I Tried The Cheapest Jackson Guitar…
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
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** My videos may or may not contain products that were given to me with the expressed intent for me to make an unbiased review. I may also receive products at a discount in return for making a video on these products. In such cases, the opinions expressed are my own, and not the opinions of the companies providing the equipment. I try to mention this when relevant.
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0:00 Jackson's Cheapest Full Size Guitar - JS11
1:19 Sweetwater and MXR
2:01 First Attempt Unboxing Jackson JS11 Guitar
3:33 Returning The Guitar From Reverb
5:25 Second Unboxing Attempt and First Impressions
7:34 Setting Up The Budget Jackson Guitar and Notes
9:04 Jackson JS11 Dinky Demo
12:13 Testing the Jackson Branded Pickups
14:02 Cheap VS Expensive Sound Quality (Jackson American Virtuoso)
15:26 Tuning To The Devils Tuning
17:21 Are They Worth The Money? - บันเทิง
Go get yourself something nice, I won't tell your wife. sweetwater.sjv.io/vNMnLd
Get yourself some Stewmac nut files for that bad nut slot, my dude!
😂👍
I have 4 Dinkys.. the 199.99 ones.. bcz of the shark inlays.. swaped the nuts for TUSQ.. put in Musicly Locking tuners.. Seymour Duncans Mayhem and Black Winter sets.. and Wilkins WK550ii bridges.. Bcz I love the playability.. ended up spending around $300 extra on each guitar.. but they play now like a million bucks..
Haha I WISH! Every penny is tightly accounted for. We barely make it yall.
@@smeemusic I feel that dude. Budgeting is way more important!
8:10 in my experience, the nut is the source of 99.99999% of all action/tuning/intonation/timbre issues. if your guitar cost $500 or less, don't even waste time on any setups until you get a skilled repair specialist/luthier to replace and recut that nut. In many situations, it wont even really cost anything as this is sometimes included with a setup at a decent shop. Just my little tip that everyone should consider.
So what you are saying is before working on the nut things may be off, but post nut there will be clarity? Usually post nut clarity goes the opposite way, just another reason why guitars are better than a relationship.
Not quite.. Neck and truss rod come first, THEN the nut and bridge. No matter how well the nut is cut, you won't be able to intonate a crooked neck.
- Easy way to tell if the nut is cut wrong: Once the guitar is tuned to your root standard, fret an F major barre chord at the 1st fret.
Check that on some cheap guitars and then do the same with a few expensive guitars, and listen to the difference.
@@shaft9000 while i appreciate the general sentiment of your comment my point was that the **most common** issue, out of the box, is the nut. if you have a twisted neck, it wouldn't even pass qc. mass manufactured instruments are not likely to have a twisted neck on day one and if it somehow did, returning it is a much bigger concern.
the nut is almost universally overlooked by qc because they measure fretboard straightness, fret level, give the truss 1/4 relief, and pack it up.
@@zakkmylde1712 i dont think they got the joke lmao
I've started just ordering a precut bone nut from amazon every time I pick up a random guitar and swapping it over before I do anything else. I've had 60s japanese guitars with stamped steel bridges and no trussrods gain remarkable tuning stability just from swapping over with no additional slot filing.
I never got the point of a budget 1980's type shred guitar with a vintage trem, or even higher end guitars with the vintage trems. Some of us want hardtail.
Weird move for sure, I think it would be much better with a HT
I agree, not to mention the stock vintage trems on these low end models are always unusable so it might as well be a hardtail. I prefer a Floyd rose even if I block it just a ergonomic preference but that's obviously not coming on a guitar in this price range
I get you, but if you tighten the springs so it doesn't move off the body or add a block in the spring cavity what's the difference?
