USA Dime Razorback V Review

This is an electric guitar for the ages! It's made of mahogany, with a set-in neck and ebony fingerboard that sports custom "Razor" and "V" inlays. It also features a locking Floyd Rose tremolo, die-cast tuners, and your choice of bevel colors.

Features:	10
Sound:	10
Action:	9
Reliability:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.8
Users rating:	7.2
Comments:	57

overall: 9.8

Reviewed by: Shredboy, on march 06, 2007

Price paid: $ 3750

Purchased from: Ebay

Features: This guitar was made in 2006 I believe. Made in the USA. It has 22 frets 24 3/4 scale. The neck is extremely fast and thin. All mahogany except for the fretboard, which is ebony. Neck is a set neck. it's got the Dime tracton knobs for the two volume knobs. They are really practical and easy to turn when the sweat is pouring. The pickups: They are the Seymour Duncan Dimebucker in the bridge, and the Dimarzio Super Distortion in the neck. Both pickups are active and sound amazing! The finish is really smooth and the colours are black with red bevels. Looks awesome. Bridge is a Floyd Rose original, not the lisenced one. Got the double locking trem which is great. it's also got grover tuners. That baby aint going out of tune any time soon!! 3-way selector for the pickups. Oh and it's got the electrical tape near the neck pickup which stops and strings getting caught when you divebomb. It came with a Dean USA hardcase for free! // 10

Sound: Sounds amazing! It is great for heavy metal and hard rock. This guitar isnt designed to be used when your sat on a beach with your girlfriend on valentines day!! Sounds ok on a clean setting with both pickups but really shines when youve got a good distortion effect for it. I'm running it through a Laney Hardcore Maxx 65 watt amp, a DigiTech RP80 MultiFX and an MXR Dime Distortion. It sounds unbelievable! The pickups can take you from a high crunch sharp distortion for high pitched squeals to warm rhythm tones that have the right amount of distortion to keep things heavy. The sustain is amazing the sound verberates through the whole guitar. The only thing I can complain about is the slight amount of feedback that the Dimebucker gives. But it's only slight and if you are far enough away from your amp, you get no feedback. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Cant complain about the finish. It looks great! The colours are bright and look perfect on the whole body, no flaws at all with the paint and it looks like it's gonna last a long time. Pickups were adjusted fine, close to the strings but not so close that the sounds is muffled, too loud or that the strings rattle. They are just right! Looked at the frets and played each one. No problems there. The floyd rose was set up fine and in perfect Standard tuning so I didn't have to mess around with that. It is made out of top quality mahogany so I can't complain about the wood. The action was a little high for my liking. It wasn't high, but not low either. It was in the middle, but I hate not having the strings close to the fretboard, so I'll have to be critical about that. Didn't cost much to get it lowered though! // 9

Reliability & Durability: This guitar is like a tank! It is solid. It will definately withstand Live playing, and then some!! The hardware looks good, but then again I wont know until I've had it for a few years. But for now it all looks solid and is in perfect working order. The strap buttons must be cemented in because they aint going nowhere! They are very reliable although I would still use strap locks just in case (I'd cry if I dropped this guitar). I wouldn't use it at a gig without backup simply because I have had experiences where I have snapped a string by using the Floyd Rose too much. it's not the guitars fault but you never know. The finish is great, really thick stuff, and the mahogany body can survive dinting. It's very hard. The only weakness is on the horns of the guitar. It looks like there could be some wear and tear showing up around those areas in the near future because they are so thin. But hey, I'll put up with that. it's all part of te character. // 10

Impression: I play mostly heavy metal and hard rock, this guitar is perfect for those styles! Looks great, feels great and is a very fast guitar to use. Not to mention the sound. It's so heavy! I've been playing for 6 years now and I own a Jackson warrior WRMG, and a Gibson Les Paul Studio. This Dean beats them all hands down. I harldy play my Jackson anymore (sorry to Jackson fans reading this, but the Dean rules). If it were stolen/lost I would find it at all costs or buy another one. No guitar I have played has matched this one. I love the playability and the looks, but I hate the fact that if I knocked it I would cry like a baby I compared it to Ibanez prestige models, and LAG guitars, but the Dean beats them on looks and playability by far. And the pickups are great together. Brilliant guitar. // 10

Comments

[tim311mahoney]

FYI, neither of those pickups are active. If you got the set of EMG's (which they offer as an option), then you would have active pickups.

