Jackson Adrian Smith SDX 

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

I hate to dig on a Jackson like I hated to dig on my Fender Steve Harris P bass. But this won't stay in tune, pick guard is junk and the "you get what you pay for" lesson comes home again. I love Adrian and Jackson but this doesn't do either one justice. Get it for your collection but forget it for playing live. It will look nice on your wall of trophy guitars though. Don't think though Jackson can't otherwise come through for little money. My Jackson concert bass (350.00) stomps the heck out of the Fender Steve Harris model (1300.00)for sound and quality. The Harris is the most beautiful bass ever though and again looks fantastic on the wall. The SDX? Trophy only believe me. Thank you

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

This is a very nice instrument for the pricepoint. I love the feel of the instrument and to me THAT is key.. The body feels right. The neck feels good. The fretboard and fretwork out of the box for me was VERY nice. The abalone inlays are just icing!

The Floyd Rose is middle of the road. I've seen far better and far worse. It's stable but the fine tuners are what you would expect at this pricepoint. A bit coarse...Not my immediate item to upgrade. The single coil pickups however, ARE! They have to go!
Actually, it's my intent to have a new HXS pickguard made and to load my own pickups of choice. The Bridge humbucker may stay, it's decent. But the stock Single Coils are subpar.. Hence, my 4 rather than 5 rating..

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

I have this one as well as the real USA version, therefore the focus of my review is to compare the imported version vs. the USA version. I must say that the SDX comes pretty close in tone and feel to the USA version...the craftsmanship is pretty good. I think that the US model is a little pricey and this is definitely a better overall deal. Believe it or not, I actually like the humbucker in this one better than the Dimarzio super distortion in the USA version...I feel that its brighter, which I prefer. My only gripe on this guitar is the noiseless single coils. I feel that the output on these are a little weak. They are great clean, but for solos I usually have to use my overdrive pedal to give it more bite. One thing about the noiseless single coils on these is they sound more like a single coil that the SCN's in the USA model, which sound more like a humbucker. I honestly feel that the only upgrade needed on this guitar is a neck pickup swap...other than that its an amazing guitar and a fantastic deal.

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE ROSEWOOD FINGERBOARD OPTION IS A WHITE GUITAR WITH WHITE PICKGUARD. THE MAPLE FINGERBOARD OPTION IS A BLACK PICKGUARD.

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

I was a bit weary when I saw these were crafted in India, but that fear was soon laid to rest. This is honestly one of the nicest necks I've played on; the fret edges are well dressed, and the neck and fingerboard are ridiculously smooth. I bought my SDX from here, and I've played 3 others at various music stores, all with the same results; fantastic playability.

The tremolo stays in tune perfectly, though I had to raise the action a tiny bit to remove the fret buzz offered by unbalanced tremolo levels. A quick and simple adjustment on the spring tension fixed any buzz problems I had out of the box, however minor or major.

The pickups sound great! I had been considering a swap before the guitar arrived, but I'm quite pleased with the tone they give. No adjustments were necessary here.

The only qualm I have is that it seems the high e string sits too close to the edge of the fingerboard, and I have to exercise caution when playing there as to not pull the string off the side of the fingerboard. This has only been an issue on mine, however. The other 3 I've played have not had this problem.

The finish is top notch, the neck is among the best I've ever played (on par
with American Standards and Deluxes ), and it's a versatile beast.

Overall, this is honestly one of the best guitars you can buy for less than half a grand. I've actually considered buying another one or two to have my entire arsenal be this dependable. Check one out, you won't be disappointed!

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

I am a bass player at heart but flirted with 6 strings over the years. I have owned a Jackson Rhoads in the past and wanted to own a Jackson again. Something about their mystic when you grew up in the 80's. Adrian's SDX is a bet worth taking. Affordable Hot Rod Strat quality at about 1/4th the price it should be. Sounds and plays like it should. It is hard to put down and usually don't until my Warwick gets jealous. Buy this thing!

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

I bought it with every intention of upgrading the pickups, so it is no big deal to me about how they sound. But the bridge pickup is powerful and has decent tone and finds the harmonics okay, and can be used if you like it. The other pickups, however, are underpowered and do not balance well with the bridge. When changing pickup configurations, there was little change in the tone and I began to notice that the bridge pickup sounded a lot like the neck pickup position. The tremolo keeps the thing in tune great even with exaggerated use, but it's upswing is limited as it is not routed out beneath it. For the price, I don't have a problem making this modification, but if you don't use much upswing, it would be great as is.

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

First off when I opened the box the screws for the locking nut fell one the floor and the package the alan wrenches and tremolo bar came in looked like it was cut clean open so I had to find everything. After putting it together it looked nice but when I played it the low E and A strings rattled so bad the rattle came through the amp, called and customer service was great, no problems sending it back, now waiting for an exchange, been 10 days since I shipped it. Others liked this guitar but I had a bad experience with this one.

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

The only thing I can say bad is in the picture you'll see on the headstock, made in usa but its accually made in india, & if I'm not mistaken Adrian Smith uses a dimarzio humbucker, all pickups are jackson. But this is still a great guitar.

Comments about Jackson Adrian Smith SDX:

This guitar was a very nice surprise. I bought this because I wanted a strat body with a Floyd Rose, HSS pickups, and a regular headstock (no pointy headstock or fancy fretboard inlays). I was thinking that I would do a lot of mods, but it is very nice stock. All I did was put in an original Floyd Rose, a big brass block, and heavy springs...it's now a serious player at a reasonable price.