Reverend Jetstream 390

Everyone reading this should know most of the standards surrounding the 390. Long scale, bolt-on neck, 3 P90s, and a 5 way switch. Mine has the Wilkinson Trem (now discontinued).
Mine is one of the newer Korina bodies without the chambers.
No assessories (case, gigbag) are included. A guitar this nice has to be downgraded for having no case.
The guitar came with and excellent setup, ready to play from the first opening of the case.

I play "bar" music in a cover band and we do a little bit of everything and this is where the Jetstream excels. The P90s are strong and growl with ease. The noise from these pickups is very low. The positions between the 1st and middle pickup as well as the middle and bridge are silent.
The tone in these in between positions is Strat-like, but has more power and tone than the original. My Strat has been in the case since my purchase of the Jetstream.
I've owned all sorts of high-end models and the Jetstream is the most versitile guitar I've ever used. The bass contour knob dials in power and raises the guitar's punch light-years above a typical single coil guitar. I have played other Reverends and the contour didn't seem to be as effective as it is on this model.
If any guitar earns a "10", this one surely does.
I play it through a 50 watt Valvetronix with 2-12s and the tone is what makes me eager to play stock songs I tired of years ago.
I can't compliment the sound enough.

The guitar was perfect (as I've heard most Reverends are) out of the case. These guys do realize what a drag it is to get a new guitar and immediately have to tinker with it to make it usable. I really could find nothing wrong with the setup, finish, or quality.
The chrome knobs are not numbered and (after a few beers) it is distracting to not know how any of the knobs are set. I plan on replacing these.
The contour on the body is very comfortable. but the front is not tapered (like a Strat). My forearm was sore the next morning from pressing against the guitar all night.
Different knobs and a slight rounding of the corner where your forearm lies would make this guitar a strong 10 in this category.

Everything on the guitar seems first rate and it has proven to be gig-worthy. I have the Wilkinson Tremelo on mine and I did have some slight tuning issues until I used lube to smooth out the tension. Now it stays in tune ok. I would imagine the new ones with the stop tailpiece should hold tune just fine.
I have not broken a string over the the past few months I've used it and I do bend a lot of strings, so no sharp edges or problems here.
I would never gig without a backup. I always have one ready just in case. Everyone should.
I'll give it a nine because of adjusting the trem. The guitar is not at fault here though.

I bought mine slightly used from a guy that didn't like the longer scale neck (25 1/4). The longer scale (bolt-on neck)does make the string tension slightly higher, but I feel the tone is better because of it.
I've seen the Reverend Discussion forum and the owner Joe Naylor post on there quite often. The intitials of the guy that did the setup are on the back of the neck with the serial numbers.
People that have had dealings with them rave about the support given from Reverend. I have read nothing but good so I have to go along with what I've read.

I've been playing for over 30 years (25 full-time) and I have owned almost every style guitar out there. I've sold some for nothing only to find that they now are collector's items fetching a fortune.
If this Jetstream were to be stolen I'd buy another in a heartbeat.
As I said, I now have 4 quality guitars sleeping in their cases on weekends due to the Jetstream. One is a '83 Strat Elite.
Only things I would change are very minor things I've mentioned above.
Usually after playing a guitar a month or so straight I use another just to add variety. With this one I haven't done that. It sounds that good.
I don't feel reviews that give everything a "10" are being subjective enough to truely consider the opinion, but here I am giving this guitar a "10" in the overall category. I have to. It is simply the best sounding, playing guitar I've owned in all the years I've played.
The only real problem I have with it is that it didn't exist years ago for me to play.

I'll start by saying that all these other reviewers are right, this is one sweet guitar. I've never been a tremolo guy, but this Wilkinson is so smooth,and even with my heavyhanded style, stays in tune pretty good.Cant figure out why Reverend stopped using Wilkinsons, I'm sure it was a money decision, but it's too bad....I searched the USA over for one with the Wikinson,, and finally found the LAST ONE on the Continent, at Moog Audio in Quebec.

I have become a P90 kind of guy, my two favorites right now are this guitar and my Eastwood Joey Leone, both with 3 P90s ( and possibly made at the same factory in Korea)...LOTS of good tones to dial in, one of my favorites is rolling the treble all the way off and kicking in my lovepedal eternity...

This is one beautiful piece of wood.....

Black finish with 3 P-90s. Volume, tone and contour knobs with 5 way switch. Wilkinson trem, with locking keys. Chambered body with solid top. Rosewood board on a nice smooth satin finished maple neck. I opted for the padded gig bag. It's a good quality bag with plenty of padding. I feel safe lugging my guitar around in it.