[d_byrne23]

"sorry for jackson fans but the dean rules"

i myself have played an Sl-1 soloist and the actual USA razorback that you reviewed and i find that the jackson felt far better, and looks less iconic obv as this..i would never say that guitar is worth that much money...just my opinion though

[Vrstone87]

No Dean will ever be worth more than $1k to me

[DeathByStereo23]

exact,dimebucker and super distortion are passive pickups.
The only Duncan Active pickups are the Livewire series and the Dave Mustaine livewires.

[Shredboy]

sorry bout putting active btw thanx for the corrections. I asked a friend about the pickups being active or passive... turns out he was wrong... thanx for looking

[Ishiga]

Dean's are nice, but in all honesty, 3795? I've got a BC Rich Avenge Son Of Beast which looks just as cool and more likely than not, with a couple hundred bucks could play just as well as that dean. How much did it cost? About 300. Under a tenth of the price. The only reason this particular guitar is so expensive is because it carries the name of Dimebag Darrell. (Not the performance.) It's a fashion statement.

[ReeseKillsHIV]

Looks like a good guitar, but I paid 350 for my Strat, which came with a licensed Floyd Rose, decent pickup setup, and low action...so I think you got ripped. If I put a little work into it, ( I won't, Strats aren't particularly amazing for my style, but I don't play gigs, so it doesn't matter to me now...) I'm pretty sure I could have it sounding as good for MUCH less. But hey, if you have cash to blow, go for it.

[serbusfish]

The only reason this particular guitar is so expensive is because it carries the name of Dimebag Darrell. (Not the performance.) It's a fashion statement.

no. they sell dime guitars for as cheap as $300. its expensive because it was made in usa with the best materials possible and was hand finished in the dean factory

[seek_&_destroy]

^ still don't think it's worth that much, even with labour and materials

[Shredboy]

ok i admit it is a little pricey, but I had the spare cash at the time, and I wanted to treat myself. I have always wanted one, and I love everything about it, and I love dimebag darrell - Hes awesome!! So I thought hey, why not!

[we_respect_walk]

[quote]serbusfish wrote:

The only reason this particular guitar is so expensive is because it carries the name of Dimebag Darrell. (Not the performance.) It's a fashion statement.


this guy said it all

[wingedgopher]

Aren't the pickups passive?

[Striketalonx]

I haven't played the USA Razorback V..
but all the Razorbacks I've played have been mediocre..

great lookers, but the necks are lame and the tone is.. well.. decent..

Either way: the neck is no ways fast OR thin.. its a ****in' V profile...

[outlaw metaler]

^well maybe you don't like the neck some people do Its one of those things were its more of a persnal choice

either way I never realy trust online reveiws forever some one might be getting shitty tone because they have a shitty EQ setting some people like thinner necks others like fatter ones just depands on what you like
also dependingon what other guitars this reviwer may of owned this could be really thin

however to you the neck is thick because your used to thinner necks

[Doodleface]

it costs so much because it has Dimebags name on it.

its worth maybe 1K at most

[Gojira16]

it's cool not to forget Dimebag and all, he's a huge influence, but does Dean really need 472 Dime Signature guitars? I mean if he were alive thats one thing, but it seems like they're just taking advantage of his death.

[Liberchaotica]

I agree that he paid too much for it, but at the end of the day if he is happy then it is money well spent.

I would love one of these guitars myself, but they are so hard to get hold of in England, it's almost not worth the hassle.

[party_on_wayne]

yeah i always wanted one, but the neck is too thick for me. ibanez wizard II to v profile... thats like going from a beef stick to a porterhouse steak. but perhaps we should just agree that the c-7 hellraiser is the best guitar ever made

[party_on_wayne]

btw you can get a full razorback for about 1K plus change at a guitar center. they just came out with the razorback and v with EMGs. i don't know how much the non USA version will cost, and this article was about the USA...big price difference. i'm thinking 1500 for the non-USA

[_3Lm0_]

this is pretty sexy, aye?

