Quality of import Jacksons

[wilkinsi]

Would it be plausible for Jackson to bring back the 90's Professionals back? After all, there is a market for it, and some of us (myself included) are prepared to pay for them. I'm looking at this from a design stance - the Warrior Pro looks better than the WR1 for it's bigger bevels and slanted fretboard/pickups, the Soloists had the cutaway heel, there were more (and nicer) finishes available.

[MartinBarre]

I can play Dragonforce out of my ass, it also sounds a helluva lot better too.

I was under the impression that's exactly how the band recorded their "music".

[Pointy]

Let me give a personalized explanation as I have/had good models to compare. Let's start with the newer PRO models vs USA.

RR1T vs RR5

Lets start with the wood. The RR1T feels MUCH heavier (not too heavy a guitar either) while the RR5 felt like it weighed weighed next to nothing. An ebony board, binding and real MOP wouldn't make that much of a diffrence so that's not it....so my guess there is that the USA counterpart is made of a denser alder tone wood. The frets ends aren't finished as well and either are cheaper wire on the RR5 or they're not polished at all. The RR1T frets shine and have no drag while the RR5's are dull looking and not as smooth. The neck profiles are very close but not identical...both very good, but the USA wins. Pickups are exactly the same, but the switches pots and jack on the USA are far superior as the pots and switch in the RR5 were always a little quirky from the day I brought it home till I switched them out. The wiring/shielding in the USA was also FAR Superior.

For the next comparison we'll be looking at a KVPro Mustaine vs a KV2.

This matchup is much closer......

Weight of the 2 are extremely close. Both alder bodies dark ebony boards with real MOP sharkies and neck/headstock binding. The fret ENDS on the Mustaine aren't quite as nice as on the KV2, but unless you're looking for it, you wouldn't really notice. Quality pickups in both, but they are totally diffrent sounding so you really cant compare tone for these purposes. The only place I can say the Mustaine isn't on par with the KV2 is in the control cavity. Wiring in the Mustaine is neat and tidy, but the pots are kinda cheap and should be replaced, and could all be shielded better. The KV2 cavity is UNBELIEVABLE! Best noiseless wiring of any axe I've ever come across (that includes my early Dimas Soloist) with serious shielding of the cavity itself.

Pecking order goes like this....

1. USA
2. Early 90's PRO
3. New Pro models

All great axes, but the price diffrences are diffrent for a reason, not just because where they're built.

Very informative, thanks! Is there such a big difference between batches of wood, or is it quality or maybe species of alder entirely?

Ps: i see lots of Dragonforce 'love' going on here, definately need to check them out

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Basically for a solid-color SL3 vs. SL1/SL2H you're looking at

- Rosewood vs. ebony
- No binding vs. binding
- Painted logo vs. MOP logo
- KFR vs. OFR

Ah... That's about all I can think of. There's around a $700 price difference, the materials don't come close to making that up.

So, I imagine that they're making most of it up on labor costs and amount of hand-work vs. machine work.

For what it's worth I don't have any imports anymore but my old Fusion HH ('92) is an excellent guitar, in fact it's nearly perfect as far as fit and finish, has a great tone, and plays very well, too.

If they came out with a maple-board import Soloist with a pointy headstock I'd probably buy one. I don't like the quality of rosewood on most of the SL3's I've seen.

[toejam]

RR1T vs RR5
Pickups are exactly the same

The RR5 comes with two JBs and the RR1T comes with JB/Jazz.

[MartinBarre]

Jazz in a metal guitar is a waste of time. Good pickup but not for metal. Dunno why Jackson use that pairing, the 59 is a MUCH better pickup in the neck for rock and metal and that's not just my opinion - ask anyone on the Duncan forum.
So the RR5 wins there for me!

[stevoc]

I can play Dragonforce out of my ass, it also sounds a helluva lot better too.

YouTube video required.

Seriously, would love to see it. The guitar work in there is awesome.

[toejam]

Jazz in a metal guitar is a waste of time. Good pickup but not for metal. Dunno why Jackson use that pairing, the 59 is a MUCH better pickup in the neck for rock and metal and that's not just my opinion - ask anyone on the Duncan forum.
So the RR5 wins there for me!

I love both the '59 and the Jazz. I enjoy the Jazz because it's a little cleaner and brighter, and most of the time I'll only use the neck pup for clean tones anyway. I yanked the JB out of my RR1T and paired the Jazz up with a PATB-2... works pretty well for me.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I love both the '59 and the Jazz. I enjoy the Jazz because it's a little cleaner and brighter, and most of the time I'll only use the neck pup for clean tones anyway.

+1

I don't use the neck pickup much to begin with, for anything hard rock or metal.

I use the neck pickup for a really round lead tone very rarely but that's not for anything I'd typically call metal, and for that I'd rather have the '59 for distortion. But the Jazz will pass, with plenty of gain on tap.

But for clean tones (like, "I'm going for an acoustic guitar-ish tone, or as close as I can get" clean tones) the Jazz is great, and 90% of the time that's what I'm doing on the neck pickup anyway. The '59 does OK for that.

So for most of the rare times I'm on the neck pickup, I prefer the Jazz.

[DonP]

I like the toggle switch on the DK1, but it tends to cut out in certain positions if not switched much, so I have to change it's position a few times every time I use it to get it working properly.

The reason for this is if the switch contact is exposed to air (when not switched), the contact gets corroded from moisture in the air.

Always store the guitar with the toggle switch in the middle position, so that air can't get onto the contacts as easily.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

You can clean it with a little contact cleaner if it's really bad.

At least it's not a crappy closed switch where you can't get to it to clean it!

[Mocha PC-1]

My DK2M w/ EMGs has pleased me very well so far : )

I figured I should have a rig that goes along with the buttrock I like to play lol

Some new strings and action adjustment is all she needed to make me happy.

Arrived with no incident. PUP switch was a little cheesy, feels limp and has flash on the plastic knob, like the crap thats left on your model parts before you glue em (does anyone build models anymore? lol )

[QuantumRider]

Until earlier this year, the Japanese Jackson factory was still making ebony boarded, MOP logoed and MOP inlaid guitars, under the brand name Jackson Stars... Just for the Japanese market, though.

I own two top of the line Jackson Stars Soloists (a 2006 SL-J1 and a 2007 SL-TN01), and I'd say that they are built just as well as my USA soloist and my 1988 Ontario strat, and might even be better as far as playability goes...

[Bob From Accounting]

The difference between USA and Import Jacksons (and most high-end vs cheaper guitars)

Let's say you play 20 notes on the USA Jackson, (most likely) ALL of those 20 notes will sound perfect

Play the same 20 notes on an Import and (most likely) all of them will NOT be perfect, 1-5 of them will have some kind of problem, fret buzz, fret out, dead etc.....

[Grahf]

Sam Totman can play on one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jgrCKhxE1s

Actually this is the only Dragonforce song that i have heard, and i like it. Haven't looked any more into them yet, not really my style but i don't hate them either

I am asking because i am new here, and as you can probably tell, i love Jacksons. I also know that i am not getting a USA to asnwer these myself any time soon, so...
The RR24 has binding but then again only one pickup - no idea which one costs more!

the words "sam totman can play" should not be used in the same sentence together.