Dean Guitars EVO Special Select

Like all the rest, a stunning beauty out of the box, great quilted top, always gets compliments. Great fit & finish, killer inlays. Tone Tone TONE!

I own a 63 strat, a les paul, a es-335 and a gretsch anni model... This is my favorite guitar. Best overall tone & sustain of ANY guitar I've ever owned.

A gem, always draws notice. Never needed to adjust anything. Korea, Shmorea, This is a well made guitar, my 2nd evo, (Had an FT) and feels great in the hand and on the ear. Been playing 35 years, and I've never had so much fun playing any guitar. More les paul than my Les paul! Lighter, too!

Been playing the hell out of it for 4 mos, no problems yet. My other deans never gave any trouble.

Call em & you'll see, they're great.

Like I said, this $400 guitar holds its own and exceeds the playability & tone of guitar costing 5-10 times as much. How can you go wrong? I've played a long time, and I love this one even more than the other evo I had. Dean makes the best guitars on the market in the $300-$500 price range, acoustic & electric.

Mine is a 2003 Korean made EVO SS with two Dean Humbuckers with coil taps and a 3 way switch. I think it's mahogony but not sure. Beautiful finish. It is a "tiger eye" quilt top. Solid brown on the back and neck so I figure it is a laminated top. It has Grover tuners and a Tune-O-Matic with stop bar set up. I had to buy the case seperatly. The finish is flawless.

Sounds tight and strong. Dead quiet in either humbucker or split single selection on the pickups. The pickups aren't exactly Duncans but they are much better than expected. I really get a rich full sound out of them on my Traynor YCV80Q. I've had several Les Pauls over the years and I like this equally well especially when you consider the price to quality ratio.

The action was set up before the guitar was shipped to me and it seems like I was there telling them just how I wanted it. It was perfect out of the box. The finish is perfect and it is beautiful with the tiger eye quilt finish. Everything is as it should be. No misaligned parts, everything tight. The chrome on the hardware seems to be good quality. I really take care of my gear and always wipe off sweat and finger prints when I finish playing so I think the chrome and finish will withstand the test of time. Dean quality is amazing.

This is my 4th Dean. So far they have all been durable with no maintenance required after initial set up. The Strap buttons appear to be very solid as does everything on the guitar. I would take it without a backup without worry. It stays in tune with any amount of string bends and everything seems rock solid.

I've only dealt with Dean through their website and they have answered all questions within 24 hours. The Dean Forums on their website also have all the help you would ever need.

I give it an overall 9.5. I've found no flaws and I would put it up against any of my old Les Pauls any day. I think Dean is the best price to quality you can get. Worth twice as much IMO.

Incredible bookmatched quilty maple top. Abalone fingerboard inlays. Grover tuners. Dean "zebra" pickups. Fantastic angled set neck that creates a slim neck joint that lets you get to the high notes (like the PRS -- before it became the POS). Two bogus coil splitting push-pull pots on volume and tone knob. And best of all -- pounds lighter than a Les Paul!

I've owned a bunch of guitars, and the pickups on this baby are wonderful. They sound as good or better than the USA Duncans in my Les Paul Double Cut. For real. And that's 40 years of experience talkin'.

Flawless. Like butter. Amazing. Better than on most Gibsons costing thousands more. Dean has their overseas QC nailed. However, beware that there are SEVERAL EVO models -- and the cheaper ones (with "X" in the model name) are indeed absolute dreck. The Special isn't bad, but for a few bucks more the Special Select is fantastic. Think Les Paul Classic with GOOD pickups and a neck that's not a Louisville Slugger, and not OBESE. I'm tellin' ya, ya gotta get one of these EVOs!

TBD. Everything seems solid, though. I do the three Sunday services our worship band does back-to-back with this axe and no backup. And every piece of equipment I use has to be first durable and then versatile -- and this axe does all that and more.

Called Dean to register for warranty -- they are sending me a free t-shirt (apparently a common practice for them). Try getting THAT out of the Custom Shop snobs at Fender (who make TOYS, but don't get me started on whining single coils, screwed-on necks, and bodies made out wood that was rejected by the furniture industry -- and sprayed with auto paint ala Earl Scheib). They were warm, friendly, and told me that if I ever needed parts, don't hesitate to call.

