Jackson has unveiled, no, wait, these are metal guitars, lets try again… Jackson has unleashed the Pro Plus Pure Metal Phase II series, comprising a limited edition Warrior, King V and Concert Bass.
“This beast of a guitar is built for speed, equipped for domination” read the tag line when the first Pro Plus Pure Metal models dropped in May, and these are built to a similar brief, with all three armed with a single Fishman Fluence Modern humbucker at the bridge, 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, Luminlay side dot markers, and a suite of high-performance features.
And yes, the only colour option is Gloss Black with single-ply cream binding on the body to keep these from being too minimalistic. The Jackson logo is in cream, too.
All have solid poplar bodies and neck-through builds, with those three-piece mahogany necks whittled down to the quick for super-speedy playing.
As you will typically find on Fender-owned high-performance brands – Charvel, EVH – we have the standard 12” to 16” compound radius fingerboards, which feel very much like the platonic ideal for shred-pyro playing styles. The difficulty with these guitars is to not overplay. The fingerboards are ebony because it looks more kvlt with those sharkfin inlays.
Once upon a time these would have been seen as radical. The shape of the Warrior and King V is still all aggressive angles, with the six-in-line headstock you could go into battle with (still Jackson’s best headstock). But for long-time Jackson fans, these are all kinds of classic, a sensible minimalist refresh.
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That multi-voiced Fishman ‘bucker makes them sonically more versatile than you might think. Its full-bore high-distortion voice through a dimed high-wattage tube amp (or a model thereof) is sonically as imposing as you would expect.
The Concert Bass might be the most sensibly shaped of the three, but it has that Countdown To Extinction-era Megadeth vibe to it – use a guitar pick, play an eighth-note pulse on the low E and there’s the foundations for Symphony Of Destruction. It has a four-saddle HiMass bridge for maximum sustain.
The electronics on this bass offer plenty of range. There’s a coil-split on the volume knob. There is a two-band EQ on a stacked concentric knob while a three-way mini-toggle selects Fishman’s alternate voicings. Boom.
What else do you need? List price is an achievable £1,349/$1,579, and that includes a gig bag.
As for the Warrior and King V, you’ve got the Floyd Rose 1000 Series double-locking vibrato. The controls are pared down to a single volume pot with a push/pull for the alternate voicing. Again, you get a gig bag with these.
The hardware is chrome. There are locking guitar strap buttons so the instrument doesn’t fall to the floor in the middle of your gnarly cover of Chapel Of Ghouls. Hey, these are guitars for extremists.
It’s like Jackson says, “When you need merciless metal tone and speed for days, reach for the Jackson Pro Plus Pure Metal Series WR1A Warrior.” Put that on the poster.
Again, prices are for the serious amateur, jobbing pro. The Warrior and King are both priced at £1,399/$1,469 street.
For more details on the Pro Plus Pure Metal series, head over to Jackson. To hear how they sound, check out the demo video featuring Debbie Gough (pictured top of page) and Erhan Alman of Heriot.