Dean Guitars EVO Special Select

OK....update on this guitar (my review is right below this one). I dropped a set of Dimarzio's in it (a Tone Zone in the bridge and an Air Classic in the neck). Oh my God!!! What a HUGE difference. I also completely rewired the guitar and replaced the crappy pickup selector switch. This has now replaced my Ernie Ball SS and Jackson solist as my main axe. I wired the pickups to be out of phase in the middle position and I get this great rythm sound now (less gain with a slight boost in mids and highs). As I mentioned in my last review the neck intonates nicer than any guitar I've ever owned. Perfect all of the way up and down the neck. I wonder if they are all like this.....or if I just got lucky. My next upgrade will be Sperzels and a better bridge. If you are willing to replce the pickups this is definately a great sounding (and looking) axe. Oh yeah......I complained mercilessly about the finish flaws and got a hardshell case as compensation from the dealer. I figured with my gigging schedule I'd bang it up anyway, so better to have the case than an axes with no finish flaws (for a short period of time). One last thing. I noticed that in the review below I stated the guitar had Gotoh tuners. Incorrect. They are Grovers.

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Mine is a 2004 model, dropped shipped to my door straight from Dean. 22 Frets, maple capped mahogany body. Two humbuckers (which sound muddy). Mine is the "Tiger Eye" finish, which really looks stunning. Stop tailpiece, which seems a bit on the cheesy side to me. I'll likely replace it with a tone pros bridge. It sports Gotoh tuners, which are very nice, but I replace all the tuners on my guitars with Sperzels anway. The neck is quite fat and chunky, which was my biggest disappointment. If you like thinner necks this guitar is not for you. The two humbkers can be split with coil tap pull switches on the volume pot (neck coil tap) and tone pot (bridge coil tap).

Hmmmmm.......I don't think so. Many of you have been way too generous on this forum concerning this guitar. The pickups are muddy. The tone at both the neck and bridge is muddy. I HOPE I can resolve this with a new set of Dimarzio's. Anybody who says this guitar sounds good out of the box either doesn't know what they are talking about and/or has never played a decent guitar before. I'm going to drop something brighter in this, probably a Dimarzio D-sonic in the bridge....possibly a Tone Zone. I'll update this board when I do. Don't buy this guitar unless you plan on upgrading the pups. Sustain seems average. The guitar intonated nicely up and down the neck right out of the box. Current setup: Guitar to Morley Bad Horsie wah, to Peavey XXX head (with a Boss DD-5 delay in the loop) to Genz Benz 2x12 George Lynch Signature cab.

Horrid! The finish is spectacular....... but there are finish inconsistencies everywhere.....mostly where the guitar wasn't buffed out correctly. There are spots under the clear coat that look like somone took 100 grit sandpaper to the guitar. It's UNDER the clear coat, so it can't even be buffed out. Some sloppiness on the binding, and the edges on the headstock are atrocious. I'm sending this one back for another one.....and if that one is just as bad then I'm going to demand my money back. Too bad.....the tiger eye is such a pretty finish. Frets seem OK. Action was OK as well....perhaps just a little high for my taste but there was ZERO buzzing. Chrome was all slightly tarnished. Oh yeah.....when I first tried it out, the bridge humbucker didn't work. It just started magically working a day later.....I'm pretty sure the switch is bad. When I pulled off the plate on the back to check it out the electronics the switches, pots, and soldering all looked pretty cheesy. If I keep this guitar I'll definately replace ALL of the electronics. Input jack was loose as well. Not a big deal......just shows how poorly this guitar was assembled and QA'd.

I wouldn't trust it unless all of the electronics were replaced. Guitar itself looks OK.

So far so good. Dealer says they will ship another one out to me from Dean. Question is.....do I really want another??

Been playing 18 years, and have owned a boat-load of gear in that time. I gig just about every weekend in the area's hottest Top 40 band (www.stoneriverband.net). My other guitars are currently a Jackson soloist, a Peavey T-60 (probably the most under-rated guitar of all time) a Jackson DR-3, and a Musicman Axis SS. Honestly guys....I'm REALLY disappointed with this axe. Hopefully the replacement will be better. I definitely wouldn't buy another one again. This has been one of the biggest disappointnents ever for me. The fit and finish on my Epiphone Les Paul was a MILLION times better than this. I now wish I hadn't got rid of that guitar. Oh yeah.....another "bonus". It won't fit in a standard case. Even my "one size fits all" SKB case was a really bad fit. If you are going to be moving this around, get the Dean hard case specifically made for the EVO. I hear the American made Deans are much nicer.

