Dean Guitars Avalanche Zone H

What year was it made? Where was is made? (Japan, Mexico, USA, etc...) Since i bought it in 2003, I would like to assume it was made in '02-'03 and probably manufactured in Korea (or somewhere similar)

How many frets? 22

Solid-Top? Laminated top? Too cheap to be solid-top

Which controls are given (volume, tone, 5-way selector, 3-way, tap, etc...)? 1 volume, 1 tone, 3 way blade pickup selesctor (bridge, bridge+neck, neck)

Pickup configuration? (S/S/H, H/H, S/H, Piezo, etc...) Mine was H/H but there are also S/S/H configurations

Make and model of pickups? Dean Designed

Active or Passive electronics? Passive

Body and neck woods? (Maple, Mahogany, Alder, Ash, Basswood, Koa, Plywood, etc...) Most likely plywood body, maple neck and rosewood fretboard

Finish (Satin, transparent, quilted top, flamed top, etc...) Red Satin

Body style (strat, tele, dreadnought, cutaway, thinline, etc...) Strat with a very annoying square shaped fretboard where it meets the body. I have ripped my finger open on that thing so many times in the past.

Bridge style (Tune-O-Matic, Floyd Rose, Wilkinson, Tele-style, String-thru body, stop tailpiece, etc...) I do believe it was a cheap strat-type trem bridge, but since i don't use a trem, its never had the trem bar on it

Tuners (Locking? Non-locking? brand of tuners - Sperzel, Gotoh, Grover, Schaller, etc...) cheap but decent probably made by Dean

Neck/Scale (Fat, Thin, Jumbo Frets, Rosewood, Maple, etc...) The neck was a bit more chunky than the Rogue by Squier extremely cheap strat knockoff i was playing before i bought this one. The frets are bigger too, probably mid-jumbo. Rosewood finger board, maple neck, standard dot inlays

Any included accessories? (Case, gig bag, strap, cable, tools, humidifier, etc...) nope

How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)? I played in a punk band with this guitar for 2 or 3 years and punk can be played on anything and you can get a standard punk sound

What amps and effects are you using it with? Carvin Distortion and and circa '74 Holmes Mississippi Bluesmaster with any cab i could get my hands on

Is it noisy? On what settings? It was nice and clean with the volume rolled back a smidge but if you put anything distorted on it, it was start to hiss a bit

Rich/Full sound? Bright sound? Neck pickup was extremely warm, and the bridge pickup was a little bright

What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety? The cutaway was a little too small for my giant hands so i had issues with the high register. As for the kinds of music you could play on it, i think with enough tone tweaking you could play just about anything with it

Likes and dislikes? Not too heavy, twin hum configuration is nice, couldve used a single coil in the mid position. I really disliked the very warm neck pickup

How well was the guitar set-up at the factory? (How was the action?) The action was pretty high when i bought it but the neck was nice and straight so a couple minutes lowering the bridge saddles and it had good action on it

How well were the pickups adjusted? the pickups were all the way in the pickguard cavity when i got it

Properly bookmatched top? Properly routed bridge? Seemed ok to me

Did the guitar contain any flaws? (misaligned bracing, poorly filed fretwire, finish flaws, poor quality wood, rusted or oxidized hardware, loose tuning pegs, poorly cut nut, poorly fit saddle, noisy pickup selector, loose controls, etc...) The fretwire at the 8th fret was rough and cut my hand when i played it but 2 minutes with a file fixed that. Also the volume and tone potentiometers were both loose when i recieved it.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Yes, but not for too long. My volume potentiometer essentially disintegrated (really just fell apart) after using it for a couple months of playing shows. There were pieces of it inside the pickguard cavity. I spent about 120 fixing it with new potentiometers, a new pickguard, and a new pickup (Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader. Not a good choice.)

Does the hardware seem like it will last? The bridge is solid and 6 years after buying it the tuning machines still keep the guitar in tune after long periods of playing

Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing? Its good to last, trust me after scrubbing blood off it a dozen or more times, it hasn't started to fade yet

Are the strap buttons solid? Nope, but i would recommend straploks for all guitars.

Can you depend on it? I can now that the electronics have been replaced

Would you use it on a gig without a backup? I have but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone

Never dealt with customer support but i believe it was a 90 day manufacturers warranty

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own? I've been playing for 8 years. I own a horribly modified Rogue by Squier S/S/H strat-copy, a Dean Avalanche which was a H/H configuration but now is a single hum single volume config, a 2005 Schecter 006 Deluxe vampyre red stain, a ESP-Ltd Viper-50, a Dean acoustic (i can't remember the model), Holmes Mississippi Bluesmaster head, and i had a Carvin Distortion and a Carvin Wah pedal, but neither work anymore. (Don't buy effects from Carvin)

Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar? No regrets.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? Something else, probably another Schecter.