@@RX120D Parts
@@RX120D yes that's true but I feel like these should be hard tails from the factory and they could take a little off the price since there's no routing to be done and extra hardware. Also no extra tinkering on the consumer's end which the intended market is obviously beginners who aren't gonna know how to deal with that off the bat or people who just want a cheap guitar
The thing with the string tightening is very true... always tune from low to high. I repaired and serviced dozens of guitars for friends and i maintain my own guitars for about 18 years now. You dont need expensive hardware or even evertune. Take care of your fretboard, keep the guitar at room temperature/humidity and you're fine. Another this is: tune your lowest string about 5 cents below key especially for drop tunings. If you hit the chords, the first string is getting the heaviest hit, therefore tending to go higher frequency than you want. Keeping it lower will keep the chord in tune no matter how hard you hit the strings
5 cents? 🤔
@@todoelmundoapesta A cent is a unit of measure for the ratio between two frequencies. An equally tempered semitone (the interval between two adjacent piano keys) spans 100 cents by definition. An octave-two notes that have a frequency ratio of 2:1-spans twelve semitones and therefore 1200 cents.
@@monsterram6617 ty good sir
In a nutshell:
Differences in tuning over time resulting from tension vs friction cannot be avoided, but they can be minimized with optimal setup technique(s).
The long -winded version of all that starts with, and **must be addressed in this order** for consistently precise results:
- neck/trussrod arc being most crucial, followed by
- reducing friction at the nut and saddle (i.e. the two constantly coupled points) angles, followed by
- the bridge's height and intonation adjustment.
I'm a drummer and I bought this guitar for when friends come over and want to jam. They all love it, and can't believe I only paid $150! Awesome beginner/ budget guitar
Jackson has great colors. Even the cheapo models look great
The finish on this is really nice regardless of price!
You can be a rock star ,save money
New idea for Glenn Fricker: does washing your car affect guitar tone?
Considering the two guitars played in this video were pretty much indistinguishable, that's a big ol' no.
According to Glenn > whatever answer is going to upset more people 😂
@@TaylorDanley 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
@@TaylorDanley i mean the jackson made pickups on the js11 are pretty much duncan jb + jazz clones. i feel like most of the sound difference you hear is probably from the acoustic sound of the guitar in the room. the virtuoso does have a different body wood and a floyd rose which means more wood is missing from the body. that doesnt translate into the recording though. when recorded i felt like they were pretty much indistinguishable. maybe the jackson felt a tiny bit more bassy.
kleen car kleen toan!!!!!
Jackson guitars rule 🤘🤘🤘
I have this same exact model in this colour! I absolutley love it. It's my first guitar and I enjoy playing it every time i pick it up.
I've had this guitar in black and it was great. I also daily drive a Yugo. LOL
😂 Do your humbuckers in your guitar sound better than this video ? Mine do big time ! This video makes this guitar sound shitty 😂
Hot tip on those tuners... Take a screwdriver to that screw in the end of the button and give it a lil tweak.
I hope he sees this comment and try’s it. It’s not a total fox every time as Jackson tuners definitely suck. BUT it does help.
I really appreciate the budget oriented guitar and gear videos! I love my higher end stuff but theres something satisfying about getting all the cheapest stuff you can and getting it to play and sound awesome
Awesome, I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm trying to incorporate it as much as I can!
And abusing the fuck at them. Cause whats a few dents on a 200 dollar guitar, compared to a 700+ one.
@@eggpod4567 thats also a big reason why I love them haha. Nothing like getting a cheap yardsale guitar and experimenting on it, playing it to death and beating it up, mix matching parts etc. I would like one or two nice 700+ guitars though because right now I have a fleet of shit sticks and a bunch of random oddball amps too it'd be nice to have something dependable to augment the goofy projects
I have multiple JS series Jacksons, although all of mine are 32/42 models. The compound radius "speed neck" profile is one of my favorites ever. It's worth the price of admission on its own.
Agreed. Best neck profile by a lot.
i bought a new js-11 right after the lockdowns started for $69.00 and free shipping. did a setup on it and it's been my #1 ever since. plays great and the pups sound nice.
Great video! I have 2 Jackson guitars, a Dinky made in Japan and RR V. I've noticed that all the Jackson guitars even the less expensive ones have good necks that are really nice.
Beginner here and Im super happy with my JS22 Dinky. Around the same price range and its super comfy to play. Great video
All Jackson's are good! I have a 2011 JS32R dinky reverse, and it's honestly one of my all time favorite guitars.
They make great stuff.
Not the one I got.
@GNRGNRGNRGNRGNR bummer dude what one did you get and where at?
