Jackson RR1

I wont go through all the details, sufficed to say it was a stock USA made jackson rr1 (2008).

2 Bad points:-
1. The stock pick-ups
2. The volume knob is in the most stupid place imaginable

Apart from these bad points the overall finish and design of the guitar is impecable

With the stock pickups getting a decent sound was impossible for me, no low end and no clarity, just fuzz. I only ever use the neck pickup on guitars, and this one is obviously biased far towards the the trebley end.

I play through various overdrives into a single rectro mesa.

If you play metal (which is almost certain if you buy this guitar!) then I imagine you too will be disapointed?.....

I solved the problem by swapping with some active pickups (SD blackouts) which now sound great, almost as good as EMGs.

Again I had to pay a pro to set up the guitar the way I like it, but now that is done it couldnt possibly be better. I dont think I have ever played a neck so fast, it almost plays itself!

This is an expensive guitar though, I have played Ibanez wizard prestige necks that feel almost as good, so dont feel you have to fork out the big bucks to get a high speed shred machine.

The volume knob is in a ridiculous place, I can hardly play on the high e without hitting it, will swap the volume knob with one of the tone knobs tomorrow!

Everything about the guitar feels solid, although I hear that if you break a string live the guitar goes out of tune which means that you have to restring and set it up again.

This effectively means that you are screwed if this happens and so you should have a reserve guitar.

NA

I have spent alot of money on this guitar and I am not rich, so for me this is a long term investment.

In many ways I took a really big gamble buying it, because I hadnt played one beforehand. However, I do not regret it despite the few flaws. Just to reiterate the pros and cons...

Pros
-Looks amazing
-Plays like a dream
-Well balanced so it sits nice when you play standing up

Cons

-Pickups are rubbish
-Volume knob is in a stupid place
-You cant play sitting down (not a problem for me really)

hope this was helpful

I have a jackson RR1 lefty 2008.. :P
22 frets.. with the standard RR1 pick ups (SD)
Brilliant Black blue ghost flames finish.. absolutely amazing work
I am not going to rewrite the whole specifications

The Body style: at first it was difficult to adjust to it.. but within a week i pretty much got a hold of it.. People who don't know how to sit down with this guitar.. I have no words for you :D .. it is SOO easy once you get the hang of it...

the Floyd rose bridge is pretty neat as well... it stays completely in tune

i play metal (thrash, doom, prog.. you get the point)... i think this guitar is more suited for this style of music than anything else... the guitar sounds SUPERB.. even though i play it through a marshall MG15DFX practice amp.

you can also get pretty good cleans from this as well... I played a les paul studio before ordering this one.. i prefer the RR1`s sound any day..

It took around 6 months for the guitar to come..I had some fret buzz problems on the top E and D.. but it hollowed down after playing for a while. everything else seemed pretty alright... i think i got lucky as people on this site have complained about getting the wrong setting etc.

I don't really down tune all that much to low E and stuff... majority of the time its on standard and drop D tuning... and had no problem as such

finish is easily scratch able ... i got a couple of "chips" during its first week.

Cant really say anything about this ATM

..............

I have been playing over 5 years now. i have an Ibanez RG370DXL.. a guitar which most left handers are known to use. funny thing is.. when i got this guitar... i actually thought it was not worth the money i payed for it. and thought RG370DXL was better on some occasions... HOW STUPID was i... after 2 months.. I have not picked up the Ibanez for a long time :D

If this guitar was stolen i would cry... and kill the person who stole it.. and prob collect for another 1 :[

if your a lefty : with the few choices we have... START COLLECTING NOW... that is the only advice i can give you..........

No-frills mid-80s RR1 back when they were still being made in California. It has a great deep, deep purple finish that almost looks black, you really have to catch it in the right light to see the color.

Volume for each pickup and one tone knob, easy and fast horizontal pickup switch. It has a locking nut, which I go back and forth between loving and hating on a daily basis. I think if I could change anything about the axe I would try and find a hardtail without a locking nut, but nothing's perfect.

I play progressive rock/stoner metal/whatever you want to call it, I need a ton of gain. This is by far the best guitar I have ever owned or even played, and sound quality is a big part of that. Having a one piece neck-thru-body design means that it sustains for days. It's got very bright and distinct highs without becoming even close to obnoxious, with a big, booming low end. I play with a scooped EQ all the time so I don't even know how it sounds with a lot of mids, except that I don't like that sound with any guitar or amp. Either way, the cleans are wonderful. High gain settings are even better, with even 6-fret barre chords cutting through any kind of gain you can throw at it. I honestly think I got a rare one even among RR1s this thing sounds so good. I can think of no flaws whatsoever with the sound quality, so it deserves a perfect rating.