I've been playing 40 years -- everything from folk to rock to blues to worship music. With my worship band, I have to go from ballads to chicken pickin' country to rock to soul -- all inside a 45-minute set, three services back-to-back, so the stuff I take up with me has to perform. Over the years I've owned Fenders (yech!), high-end Gibsons, Korean Hamers (nice!), and an assortment of miscellaneous guitars. If I didn't already own the Gibson, I'd consider this Dean a perfectly adequate and servicable "A guitar." It's that good. And for under $400!

I'm adding a second review for a second Evo SS ,
same features, but this one is a Lemon Burst flame top, Much nicer looking than the wood on my quilt tiger.
still wish it had double volume controls

Smokin , thats why It's my 3rd Evo

it was used, an needed cleaning, a setup, an strings
afterwards its more than enough to get the job done.

playing 30+ years, this makes 9 guitars, Gibson LP, V, Schecter C1e, Michael Kelly HG, yada yada
I've got 3 dean evos, looks like this is 'my' brand an model :)
this one is a ringer for a lemon burst Gary Moore, $232 + shipping ...

EVOs baby !

2003 EVO Special Select - Lefty, made in Korea. LP body style, 22 frets, Tiger Eye quilted top (real, not "film" top). One volume, one tone, 3-way pickup selector, pull out pots to coil tap the Dean Zebra humbuckers. Mahogany body and neck, quilted maple top, tune-o-matic bridge, Grover tuners. Bought with case.

I currently play through an old Bogen PA amp modded for guitar into a 1x12 cab with a Soldano 12" speaker. I play classic rock and blues. This guitar covers that very nicely. Pickups are hot (they each ohm out to 15.6k in the guitar!), but clean up nicely by backing off the guitar volume knob. I can go from clean to scream just by twisting the volume control on the guitar. It doesn't lose highs either when the volume knob is turned down. Humbuckers are dead quiet, and some single coil buzz when the coil taps are used. This was a feature (coil taps) I didn't expect to find useful on the guitar. I was wrong. Tapping the bridge p'up gives a nice, slightly fatter sounding Strat bridge pickup tone. I normally don't like the bridge pickup of a Strat all by itself, but I like this tone! The Neck pickup, when tapped, gives a nice Strat neck pickup tone. Used together, they offer a nice twangy tone. In the end, I'm very pleased with this feature.

Action was fair from the factory. Intonation was close. Everything adjusted to my liking fairly easily. The frets are nicely finished, especially for a guitar in this price range. There are a couple minor finish blems on the back/edge of the body, and a small fill blem around one of the beautiful inlays on the fretboard. Top is perfect. I thought the top was grainy looking up close, but from about 3 feet away on back, the figuring is striking. Nothing was a showstopper for me; I did some soul searching and kept the guitar.

I think this will hold up quite well. I would play without a backup. In fact, it holds tune very well. I feel that wouldn't be an issue when playing out with it.

The pickup selector switch knob broke off in shipping. I emailed Dennis at Adirondack Guitars, and within I received 2 replacement knobs directly from Dean!

I started playing back in '85. I played out for a while in the late 80's. Now I just play for me at home. I play this through a (don't laugh) Bogen tube PA amp converted for guitar use. The amp is one on the best I've played through. The EVO can take it from clean to scream with just a twist of the guitar's volume. I do wish it had a volume and tone control for each pickup. Can't say that there is anything I dislike about the guitar. For the money I spent, I'm very happy. I'd replace it if it disappeared. For the money, it's nearly perfect for me. I rated it at a 9 only because of the minor blemishes.

Zebra pickups, Hourglass Inlays, Grover Tuners, Dean Case, Tiger Eye Finish (BEAUTIFUL)

Contemp Rock, Rock, Metal.

I actually got to open mine right out of the box at the music store, I just happen to be there when fed ex pulled up. (I bugged them for 3 days asking when is it coming.) My Action was perfect for me straight from the factory. And can I tell you about the finish on this guitar? MAN !! That's the first thing you notice ! I got the Tiger Eye Finish and it was beautiful. The hour glass inlays just set the thing off. It was as if the guy who packed it in the box, set the action, shined it up and prayed a prayer over it before he put the glue on to seal the box.

Realiability? I think this guitar will last, it's like anything else, you take care of it, you still have a great guitar.