I play mostly blues / blues rock. I run it through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a Boss ME-50 multi-effects board. This guitar suits my style very well. It has a nice airy zing when strummed acoustically. Add that to the well thought out tone controls and excellent pick-ups. Man, you can't go wrong here. This guitar covers a lot of sonic ground, from jazzy beef to singing strat, and quacking tele tones. It's quite versatile and chords just bloom beautifully. Single notes can sing or sting. For the money it's really a great value. It get a 10 here from me. I don't think you can touch it for the money. And it came set up perfectly. These guys really care about their product and it shows.

Fit and finish were very good. The guitar looked great on first inspection. Frets were clean Again for this price, the fit, finish and action can't be beat. I've played and owned a lot of guitars and this one to me is exceptional.

I have had this one for about 2yrs and have no doubt it will hold up. I don't abuse my gear to start with, but this is a quality instrument. It's gig worthy.

I have dealt with Reverend and found them to be very helpful. I bought some pickups from them once, and bought my guitar directly from them.
Good guys.

I have been playing for about 25yrs, local bar band type stuff. I have several other guitars, but the Reverend is my main axe right now. I have owned quite a few over years. I am pretty much a strat guy, I currently do not own any strats, so what does that tell you. I would replace this in a heartbeat if anything happened to it.

My Jetsream is the sunburst version with the maple fretboard, # p-90 syle pickups with the 2nd and 3rd wired slightly cleaner and the 1st wired slightly hotter. A single string tree for the B and E strings and a VS50 Tremolo the works as smooth as ice. Ther is also a Bass contour control knob that can drastically affect tone in lots of posotive ways. My only objection to this most beautiful package are the 3 chrome spped knobs. As I do on all my Reverend guitars I replaced them with Fender Strat knobs because I like to know where I'm at. Thsy fit perfectly and look great too! My biggest surprise with this guitar is the light weight, I expected a much heavier guitar...It's easily a couple pounds lighter than the Gil Paris Signature Guitar (another GREAT rocker)

This is the hippest, funkiest and cleanest sounding guitar I've ever owned and in my 50 years I've owned ALOT. These pickups really shine with a tube amp but can drive most any amp to new heights of musical delight. These pickups can really rock or be as smooth as silk. They'll give you everything from GREAT Jazz tones to Chunky Funky. They are ASTOUNDING!!!

Flawlesss factory setup, everything was perfect. Tremolo was a nice surprise and has no affect on tunning whatsoever. Used to color notes or phrases this trem is perfect. If you want to dive domb go get something with a Floyd Rose. Beautifull grain on the spruce and the Wilkinson tuners (while they do reguire a little more time to restring) work flawlessly and keep this guitar in exact tune even when using the Trem

It's been designed, inspected and set up bt Joe Naylor and the rest of his Reverend crew in Warren, Michigan. This guitar will last several liftimes

Set up and inspected by Joe Naylor and his crew in Warren, Michigan. These guys care about what they put out there. I think it's the best customer support of any guitar maker.

I can't say enough about what a GREAT guitar this is. I've owned Parker Fly's, Custom shop strats,(still have one) and way more than I could dream of and I have found that Reverend has become my FAVORITE guitar. This, the Jetstream 390, ozzes tone from every pore. It stays in tune, is light in weight and incredibly fun to play blues, rock, jazz...whatever your heart desires and it does it soooooo well.

Features are listed on previous reviews, the Reverend web site, and haven't changed that I am aware of...so won't rewrite all that stuff. My JS390 is finished in metallic blue and is an absolute stunner!!!

I have made two changes to the stock setup and these two stock items are what kept me from giving this guitar a 10 across the board. The first thing I changed was the tuning keys. The guitar comes stock with what is described as "locking tuners". These are NOT locking tuners but rather a two hole post design that requires you to run the string through the post twice so it "locks" the string from slipping.....it works (kind of) but makes changing strings almost impossible unless you have a bunch of tools handy. Replaced the stock tuners with Planet Waves locking tuners (real locking tuners) which dropped right in with no modifications at all...very happy with this configuration as my guitar is almost never out of tune (what more could you ask for?).

The second item I changed was the control knobs. The guitar comes stock with three nice chrome, Tele style knobs but the knobs have no indicator so you can tell where your settings currently are (no notch, number, bump..nothing). Ordered some nice looking bell knobs with numbers from Stew-Mac. These really make the Jetstream look even more retro and can now tell where my volume, treble, and bass levels are set.