@KillaFXZ I got the slat8ff a few years ago. The first one had an issue with the frets or the neck and it wouldn't stop buzzing no matter what I did. Then I exchanged it for another one and for the first while I thought it was good but then I noticed that it had high frets that caused the high e strong to fret out and a couple of notes just didn't play.
I think I got it from Sam Ash if I remember correctly. It sucks because if it was good to go it would've been a great guitar. I still have it and I've been meaning to take it somewhere to have it fixed.
I've been wanting to try a jackson again though.
@GNRGNRGNRGNRGNR Yeah, I won't buy anything guitsr related unless it is from sweetwater I had bad luck too and even they're not 100% on point all the time but they make shit right.
I have 3 budget-level Jacksons (The JS22-7 Dinky [my first guitar], JS22 Monarkh, and a JS32 Warrior), and I honestly love all of them. In terms of playability, they are very close to my more expensive guitars. The 7 string has a Dimarzio Imperium in the bridge, and it sounds brutal. Jacksons can be a bit lacking in the spec department (licensed Floyds, stock pickups even in the X series), but damn if they don't play well
I just got my first Jackson--a 1990 "Stars" mij soloist. I am not a metal guy, and I really like it. Great review and demo!
I have the JS22, I upgraded to a graphtech nut with angled slots to solve the tuning issues. Also installed some James Hetfield active pickups, it screams now!
My Dinky is absolutely my favorite guitar. I bought a Pro Series Dinky later on but it mostly stays put away in favor of the JS22. I have 4 Jackson guitars and 2 basses manufactured from 1999-2023.
Today my JS22 has Ping tuners, a Dimarzio Steve Morse bridge pickup + full size pot, and 2 additional springs. That said though, it was a great guitar out of the box for the money and decently set up. The QC was better than other Jacksons I’d had prior or after. Mine is “one of a kind” as I dropped it shortly after receiving it which left a noticeable chip missing from the soft wood the body was constructed of. Rock on, Chippy.
It’s nice when you vote for a specific video idea and then it shows up in your recommended. Thanks mane
Have the same model in black colour. Honestly, I’ve tried so many budget guitars from Squier, Ibanez, Epiphone etc. but this Jackson JS11 takes the lead in terms of playability. The build quality is quite good and they look awesome. Especially for a beginner, I don’t think anything else will offer more value at this price range.
this was my first guitar and i still use it up to date, i've already moved on to some more expensive guitars, but i still keep the js11 and i still love to play it.. i have set of strings 13-59 and it comes through just fine, only thing that pisses me off are the tuners and the bridge having exposed screws for the string action.. also, i changed the bridge pickup for more expensive one and it plays great for the value.. overall it's a good guitar
Great feedback. There are definitely some small improvements that could be made, but for the money I can't complain!
Just buy shorter grub screws for the bridge saddles, its like a few dollars and something I often do on even expensive guitars. The factory doesn't know how you are going to adjust them, so they can't just put super short ones in and risk someone not being able to get the action high enough.
Bro your editing is hilarious. Great work!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Have this exact guitar i got for 90 bucks on a black friday sale in store and at the time guitar center use to offer alot of custom work cheap upon purchase so i bought emg 81 and 85s and they put it in for 50 bucks this was years ago.
This guitar still sounds good.
I’ve been playing Jackson for many years. Currently played with the ole Dinky JS32R with stock pickups. Simple but super effective.
Jackson’s budget line has been awesome for years. I had the JS-32T Rhodes and for a guitar that was about $250 when I picked it up, it sounded great and felt good. Glad you had a similar experience with this one.
I've bought this exact one almost 6 years ago and have loved it. It was my first guitar I've bought and I still rip on it today. I've made many solid mixes with this guitar. I have zero complaints. Perhaps where it lacks is that it would not hold up on a tour and requires frequent tuning as any budget guitar would.
Agreed! Fixed bridge would be better for a budget. Might even bring the price down with less labor involved.
I was taught the same thing, that's why they say "tune up", apparently :)
I never thought of that, makes sense!
When you loosen the tuners you're potentially putting a bit of slack in the strings at the tuners and nut that when you play will get pulled tight again making the tuning change.
