Jackson has unveiled its first new electric guitars of 2022, introducing an all-new Concept Series that updates its modern classic Rhoads and Soloist formats, and a new signature guitar for longtime endorsee Jeff Loomis.
The Concept Series is a new one for Jackson, giving players a Custom Shop vibe at a MIJ price point, and offers two new six and seven-string takes on the asymmetrical Rhoads and hotrodded S-style electrics.
The Pro Series Signature Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7, meanwhile, is a seven-string guitar with a host of high-end appointments, including the Arch Enemy guitarist’s signature electric guitar pickups and a Floyd Rose 1500 Series double-locking vibrato.
Let’s take a closer look...
Concept Series Rhoads RR24 HS in White with Black Pinstripes – £1,899, €2,199, $1,999
With its pinstriped finish and gold hardware, the Concept Series Rhoads RR24 HS echoes the earliest incarnations of the classic Jackson electric. It has a neck-through build, with its slim profile maple neck reinforced with graphite, and a tried and tested pickup combination in a Seymour Duncan JB TB-4 at the bridge, and a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails stacked single-coil-sized humbucker at the neck.
It has a 25.5” scale, 24 jumbo frets on a 12”-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard with those sharkfin inlays adding yet more angles to a guitar that is a love letter to the triangle. Contemporary luxuries include Luminlay glow-in-the-dark side markers and a Floyd Rose Original 1500 Series double-locking vibrato.
Concept Series Rhoads RR24-7 in Desert Camo – £2,099, €2,399, $2,199
If the RR24 HS model made a play for the Randy Rhoads acolyte, the R24-7 in Desert Camo adapts the formula for a latter-day extremist, the extended-range metal player. Again, we have neck-through build with graphite reinforcement, and a 24 fret, bound ebony fingerboard with 12”-16” radius, Luminlay markers and a Floyd, and there are Gotoh tuners on the headstock.
However, this seven-string has a longer 26.5” scale, and a pair of Seymour Duncan Distortion 7 humbuckers in the neck and bridge positions. As with the above model, there are volume and tone controls, and a three-way pickup selector switch. And, crucially, both of these models come with a Jackson Foam Core case to protect those precious wings.
Concept Series SL Walnut HS – £1,849, €2,099, $1,999
The Concept Series SL Walnut HS has all the ingredients you look for in a pro-quality Jackson Soloist. It has the exquisitely contoured Soloist body, the neck-through build with its three-piece Maple/Wenge/Maple neck complemented by a solid mahogany body and a walnut top. There’s something incredibly appealing about that natural finish on the deep brown walnut and the gold hardware.
This Soloist has HS in its name and so it’s no surprise to find a humbucker and a single-coil pickup combo, namely a Seymour Duncan Full Shred ‘bucker at the bridge and a Custom Flat Strat at the neck. It has a three-way blade selector switch and volume and tone controls. The tone control has a push/pull function for accessing a second pickup voicing.
Elsewhere, and in keeping with Jackson’s house style for these series, a lot of the same specs and dimensions are carried over from its six-string Rhoads counterpart. The pearloid piranha tooth inlay on the ebony fingerboard is a little more minimalistic though, but it suits the more subtle presentation.
One of the original souped-up S-styles, the Soloist was built to shred, and this is no different. That 12”-16” compound radius board, the jumbo frets and thin neck profile is an invitation to play something spectacular.
Concept Series SLAT7P HT MS in Satin Bourbon Burst – £1,899, €2,199, $1,999
With the multi-scale treatment, the 3x4 headstock, and indeed the seven-string extended-range format, this SLAT7P looks like a totally different model to the aforementioned Concept Series Soloist. But it just goes to show you how malleable the Soloist design is.
There are a pair of active Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers in the neck and bridge positions, with a three-way pickup selector, volume and tone controls with push-pull functionality for accessing alternate pickup voicings.
Resisting the temptation to install a Floyd, Jackson has instead deployed a Hipshot 7 hardtail bridge, offering an easily adjustable, no-fuss platform for super-heavy riffing.
The build is neck-through once more, with a five-piece maple and wenge neck sandwiched in a solid ash body that’s topped with a heavily figured poplar burl top.
Once more, this tricked-out seven-string shares the pro-quality details as its Concept Series siblings, Luminlay dots, compound radius ‘board, Gotoh tuners, and it, too, ships with a Jackson Foam Core case.
Jackson Pro Series Jeff Loomis Signature Soloist SL7 – £1,649, €1899, $1699
Finished in Satin Black, Loomis’ latest Pro Series signature model is a typically aggressive seven-string take on the Soloist. It is old-school in the sense that it goes for the seven-in-line headstock, and it has a classic tonewood profile, with a three-piece, graphite-reinforced neck, a through neck build with basswood body and a sandblasted ash top.
Loomis has opted for a set of his signature Seymour Duncan Blackout humbuckers, which are controlled by a single volume control and a three-way pickup selector.
Elsewhere, there is a Floyd Rose Original 1500 double-locking vibrato for showing off, topping off a similarly shreddable feel as the aforementioned Concept Series models, with a 12”-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard, 24 jumbo frets, and a 26.5” scale length, and in what is a ray chink of light on this otherwise super-noir electric, there are Luminlay side markers to aid navigation.
The Pro Series Jeff Loomis Soloist and new Concept Series models are available to pre-order now and are expected to be with dealers worldwide in March. See Jackson for more details.
