Dean Guitars Black Gold V

made in korea, bought it on sale for 500. not bad. Comes with dean ceramic pickups which are surprisingly very warm and nice. Not for super, super cutting strong metal but definitely handles the sabbath/deep purple yadda yadda that we all love (hopefully). Great sounding pups. Grovers..believe it or not a nut made of some other material..feels synthetic. But it's not plastic which is a plus. Putting a graph-tec tusq nut in there so should fair better there.

Sounds great, honestly. Knowing what you are playing is extremely important in buying an instrument. Back in the day, aka like 3 years ago, I didn't know much about guitars or tuning or nuts or rosewood or whatever so I ended up bouncing from all of these guitars and thinking certain ones suck when in reality I didn't know how to set up the instrument. Now I know and it's a great one. Pickups are great stock to be honest, if your going to be playing modern metal, get an invader or emg or something for the bridge but very warm and great sounding pups. Not muddy.

Set up very well from factory, best out of ibanez/schecter/other companies I've ordered from. Low-ish action and sounded great and stayed in tune pretty well. No flaws. Looks great. everyone says its really badass

Very reliable and strong. Upgrade a few things like the nut and you have a great instrument. Can't see myself spending 1,000s of dollars of american made instruments when korean ones are just as great...

haven't had to talk to them

sounds great, looks awesome. No need to replace pickups. The only thing I would replace is the nut. A great, really awesome looking and playing guitar.

Built sometime in 2007-8 in Korea (I want to add here that the Deans made in Korea recently are some of the highest grade electric guitars out there and they put PRS, Epiphone, and anyone else to shame), 22 fret, maple top (or so they say, could be a laminate), 2V/2T/3 way selector, 2 gold humbuckers (only know there are no poles, gold covered and they sound surprisingly good), mahoghany body and neck, top is a grey/black stain back and neck is black, Explorer type body, with Tunomatic bridge and stop tailpiece. Tuners are gold Grovers.

While my wife hates the shape of it (Why are we buying UGLY guitars?), I've found that it is great for heavy rock. I was planning on replacing the beidge pickup but after a few days I really liked the stock one. I'm running it through a Flextone III and also a Carvin XT112 and it sounds great. Low noise with a thick chunk when needed and a nice bright clean tone.

This was a brand new guitar when I received it having the plastic still on the access plates and on the pickup covers but the guitar had obviously been abused in the store. There is a dent in the first fret over the block (it is not so deep as to have an effect on my fretting) and there was a gouge on the top near the upper shift of the body. The fretboard dent seems like it was done by putting another guitar back up onto a wall display, looks like a tuner dent. The pickups are tremendous! The top is pretty well matched but this has never really mattered to me. And I'm not sure what happens at the place I bought it, but the case it came in was formerly a Razorback V case that had been obliterated. I don't even want to know what happened to the guitar that was in it since there were still chunks of it inside the case when I got it. It has since been rebuilt into a Z formfit case.

I play it every day and it seems to be holding up well. While my tech hates Grovers, they seem to hold well on this guitar. I;d use it at a gig but I never play without a backup. Finish seems well done, all hardware seems to be quality.

No clue about warranty etc.

I;ve been playing guitar for 35+ years now, keyboards almost as long. If iut were stolen, I'd get another one. I wanted a Select but they are hard to come by so I settled for this one. I am not disappointed.

Transparent black over flamed maple, gold hardware, grover tuners, string through body, block fret board inlays with BLACK GOLD in block letters at 12th fret. Pretty flat fretboard radius..

I give it a nine because I like to split humbuckers, no coil tap.

I got a case with it bringing the total price to $725

Incredible sound! I have to disagree with the other reviewer. I think the stock pickups in mine sound fantastic. I played it side by side with my PRS guitars (I have 7) and would say the pickups have a McCarty like tone with similar gain to the Dragon II pickups in the Custom 22s. The tone compares very favorably with the PRS guitars. Vintage tone with high gain.. what more can you ask? Sounds great for metal or classic rock.. anything with distortion. The tone is thick on the bottom with a sweet, ringing high end. Good distortion tone with definition.

As to the pick ups not having enough gain... that is subjective it's true, but I am a gainiac and I'm quite happy. I use a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster when I want more. This is an amazing! device that I recoment to anyone who uses distortion. I set mine between 12 and 1 O'clock and it really does what it claims. Boosts the gain without changing the tone.. Incredible. It makes a huge differnce and at $79 is cheaper then putting hot, tone depleted pick ups in all your guitars.. plus you can switch it off!

Clean this guitar sounds nice. Bright, chimy... recomend rolling back either volume or tone to keep it from being too brittle, but that's personal preference.

OH MY GOD! Off the rack this guitar had lower action than any guitar I have ever owned, without a buzz anywhere. The fret ends are smooth. Everything is tight, finish is BEAUTIFUL. Flawless guitar. Not a single less than positive item.

I have no doubt this guitar could handle whatever. Very, very solid.

I know nothing about Dean support, but the owner of the store where I bought this guitar speaks highly of them.

I have been playing for over 20 years. I play through 2 Traynor YCV 50 Blues w/matching extension cabs, I have a stereo chorus which is rarely on (one song right now!) so the amps are basically run parallel. Boss Super Overdrive. Ibanez Weeping Demon Wah, Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster. Digitech RP300 (only use for tuner and chorus).

I am a guitar wh*re, or so my bass player tells me! I have 7 Paul Reed Smiths (3 Custom 22s, 2 Custom 24s, 2 McCartys, one with rosewood neck), 3 Gretsch hollowbodies (Anniversary, Tennessee Rose HT, Country Club), 2 Les Pauls (1 Deluxe, 1 Special), an SG 90s, a Fender American Deluxe Ash, an Epiphone Korina V, Epiphone Double Neck, 2 Ibanex acoustics. This Black Gold V is better than anything I have ever owned short of my Paul Reed Smiths... It plays great, sounds amazing, no set up was required, and I can say that of only ONE other guitar I have ever bought. High praise!

At $725 with case this guitar is a STEAL! I am in awe of how good this guitar is. To make a direct comparison between a $700 guitar sn a $3000 guitar is tough, but I can say that it does compare favorably with my PRS guitars and is without a doubt the best value I have ever gotten out of a guitar I've bought.

I would have to have another one if anything happend to this one.. might in fact have to get another one anyway! I love it so much.

I traded a BC RICH NJ, neck through Mockingbird for the Black Gold, and I am completely happy! For basically the same $$$ the Dean makes the BC RICH look PATHETIC.

Other than the lack of coil tap, I have nothing but praise for this guitar

Beautiful Trans Black finish. Mahoghany Body and Neck ,
22 Frets , Gold Hardware , Block Inlays ,Black Gold on 12th fret ,Rosewood fret board ,Grover tuners .
Two Gold Covered Pick ups

The Guitar sounds good but to be honest Im not crazy about the stock pick ups, So I plan on swapping it out for Gold Covered Duncan JB/59
pups,then I think it will kick serious ass.

The finish is beautiful , as far as set up goes , I always take my guitars to my guitar guy who sets em just the way I like.

It looks solid , Would gig for sure , always use a back up

Dean makes a nice looking guitar and for the money a good quality instrument. I now have 4 Deans, A dime O flame , Michael Schenker custom V, 79 ML , and this .
My only complaint on the Black Gold V is Im not crazy about the pick ups that come stock , its not hot enough for me, Being Im a lead player into gary Moore , schenker , Dime etc. the pick ups on the 79 are hotter.
I use a Marshall DSL with a TC Electronics G major .
The Black Gold V is a good guitar and after I swap out the pick ups will be a great guitar.