When you tune up you are removing any potential slack in the tuners or nut since it is pulling everything tight as you tune.
Basically tuning up will, by default, take up any slack in the whole system THEN change the tuning.
Have one of these, great guitars. That into hx stomp, headphones out. Perfect for late night practice.
💪
bought mine js11 back in 2019 since then i use it every day for hours at home, band practice and gigs, its beat up very badly but it plays awesome, very comfortable and sounds great, the guitar never been to a luthier or anything, just a basic setup in time to time
Hi Taylor, what about the new JS22-7 RR and V? I had a Dinky Arch top JS22-7 and it was unbelievably good
I ordered a guitar off reverb recently and the seller went through FedEx. When I got the box there was a GIANT hole in it around headstock and upper part of the neck. I don't know if anything hit it, but thankfully the seller wrapped and boxed up the guitar properly. By some miracle it was unscratched. Funny enough it was also a Jackson lol
The Jackson JS series are great! I have 2 JS22 Dinkys that I keep around for quick practice sessions and they're awesome.
Nice work , as always!!! Cheers!!!
I have that 5150 Overdrive and it's awesome. By far my favorite Overdrive that I own
Great video and great jams!
I got recently Minion Dinky in White. I was pretty surprised at the stock pickups how well they sound. Def feels like those were modeled after Seymour Duncans higher end models. The low gain distortion tone on mine reminds me a lot of Megadeth Countdown To Extinction/Youthanasia tones. The pups will def be swapped for EMGs 60/S that I really like.
The tunes on mine are surprisingly holding the tuning well, and works great in D standard with 12-52 strings. I had an impression that JS11 and J12 both had compound radius 12-16" like their other standard models.
Going through a car wash, now THAT is metal asf!
I have the Jackson JS22 Dinky, and I love this guitar. I swapped out the tuners to locking tuners. I swapped out the bridge saddles to gold ones (just to do the Black body gold hardware look). I am ordering some Invader knockoffs to replace the humbuckers. The picks aren’t that bad, but I want those heavy nasty sounding humbuckers!
I got a JS22 in blue, 1st job was change the tuners. Recently bought a JS32, hardtail, awesome guitar.
In regards to the whammy spring noise - it would be cool to fill the hole for the trem block with a piece of wood, fit a hard tail bridge, stick some EMGs in it and use the trem cavity to put the battery in :)
I have a JS 11 that I modded with a graphtech nut, $20 invader clone pickups and some $35 locking tuners amd it is freaking killer now.
It's funny that you also have to dime the treble knob when going into any power amp to get any clarity from the 5150 pedal. I run into that same issue and I'm not a fan of the pedal as a result.
2:34 Thanks for doing this as I was wondering why anyone would buy anything but a JS series Jackson because the more expensive guitars seem to just have the same feature spec wise and I love my JS22($200) and JS42($400) as they are perfect and I've havd no issues with then and not needed to "set them up" wish the title said this was a comparistion though would help to find with the search resaults.
Also gotta recommend a Kramer Baretta Special. I replaced the tremolo, the nut, and put in locking tuners. Yeah I nearly doubled the cost of the guitar but it is an AWESOME little super strat now.
But now you probably have a guitar that plays and sounds FOUR times its price
I have that model, It's the only electric one I actually have. Some of it's tuners are a little loose, some others don't, but no matter how much I change it's tune it always stays in tune.
Mine has the detail that the headstock is upwards, so the thicker string has the longest distance between the peg and the nut, but I'm not shure if it makes any difference.
I do use a wammy bar on it, but to minimize that spring sound I set the springs as tight as possible and It has held like that for over three years now.
I also play on a 30W amp, so I'ld a waste to buy anything more expensive.
I'm seriously thinking about getting a JS in September but leaning toward a JS22 instead of an 11 mainly due to the 24 threads and slightly better electronics. But definitely this video convinced me to go with Jackson instead of Ibanez. Thank you so very much!
I picked up the JS22 in the same color for about what you paid here. It's the step up from this and it's nice. IT has the same bridge but it's got a neck binding, arch top ( 🤨 ) and 24 frets. it's normally $199 on sweetwater and it's not bad.
