Saturday, November 25, 2017

Jackson: Soloist SLX


Just a brief appraisal of this Jackson SLX I came across at Swee Lee days ago. This is one of the newer models in store, a zebra wood finish Soloist with Duncan Designed humbuckers & the (dreaded) Floyd Rose Special bridge. The overall tone of this instrument is geared towards distortion & it did not disappoint; the DD pickups did their job well. Not too keen with the clean tones though but there are other Jacksons in store to see that through. That zebra wood top is a laminated piece (basswood body) but we can't deny the more appealing aesthetics with it in place. The firm winner here is the SLX's neck. It's that shred neck profile but not too thin (nothing Ibanez Super Wizard) but definitely more inviting (& more comfortable, dare I say) than the Ibanez Standard RG necks. 

PS: Thank you Meng, for the invite 👍

Rating: 7/10

Availability: Swee Lee
List: $929

5 comments:

sweetmethane said...

Are they made in Indonesia or China? How do you find the stability of the floyds? Thanks.

subversion.sg said...

Made in Indo. As mentioned in the post- dreaded FRS. I had several negative experiences with this bridge, will not put things too negatively about it but if you do not plan to whammy (much) I suggest you block it, make it stay put. One of my BC Rich guitars sport the FRS & that was the limit of my tolerance, I swapped it our with a GOTOH unit for a comparable price & it fared way better.

sweetmethane said...

Okay Sub.. Yes i posted question before remembering the keyword: dreaded. Haha. Anyway I'm planning to purchase the Jackson Adrian Smith SDX model. So listing down the "must upgrade" items. Thanks again!

YusTech said...

FR Special in a Jackson = bad idea.

Daniel said...

FRS are great and stable for about a year. After a lot of string changes, a groove will start to wear in the zinc saddles, eventually, strings will start to slip. best bet is to replace the saddles. the FRS baseplate is hardened just like the OFR.

OFR and MIK Ping saddles are magnetic, FRS's zinc saddles are not.

The Indo made Jacksons are quite nice. I think cort makes them