I have small hands so the neck seems a little bit big for me, but I can still execute five-fret stretches due to how fast and easy this guitar is to play. Especially compared to my Strat, this guitar seems to almost play itself. I can really relax and play my best, knowing that my guitar's action and playability is a big asset, rather than a detraction (again, I look at my Strat.)

It seems that the highest quality materials were used in building this guitar. I use my ears more than my eyes to determine quality, and this thing screams quality. I have a very early example of the model, though, so I can't speak for the quality they have now.

Since I bought used I have no idea how it came from the factory. I doubt you'd have problems, though.

This guitar seems to be very durable. There is chipping of the finish on the tips of the V, but in a 20+ year old guitar, that is to be expected. As others have mentioned, I'm constantly banging the "spikes" into stuff, but I'm just a clumsy bastard anyway. It looks like everything has held up well over time, and I am very proud to own this wonderful instrument.

Never talked to these guys. If I did, I would thank them.

I've been playing for 13 years, and I currently own a PRS Custom 22 bolt-on, Fender 50th Anniversary Strat (awesome guitar, truly awesome, but doesn't fit the music I'm playing now), 2 Gibson SGs (barf, looking to offload, stumbled onto both of them and hate them), and the Jackson blows them all away, it's not even close. I use the PRS as a backup. It's a nice guitar, it's just that the RR1 is so great, it pretty much does anything the PRS can do, but better. The tones are similar enough that the PRS can stand in, but nothing I've ever played stands up to the Jackson.

I currently use a Line 6 Spider Valve HD100 head thru a generic-*** cabinet, and it's the best guitar tone I've ever had in my life. I've had three Mesa/Boogies, a Marshall JCM900, and numerous crappy amps, and though the RR1 sounds great through anything, I feel like a damn magician with the tone and playability I have now. The only thing to worry about is that my tone is so clear and distinct that if I make a mistake everyone will know. Time to practice!

You can't go wrong with Jackson. If you don't like the looks of the RR1, you should still try out something from them. You won't be disappointed.

2006 RR1 standard fare: Neck thru, 22 frets, double-locking OFR, Duncan JB and Jazz pup's, ebony board with mother of pearl inlays, 3-way switch, 1 volume & 2 tone controls, mine is a solid color guitar with black hardware. Everything I wanted. Nothing I didn't need.

Surprisingly, this guitar cleans up really well with a massive bottom end and smooth treble. The volume and tone controls work great and make it easy to tweak the tone from blistering leads to clean, crisp barre chords. Cleaned up a bit, you hear every note. It also sustains very well.

Jackson really shines here. Ebony fretboard, real mother of pearl inlays, and precise fretwork that outshines some other popular US built guitars in this price range (with rosewood boards, "pearloid" inlays, and variable fretwork). The paint is also flawless on this guitar (just like my other two US made Jacksons). The action can be set very low without buzzing. I had little reservation buying it before playing it. US Jacksons are well worth the asking price!

You gotta watch out for those extended points! ;>)

Seriously: it's giggable right out of the box. Although I put strap Schaller locks on it, Jackson mounts oversized stap buttons on these so they won't get away from you. Like I said, all the hardware is top notch. You can't build great guitars with pot metal castings and low buck electronics.

With these guitars, you get what you pay for!

They only use the best parts on the US made guitars, so I've never had to ask Jackson for warranty work.

As pointed out in some of the other reviews, this might not be the most practical shape guitar body, but it balances well while standing. The strap button placement makes it tilt a bit away from your body a little, but after a while it didn't bother me at all.

I've been playing electric guitars since the mid 60's and have owned a good number of guitars over the years. All my US Jacksons are well built and play like a dream. These aren't your "classic" 50's guitars by any means. They are refined machines with an attitude. It's good to see a company like Jackson making no compromises in how they build their products. A worthy legacy, indeed.

I've had my U.S.A. Rhoads for about two and a half years now. It has the standard features every other factory U.S.A. Rhoads has {ebony board, duncans, neck through and MOP inlays, 3 way selector switch.} Mine has the snake skin finish and it is absolutely flawless. It has the floating Floyd opposed to the fixed bridge model. My only complaint is that I dont like the dual tone and one volume control, I much rather have a tone and independent volume controls. I guess this could be easily fixed I just have not done it. Other than that, no complaints whatsoever.