I read about dropping the string flat then tuning up to pitch. It's supposed to hold the tuning better than having a sharp tuning dropping into pitch.
I can't remember where I found said info. But it seems to work.
14:04 Taylor, a couple of years ago I bought my first and so far only Jackson guitar, a JS22 in natural oil. That guitar is a couple of steps above the JS11 and JS12. The JS11 and JS12 lack the "compound" radius of the JS22, and the JS11 sports only the 22 frets, and not the 24 afforded by the other two. There were 3 issues I had with that axe. The tuners lasted until I tried them; one ground and I had replacements, so I used them. The axe had the best fret job and the worst fret sprout I've seen yet. Dealt with it. The last thing was the pickups, which I almost left stock. Alnico snobbery led me to replace them, but they sounded pretty good anyway. I'm not above hanging with decent pickups if I like them well enough! I'd probably buy more Jacksons if I had more room for guitars than I do now!
I had one of these from 2014 in red, I was blown away for the price. The neck, the playability, the frets, the color were amazing, and these guitars have quite a chunky, thick body. It has shielding paint and all that, the electronics are pretty bad, but man the base of the guitar is amazing.
Another solid video mate. Imagine waking up say on Xmas day or your 14th birthday and your folks went out and got you that guitar as your 1st electric...? You'd feel like a an absolute God!
Entry level guitars have come so far which is fantastic to see and certainly helps the encouragement of younger future shred lords imo
I know that feeling man ! That Jackson is indeed, my first guitar and it felt like it was christmas, even though i'm not 14, and that it was July 🤣
You could always try the JS12. Same guitar basically, but with 24 frets if that's your thing. Also Jackson has a budget hardtail 7 string for about $199. I'm pretty interested in that one. I love my JS11 (red) after adding Wilkenson tuners, graph technology nut and a nicer bridge pickup,, it's my main bedroom practice guitar. For stage, I use my higher end stuff, but in a pinch I would gig my JS11. Love it.
I had a Jackson dinky, satin black and i believe it was the same as the blue Jackson. I loved it, hated the tremolo bar cuz it knocked my tuning out of wack. Traded a Schecter Damian 6 with a floyed rose trem for that guitar because i hated the locking nut and trem system. I wanted something i could use and tune easier with great sound and be able to tune anywhere i wanted, so i got a Jackson. Highly recommend them!
I bought a red js11 off a kid used for $100 a few years back and it was set up perfectly, the tuners on mine are fine, no play, maybe because its an older one? Anyhow, I bought it because it was cheap and I was gonna carry it around in the work truck with my mini katana amp as like a traveler beater, but it was more comfortable and easier to play than my plekkd Gibson SG, it out performed my mid range ibanez rg. The Strat trem on it is actually higher quality than most strat trems, has pop in arm and giant tremelo block and stays in tune pretty well, I strung the high strings backwards to get straighter string pull at the headstock that is not supposed to be used with non locking trems because the radical angle of the headstock and the trem works okay but i dont use it. I still have the JS11, its my only non mij Jackson, anyhow I traded my SG for a 2011 mij charvel socal and gave my boss the ibanez, now I have 11 or 12 mij Jacksons and the Charvel and a Fender acoustic that I love...lol
I got the Mitchell MD 200 in seaglass green I love it on sale $144 with discount, they have a slightly more expensive model, or the more affordable MD100 for $119.
Those Jackson pick ups are good . They could have a bit more flavor but they aren’t bad if you have a good set up and speakers playing on mid to high gain settings
My first guitar was the 2/3rds size Jackson and I still play it and it sounds surprisingly good imo it’s great
I got the same model but came from India back in the 90s, I would say that the neck felt the same than any Jackson, a bit in the higher action side, but not an issue since I use higher action anyways, pickups sounded good, I would send the guitar and have a proper set up
I have to say, I bought a Dinky js 7 strings, and compared it to an american Jackson Dominion with JBs in it. they sound so close to each others!! the difference was in the dynamics of the pickups.. it's like the jackson pickup couldn't play quiet to heavy. then the other things is the quality over time.... after years, the bridge pickup stopped working properly, it's like I had a serious ground issue in the bridge pickup so I can't use it anymore.... so, you save money now, but on the long term... you will have to spend money again to make it work again :)
tighten the screw on the top of the tuning key. my $200 js22-7 was awesome. my first guitar, i loved it
my man, I just commented the same thing...
