MaaZeus

Help me out here. I was just buying new strings from a local guitar shop, stayed around and saw this used Rhoads V Jackson for tempting price on the wall. I have been on market for Rhoads V for some time so I suddenly got a serious GAS attack. And no, farting didnt help.

Here is the deal, the guy in the shop didnt know the exactly what Jackson model it is. He promised to ask around though. The guitar was his friends and it was bought from there few years back. He thinks its made in Korea though.

Here are the details. The input jack is in the bottom fin (bummer, would have to buy angled jack cable for this), and it has tremolo. (another bummer, but I dont intent to change tunings on that one anyway plus I can always block it) Stock pickups were Duncan designed but the bridge pickup on that one was changed to something else, didnt quite catch what it was though. 22 frets. Piano-black paintjob, no fancies.

But what got me curious was that was ONLY single volume knob plus switch, never saw Jackson like that before. Also no pickguard, thank god. Have been browsing like mad finding out what guitar it was and evidence suggests that the guitar is RX10D but I cant be sure. Thoughts?

It was in very good shape and felt good sitting down (without cable attached that is). The price was listed as 290€, but he did say he may be able to lower it . I'll hear about it on monday when I take my Cort there for getting its broken input jack fixed.


TL;DR version:

used Jackson RX10D (uncertain), bridge pickup changed (model unknown at this point), very good shape, 290€ (possibly lower). Worth it?

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Guitars:
ESP LTD F-50
Cort EVL-Z4

Amps:
Peavey Envoy 110
Peavey Valveking 100
Marshall Valvestate 8100
JCA12S cab
Vox Pathfinder 10

Pedals
Behringer HM300
Digitech Bad Monkey

Dave_Mc

some of those RXes were MIJ. whether they all were, I dunno. That being said, the pro series is probably better for not much more money (how good of a used market you have in finland, though, i dunno).

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MaaZeus

Well frankly used market sucks here, usually. Shops rarely sell used items. I could get RR3 directly from someone for maybe 100€ more, but none of them are near me. Closest is roughly 200km away and that would take extra 50€ in gas, AT LEAST.

Oh, and take a note that I am still a beginner, with a collector habit. Definetly not worthy of any Pro serie guitar. But I dont want crappy ones either.

__________________
Guitars:
ESP LTD F-50
Cort EVL-Z4

Amps:
Peavey Envoy 110
Peavey Valveking 100
Marshall Valvestate 8100
JCA12S cab
Vox Pathfinder 10

Pedals
Behringer HM300
Digitech Bad Monkey

Dave_Mc

oh yeah i mean that's just the name of the series. i don't think it matters how good you are, you might as well have as good kit as you can afford/get.

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MaaZeus

Well thanks. The amount they ask is roughly that I can afford and low-midrange guitars are exactly that I have been looking for and apparently RX10D is exactly that. Just wanted a confirmation that it is not a POS guitar that falls apart.

__________________
Guitars:
ESP LTD F-50
Cort EVL-Z4

Amps:
Peavey Envoy 110
Peavey Valveking 100
Marshall Valvestate 8100
JCA12S cab
Vox Pathfinder 10

Pedals
Behringer HM300
Digitech Bad Monkey

Dave_Mc

probably not (especially if it's japanese-made), but the tremolo might not be that great (which doesn't matter overly if you're willing to block it, but it is worth pointing out). and some of the older x series ones were poplar instead of alder... the (very few) i tried i didn't think sounded quite as good as the alder ones. But whether i just tried a bad one, whether it was psychological, etc. etc. etc. I don't know.

i guess if you can get them to lower the price, that'd be the thing.

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MaaZeus

So I bought the guitar. Man this thing is a beauty. Few scratches there's nothing major, and it feels fantastic to play. Miles better feeling that my Cort Les Paul. And the neck, OMG!

