Jackson JS22 Dinky DKAM Red Stain

Supplied strings are useless and low gauge, nut needed work because open chords were horrible and out of tune. just a quick five minute fix with a file. The neck felt like an unfinished piece of wood which i just gave a quick sand down with 3000 grit paper (another 5 minute job). Had to unbow the neck a bit. also smoothed some rough fret ends. And now...It's brilliant, stays in tune, sounds and feels great. You do get what you pay for in some respects, however it's very easy to make this cheap guitar feel and sound great. Stock pickups are actually fine contrary to what I'd been told/expected.

In short: for the price this beast is a solid 9/10, overall and realistically it's 6/10. If you are like me and want to get into 7s - this is the one to go with from all the others entry 7s ;)

Neck: I was adjusting it for 3 days, it's almost flat now and I can get really OK action with it, not low like Ibanez but it's just fine. The only problem is 7th string has to be much higher than the others because it's branching on lower frets. Frets are just OK and there is nothing wrong in terms of craftsmanship.
I like this neck, it's somewhat fast and I have no problems getting higher up the neck, 26.5 also helps with that and now I'm damn sure 26.5 is something I always needed in my life, period.
I rate this neck with 8/10. 9 would go for playability and action, 6 would go to the wood, craftsmanship, ugly fretboard that looks like it didn't get enough laquer or smth, looks VERY dry and unfinished.

Tuners: meeeh, they are OK and holds tuning somewhat, I don't really need to adjust it very often which is great. But getting it tuned is like being in a sad and depresive circle of hell, especially with the 7th string.
I rate tuners with 4/10 This would be my second phase upgrade. If they didn't hold the tune like they are (kinda OK), rate would be 2/10.

Bridge/intonation: not great not terrible, if I decide to replace it, this would go in second phase with tuners too. I had no problems with intonation. In fact, I managed to get it perfectly intonated, you can really hit those high octaves on any string (15th or 17th) and it don't go out of sound, even on 6th and 7th string.
I have to see if I could snap some tune-o-matic but I'm afraid I could lose resonation which is already low as f*.
I'm ok with the bridge for now, 7/10.

Pickups: they don't really "pick up" the 7th :D it is kinda muddy but for this price, they really surprised me. They can really pick up hammers and pull-offs nicely (this goes with the neck/frets also). Kinda high output if you ask me, much more than EMG HZH4 for example on my Schecter.
These would be my first upgrade, probably Nazgul and Sentinent.
I'd rate them 6/10, but for the price 9.5/10, as I said they kinda impressed me, expectations were much lower.

Knobs and electronics: metal knobs are very good, and the switch is average, and so is jack, and I don't really have any complaints here.

Wood (sound): low-quality wood, it really sucks with resonation and sustain, but again, this is 200-250 price range and it's not like you're gonna buy this guitar to play some Skynyrd or Knopfler :D


As I got it out of the box I was not very pleased, I mean it's crafted well and looked nice, nothing like that, but as soon I started to play it (unplugged) I got this feeling like I have a wood plank in my lap. Of course, it is expected in this price range. As soon as I plugged it in and started playing I actually started to not care about that too much.

So, for this price I am VERY satisfied, it really got me into 7s and I can finally play some older Periphery, Keith Merrow, Whitechapel, even some Vai and Satriani. You can shred very nicely and easy on this guitar, but you need some nerves to make a decent setup first few days since stock setup was disgusting.
Strings? I replaced them immediately because the factory strings were a disaster... I put NYXL 10-59, but the bottom string is still not thick enough for drop A, its muddy but maybe it's just the pickups or personal opinion dunno, next time I'm gonna put Elixirs nano 10-56 but will replace that .56 with .062 or something like that.


After only 3 days I decided to write an honest review, I cannot dislike this guitar because it really is a beast for this price. It's that good that I plan to invest another 300 dolars just for pickups and tuner.
Also, this is my first Jackson ever, and I must express my respect to get something like this for the price of few good weekends outside.

In summary:
6/10, for the price 9/10. Go ahead!

Arived on time! guitar had been given the once over before shipping so all was good. Saved £10 buying it from these guys and have no regrets. Amazing value for money and it does everything you expect it to do but feels amazing. Well worth the money a true keeper of a guitar. Entry level but all the boxes are ticked for a shred machine, I wish I had bought the guitar sooner. Only the oiled guitar js22 is mahogany all others are poplar. Only the white one comes with a glossy headstock the others are matt. The white model looks amazing. Cannot go wrong with this guitar for somone learning how to shred. metallica all the way baby!!! So to recap if this is your first shredder heavey metal guitar then you will love it, if you want to play heavy metal then this is the entry level guitar for you. If you want an amazing guitar for life for under 200 then i recommend this guitar. Can you buy a better guitar for less money, no. Will you be a loyal Jackson guitar player after playing this.....yes.

Great option to start on the electric guitar, for a rehearsal studio or as a backup. If not using, just lock the tremolo and it'll save you a few setups a year.
Recommended!

For £185 it's amazing value for money. Great finish, sounds good and feels great to play