The JS32 is one of my favorite budget guitars. I prefer the sharktooth inlays and the better bridge and will pay more for those options. But their lower models are killer for students. I feel the very low end should all be hardtails though. The Solar S series are pretty sweet too. Obviously it depends on your setup, how well the nut is cut and whether it needs a fret job or not. Sometimes you get a lemon.
My second guitar was a Jackson in 96 i bought it for 420 bucks had a Floyd Rose i put EMG's in it. Its been in storage about 20 years. i judge every guitar i have ever played by the standard it set and has a really nice neck profile.
I have had many guitars over the years from the cheap to over $2,000 and my j series kelly and warrior are still my favorites. Inexpensive and upgradable, i put emgs het sets in both and its perfect for me. Price dosen't always mean better when its higher.
I'm currently using one as my main jack of all trades guitar (mainly jazz fusion and blues). Swapped the pickups with p90 humbucker size, Wilkinson wov10 bridge and some top hat knobs. The neck of the guitar feels real damn great compared to guitars I've tried before which made me not prefer an Ibanez wizard neck bc of its flat radius and super thin neck.
Considering getting one to have as a gig guitar i can run be rough and careless with. I figure swapping out the nut, adding some locking tuners and throwing in some high gain pickups might be the move here.
what is your KEX tuned to that you didnt like the pickups in.. anything I have with the Jackson pickups sound better in D or lower, and, again in my opinion, need a much warmer sounding string and and EQ setup as they are relatively bright pickups...
I left them in my black KEX (same as yours but used a DR coated string that has "no" top end). and the mirror top shattered kelly, it is in Drop C tho
I have the same model but its red, its freakin awesome!!!
Nice! Man I love Jackson guitars! Such amazing guitars!
💪 They make good stuff.
Dude. I just got a JS series Rhoads V. It was on sale, plus online sale, plus rewards points and I got it for like 200 bucks. It was awesome out of the box. But I threw in some pickups (the set cost more than the guitar) and I actually did some finish work. The guitar is a beast, now. Plays awesome. Looks great. Sounds awesome. But out of the box for 200 bucks, it sounded and played great!
This video is great because this was my first electric guitar I bought 7 years ago. I still use it to this day and it truly is a workhorse instrument for me. I also agree with the issue on the tuners. For example, when I haven't used my guitar in a while the tuning is usually flat or sharp and it's a pain to tune it back. Same thing when putting new strings on. Nevertheless solid beginner guitar.
I've had the Jackson JS12 Dinky for just over a year now and it's honestly a really good guitar. The only different from the JS11 is that the 12 has 24 frets. But I'd really recommend the 11 or 12. I've used it live a couple times and it has never disappointed
my main rig after i got a crappy cresent chinses strat was a real guitar which i love its a HH JS12 Dinky only had to clean her and change the strings on her just a few times and fix the output jack only twice if its a true jacky then if taken care of she'll last ya a while
I used to have a js22 and it's one of my favorite guitars I've ever had. It made me a Jackson player for life. Definitely best bang for your buck as far as budget guitars go.
I bought js12. The neck is really nice thin and with that matte finish. The tuners can be tightened with their screws. Biggest problem on my guitar is that they have done leveling on the frets without polishing after that. All frets are so rough,scratched,it's hard to do a simple bending or vibrato.
I've played on a couple Jacksons and they do feel really nice. Problem I have with them as a brand is that if I want something of a comparable quality to my Legator in terms of hardware, it's quite a bit more expensive. I know the higher price is because they're just plain exceptionally made guitars, but it still hurts to see the price tag as someone who only plays as a hobby.