Man, I am big on Customer Support. I do it for a living. It's been driven in me by my company. So, with that said, here's the deal. As soon as I got my guitar I called Dean, to see what would happen. I know how to register a guitar for warranty on the web, I just wanted to see if they were jerks. Dude not only registers my guitar for me but says "hey, is this your first Dean? Let me send you a T-Shirt." How cool is that!
I have not had a problem to call on them but I'm sure they'd respond the same way.

Read this !! Now guys, I rated the above high, cause I played it for a month everyday before I bought it. I knew what I was getting. So let me tell you why. I've been playing for 13 years, I know a good guitar when I play one and I hate to say it about Dean but they make some pretty crappy Acoustics. I've had a couple buddies who spent 250 on a Dean acoustic and then get pissed off cause it's paper thin wood, no sustain and doesnt sound like mine. So I ask, why did you buy it and they say "Cause it was pretty." I've learned in 13 years this one statement "SCREW PRETTY when it comes to guitars, that's the last thing I look for and it's not priority!"
So, when a friend who I trusted kept tellin me that he was saving for the DEAN EVO, I just laughed and said, your waisting your time, having never played it or heard it. So one day, as we are passing by the store he wanted to stop in and play it. I couldnt help but notice how beautiful it was and thought, another sucker! Then he played it through a cheap amp, BAM !! My ears were tingling!! This could not be !! Never being in the music store before (they only sell Deans) I asked the guy, can I plug that guitar in that Marshall over there and crank it? He nodded. I did and BAM!! I instantly turned into Stevie Ray Vaughan !! Long story short, I came by every chance I got for a month to see if what I was playing was a crappy Dean. IT WAS NOT! I'm sold on these Zebra pickups, I'm sold on the inlays and finish and most of all, I'm sold on this guitar. I love it, I would trade it and I tell my wife all the time that if she doesnt straighten up, I'm sleepin with my EVO. You cant go wrong for the money, It's worth more than I paid, honestly. I gave it all 10's cause that's what it is!

Manufactured in 2001,Korea. 6 Strings, Solid mahogany body, set in mahogany neck. Rosewood fretboard, but quite smooth, not as grainy as some. First look, thought it was Ebony. Hour-glass mother-of-pearl inlays, 22 Frets, unsure of original tuners, Tune-o-Matic Style Bridge, Tiger Eye Quilted Maple Top, wood binding all around the body, Dean designed Zebra Humbucking Pickups, three-way toggle switch, single volume & tone knobs. Very accessible neck/body joint. It tapers underneath allowing your left hand to access all the way up the neck. This particular model did NOT have the coil tap push/pull knobs.

I play mostly contemporary Christian Worship Music. But nowadays, that can rock more so than most people think. I also play a bit on the rare weekend & do Classic rock (Clapton, Santana, Hall & Oates, Eagles)I do both rhythm & Lead. This guitar fills the bill easily.
Playing through a J-Station and using a direct line to the PA, I can get great tones through the FOH system.
Depending on the volume setting & the amp setting on the J-Station, I can cover a lot of different tones.

Action, when I first got it, was Ok. The action near the nut was too high and the store I got it from just didn't seem to understand my request to lower the action near the nut. I eventually had to do it myself. Minor adjustment to the neck to get rid of a slight buzz around the 7th fret. Bridge had to have two of the saddles reversed to get the intonation perfect (or as near to perfect as anyone can get)

Pickups had a bad solder joint. The salesman told me the Bridge pickup was thin sounding. When I first got it, yeh, I thought so too. But then I noticed it wasn't just thin, it was much lower in volume. When I started looking into replacement pickups, I had to check out the wiring to see how diffictult it would be to do it myself and found the bad solder joint. Of the wire soldered down to the switch, only ONE strand had made the connection. After cleaning the old solder off & trimming the wire & resoldering, the pickup sounded as strong as expected. Nice bite & some nice overtones.

Tuning pegs, like I said, not sure who the manufacturer was, but they were a bit sloppy. (No longer Grovers?) Replaced those with a set of Locking Grovers.

The finish was what originally caught my eye. Nothing on the Rack looked anywhere near as sharp as this. The body looked great, no flaws, the wood binding is interesting and attractive.