[slayersaves22]

fuk if its good enough for corey from trvium its good enough for me

[Shredboy]

Striketalonx wrote:

I haven't played the USA Razorback V..
but all the Razorbacks I've played have been mediocre..

great lookers, but the necks are lame and the tone is.. well.. decent..

Either way: the neck is no ways fast OR thin.. its a ****in' V profile...

I can play faster on this guitar than I can any other that I own, and btw the USA models arent the same as the imports, this one kicks ass, and it IS fast and comfortable to play on.

[Shredboy]

for all the people that dont like the dean, the guitar is great in my view, its personal preferance, and im not one of these fags who will just get a guitar without trying it, I tried loads of makes ranging from dean to fender to Ibanez, and I just preferred the dean, it just happens to be the guitar that carries the name of my favourite guitar player

[Chickenfrmheck]

Gojira16 wrote:

it's cool not to forget Dimebag and all, he's a huge influence, but does Dean really need 472 Dime Signature guitars? I mean if he were alive thats one thing, but it seems like they're just taking advantage of his death.

I think dean killed Dime...

that looks awesome, id kill for it
RIP Dimebag

[Shredboy]

correction, nathan gale killed dime, dean have just gone a bit crazy with all the tribute guitars, there are too many of them! but still, dimebags spirit is still alive, his music is still inspiring many guitar players around the world. RIP

[goldbuddist]

wtf is wrong with TOO MANY SIGNATURE MODELS? you guys who think there is too many suck..... theres NEVER such a thing as "too many dime guitars" douchebags....
and right on shredboy, i really f**king hate Vs, but this razorback one is REALLY COOL and is great to play wit, but the razorbacks such as the two-tone and slime bumblebee are way better =P

[Shredboy]

goldbuddist wrote:

wtf is wrong with TOO MANY SIGNATURE MODELS? you guys who think there is too many suck..... theres NEVER such a thing as "too many dime guitars" douchebags....
and right on shredboy, i really f**king hate Vs, but this razorback one is REALLY COOL and is great to play wit, but the razorbacks such as the two-tone and slime bumblebee are way better =P

yeah i hate all the V guitars except the razorback, it balances better coz all the other Vs ive played are neck heavy, bt the razorback V isnt, and btw the two tone and slime bee razorbacks are import models, they arent as good as the USA models, bt some ppl arent bothered about whether its made in the US or not, bt i have to admit that the razorback shape is a bit nicer than the razorback V shape... oh well, my razorback v kicks ass anyway lol i love it thnx man

[dimebagisgr8]

best guitars in the world razorback V is the best V guitar in the world and anyone who calls themself a fan of metal would agree its just one hell of a guitar thats all im gonna say and thts its worth every single fin penny

[[B]C [R]ich]

ima agree with shredboy...ive played this thing to and personally i love it, everything..but could use emgs. but anyways..i dont think its worth that much, but hell if you got the money mite as well..i plan to get this thing, but does anyone know if you can get the one corey from trivium plays? with red body n black bevels?

[Shredboy]

[B]C [R]ich wrote:

ima agree with shredboy...ive played this thing to and personally i love it, everything..but could use emgs. but anyways..i dont think its worth that much, but hell if you got the money mite as well..i plan to get this thing, but does anyone know if you can get the one corey from trivium plays? with red body n black bevels?

yeah theyve got one on www.carlinoguitars.com i think its on the 2nd or 3rd page of deans its called COREYS PROTOTYPE

[fatty_mcgee56]

or u know u could pay 700 less for a les paul which has one of the fattest necks ive ever felt and weighs almost 2 ton

[EARNEST]

i didnt get it. why did u pay 3.5K when u can pay 1.1k for

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Dean-Dime-Razorback-V
-255-Silver-Two-Tone-Guit
ar_W0QQitemZ300121430740Q
QihZ020QQcategoryZ41435QQ
ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcm
dZViewItem

Razor V 255. What's the difference between urs and that one?

[MickIbanez]

Uh the difference is that is an import and the wood isn't as good,the pickups are EMG, and a rosewood instead of ebony fretboard I think thats all thats different.