This is an update to me previous review, so I won't need to go into it. The problem I had with my EVO (neck pickup failing) was still there after sending it back twice for repair. Thankfully, I managed to talk the guy at my music store into trading my old EVO for a new one.

Great! It sounds considerably better than my last EVO. Makes me realise that the first EVO was probably a monday morning monster. I had the opportunity to hear it through a Bogner Shiva combo, and the clean sound was nothing short of jaw-dropping. Crystal clear. On my Marshall MG amp, this baby handles metal distortion (though I don't play metal), and a hard AC/DC type crunch. I use a Boss OD-3 pedal to squeeze milder overdriven sounds out of it. Sound great too.
Thanks to the coil splits, this axe is amazingy versatile. Don't expect the typical Fender cleans, but you will get an easily recognisable single-coil sound from them. When splitting the neck pickup, it gives a perfect alternative rock sound when you use it with a moderate overdrive. Split the bridge humbucker, and you get clear, yet deep tones which are perfect for clean play. For some killer clean tones, use both pickups and split the bridge humbucker. Beautiful.

Granted: there are better sounding guitars out there, but you won't find them for less that twice the price of the EVO SS. The price to quality ratio is, I think, one of the best... if not THE best.

The action is a little on the low side, but it's not a very big deal. As long as there is no fret buzz (and there isn't) then I'm basically fine with it. Pickups seem well adjusted, the way the should've been on my old EVO in fact. The finish is even better than my previous EVO. It has a much denser pattern and looks really great. Everyone who saw the guitar couldn't help but comment on its beauty. The only 'flaw' I found was that the input jack was a little loose, but I tightened that easily.

I don't really dare to comment on this yet, considering my experience with the last EVO's reliability. I got another scare when the signal from the guitar started to scratch up and poop out occasionally, but this seemed to have been caused by a faulty cable and not the guitar. Thank God! Judging by the previous reviews and Dean's overall repuation for reliability, I'm quite confident this one won't fail me. I'll just give it a 10 to annull the obviously poor judgement of the guy two review below.

I emailed Dean about the problem I was having with my previous EVO. I got a reply the next morning in which they said they had contacted my local Dean dealer for me, which coincidentally was a few blocks down the road!

Great guitar, overall. Don't really need to go into it more!

Bought it new on e-bay 2 months ago. Payed such a low price for it, it seemed too good a chance to pass up. Made in Korea. 22 frets. Tiger Eye,which is a great looking finish, thick maple top on mahogany. Two controls, 1 tone, 1 volume, with coil taps, Les Paul copy, 24 5/8's scale neck, 22 frets, tune-0-matic,grover tuners. Gave it a "9" because of the finish looks good, no bad frets, no buzzing of pots, no lose parts, no fret mistakes, inlays are set well, no fret buzzing. I have 4 guitars total,so far, 1 carvin bolt kit, 1 Mex fender strat,1 Frankenstein strat copy I put together from parts off e-bay, online stores, and local stores (which is my best sounding guitar) and this Dean SS Tiger Eye. This Dean is fine, but a work in progress,( I like to redo guitars no matter what they are, pickups, tuners, etc.)

I play with a group that likes classic rock and blues. Play through a THD univalve, a Traynor YB-1A Bassmaster amp, and a Randall 100 watt combo with a E.H. Holy Grail reverb, a ProCo Rat, and a Cry baby wah. The Dean isn't noisey, and am now going from coil tab to straight pots (want straight humbucker sound). I changed out the pickups to Duncans because the Dean's were a little too hot for me (15 ohms each) and Duncans are only 7.5 ohms. It's got a nice mellow sound and response well. I'm trying different string gauges to see what it handles the best, for action and sound. Have 09 set on now and 1/16th action and no buzzing. I like thin necks but a wider neck like a Les Paul-1 11/16 as compared to 1 5/8's might be a better tool to use.