The Jetstream, like all Reverend guitars, has separate tone controls for treble and bass. This feature is killer when your are trying to dial in "the tone" for a given song (and the main reason the tele style knobs where driving me crazy).

All I can say about the sound is, BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!! The tonal control you get with having treble and bass controls is simply amazing. I can't imagine ever buying a guitar without these again (guess I'm buying Reverends from here on out as I don't know of another manufacture that has this feature).

I have read where people have compared the Jetstream and its Reverend P90's to a Strat on steroids...I would have to disagree and say the JS390 has its own distinct sound and its so far above a Strat I wouldn't even put the two in the same catagory. The JS390 is the most versitle axe tonally I have ever heard. You can play, jazz, rock, blues, country, and even metal with this thing. Reverend, hats off to you on this one!!!!

Was perfect out of the box. Intonation was dead on, low action with almost no fret buzz to speak of, and the finish is more than eye catching. The neck is a dream and kudos need to be given to the finish work on the fingerboard and frets. Perfect in all respects.

No problems and don't anticipate any. But I take care of my things and don't trash them.

Haven't had to contact Reverend for anything, but if their service is as good as the sound of their guitars, its probably a ten as well.

As mentioned above, I would love to give my Jetstream 390 tens across the board, but can't because of the stock tuning keys and control knobs (had to find something to bitch about). Would I buy this guitar again? YES, without hesitation. Would I buy another Reverend guitar? YES, without hesitation.

If you are in the market for a quality guitar at a very reasonable price, do yourself a favor and check out the Jetstream 390, or any of the other Reverend guitars available. There just isn't anything out there for less than 5 times the price that can compare to these instruments.

No, I don't work for Reverend or sell their products...just use them very happily!!!

Finish: Blue Metallic top, Black Gloss on Sides and Back White Binding on top
Body style: Its a one of a kind!
Wilkinson VS 50 Tremolo
Wilkinson Locking Tuners
25.5 Oval Shape Neck 12" Radius
Korean made
22 Medium Jumbo Frets
Spruce Top, Mahogany Sides and back with Chambers
Black Pickguard
3 Cream colored Reverend P-90's SSS Config Rw/Rp in the middle
1 Volume 1 Tone and 1 Bass Control 5-way Switch

When I first plugged this in, I wanted to find out how much it was going to hum, so I fully engaged the Neck PU, and there it was. It wasn't as bad as a thought it would be though, so Reverend gets some major Kudos there. I am a tone fanatic, love the sounds of single coil/P-90 and wanted something different. This one was it. This guitar is very interesting... with the Bass POT rolled off, they are all very single coil sounding. Roll it up and they all get very full, and a little bit fatter like a P-90 should. Its like having the best of a Single Coil and P-90's combined. Extremely versatile.

No complaints here. An original guitar that looks and plays great. The only reason it wont get a 10 is because the pickguard is an ugly shape, but it works and doesn't bother me much. Only minor personal adjustments out of the box. Stays in tune while I play. Intonation is right on!

So far it seems pretty solid after having it a month and being able to withstand being shipped to afghanistan through some pretty intense flights. This guitar has withstood shipping from Korea to New York to Afghanistan with out any issues! Tough as NAILS!

I am very impressed with the quality of this guitar. It looks good and sounds good. I have been playing it non-stop for a month and I have no major complaints. I can get stratish tones, and P-90ish tones and everything in-between. If you are a vintage tone afficiendo, check this one out! They are hard to find, but worth the purchase. All of the Reverend guitar dealers I talked to really enjoyed adding these to their stock of supply! Hats off to Reverend for an new innovative model. I can see why this guitar is getting solid reviews now that I have one!!!

This is Reverend's current offering of a Jetstream 390 with the
following features:
1)chambered mahogany body finished black
2)5mm spruce top finished in a 3-tone burst, cream binding
3)22 fret bolt-on maple neck
a)wilkinson locking tuners
b)maple fingerboard
4)three cream colored Reverend P90 single coil pickups,
5)black pickguard
6)wilkinson tremolo/bridge
7)5-way selector switch, positions 2 and 4 are humbucking because
middle pup is RWRP
8)master volume, master tone, and bass contour controls

This guitar really rings. great fun to play unplugged.