[EARNEST]

uhm.. thanks dude. but listen. this guitar and V255 have the same wood type- mahogany, but differences are in fret boards. (is ebony much better then rosewood?). pickups are the same (EMG81/85).

[TheCarl88]

This guitar is an awesome looking guitar personally I prefer the razorback skulls model though, I have played them and personally I'd rather go for the 24 fret 25/5 scale mainly cos it's got a manlier feel and easier for shredding up higher, having said that though these necks are a fair bit fatter than that of the Jackson KV's which to be honest if I could have any custom guitar it'd have that neck. I'm not a big fan of the Seymour Duncans either I'd change them straight to active emg's.

[Korzack]

goldbuddist wrote:

wtf is wrong with TOO MANY SIGNATURE MODELS? you guys who think there is too many suck..... theres NEVER such a thing as "too many dime guitars" douchebags....
and right on shredboy, i really f**king hate Vs, but this razorback one is REALLY COOL and is great to play wit, but the razorbacks such as the two-tone and slime bumblebee are way better =P

To be fair, you only really need One Dimebag signature guitar, like there's only One Randy Rhoads axe, as they're essentially making what that guy's favourite guitar - having 50 or so just implies that they're indecisive:P. Also, the razorback imagery's pretty damn cool - keep that on THE one dime sig & that's pretty quickly become a holy grail for a lot of players. I suppose if they did different versions for different price ranes, then fair dooes, but it's just the colours that change.

[Shredboy]

EARNEST wrote:

uhm.. thanks dude. but listen. this guitar and V255 have the same wood type- mahogany, but differences are in fret boards. (is ebony much better then rosewood?). pickups are the same (EMG81/85).

yeah bt id rather a guitar made by people who i know and trust, the guys in the dean USA factory really know what theyre doing, I had some spare cash so i thought i would treat myself to a well made guitar, and btw i hate the licensed floyds on the import models, dunno why i just do.

[[B]C [R]ich]

ok put it this way boys.
if you were the CEO of dean guitars and had a shitload of cash to blow on guitars
what else would you do?
hell id go nuts

[fingers62887]

Ebony fretboards are amazing if you never played on ebony your in for a treat great guitar awsome action on the one i played on. tone was great and playability like i said ebony is like being spoiled your fingers can just dance on the fretboard with ease.

[bucketslasher34]

dean kicks ass, but so does jackson. gibson doesnt exactly fit my style but im sure the people that play them love them. i think the quality is opinion cuz everyone looks at different things in a guitar. no one can look at anything and think of exactly the same thing. if i had the money i would get whatever guitar i think would fit me, regardless of brand

[forwhomthebells]

lol there are way too many sig. guitars nowadays all you have to do is to be a rock guitarist and wala

[Spl!nTeRgu!tAr]

if he bought thay guitar for 4k he got ripped the **** off

im buying one from GC next week and its $700 after my 40% emploee discount

god damn you got ripped off

[Shredboy]

Spl!nTeRgu!tAr wrote:

if he bought thay guitar for 4k he got ripped the **** off

im buying one from GC next week and its $700 after my 40% emploee discount

god damn you got ripped off

haha u dont know shit about dean guitars then. ur gonna be getting the chinese made one. mine is a USA custom one.

[flipsk8r1928]

this guitar looks freakin awesome.

[mikehratedr]

Shredboy wrote:

Spl!nTeRgu!tAr wrote:

if he bought thay guitar for 4k he got ripped the **** off

im buying one from GC next week and its $700 after my 40% emploee discount

god damn you got ripped offhaha u dont know shit about dean guitars then. ur gonna be getting the chinese made one. mine is a USA custom one.

actualy dean imports are korean. It seams none of you know shit about dean lol.
Yeah all you people here are retarded. He bought a usa guitar not the import ones runnin at 1100 at guitar center. These guitars are super high quality and made of the finest materials. And thats not a custom one shredboy thats a usa production model. customs are usaly about 6k at dean.

[deanplayer18]

dude the deans are great for me the razorback v are so smooth and fast not the most comfortable guitar to play sitting down but hey its made for rocking and shredding on stage the dimebucker is a great passive pickup i mean come on its a dime guitar pay respect with his dimebucker pickup to intald even tho i have to agree ever since he died dean made more of his guitars and theyve been selling like crazy so in all honesty they are making a profit off of his death but still trying to keep his sound alive just at an 1000 to 3000 dollar cost but hey in my opinion there great guitars and dean is a great company alot of ppl play deans or have played them hell zakk wylde has his own bullseye razorback trivium uses them even randy rhoads had one

[!BEN!]

