john_warnes

I actually have two of these guitars - one thorns, one evil eye inlays. I liked them so much. Some of the fastest playing guitars that I've laid my hands on. Superbly low action without fret buzz at all - a miracle! The stock Dean pickups are great (I've loaded one up with Bare Knuckles for some extra crunch). The fret access is amazing with the neck-thru. For a guitar of this price (somewhere in the region of 500 USD when I purchased it you couldn't ask for a better guitar for the price. I have no idea why Dean didn't push these more as they're pretty much the precursor to some other guitar brands that have made it big with similar models (think Chapman ML1). They are very versatile as well, not complete shred machines however that is possible. The tones are varied and nice mids and lows from the mahogany body. You'll likely need to crank the presence / treble to compensate. Beautiful qulited maple top, even if the quilting is quite light. If you can find one, buy it!

I actually have two of these guitars - one thorns, one evil eye inlays. I liked them so much. Some of the fastest playing guitars that I've laid my hands on. Superbly low action without fret buzz at all - a miracle! The stock Dean pickups are great (I've loaded one up with Bare Knuckles for some extra crunch). The fret access is amazing with the neck-thru. For a guitar of this price (somewhere in the region of 500 USD when I purchased it you couldn't ask for a better guitar for the price. I have no idea why Dean didn't push these more as they're pretty much the precursor to some other guitar brands that have made it big with similar models (think Chapman ML1). They are very versatile as well, not complete shred machines however that is possible. The tones are varied and nice mids and lows from the mahogany body. You'll likely need to crank the presence / treble to compensate. Beautiful qulited maple top, even if the quilting is quite light. If you can find one, buy it!

This is a great guitar. I've had it just over a couple of weeks now and couldn't be happier. I love the S-shape given how thin it is and I think this is the most refined version just yet. They've done away with the plastic pickup selector on other models (Thank you!). The recessed jack looks cool however impractical it is. The fishmans in a guitar of this price point is a plus (with all of their different tones) it was designed preciely as I describe above - to give the modern metal player as much choice over what they need from their tone. Tuning stability as standard with the Gibraltar bridge and locking tuners. To be honest, for a bedroom recording guitar, this absolutely fits the bill. The only negative I have is that the finish on the guitar looks a little strange - a pseudo flame-maple and it has a *very* fragile laquer and picks up scratches easily. Take care of it (it'd likely get battered if it were gigged!)