Plugged in,yeah, the best way to describe the overall sound is a Strat on steroids. The P90 sound goes far beyond that of a typical single coil, in the area of overall punch and low end. Backing off on the bass contour does ,however, make these pups sound more Fenderish. I feel certain that Reverend never intended to try to clone the sound of a strat. They were, and still are, committed to creating instruments that are capable of straying into entirely new sonic territory. Good for them.
...Still, it sure would be nice to be able to combine the sound of the neck and bridge pickups with a blend control. (I've been able to do that on all my strats, of which I have three. The blend control replaces the extra tone control that nobody uses). I would not dare replace the bass contour control on this guitar,though, because it's way too useful. If I decide I can't live without a blend control, I can probably install one on the upper bout adjacent to the neck pickup.

This guitar came to me from the factory tuned up and set up perfectly. The neck feels real comfortable, it's somewhat chunkier than a strat, but its no baseball bat either. Overall fit and finish are nearly flawless. ...but I sure wish there was a belly cut. (if you ever saw my belly, you'd know why). Weighs in at about 9 lbs.. a little on the heavy side. A belly cut could have reduced the weight somewhat. The grain on the spruce top is really tight, entirely appropriate for a sunburst finish.

solid as a rock, tough as nails. Two phrases that apply to this beast. Oh, one more. takes a licking but keeps on ticking.

Only one word of caution, If you take this out on a gig and break a string, I hope you had previously strung it up without using the locking feature on the tuners, or you are going to wish you had brought a spare. If you must use the locking feature on the tuners, you will need to get used to spending a lot more time removing strings. I personally can't stand it. When the first opportunity to restring presented itself to me recently , I had to restring in the conventional manner. problem solved.

great folks to do business with. enough said.

Another fine addition to the ever expanding pantheon of Reverend guitars. This is my second Reverend (the first was a green Warhawk 290). I'm hoping I have finally got reverend out of my system ( already an owner of between 30 and 40 guitars, I have a bad case of G.A.S., ie, guitar acquisition syndrome). I also wonder whether I will ever feel the same about my strats, as I will be constantly comparing them to this beauty.

Semi hollow body, mahogony with a spruce top(good idea, this guitar really rings). Bolt on maple neck with rosewood board. Wilkinson bridge and Wilkinson locking tuners. Three P90's with 5 way switch, think Strat. Passive treble rolloff and bass rolloff...another really good idea. The look of the thing is just plain cool. Different but not goofy.

I really like the idea of three P90's. I've allways loved the sound of P90's but also have to have the Strat type "in between" sounds. This guitar does both. The real key is the bass rolloff. As you turn the knob the pickups get thinner and chimier sounding. With it all the way down it does an excellent job of imitating a strat. Not quite, but close. The bass rolloff is also the saving grace of this guitar. With it all the way up the P90's are a little on the muddy side. A little too muddy. Turning the volume down does not muddy up the sound though and the treble rolloff is very usable.

Fit, finish and setup were perfect. I took it out of the box, checked it real quick then took it to a gig. The neck is great. It's like a strat neck but I like it a little better. Vintage feel but fast and smooth. Now we get to the problems. I hate the tuners. It's really difficult to take the strings off. I immediatly put Schaller locking tuners on it. It also has some tuning stability problems. I can't make it through a set without having to retune. The floating bridge is pretty floppy so I'm going to try adding the extra spring they give you and tighten it up. I'm hoping this fixes the tuning problems.

Seems well made. Good quality parts. Very light weight. Nice finish. Nice chunks of rosewood and maple on the neck. I allways bring a backup.

I bought direct from Reverend. Nice folks.

I've been gigging for over twenty years and own quite a few guitars, most of them worth at least $1000.00 or more. This is the guitar I have been using for three months now and it cost $550.00! Hell of a guitar for the money. There is a tuning stability issue but like my Gretsch and vintage strat I put up with it because it's such a cool guitar.

See my review above. This is an update focused on sound and reliability.

This review is to update: I've been using my Jetstream live now for several months. Most important: It's an astonishing all-around guitar -- on solo Delta stuff, in guitar-guitar and guitar-bass duos, and with a Latin jazz-pop ensemble, it fits everywhere. With different amps or PA each time, the guitar retains a distinct voice and vintage heat. Wow, can it sound vintage! I used it without any effects on a borrowed Fender RAD 25 solidstate amp (all there was to use) at a gallery show and it still sounded authoritative. Favorite settings: front pup (warm, round and defined) or last two pups together; the latter delivers a Steve Cropper live sound, sweet and cutting all at once. Front two pups are "Lay Down Sally" or funk quack, bridge pup does killer Fred McDowell type sounds, middle pup has a dark bluesy tone. I get a little hum on high gain single pup settings, but not enough to keep me away from them. You can overdrive all settings (except front two pups) from your right hand by picking hard, which is great on soul or slide material. Sustain is excellent, which is nice for endings and very impressive for slide. Big surprise: With varied right hand techniques -- flamenco strums, fingerpicking, slap and muted strumming for a snare effect -- the JS gives you harmonics and rhythmic undertones you weren't expecting, very rich and controllable. The bass is strong enough that I do not miss the Les Paul/humbucker bass on this instrument; I can hear the bass line clearly under whatever's happening on top (the infamous two-guitar effect). Bottom-end partials have terrific punch. In short, it's a workhorse with silver shoes, and a no-brainer for slide, blues, R&B and soul material.
BTW, some folks say you can tell an electric's tonal qualities by playing it unamplified; I don't agree where the JS390 is concerned. It doesn't seem especially lively until you plug it in.

