Product: Jackson SL2H-TPB Soloist
Price Paid:
Submitted
05/04/2006
at
05:09am
by
Phil
Features
:
10
Brand new 2006 model, made in the good old USofA.
24 big fat wide frets mounted into an ebony fretboard, with beautiful pieces of mother-of-pearl fashioned into the traditional Jackson sharkfin design inlaid into the ebony with no hint of a ridge or lip where the two meet - superb craftsmanship.
Like all Soloists, this is a thru-neck design which provides limitless acces to all 24 frets. Unlike most other Soloists, the back of the rock-maple neck is left unpainted and has simply been treated with wood-oil and feels so much nicer for it.
Ivory coloured (colored if you're American) binding surrounds the neck and headstock.
Solid alder body with a gorgeous flame-maple veneer on top which also features on the headstock. This has then been covered with a stunning purple-candy laquer and also has a dark purple burst effect around the edges.
Controls consist of volume, tone, and 3-way toggle type pickup selector.
The neck pickup is a Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell, whilst in the bridge position lies a Dimarzio Super Distortion III. The electronics are passive - active electronics would be totally unneccesary on a guitar like this, it screams anyway!
An original Floyd Rose tremolo unit retains the strings at the body end, and after 3 hours of playing since the guitar arrived there has been no loss of tuning stability - excellent stuff, you can't beat a genuine Floyd Rose.
Machine heads are Jacksons own and appear to be of a very high quality.
All the hardware is gold and looks fantastic against the transparent purple.
As with all Soloists, it came in a custom fit hard case.
Sound
:
10
My main styles of playing are heavy metal, rock and instrumental.
The Jackson SL2H Soloist covers them all with impeccable precision.
Quite often guitars with thru-neck construction can sound a little muddy at the bottom end, and it has been noted that they lack the 'snap' of a bolt-on neck. Not when a Dimarzio Super Distortion III has been fitted!
You get all the brightness you could need, coupled with a warmth that bolt-on necked guitars could only dream of.
The Dimarzio SD III will go from warm overdriven blues to screaming demon, whilst the Dimarzio HFH takes the range from warm overdriven blues to clean and glassy - almost acoustic in tone.
I play through a Korg AX300G digital multi-effect processor into a Marshall MG30DFX and quite literally there isn't a single sound that cannot be created to some extent. Perhaps the only improvement I could now make to the sound would be to buy a Line6 Pod XT Live or something similar.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
The set-up when I received the guitar was excellent. The neck was almost perfectly straight, with only a hint of relief.
The pick-ups were set at the ideal height, allowing plenty of volume without introducing any buzz or hum.
The finish throughout is absolutely flawless and the laquer looks an inch thick.
The only alteration I made was to lower the action slightly, though this is due to personal taste, I like a low action.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
This guitar will last a lifetime with only the usual care and maintainance required. Very solid feeling. A lot more so than my Jackson JSX '94 Concept and that's still going strong after 12 years of use and abuse.
The hardware is all of a very high quality. I have no doubt that it will outlive me!
Every single aspect of this amazing guitar feels, looks and sounds like it could take anything I could throw at it, and it would laugh in my face and come back for more.
If I was in a gigging band then I would certainly take a spare guitar with me, but it would only be to alleviate the fear of a snapped string.
Customer Support
:
10
Never had to deal with them. Now I know I've only had this guitar for a few hours, but as I said above, I've owned a JSX '94 Concept for 12 years without needing to contact Jackson and the Soloist is way more solid.
I'll give them a 10 because I'm convinced that a company that produces such amazing guitars must be totally dedicated to their customers' happiness.
Overall Rating
:
10
My guitar playing began approximately 19 years ago. I played consistently for a few years, then had a gap due to the theft of my guitar. It took a couple more years before I could afford to buy another and then due to various other commitments I haven't always played as much as I would have liked to. These days I play nearly every day, often for 2-3 hours at a time.
Now that I have my ultimate guitar I can't imagine ever wanting anything else. If it were lost I would have to buy another one somehow, though the price would delay things considerably. If it were stolen then I'd recommend the thief emigrated to another planet, failure to do so would result in me hunting him down and gutting him like a pig.
This guitar is my dream-come-true, it's everything I need it to be.
When I was in a position financially to invest in a Soloist, I decided (based on the advice of others here) to have a look at Scott VanderWall's website and am I ever glad that I did.
Not only did I get an SL2H like I wanted, but I got a limited edition version (#5 of only 12 made). Compared to the UK price of a standard model, I made a saving of over #400.00. I dread to think what they would charge here for this limited edition model!
I think in reality the saving would be between #600.00 and #800.00 if this particular model had been available here in England.
Many thanks Scott... www.vwalguitars.com