I play a lot of 80s metal and I am a huge, huge fan of the guitars namesake {Randy Rhoads} so this guitar obviously does very well replicating these styles. I have noticed though that this guitar is very noisy with the amp at full volume but I guess most axes are. This guitar has a very clean tone but the range of sound isn't quite what I thought it would be. This axe doesnt have the midrenge tones that I thought it would on the clean setting. I guess an external multi-band E.Q. would do some good. But overall this guitar sounds excellent for the kind of music I play.

I grabbed the guitar out of the case for the first time and did not have to do anything. I just stated playing. Factory set-up was spot on, the action on this guitar is beautiful. I hear people complain about the Floyd Rose all of the time, they say they cant keep them in tune. I couldnt survive with out one on this guitar, I murder the wiggle stick every day and mine never goes out of tune! Jackson did a superb job on this guitar from start to finish.

I dont play any live shows other than the occasional party. But I would certainly think that these guitars would hold up as well as any other high end guitar out there, these are built like tanks. The finish is definitely going to last forever as long as you take the proper care that this guitar deserves.

Never had any reason to call them.

Overall this is a phenominal guitar. I definitely made a great decision when I bought this. This guitar looks crazy cool and performs just as well. If this were stolen I would definitely replace it. I dont have the money now but I will be adding several more of these RR1's to my collection. I've been playing guitar for 15 years and this was the best decision so far. Jackson makes a hell of a product and I hope they keep it up!!!!!!!

black alder body, quartersawn maple neck through, Seymour Duncans, Floyd Rose bridge, two tone knobs and a volume, locknuts, ebony fretboard.

This thing sounds amazing for METAL or Hard Rock. I am playing it through a MesaT.R. or Marshall Jmp-1 with a el34 100/100 and 350 watt marshall lead cab.On high gain settings with maxed out volume it can be somewhat noisy BUT ANY GUITAR WILL BE NOISY.This is on the quiet side.Great overall tone! I play or try to play lol everything from Maiden to Enslaved to JS Bach. The SD's sound great people may bitch about them and put EMG's in but I cant stand EMG's. SD make the best pick ups IMHO. Bridge and neck sound heavy and clear.

The factory set up was okay but I had it set up by a pro w/ the FR blocked out ( not floating).No flaws on the guitar at all. Once it was set up it was so smooth.

This guitar can take a beating seems tuff all around. just watch the long end of the V lol.

Never had to deal with them but I have heard that they are very nice.

I have been playing for about 12 years. I own 2 Gibson LP's one Classic and one Delux, JP Music Man, 2 Fender fat strats (usa), ESP viper, and A Jackson usa soloist. I have to say that out of all my guitars my Jacksons play the best, the RR takes the cake. IMO Jackson USA gives you the best bang for your buck. Great craftsmanship, killer looks, the best necks, and awesome tones.

Alder body, quartersawn maple neck through, Seymour Duncans, Floyd Rose bridge, two tone knobs and a volume, locknuts, ebony fretboard. And it came with an evil demon spirit that lives inside it so no matter what you play, it sounds scary

This is the best sounding guitar for metal I've ever had the pleasure to play. It's really fat sounding, but at the same time, has the razor edge type of attack. Leads on this thing are amazing. Almost sounds fake it's so precise and clear, but still totally organic. Sustain is other worldly..I mean, you can fret the 12th fret, high E, pick it once, hammer around and move anywhere around the neck and the signal just stays strong, perfect. I can hit a harmonic, like 3rd fret, grab the bar and the note will just scream for minutes..like I said, out of this world. No need for a pickup change, these are great.

Everything was absolutely perfect, flawless. This pre-fender bullshit is just that, bullshit. I owned this same guitar back in the early 90s, and this one is just as good or better. The finish is gorgeous, metal flake black, floyd, intonation, pickup height and string height were all perfect right out of the box.

This guitar is so well made, such attention to detail, and everything is so heavy duty, I can't imagine it not withstanding the hardest of touring. The long wing is somewhat cumbersome and I'm scared to death that I'm going to bump it on something like a cymbal stand or a wall or another guitar or bass, but for these looks, I'll gladly live with that fear.

Don't know. But, honestly, I can't imagine ever needing them. I'll always baby this guitar.

Overall, this is the finest instrument I've ever had (including the one I had 15 years ago) and I've had some good guitars. It is perfectly balanced, AMAZING tone and sustain, and just flat stunning to look at. It feels like a million bucks in my hands. It makes my other two Ibanez guitars feel and sound like toys, and they're both extremely nice guitars, and one is a custom. If it were stolen, I would be extremley depressed and try my best to get another.

Guitar looks beautiful, but the body takes time to get used to. Even once you get used to it you can't just sit down and play, you need something to put your left foot on when you sit so the knee can be elevated. DO NOT get it for looks, make sure you're comfortable with the shape first.