As someone who plays very professionally... Yeah have to agree their price point is tough for the quality of return. At that price point I could (And did) have a custom built instrument done for me that is specked out to the moon and back. Works in literally every setting I play in. And that is 3 very widely ranging styles with a fourth occasional gig with a symphony so it has to hold up. Jackson's are great. Really great. My only problem is as you get into their higher end stuff the return on price is a bit lacking to me compared to other brands
I remember getting a cheap Peavey electric guitar for birthday one year and it ended up being one of my favorites when jamming to Mouth for War and Cowboys from Hell. I liked it over my Ibanez.
I have owned 3 Jacksons and all 3 of them have been killer guitars. I love my Mick Thomson Signature Soloist and spend a lot of time chugging with it
My used jackson charvel with emgs was 200 in ,94. Still shreds
💯 agree on the hardtail , I've turned away from so many guitars because they either don't have a neck locker or hardtail. It's cool your just in portland I'm north of seattle . Would be cool to Jam 🤘🏻😎
I am intrigued by the tip about always ending a tune-up with an uptune and how it's supposed to affect tuning stability. I have a 20 yo Marathone guitar which is horribly unstable and I always suspected is has something to do with its crappy, floyd-like bridge but who knows, maybe it will actually help.
I have a JS32 (similar but compound radius fretboard and floyd rose). You can tell they have a good idea where to spend the effort on these cheap guitars.
The fretwork is perfectly serviceable and the pickups aren't too bad for the price but the things that can be adjusted and setup are where they cut the corners bcause you can just fix that yourself with little effort.
In the case of mine: action and truss rod were off, pickup height was dodgy and the neck itself wasn't straight to the point the low E string was barely even playable above the 12th fret it was that misalligned. BUT, only takes a minute to loosen the neck and straighten it out. Only takes a few minutes to get the action set exactly right and give the truss rod a quarter turn. Only takes a minute to set the pickup height where it needs to be. If that's all the negatives on such a cheap guitar when all the fundamental stuff is rock solid then that's a damn good deal for the money.
I only worry about people buying them as their very first guitar not knowing about guitar setup. They may see the low E string just about hanging off the fretboard entirely and think the guitar is fundamentally broken instead of the neck just needing an adjustment.
Think I have that in white... Got it at guitar center for like $150 because I wanted something to noodle on. It works.
Might be different though, mine has a swing-open screw hole thingy where the neck meets the head.
Saw a js11 in a pawn shop the other day and checked it out. Great feeling guitar. Same superior action most Jacksons offer.
I love my dinky ARCH 7
I got 13-74s on it tuned to drop f
The difference is going to be the longevity of the higher end Jackson. That low end one is going to serve someone quite well though. Looks cool and does the thing! Also it would be awesome if it was hardtail.
Would love you to compare this to the lowest cost Ibanez models. I play guitar, but was actually interested in a short scale bass for myself. I looked at the Jackson JS11 bass and the lowest cost bass lbanez makes. The bass models both had similar types of issues you’re showing on this guitar that were surely fixable.
However, once I started adding up the cost of upgrades of higher end branded or even unbranded parts (even if I did the work myself), I was looking at the cost of the next the next model or ot even the third to lowest costing model (but as I recall, one or both brands didn’t make a short scale below 30” beyond the cheapest model - so I felt like I was getting cheated into doing the work myself for the same cost of slightly higher end models that would have been playable out of the box minus the scale length issue). Did not know what made sense, so I gave up on the idea altogether. I looked at other low end short scale basses below 30” and was surprised that were are few options an adult with some music experience would appreciate that won’t feel like a toy without upgrades. I want a high quality, amazing sounding instrument that won’t sound or feel like it plays like a toy. Unfortunately, I am disabled from an accident I had in 2003 just after I turned 22 with a neurological syndrome that causes chronic pain and other debilitating symptoms. I tried a full scale 36” Donner bass that I won for free in a social media drawing, but the taut bass strings at the lightest gauge possible caused horrific pain in my joints for days and even weeks after playing (which is never an issue when I play guitar). Lots of guitar players prefer short scale basses, which tend to get sold between 28”-30”, mostly because it is not too far off from the feel of playing a guitar in terms of string resistance. Anyway, my only other short scale options other than totally unknown import brands were Squires that either only had a single pickup and poor QC reviews in the past couple years . . . or a low end Gretsch 30” bass. The pickups are not traditional sounding jazz or precision pickups, but the bass seems rather full featured and doesn’t skimp on specs while still sounding really nice - or don’t seems from the reviews and demos I’ve seen. I am hoping to save up some money to buy that Gretsch because it seems like the best of both worlds for an adult who already plays guitar but needs something that’ll be as easy on the hands as possible while not feeling like a toy. I am concerned that it’s 30” rather than 28” like the Jackson and Ibanez basses that would have been much easier on my hands, but I’m hoping it won’t cause me such horrible pain like the standard 36” bass did - and that it’ll play like a nice quality instrument rather than feeling like a toy or kiddy starter.