The set up was great out of the box, no problems. Everything was adjusted such fine. Finish is flawless, and can't tell where the seams are. Frets are tight, inlays set well, nothing loose, nut ok, couldn't find anything wrong and I looked for an hour or so. I did change out the Groovers tuners to Sperzel's, and the strap holders to Dunlop locking holders just because I've done that on all the guitars I have, and will always do so.

I think this guitar was well made, and will last a long time. I play it everyday plugged in or not. I never gig without a back up no matter what.

Never called Dean, for anything and probably never will. Warrenty is 5 years but I've changed the tuners, pickups, and pots, don't think it's in effect anymore.

Been playing off and on for 30+ years. If it was stolen, don't know it I would get anothter one or not, haven't had it long enough to get use to it. Read reviews of it here and compared it to others I was considering and it seemed just as good as the others.

DEAN EVO SPECIAL SELECT----- i'm going to make this short.this guitar looks great...thats it.p/ups are crap--frets are crap--electronis,wiring is very good.a very nice looking guitar,with very bad frets..........i was going to go as far as having the frets reset.the more i thought about it--the more i thought ''why should i have to do this with a new guitar''.the frets cut into the bottom of my little finger--i ordered a 2nd one--the string[high e]actually got stuck under the 1st and 2nd frets and still were sharp.emiled DEAN--NO REPLY???????? stay away from this piece of good looking junk//////

get ready to have the frets reset and replace the p/ups

nice looking piece of junk////////// hardware is very good---set-up is very poor---frets are very poor and are not finished out[sharp ends]..............no matter what the others are saying about the p/ups...you will replace them.grover tuners are nice.to bad DEAN doesn't put as much into the finished product as it does to make this guitar look as good as it does.looks alone will only take this guitar so far.good guitar,if you plan on spending another 150.00 on it.

the guitar itself seems very solid.

never returned my email/////

i've been playing for about 10 yrs.---i know a good guitar from a bad one.this would be a fantastic guitar--if your willing to put new p/ups in it and have the frets redone[reset].the p/ups aren't even the problem--it's the frets--and i went through two of them.i was going to try a 3rd...but i said i had had enough.i went to the ESP ltd 400 ats....the difference is like night and day--try this guitar,you will be happy you did[i am]...524.00 AMERICAN MUSICAL...

Arched Maple Top, Mahogany Body, 3 Star Arched Figured Maple Top, 24-5/8" Scale & 1-5/8" Nut, Grover Tuners, Nickel Hardware, Zebra Pickups, Tune-O-Matic Bridge, Set Mahogany Neck, Wood Binding, Rosewood Fingerboard, MOP Hourglass Inlays, 22 Frets, "Tiger Eye" Finish. It's your basic Les Paul setup, but lacks the additional tone/volume knobs. Personally I don't mind that.

I play mainly rock and blues. It suits both styles quite well, though I think it is definitely more of a rock guitar. The sound is dark, warm and full. I play it through a Marshall MG 50 DFX. The Clean sounds I get out of the guitar are amazing. Overdriven, it can handle both brutal distortion (which is not my style of music) and a slight, bluesy crunch, plus everything in between. Quite versatile if you ask me. I do seem to get very heavy sounds out of this guitar a bit too easily for my liking, but I blame my amp for that. The pickups are dead quiet and are capable of handling a lot of raw fretboard power. As mentioned by other reviewers, it probably belongs in a price bracket at least twice as high as the one it sits in. Absolutely smokes Epiphone LPs in terms of looks, sound and playablity. All for considerably less money.

My EVO was the showmodel. It was the only left-handed guitar in the store that wasn't a strat. I don't know if the guys at the shop tweaked it a little before displaying it, or just hooked it on straight out of the box. The action was fine though. Not too high, not too low. Being used to and acoustic guitar with abnormally high action, I'm not quick to complain about it. The finish, as others have pointed out, is absolutely stunning! It beats any Les Paul finish with ease.
I have had one problem with the guitar though. Read the next entry for that...