I do have an issue with it though. Low E sounds odd. When I bought it they changed a new set of strings to it (D'Addario 11-52) and tuned it to D for me. Everything else sounds great but low E has this springy/bouncy tone instead of sharp attack my other guitars have. Kind of like playing a rubber band. Palm muted it sounds fine but open notes sound bad. Power chords especially with that bouncy overtone it adds. Everything is in tune though, including intonation.

Bad string? If so, then I guess the fact I bought a Floyd (which I never use) guitar bites me in the ass now. I do have two sets of Dunlop 12-54 Heavy Cores that I could install but I have no idea how to do it on Floyd without indepth instructions nor do I have any pieces of wood I could use to block the tremolo (which I do intent to do at some point) to ease the tuning process.

Or could it be odd pickup characteristic? When I played the guitar it in the shop I did it unplugged. As I said the bridge pickup is unknown other than its some old Dimarzio. Very old considering the rust-like stains on the pole pieces so I doubt this is the first guitar this pickup has been used in. I guess there is no way to confirm the model 'till next string change? I doubt this could be the issue but who knows.

__________________
Guitars:
ESP LTD F-50
Cort EVL-Z4

Amps:
Peavey Envoy 110
Peavey Valveking 100
Marshall Valvestate 8100
JCA12S cab
Vox Pathfinder 10

Pedals
Behringer HM300
Digitech Bad Monkey

Dave_Mc

that's weird. does it sound bad unplugged?

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MaaZeus

Not that I can detect. However I noticed that when I play on clean channel (which I never did before with this guitar), the low E is bit distorted, unclean. Other strings play clean but low E does not. I tuned my Cort (with EMG HZ pickups) to Drop D to see if it sounds clean on low E string and it did, no side noises.

The action on my Jackson is quite low and nect is really straight, low E buzzes easily but I doubt it could cause this?

__________________
Guitars:
ESP LTD F-50
Cort EVL-Z4

Amps:
Peavey Envoy 110
Peavey Valveking 100
Marshall Valvestate 8100
JCA12S cab
Vox Pathfinder 10

Pedals
Behringer HM300
Digitech Bad Monkey

Dave_Mc

it might, but i'm honestly not sure. i guess you could ask in the setup thread? they might know in there.

__________________

MaaZeus

Unlikely because it sounds bad when I do not hit the strings hard either. Just tested it out. I guess I have to take it back to the store tomorrow. I've spent two days with this guitar, bothered by this issue that should have been good right from the start. Used or no, unless they can fix it I take my money back.

Too bad if it comes to this though, this guitar just felt so damn good to play. Left me with even worse hunger for good Rhoads V.

__________________
Guitars:
ESP LTD F-50
Cort EVL-Z4

Amps:
Peavey Envoy 110
Peavey Valveking 100
Marshall Valvestate 8100
JCA12S cab
Vox Pathfinder 10

Pedals
Behringer HM300
Digitech Bad Monkey

Dave_Mc

yep, if you really can't get it sorted then just get your money back. that sounds like the sensible thing to do.

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MaaZeus

Good news! I took it to the shop and asked what the seller thought about the sound, was I hearing things or was something wrong. So he plugged it to their testing Blackstar and played around with an odd look on his face. He did agree that it sounded VERY odd.

So their luthier came to have a look, played a bit and said "it must be the pot" and gave it a very sharp tap. I was immidietly greeted by rather amazing distortion. "Yup, it was the pot". They changed it for free of charge, though I guess they took it back by selling me a wallhanger and a gigbag while I was waiting... This guitar got expensive, fast.

__________________
Guitars:
ESP LTD F-50
Cort EVL-Z4

Amps:
Peavey Envoy 110
Peavey Valveking 100
Marshall Valvestate 8100
JCA12S cab
Vox Pathfinder 10

Pedals
Behringer HM300
Digitech Bad Monkey

T00DEEPBLUE

I'm glad that you found the problem and it was a very easy fix.

It sucks when you find a problem and you don't know what's causing it.

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