I play this more than my American Standard Strat that I thought I could never replace. I still have the strat, but this is just too enjoyable to put down. Hardware seems pretty decent, no tarnishing after one year of daily use. I replaced the strap buttons with Dunlop locking straps. The originals looked fine, I just prefer the locking ones.
Dependable, I hope I don't jink myself by saying this, but I think it is.
I always keep the Strat at home when I have this out. Complete confidence in this thing!

I have not had to have any additonal work than the stuff mentioned. The soldering thing could have been handled by the store where I bought it, but it was faster to do it myself. Warranty is....5 years? I can't recall, the paperwork is buried somewhere, but it seemed longer than a year.

Oh yeh, the hard shell case was extra. $499 for the guitar, $100 for the case.

Been playing off & on for over 30 years. The last 10 years solid with no diversions. I own an American Standard 40th anniversary Strat. Ovation Standard acoustic/electric. Peavey Classic 30 amp.
Johnson J-Station, Behringer FCB 1010 footcontroller.

If lost or stolen, I would seriously look into getting another one.
For the money, it easily beat anything else out there at the time I was looking. I looked at Epiphone LPs and the action was comparable, but the tone was not. Nor the looks. I had an opportunity to wait another 10 months and get a Gibson LP Standard, but I just couldn't see paying the approximately $1700 (at the time) for the LP when I could get the tone, looks and playability that the Dean offered for less than half the cost. Also , the Dean has great tone & sustain and DOESN'T WEIGH A TON, like the Gibson LPs do.

Extremely happy, after a year & 4 months, with this investment.

Made 2002 in Korea, 22 frets, etc (go to www.deanguitars.com for full specs)
Coil taps were an unexpected pleasure to me. I didn't expect to see this feature on such a relatively inexpensive guitar. Dean pickups sound great to me, although the Seymour Duncan neck pu's on the Premium did sound louder with a slightly nicer sustain/tone, but thats the only pu I would replace. Grover tuners have been solid so far. Strap buttons seem very solid. I'm actually not giving it a 10 though, but a solid 9.5. It would be nice to have seperate volume/tone for each pickup.

I play a lot of different (rock) styles, but I seem predisposed to heavy/hard rock(Rush/Zep/Sabbath/Maiden) with small drifts to mellower(Santana/Yes/Trower). I usually play through a Roland BluesCube(30w) or headphone-out from my Boss ME-33 (which deserves it's own review)
The coil taps due hum nicely (as expected) but the humbuckers are cricket-chirp quiet. I LOVE the sounds from this guitar, anything from sweet singing to throaty growls. I spent WEEKS before buying this guitar, trying out everything I could (everything less then ~$1200 at least!;)) I tried almost every Epiphone I could find: G-400(SG), LP Elite, LP Custom, SheratonII (just to see if I liked the semi-hollow tone); Gibson LP Studio, LP Special, SG 69' reissue; Ibanez RG and S series;Brian Moore 8i;PRS Tremonti, Santana and the Dean EVO Premium and Cadillac Premium. All the above seemed weak in comparison to the price (IMHO), of course the $3800 Gibson LP did sound nicer, but it was pretty easy to decide between these 2. I'm giving it a 9 for it's incredible versatility, but there are better sounding guitars out there (for a lot more money of course)

Setup from the factory seemed excellent, no fret buzz, nice medium-low action. I prefer 10's to the 9's they come with, but that's pretty standard. Intonation was excellent.
The finish just blew me away though. NO guitar (again IMHO) matches the beauty of these inlays. Sorry PRS but those little birds don't match these beauties. It's really impossible to describe unless you see one in person(the web picture at Dean does it no justice). They use some kind of marblized material that shows amazing color reflections as it moves around. I watched my friend across the room as he tried it out and it was like a laser light show. The color (Tiger'sEye) is just beautiful (and unique) with a nice thick gloss. I'm hard put to find ANY flaws, and being a amatuer woodworker, I would consider them 'character' anyway (at least that's what I call any flaws in my woodwork!). Even the headstock emblems are 'pearlized'. I would give this category an 11 if possible.