About a day after I purchased the guitar, my neck pickup suddenly gave up the ghost. At least that's what I thought it was initially. The real problem seemed to be with the pickup switch. It had somehow come loose, and was jangling all over the place. It only picked up the bridge humbucker. Sometimes, twiggling it would switch on the neck pickup again, but it would fall out once more after two switches. Occasionally, the problem would be the other way around (the neck pickup being the only one to function). I brought back the guitar as soon as possible to see what was truly wrong with it. The guy at the store examined the instrument and found that the hole in which the switch was placed was too large!!! Darned Korean craftsman had used the wrong drill or something. I was mightily peed off when I heard it would be gone for two weeks. I still haven't got it back, but I feel forced to handle the instrument with more care that I deem myself capable of when I get it back. I won't trust the switch until it's been proved to work flawlessly.

Haven't dealt with Dean. Heard good things though. Might send a complaint about the pickup issue and see how they respond.

I've been playing for only 6 months. This is my first electric guitar. And though I've heard lots of good things, I need to be re-convinced this is a quality instrument. The sound is okay though. I still have trouble distinguishing the difference between, say, a Mexican Strat and a Deluxe USA Strat, but in time I may learn to appreciate the sound that comes from my EVO more and more. I'm impressed by it already. Every time I'm not playing it I wish I was playing it! If it were stolen I would be mightily disappointed and probably look into buying another. For the price, I don't think there's anything like it. Hell, I played an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Zakk Wylde which was nearly twice the price but didn't sound as good. And since I'm just a poor, unemployed student price is a major factor for me.
I can't give it an overall rating as of yet, but aside from the problem with the pickups, I'd probably give it a 9.

not sure the year made in korea, 22 frets solid top one v one t and a 3-way, 2 passive humbuckers. mahogany body and neck w/rosewood fingerboard tiger eye color les paul style, tune-o-matic bridge grover tuners jumbo frets

love the sound tight and punchy, lost of tone, not noisy at all i play metal and this sounds great with my randall warhead

set up not perfect but the guitar is just beautiful

I'm not sure of the year, i bought this guitar used from a local music store (not GC)but it looked new...not a cratch on it.probably a '01 or something. Grover tuners, beautiful inlays, push/pull coil taps, tapered neck joint, tiger eye finish. It has tons of features you would find on much more expensive guitars.

This guitar fits me like a glove. I was playing an Ibanez S-470 H/S/S pickup config with the super slim body and a floyd rose trem. The Ibanez was a great guitar no doubt, but I wanted something with more tone and the Ibanez wasn't filling that void for me. I play Christian Alt/rock and we go from warm clean to vintage distortion to head chrushing distortion. It Does it all, I could not be happier with its sound, Warm and fat thats what I like. Plus with the taps you don't loose that single coil sound if thats what you like, I use them but only every now and then.I was really looking for a Les Paul when I ran accross this for hundreds less than a decent entry level Les Paul. This guitar sounds great. If you are using this axe with a cheap amp its gonna sound a liitle muddy at times and its clean tones are warm but lack a bit of that sparkle I like. But once you plug this bird into a descent box, look out...she sings. I have been using Crate's Digital combo the DX212 and I use all the Marshall and Mesa simulators as well as the fenders for the sparlies and I could not be happier with the sound. I have finally found my axe.

This guitars finish is incredible when I picked her off the rack at the music store I had no I dea how much he wanted for her. I player about 5 mins and was astonished at how well she felt, and sounded. There was no price tag in it so I asked the guy how much you asking for it? i was half expecting him to say some silly price I couldn't afford that would knock me off the stool. $450 he says, I say $350, he says sold! I peel off 350 bucks and the rest is history. Every fret wire is filled so as you run your hand along the fretboard edge you feel nothing but silky glassyness. Unbeleiveable The Les Pauls at GC don't feel like this. The knobs feel very solid when turned/pushed or pulled, A+ for quality. The Grover machines could not feel better. I think the action was set up before I got it but is excellent. the pickups were well installed and sound great. And don't forget about the finish....incredible...flawless...not one little piece of trash in the finish anywhere.

I gig with this guitar regularly, I only bring the afore mentiond Ibanez I spoke of as a safety net I have never had to use my back up. I bring a backup because our other guitarist breaks string alot and I hat stopping to change a string its so unprofessional. This thing feels like a German Tank but weighs alot less. I don't know how they shaved the weight off without sacrificing tone, but they did a great job. No corners cut here this thing is A+ top quality in my opinion

I havn't dealt with them yet, but after reading other peoples comments I'm gonna call and see if I can scam a free T-shirt.

