The pickups are two Seymour Duncans—a JB
in the neck position and a Duncan Distortion
in the bridge. This combo allows quite a
few tonal variations, with enough control to
really get a unique sound. Both pickups give
a wide range of tones; fiddling with the tone
knob allowed for more—and better—tones
than I was expecting. It never quite reached
“woman tone” territory, but rolling off the
tone on the bridge pickup gave a very warm,
smooth sound.
I ran it through an Engater Rebel 20 and was
blown away. On the clean settings, it sounded
good—thicker and darker than a traditional
Strat (but if you want a traditional Strat, you’re
probably not looking at a Jackson). With some
gain, it started to shine: warm with the neck
pickup, and cutting with the bridge. With a lot
of gain, the guitar really came alive. Make no
mistake, this guitar sounds great all the time,
but it’s made for a high-gain situation. The
Seymour humbuckers help with this, as they
range from a smooth creaminess in the neck
to an outright scream at the bridge. With the
Rebel, the Jackson let me get some serious
crunch on power chords near the nut, and
some hot lead tones on the upper frets. The
bridge pickup never got too harsh, but I found
myself drawn to the neck pickup a bit more
because of the smoothness of the tone.
In addition to the Rebel 20, I also plugged it
into the new Goodsell Black Dog 50 [review
on page 179]. Again, it performed best on
a high-gain setting, where the nuances of
the guitar could really shine through. This
guitar was made to be played loud, and run
through an amp that moves some air. When
you really dig in, you’re rewarded with some
seriously rockin’ tones.
The Final Mojo
Overall, Jackson has put together a superb
product here. The Soloist model we
reviewed has enough weight to give it some
serious crunch, without losing the playability
they’re known for. Considering that there
are near-limitless options available, odds
are, Jackson can put together your dream
guitar—if you’re looking for a rock axe. It is
what it is, and while it has a very versatile
set of rock/metal tones, it’s going to be best
in that style, not elsewhere.
Buy if...
you want complete control over
the design of your dream guitar.
Skip if...
your dream guitar is a
’56 Les Paul Goldtop.
Rating...