I've only had the guitar for 2 weeks, so I can't give a firm opinion on this yet. Nothing's come loose yet, and the finish seems durable. My only 'gigging' is in my friend's basement with our own power trio, so I'm not really worried about a backup. I'll update this review in 6 months and see how it's hanging int here

Haven't dealt with them

I've been playing for about 3 years now. I started on an Ovation Acoustic Electric then moved over to a Peavey T-60(Strat copy w/humbuckers). If it were lost or stolen I would be seriously upset, and I would pray they still made this model. I love the great tones, the amazing finish and just how great it feels to play. I was talking to a guy who's been playing for 30 years and he said 'There'll come a time when you pick up a guitar and it just feels right for you. Somebody else may pick it up and hate it, but to you it'll be perfect. When that happens to you, don't hesitate, buy it right then and there or somebody else will.' Well this guitar is it for me. This guitar blows any other $500 guitar away, Epiphone, Fender, Ibanez, etc. Nowadays, a $500 guitar is your bottom-end model, and you can't even touch a real Gibson for that. I tried to be very methodical about buying my next guitar. I did a lot of research on every guitar(including looking here) and this guitar just shines out of the crowd. I would've paid $800-900 for this guitar and still felt like I got a deal.
If Gibson wanted to make a Les Paul that sounded and looked this nice, I would buy it, but I haven't seen any pigs in the sky recently and I'm not expecting any in the near future. At least do yourself a favor and find a Dean dealer in your area so you can at least compare them. I think you'll be amazed at the value and quality, so don't shell out for that Gibson until you do!

Dean Evo Special Select. Korean. Stop tailpiece, Dean Zebra pickups, push-pull Volume & Tone, Tiger Eye finish, Grover tuners, etc.

Sounds beautiful. I suspect (no evidence for this) that these Dean pups may be Duncans in disguise. Some hum when the bridge coil is tapped, but this is perfectly normal. The humbuckers are as quiet as a graveyard at midnight. The sound is simply wonderful, whatever the pups are. I am a natural tinkerer but I have NO desire to replace the pups (as I had to do on my Squier Stagemaster, which sounded like crap out of the box) and risk ruining its wonderful tonal character.

Well, as others have pointed out, the finish on the body is nothing less than jaw-dropping stunning. I don't care if it's quilted, flamed or pissed-on, this was easily the best-looking guitar in the entire store. The finish on the fretboard was a little sloppy near the body, but you have to look closely to see it. The coil-tap on the neck pup doesn't work and something may need replacing. I'm disappointed with the plastic nut; for a few pennies more, Dean could have fitted something better and more in line with the high-quality of the rest of the ax. Everything else looks as close to perfect as my eye can discern. The inlay work on the fretboard is beautiful and unheard-of in an ax of this price. I must mention the exquisite attention to design co-ordination that has gone into the look of this guitar. The colors, the chrome (i don't like gold), the inlay, the detailing, etc., all add up beautifully and suggest that a designer with a great aesthetic eye was at the helm. I would give this category a 10 instantly if it weren't for the non-operational coil-tap and the slight flaw in the fretboard finish.

Just got it so can't really say. But it seems like it will wear like iron. Strap buttons are metal. The gloss looks bulletproof.

I have to give this ax the highest rating because of the incredible price to quality ratio. It has a few flaws, but really nothing significant (other than the non-functional coil-tap mentioned above). Compare the tone, finish and detailing on this beauty to an Epiphone Standard (as I did) and you will buy the Dean in a heartbeat. As I intimated above, this one of the most beautiful guitars I have ever seen--which would mean little if it didn't sound as fine as it does. If this ax were $700 or $800 it would still be worth it. If it had a few refinements (such as shielded cavities), better quality control and the Duncan name on the pups, it would be worth it at $1200 to $1500. But for $450 it's a proverbial steal.

I won't repeat every word already posted. This is my second Dean, my other is an Exotica BB acoustic. Dean makes an excellent guitar without a doubt ! Both guitars are of excellent quality. Someone has their eye on quality control and customer satisfaction. Also, Mr. Dean Zalinski out of the goodness of his heart took the time to sign both my guitars for me. Now, that's a class act.

Anyway, the Evo Special Select is a great guitar. I play a wide range of music (country, Rock,Jazz)and this guitar works very well for all.

Sweet, wonderful !

Fit and finish are near perfect. A couple blemishes, but so VERY minor you have to look real hard to find them.

I think reliability & durability are not a problem unless you abuse your equipment.

Customer support is excellent. Like I said, I got both guitars signed by the man himself. So how could I complain ?

Great value, well put together. I've played far more expensive guitars that didn't feel this good.