Also the placing of the volume knob isn't very good, if you're sweeping you might hit it. And the 2 tone knob wiring isn't my thing.

Sounds good, BUT had some kind of active circuit. I'm going to go to a shop and get it rewired. I changed the stock jacksons to a seymour duncan sh2n jazz in the neck and a dimarzio x2n in the bridge. On CLEAN you get a classic rock distortion with NECK pickup! Literally. Different guitar, same pickups, same amp, crystal clear cleans. Only way to get cleans on the RR1 is to roll down the volume on the guitar, but that takes too long. Only get the older models if you don't mind this.

Best neck i've ever played. Non-USA jacksons, prestige ibanez, and other such things are just not the same. After playing this i must say USA jacksons have the best necks i've ever played.

Haven't had it for that long but seems pretty solid.

no idea

Great neck. Best neck i've ever played. Looks badass.

Other then that - active circuit is a pain in the ass, i'm going to get it removed. Strap straps on in a way that bends it. Can't play sitting without a food rest of some sort. Even then prepare to adjust the way you play, it takes time. Only 22 frets.

If i could replace it i would get a usa soloist or the neck-thru ibanez similar to herman li's model.

what do you want from a guitar p;lug and play dude..

this guitar is meant for rocker,s it can do soul or blues if you roll back the volume, the seymore jb tb4 in this alder body and ebony board guitar just screams 80,s metal and this is what i love about the rhoads this guitar pluged into my soldano decatone is the shits man lolol,,,i can get ratt,,dio,,montley crue,,scorpion,,vai,,satch,,i had many ibanez they dont even compare to this at all i also had fender good but different style,,i have a les paul clasic 1960 ri but the jackson just kiks its ass...

the best bar none,,,the lowest action without any frett buzz i ever got and the neck well its a beautifull thing..

looks as solid as my gibson

dont know

jackson usa rocks these poeple know how to make guitars,,this is the most joy i got with a guitar in a long time..

You should all know the features on this guitar if you dont dont read reviews read the specs first. I'm very happy with the features I have no complaints there

This guitar is the best sounding guitar for what I love to play, which is metal! It sounds awesome, but you should know, about 95 percent of the guitars sound comes from the pickups, so that's what you need to change if you don?t like the sound my bridge pickup is not the stock Jazz JB-4, it's a Seymour Duncan Sh-2 Invader so you can always critique the sound I love the sound my Rhoads gives me!

This is where (in my opinion) the RR1 Shines! it has the LOWEST ACTION I've EVER played, now maybe some custom shop can charge u 3000
$ for a guitar with better sound I don?t know, but I'm more than happy with this setup! The guitar's finish is shiny and unbelievably beautiful if you take excellent care of it like I do. Mine is a Black with the Gold pinstripe, and I wouldn?t have it any other way, but I will be buying more in the future and have various paints like Lightning Sky, the RR-5 paint job, Metallic Black, etc... so yeah it's so hard to pick one because they are all amazing. Mine also has a custom head that doesn?t have Jackson in Pearl but painted on white with made in USA like most of 'em but yeah I don?t have a scratch or ding anywhere and there's also NO BUZZ at all which is amazing because of how low the action is!

This is probably the low point of this guitar. The guitar is VERY reliable, however it does have a monster case which can be a pain, and is somewhat difficult to play with on a very small stage because of its shape. With that same problem comes the BIGGEST problem with this guitar, it's common to see these guitars with scratched, dinged, chipped, and lacerated top wings. The wing is very long so u MUST be careful with this guitar, it's not made for playing in a tight room how ever it OWNS on a stage!!!!!

I never have really have to deal with Jackson for the most part but the few times I have they've been more than helpful!

I love this guitar I baby it!!!! It's my favorite thing! It?s even more important than my gf! lol jk jk jk jk...but anyways for the most part I'm strictly a Jackson player, I want to get an SL2H sometime as well and will always be loyal to Jackson! My current guitars are : Jackson RR1T, Jackson DXMGT, Jackson EX Stealth Professional series, Gibson Custom Les Paul hollow body with gold H/W, and an Ovation acoustic, and let's not forget THE CAT! my first guitar ever which I've kept to this day even though it sucks ass!... I run it through : Ibanez DE-7, Digitech Whammy, Ibanez FL-7, Dunlop Crybaby 535Q, into a Crate Shockwave full stack...and for the record my favorite band is Bullet for My Valentine!!!!! but anyways if you want a GREAT Jackson beautiful guitar that screams METAL! get the RR1 or RR1T, I like the T cuz it's cleaner and I don?t really use a Whammy bar but anyways take my advice and get it!