What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature? I loved the bright red finish, and the H/H configuration, i hated the shape of the end of the fretboard and the tone of the neck pickup, and my favorite feature when i bought it was the H/H configuration, but I'm looking at making a switch back to S/S/S or S/S/H, so it doesn't appeal to me so much.

Did you compare it to other guitars? Which ones? Why did you choose this one? when i bought it, i didn't compare it to anything. I bought it for the price. Now i can compare it to a low end ESP and a low end Schecter, and it pales in comparison to either one.

Anything you wish it had? a better fretboard, and better factory electronics

Anything else you'd like to share? Its good for a first or second guitar, cheap and decent for the price, great for learning, but i wouldn't use it for recording or heavy gigging.

Bought in Dec '04 new. Made in China (ugh!) The price was Rock solid Guitar, practice amp w/ overdrive,strap, picks, and a cheap nylon gig bag for $249. Red Mettalic finish Basswood(?) strat style body with a bolt on neck. 1 hummer back by the bridge and a single by the neck. The neck is somewhat thin, great for begginers or people with small hands trying to hit notes with there thumb. All in all a great beginner guitar for the price. Blows any thing Gibson or Fender have to offer in the bundle market. Wish they they could've relocated the amp jack onto the face of the guitar though.

I pretty much play multiple styles of rock and my Dean performs well. The practice amp that comes with the package has decent sound, nice distortion with overdrive on and the humbucker as your pickup. Nice bluesy sound with the single selected, I do have an annyoing little hum though. I also use a old Peavy tube amp with some really old dod pedals (chorus,overdrive,compression,delay) sounds great. But I still have that annoying hum when the single coil is selected.

Fit and finish were great for what I paid for the Guitar. see above) Nice tight action which also makes this a great beginner guitar. Tunning pegs are nice and tight also which makes it a breeze to tune. Beautiful finish no flaws what so ever. My biggest beef is which the input plug which is on the bottom of the guitar. (once again see above)

This Dean holds up well when playing live. However I dont recommend using Ernie Balls on it. They like to snap at the bridge if you do alot of heavy mute picking and string bending. So far after 7+ months of playing the tuning keys, knobs, bridge, pickup selector are as smoothe as the day I brought it home. Once again the only beef I have is with the input connector, I have to tighten it up about once a week. I never goto a gig with out a backup, since changing Ernie Balls to Everly strings I'ver needed my back up.

Never need to contact Dean :D

Ive been playing for about 14 years. I have also have a Peavy electric,frankenstein strat clone, and a Gibson 6 string acoustic. I would definatley buy another one of these guitars if I had to. Great bang for the buck. Like I said I shopped around before I bought this Fender and Gibson dont have anything that comes close to this guitar without selling one of your kidneys. Biggest beef is with the location of the input, I wish is was on the face of the body. This is my first review of anything thanks for reading and alway remember is you gonna go swimming always bring a TOWEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quite basic. Dual humbuckers, one tone and one volume control, a three-way selector, thats about it. 22 frets, basswood body, stratocaster type, Grover tuners. That sums it all up nice and quickly. Nothing stunning, nothing missing.

I play this through a Behringer Firebird GX108, a basic practice amp. The guitar seems to be aimed towards the hardrock/metal players, but it seems to be quite usefull for rock as well. I havent played things like blues with it, but I dont think blues players are looking for a dual-humbucker guitar anyway.

The sound itself was what made me buy it. I played virtually every guitar in this price range, and this one simply surpasses them all. Things like Squiers simply are a lot worse. This, and all other ratings, take the price into consideration.

The setup wasnt really perfect, as the neck had to be adjusted. But since that is routinely done in the store for free I had no problems with that. For the rest it was good. No flaws, nothing to be excited about either.

Even though it is hard to say, it doesnt look 'cheap' like most guitars for this price. Everything looks quite capable to handle my somewhat blunt style of playing, so that should be no problem at all.

Should I take this to a gig without a backup? I dont think anyone should take a single guitar to a gig without a backup, ever. But I guess it would most likely be no problem to use this one.

I havent dealt with them, but I did a lot of research on most companies. Dean seems to be one of the best, if not the best, in this aspect. I heared nothing but praise about their support, so I give them a 10.

Well, what else is there to say. It probably wont go down as the best guitar ever, but it certainly is the best guitar for the price. If you are struggling with a cheap squier, and you can get a decent trade-in value, get this one.

It's just a nice guitar, with a great sound, for an unbelievable price. This rating is, I cannot stress it enough, when compared with guitars of this price.