I reckon this guitar is awesome as all deans are tbh, and did someone actually say a 300 dollar B C Rich would be nearly as good as a 3000 dean??
oh dear.. lol

[mosherhamish]

seek_&_destroy wrote:

^ still don't think it's worth that much, even with labour and materials

couldnt you say the saem for custom shop jacksons, esp, bc rich, caparison etc etc

[KenseiShredder]

ummm.....this guitar is 1099 on gearhounds.com.....+-. not exactly sure if the price changed. but thats what it was last time!! .....ps, their policy is for every oreder $199, u get it free shipping in USA....$999 for international shipping....$3000 just is too much man!

[ROOSTER#1]

I think the USA V is mint,you just have to find the right one for you,just like a gibson,you can pick one up and it looks mint,but just don't feel right.Then the next one some how feels perfect in every way.I personally would prefer a Razorback,they are the bomb,perfect the USA models that is.

[IbenezIceman]

not all of them are his signature guitar,the dime from hell was his signature as that was the paint job he had done for it(the one with the lightning bolt)and all of the others,the razorback the razor v and the stealth are all just guitars he designed and that dosent mean that theyre his sig models.

[SuperFlyinMonke]

Ok, so apparently people don't know the difference between hand-made in the USA and factory assembled in Korea. If anyone had actually had time to pick up a Korean model, they'd see that the binding isn't straight, they hardly mask the borders for painting, it's Floyd Rose Licensed. That's like saying that epiphone is equal to gibson... I do believe that that is a lot of ****ing money and I'd rather look into a Bernie Rico Jr. Vixen, because it's one of the sexiest guitars ever made and is 100% hand-made, but if you want to buy your 1000 dean, giver'. If you can actually take the time to recognize what quality craftsmanship is and have 4g's, but american and you will want to have to decide whether or not you want to play your guitar or have sex with it.

[zacapior]

I've got this guitar for an one year and everything except sound are amazing! I prefer EMG's sound and I am going to change pickups.

[zombie♥]

is the dean good for a live preformance? =\

[guitarfreak222]

zombie♥ wrote:

is the dean good for a live preformance? =\

Listen, Dean's are bad... so no.

[paulyv24]

Ok, so apparently people don't know the difference between hand-made in the USA and factory assembled in Korea. If anyone had actually had time to pick up a Korean model, they'd see that the binding isn't straight, they hardly mask the borders for painting, it's Floyd Rose Licensed. That's like saying that epiphone is equal to gibson... I do believe that that is a lot of ****ing money and I'd rather look into a Bernie Rico Jr. Vixen, because it's one of the sexiest guitars ever made and is 100% hand-made, but if you want to buy your 1000 dean, giver'. If you can actually take the time to recognize what quality craftsmanship is and have 4g's, but american and you will want to have to decide whether or not you want to play your guitar or have sex with it.

No THIS guy said it all. If you dont agree with this you need to pull your cheap un-experienced head out of your ass. Any USA handmade guitar will cost 2K+. Theres a reason the pro's dont use the cheap Korean sig models. Because they'd sound like all of you! Myself included. I bought the Korean shit and it was just that. I put $150.00 to have frets filed down and all that bullshit. The guy that did the work said "you can return it but you may get the same thing or a different issue". The Volume and tone pots were crap he said and so on and so one. The only similarities are the wood (other than the fretboard woods). Look I cant repeat what above said but hes so right. I cant afford a USA model and i dont play proffesionally so I cant justify buying one if I had the money. Hey Jackson lovers.....go to the website and build a mock custom shop model and tell me how much that ****er ends up being.

[syn_samuels]

I picked this guitar up for AU$2300.00 from Kosmic in Perth brand new without a scratch. It's by far one of the best guitar's I have ever played at looks and sounds amazing. by the way EMG's and active pickups are all overated, the seymour duncans and dimebucker pickups on the Dean sound awesome.