[Nyarlath]

I'm curious about extended range guitars, and I thought that a 7 string was the natural choice before I went on to an 8 string. The particular model I was thinking of would be a Jackson DX7, black, for 200 USD. Is this a decent starting model for 7 strings? I would consider myself an Ibanez guy, but I've played some ESP models, a few Schecters, and Gibsons as well. Jackson has always been an accurate hit or horrible miss for me. I'm curious to know what you all think about this.

 

[1]

As I recall, the DX series were MIK/MIC and relatively low quality, while the DKs are MIJ. Neither are generally regarded as "great", but the DX is considered by most to be, well, just shitty.

On the Ibanez side, a used 7620 is the de-facto standard for basswood, tremolo-ed sevens. You really can't go wrong with them, but they'll be a bit more than your price range. The 732x/742x aren't bad either for the price, which is around $300 new.

 

[bostjan]

I've played a few DX7's and I can say that they are great guitars for the money. If you are a real Ibanez loyalist, you might want to save a little while until you can nab an RG7620 or even an RG7321, as many Ibanez guys have complaints with other guitar's necks.

 

[1]

Mike/Noodles are the resident Jackson guys (along with, obviously, Jacksonplayer) so I'd leverage their input heavily as well. They are sort of gear snobs though. :lol:

 

[Sebastian]

Jackson DX7 - made in Malaysia. Didn't played one, but if it's "close" to a DR7....

I had a DR7 - Made in Japan, and I really liked it, The quality was really good, the neck was awesome, satin hardware looked great, and the tuners weren't really bad... I bought it for 200$, and usually I see DR7s on ebay go for 200-250$.
200$ for a DX7 seems a bit too much for me - but if it's in good condition, and you can check it out before buying.. why not

 

[Nyarlath]

Alright. I saw a video some guy on youtube made with his DX7, and it just sounded terrible. I also played my friends Jackson in the same price range, and it felt like those plastic toy guitars. I'll be looking into those Ibanez 7's though.

 

[Nyarlath]

It's coming from a friend too, so I could play and decide for myself.

 

[Sebastian]

Alright. I saw a video some guy on youtube made with his DX7, and it just sounded terrible. I also played my friends Jackson in the same price range, and it felt like those plastic toy guitars. I'll be looking into those Ibanez 7's though.

Obviously the DX7 has Duncan Designed pickups... so you would like to change them

 

[Nyarlath]

I know nothing about pickups. I have just started learning about the instrument, instead of just playing it. Any sites to check out for this sort of thing?

 

[146]

I've actually got one. It was ok for the price I bought it for (cheap). It has some finish flaws (the paint/clear coat is uneven in some places), but plays and sounds fairly good. The pickups are a bit muddy but that's not hard to fix.

Here's a really old vid of me playing it. The playing is crap (it's hard to improvise in c-major tuning ) and it's a webcam so the sound is not great, but still gives some kind of idea what it can sound like.

Edit: definetely try it if you can. I've read some bad experiences with these guitars too.

 

[Nyarlath]

Well you make it sound wonderful. Are those stock pups?

 

[146]

Yep, those are the stock Duncan Designed pickups. They're not horrible IMO, but when used for heavy rhythm stuff, they're a bit muddy and lack some of the "bite" I like to have for that kind of playing.

 

[Nyarlath]

What is the clean sound like?

 

[Nyarlath]

What is the clean sound like?

 

[146]

It's also not quite bright enough IMO.

 

[Nyarlath]

Clean sound is a deal breaker man.

 

[stealthtastic]

Wirelessly posted (A Destroyer of short people: Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4B1 Safari/419.3)

If you intend on going 8 just go straight to 8. Its really no big deal, just getting used to muting a few extra strings and maybe a longer scale.

 

[Andy]

And you can always improve your clean sound by changing pups. But you need a good base guitar for that first. I've not personally played a DX7 but everything that I've heard about it is that it's budget guitar. Look at from that point of view.

 

[Soopahmahn]

If you intend on going 8 just go straight to 8. Its really no big deal, just getting used to muting a few extra strings and maybe a longer scale.

I used to say this, but I will say that I feel it's an easier conversion to add one string than two, now. To me it was like learning a foreign language - after I got used to having "other than 6 strings", I had no problem picking up an 8, and playing a 9 would be just as easy (sans the muting part :lol.

But there isn't anything in the way of budget 8's, not like he's talking, so I'd recommend the 7-string route.

I hate the Jackson DX series. Just very uncomfortable and bad QC and pickups. If you like Ibanez guitars, I'd recommend sticking with Ibanez as they have a very easy-to-transition-to 7-string neck. So get yourself a used RG7321, RG7421 or 7621 (avoid trems on cheapo guitars) or if you really want a trem, spend ~$400-500 on a used RG7620. Stock Ibby pickups will have decent cleans as they won't be super high output or be ridiculously bright. :2cents:

 

[Tom]

As long as the guitar itself sounds good (as in, resonates nicely acoustically), pickups aren't a big deal. If you look around, you can get a decent set of used 7-string pickups for around or under $100, and that's a purchase you can put off for a bit if needed to focus more money into getting a better guitar. Anything in that price range is going to have crappy stock pickups. I'd try to save up a little more and get an Ibanez 7321 or 7421. My 7421 was my second 7, and it still gets used often.