I have only been playing a few years now and started giging after playing only 7 months, so I've been out in the world enough to have heard how alot of other gear sounds....I know what I like, and I research every piece of gear I buy. I bought this axe before doing any research it just seemed like a great guitar. Then I come here and see how most everybody gave this axe a glowing report. A+ Dean guitars, you gave me Champagne on my Schlitz malt liquor budget. The only difference is that if you set this guitar next to all the expensive gibsons, based on build quality sound and price Gibson would be in deep fecal matter. Thats no shit. If this guitar were stolen or lost I would definitely buy another one, maybe even see what was available from thier pro shop or in Deans private stash. I am a believer.

I bought the first EVO Special Select in 2002. It was a nice looking tiger finish split top. Two Dean pickups and like all the rest of the reviews. I was somewhat sold on the concept of the split coil pickups, but in the end, didn't find that the guitar sounded good in single pickup mode. When I bought this guitar, I had planned to spend more money having it set up correctly and to install new pickups. The Dean pickups I felt were a bit unfocused and maybe muddy if not quiet.

After the setup and new pickups were installed (which were Seymour Duncan - Screamin Demon in bridge and jazz in nec), the guitar guy noticed a split in the finish at the neck. He didn't think he had tweaked it that hard. The end result was a guitar that was splitting at the neck. Dean did replace the guitar through the music store at no extra cost. The newer guitar was nicer looking but again lacked the setup and I still didn't care for the Dean pickups. Oh yes, I spent even more money getting #2 in shape ... again.

Alternative rock, funk, experimental. Fender Vibroking and usual effects. Quiet guitar. Very round full sound. A fantastic guitar for rock and blues and definitely jazz.

I like this guitar and the sound. However, this guitar still seems a bit unfocused and a bit muddy. Maybe the problem is that it is fatter tonally than I had wanted. It sounds great playing it alone. However, when in band mode, I seem to cross into the bass spectrum too much where my bass player is playing. Another possibility is that I don't have the right match up amp wise. I could try this with a Marshall.

Factory setup was average. Pickups to me were lacking. There was definitely a manufacturing flaw in the original guitar. I think this was documented in a forum on Dean's website and was a common problem for this guitar and year.

The detail on the look of the guitar is unbelievable.

This is my backup guitar and I would depend on it for that.

Excellent.

I've been playing for about 16 years. I own a Fender Tele with Harmonic Design pickups that I like better. One regret I have with this guitar are the pickups I chose with this. For style, I would have gone with an active pickup like EMG-81 or possibly the Harmonic Designs humbuckers ... which I eventualy may try.

The guitar plays nice, sounds a bit bluesy to me, but is fat.

Features have been covered, and yes, the guitar's quilted top is stunningly beautiful. Wow, like a PRS for so much less money! The coil-tap works extremely well, Strat-like tones are easy to get and switching between the six available tones is great fun. The neck joint is hugely effective and beats a Les Paul cold. Probably the most comfortable neck I've played in 35 years!

I play the blues and this guitar is superb for getting vocal tones and emotion from the strings. I'm playing through a Fender 85 and have very little noise even at 120 watts at "8" setting. This guitar does not REPLACE a Tel or Strat, but does a B+ tone for either, and absolutely nails the Les Paul tones at less weight, less money and much improved playability.

Set-up was good and easily tweaked, pickups need to be set quite low to provide best tone. No flaws to finish at all and fine quality hardware. Solid and well-made with Grover tuners that are great.

This is now my main axe and I play 3 sets twice a week. After four months I have zero problems. Did replace strap buttons to match my other guitars. I still play using a Strat, Tele, and Epi jazz box. But this is the ultimate Les Paul killer!

No contact with Dean as yet, but I've heard good things. Warranty is 5 years, pretty darn good I'd say!

After 35 years I know what a guitar needs to give me: TONE and great feel without backbreaking weight. I'd buy another EVO in a heartbeat. Beat on the guitar for hours and it stays in tune. I love the bright fret markers in low light and upper fret access is first-rate. Dean makes guitars for playing rather than collecting in a glasscase. What a fine instrument this thing is, and the cost to value ratio is just hard to believe!