See above.

It got stood on its head on a 12-hour plane ride and stayed in tune. I did manage to ding the pickguard in one spot by banging on it with a silver ring (a dumb experiment in mimicking a flamenco effect that I will not repeat). I don't travel with backups, I travel with this and it's fine.

Reverend is the best. For more insight check out the new forum at Reverendguitars.com.

My career and gear details are in my review above. All I can add is that after a few months I have no doubt that this is the best new guitar purchase for value, playability and sound out of the dozen or so I've made in four decades. If I had only one guitar, this is the one. If it went away, I would buy another without ruining my retirement. Reverend has got it right.

From Reverends new import line my Jetstream has a slick red finish, mahogany body,Wilkinson trem and tuners, Reverend pickups and Reverends Bass contour circuit that makes the hums sound like single coils.It also includes tone chambers inside the guitar to give it a more open and singing tone. This guitar is in the Stage King series and are made of wood featuring a solid top. I prefer this over the older method. Nothing like holding a chunk of wood.

Gigging it last weekend I was honestly knocked out with this guitar. Being an import you always wonder what you are getting but let me tell you something, this guitar will stand up to most USA guitars with like features. Playing in a mostly rock band the rear humbucker is used alot and can not crap out. The humbucker in the Jetstream actually beat out the SD59 in my USA Hamer for the night and I kept the Jetstream on 90 percent of the night. Reverends Bass contour circuit is nothing short of amazing. It seems so simple yet Ive never seen this before. YOur bottom turn knob on the bottom of the guitar rolls off the bass to the pickups from a mild humbucker all the way down to a vintage single coil. Our set calls for some SRV so I put it to the test. I was floored with how much it really sounds like a strat. I even have some sound clips from that night if you want to hear it in action. The guitar not only covers hard rock territory but classic 335 tones are easy to get by rolling off a little bass and with the tone chambers you can really get this guitar singing. Tone wise it covers Les Paul, psuedo 335, and strat tones and does them VERY well.

This is where Reverend knocks it out of the park in a couple of areas. Joe asked me before he shipped the Jetstream what string guage and tuning do I want the guitar set up with? I then asked him if this was standard for every buyer and he said it sure was. Bear in mind this is not a 2-3k custom guitar but a guitar that just breaks the 500 dollar mark. That is above and beyond. There was no question when I opened the guitar that there was time put into setting it up. It was a half step down as requested and the action was perfect. No buzzing and as smooth as can be. I can feel NO frets on the bottom of my hand as I move up the neck , they are finished off perfectly. The neck on this one is amazing. I challenge any USA guitar to feel this good. I had a player in town play it and after a minute he said "this neck feels better than the neck on my PRS" I agree with him.

Joe has raised the bar on what can be done with import guitars and a company that really cares for the guitar before it gets shipped to the customer. Joe has obviously done his homework with the Stage King series and is doing thing that his competition has not figured out yet. The guitar feels wonderful.

Ive been gigging with it for a couple weeks so I cant really comment. I do feel safe though that if something goes wrong the guys at Reverend would take care of it without a hitch.

Joe and the guys at Reverend are wonderful folks to deal with. Its a very personable shop in Michigan.

I know this is a gushing review but even trying I could not think of one flaw or one thing I would change of this guitar or change about the experience with Reverend. I really tried to find something to knock it on but there is not one. I thought the pickups would be the weak point. Not even close. Again I have some clips of this guitar run thru a HotRod Deville and a custom OD pushing it. It sounds amazing. Email me and I will try to send a clip or two.

All these little extras like a pro setup, string guage choice, PRO feeling neck, amazing sounding pickups,Reverends own bass contour, and inspection in the US before it ships adds up to a value that I have not seen elsewhere in this price point or even close to it.

Dont take my word for it though go play one if you can.