I don’t know if you ever look at bass guitars, but lots of guitar players want to dabble with the bass either for recording or just playing something a bit different to spice things up when hitting a rut. I learned to play a ukulele at one point, which helped me with my fingerstyle issues on guitar somewhat. Would you consider having a look at short scale low cost bass guitars for adult guitarists who want to try to start playing bass without dropping a huge amount of coin? Would be a great to have a deep dive on each model and an overall comparison with pros/cons to help people decide what’s most suitable for their needs.
Thanks for a great video!
I think the Jackson JS and the 24 fret Dinky that are in the $200 and under price point new are seriously underrated guitars. For what you get. You can block the vintage style trem. Maybe change the tuners for locking style. I look for these used on marketplace for my own stable of guitars. I have gone through a handful of guitars in the budget-beginner range, and to me, these are the best bang for buck--- but like budget beginner guitars, they will require some work to be brought up to snuff. I think they are excellent platforms for modifying and personalizing. And I wish that the no-tremolo hardtail version was as widely available. I see these sometimes on marketplace, and I'm guessing they are past or special order model.
I like it. It would look great next to my custom BC Rich mockingbird stq 8
I was just playing my JS11 lol, pretty good guitar, was y only guitar for years. Learned how to sweep pick and everything on it. Playing a JS32 warrior now
My first 7 was a JS22-7 and I loved it, I also had a JS series RR and I really regret selling it
I just picked up a JS22 archtop in the same exact color off Reverb for $160 including tax/shipping as it was new/old B stock (i believe its a 2022 or 2023 model as the new metallic blue model is a lighter shade) and was b stock because of some small scratches on the back of the body that are so hard to see you have to angle it in the light to even know they exist and even then they look like they could be buffed out and like you i was surprised that the pick ups were actually decent but yes the tuning machines while they hold tune are the achilles heel of these budget Jacksons, other than that though it plays like a dream and is astonishingly good for the price
I bought a Dinky 2 ( about $650 ), had the same issue with the nut. It fell off when I changed the strings, a bit of glue and all good.
😂 I actually love those Jackson branded humbuckers, I've got em in my Dinky Floyd guitar and my RR V ! If you swap in a alnico 2 bar magnet for the ceramic magnets in the humbuckers stock you hey instant Van Halen tones !
Bought a cheap $279 Jackson for a gf. Got the "nicer" model with the authorized Floyd Rose tremolo and a bound fretboard with the Jackson inlays (not dots). Aside from having to lock that janky FR in place, the rest of the guitar is incredibly well-built for under $300 - solid fit and finish; neck has no sharp fret edges; huge jumbo frets were all level. Some of these big factories have gotten _REALLY_ good at building guitars.
Yeah always tune up to pitch hint the phrase “tune up” I think it’s actually supposed to ensure you don’t have slack between the nut and tuning posts also especially with vintage style tremolos any slack between the nut and tuners is no bueno.
Little bit muddy but seems like a nice one. But I would rather buy a cheap second hand pre 2008 or prior ibanez because those have a very nice high end. Have a 2003/4 candy red ibanez for like 65$ which is my best playing guitar. And I have played epiphones, fender and gretch but like the old Ibanez the most. It was even a low end model of the day a grx 140 something
That sounded great! I have a pretty rare guitar that I would totally let You check out, if I came to Stumptown some day...
I've had this guitar for a couple of months. A bargain! Played amazingly, sold it cos I had nowhere to keep it really, had 4 instruments at that point, and the RR3 I bought in the meantime was just way better.