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Jackson ATX Dinky electric guitar |
Jackson ATX Dinky electric guitar
Features:
- Made in Japan
- Archtop body (Basswood with maple veneer)
- 24-fret maple/rosewood neck
- 2X2 humbuckers & 1 single coil - Floyd rose style tremolo
Jackson guitars have been around since the early eighties and have always been favoured amongst the metal community as the guitars to shred on. In those early days, Grover Jackson introduced the guitar-playing world a super US style guitar that featured twin humbuckers , a Floyd-Rose and an action that made your fingers fly. Players like Randy Rhoads, Phil Collen (Def Leppard), and Scott Ian (Anthrax) have contributed greatly to the profile of Jackson and the company boasts a huge user list of players.
These days, a major corporation runs Jackson Guitars, with factories based in Korea, Japan and the U.S.A. The models on offer are wide and varied with something available for just about anyone looking for quality and value.
I was recently sent one of the Jackson "Professional series" ATX Dinky electric guitar that comes out of the Japanese plant and on first appearance looks quite inviting. The full range of the Professional series of Jackson’s that come out of Japan are based on their American cousins but obviously at a reduced price making them quite suitable for the intermediate player looking to step up to a good instrument without blowing the budget.
The guitar comes nicely set up and ready to rip through your rig of death.The ATX Dinky features a slim classic US-style archtop body that’s made of basswood with a nice quilted maple veneer top that’s finished in a lovely trans-purple color. The neck is made of rock maple with a rosewood fingerboard, 24 frets and shark-fin inlays. Hardware includes 2 custom Jackson humbuckers and one single coil with volume and tone control and 5-way switch. A Floyd-Rose style bridge is nicely recessed into the body and locks at the nut end allowing stable tuning to occur. The hardware on this model comes in black and offsets the guitar nicely and is built very well. The first thing you notice about the ATX Dinky is the fretwork. With these types of guitars it is crucial if you want to have a low playing action. The guitar comes nicely set up and ready to rip through your rig of death.
Once you plug in you have the warmth and punch of the humbuckers and the ability to combine these with a single coil pickup in the middle position. This allows for some interesting tones to occur via the five-way switch and tone control, ranging from clean funky quacks of a strat to some aggressive balls that’ll plaster ’em. They are surprisingly good with plenty of variation available.
The neck is slick and fast and the overall feel of the instrument is very good and fits snuggly into the body. Once you’ve locked down the instrument (via the nut screws), you can fine tune from the bridge, which makes things easy. If you set the thing up right, you shouldn’t have any tuning problems and this one hung in there for a while before I had to touch it, which is great. The only downside to using a Floyd setup is that if you break a string, it will throw out all the other strings making it difficult to continue. N.B: (this can be a problem if you’re mid solo during a gig), however that’s the price you pay if you want to shred & wang with the best.
Overall this is not a guitar for a beginner as changing and setting up this type of electric is best left to someone more experienced. Unless you’re a lazy bastard and pay someone to change your strings, you’re best to stick to a fixed bridge setup which Jackson have plenty to choose from as well.
Jackson has a great reputation around the world for providing a wide variety of guitars and basses that cater for just about every budget. From a few hundred to several thousand, you’ll find quality and a style that will be appropriate for your needs and colors as well as other options are virtually unlimited. They have their own custom shop and anything is possible when it comes to getting that special axe.
The ATX Dinky is a well made electric that looks good and sounds great. The build quality coming out of Japan is consistent and extra attention to detail is considered. I’ve seen more expensive guitars coming out of the U.S. that are not finished as good which makes the Jackson’s a serious choice if you are in the hunt for a specific look and sound. Beginners may want to consider the "Performer series" of Jackson guitars, as they are relatively cheap and good value for money instruments. Whatever it may be, it is good to know that Jackson has a full product range to choose from and a budget to suit.
The website is pretty cool and packed with information on the full range of these guitars www.jacksonguitars.com and is well worth checking out. The only other way is by getting out and trying one of these guitars for yourself. You can either give C.M.I. a call or ask by name at your nearest music shop. If you want to shred and be the best, then a Jackson will eat the rest!
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