tone of this Jackson. When I can play it sitting down in the studio, where I can look at my hands, and not have to worry about string breakage, I find it to be a serious weapon.

[Partscaster]

Thats a classy strat.
Great song/playing.
Awesome song ending.

The other issue is the lack of easily visible position markers.

I never tried a Harm for that same reason.

The lead playing at the conclusion of that song was very entertaining. And the song had nice sound with full mix throughout, I thought.

[Tglo]

OMG
That finish is stunning.