While I wouldn’t personally recommend getting a 7-string guitar as a first instrument if it inspires someone to play, then who am I to dissuade anyone from going extended range for their first? The Jackson JSS22-7 DKA Dinky HT is a 7-string guitar firmly at the beginner end of the price spectrum, making it great for those who want to add one to their collection without spending loads, or if you want your first instrument to be capable of emulating 7-string guitar heroes like Tosin Abasi, Stephen Carpenter, Misha Mansoor, and Ola Englund.
There’s not a huge amount of competition at this price point, because a 7-string is a pretty specific type of guitar. The Jackson we’re looking at today costs in the region of $199.99/£239 and there are similar offerings from ESP and Ibanez that are only slightly more expensive than this model. There’s no question it’s an absolutely bonkers price for what you get, but is it any good? Let’s find out.
Jackson JS22-7 DKA Dinky HT review: Features
The first thing I noticed about the JS22-7 is that it is seriously good-looking. Sleek and stealthy, the hardware and finish combine all-black everything with a lovely carved top. The satin-black finish looks great and personally, I’m a big fan of the offset pointy headstock. The body is poplar, so it's nice and lightweight - for a 7-string - and it features a belly cut on the rear as well as carves on the cutaways for better access to the upper registers of the fretboard.
The neck features a compound radius fretboard that moves from a round 12 inches to a flatter 16 inches as you get closer to the body. It's designed to enhance comfort and playability, another tick in the box of great value – I’ve seldom seen this feature at such a low price point. The neck itself is a maple bolt-on construction with graphite reinforcement and a scarf joint for the headstock.
A longer 26.5-inch scale offers more articulation for lower tunings, and the fretboard features 24 jumbo frets with piranha tooth inlays. The fretboard wood is amaranth, also known as purpleheart which looks similar to ebony with its dark color. In my inspection of the neck, I did notice things were a little messy around the nut, with what looked like the glue having expanded out and onto the fretboard on the bass side. It’s a small, cosmetic blemish that doesn’t appear to affect playability, but it was immediately noticeable.
In terms of electronics, you get two of Jackson’s own high-output humbuckers with a three-way pickup selector. As you’ll typically find on extended-range guitars it’s got a hard tail bridge, Jackson’s own HT-7 design, and at the top end you’ve got 7 Jackson sealed die-cast tuners in a 3x4 configuration. Hardtail designs are great for guitars with longer scales as they help promote tuning stability, and you'll need that if you want to down-tune the guitar.
Jackson JS22-7 DKA Dinky HT review: Playability
Sitting down with the guitar and my ever-faithful HX Stomp I was immediately taken with the playability of the neck. It’s got super light strings on it so everything feels absolutely rapid and the slim profile is really comfortable. A 7-string neck is always going to be chunkier than a regular guitar but the one on the JS22-7 doesn’t feel impossibly huge thanks to its very slim design.
The large frets make bending easy and I absolutely loved the compound radius. It’s a subtle thing but unusual to see at this price point and certainly adds to the rapid feel in the higher registers. If I was keeping this guitar I’d probably put fatter strings on it though, as the stock ones are way too loose for my preference, and you wouldn’t be able to drop-tune it too far without things getting flappy.
Reaching the 24th fret at the treble end of the spectrum is nice and easy, although doing the same on the bass end is a little hindered by the neck heel – not that you’re not likely to spend much time there anyway. One thing I did find to be a bit problematic is the fret markers. It would be nice if these switched to the treble end after the 12th fret as they’re pretty much out of sight once you start doing lead work. This is a budget guitar though, so I can’t be too critical of this minor inconvenience, and I soon adapted to playing without them.
Jackson JS22-7 DKA Dinky HT review: Sound
Loading up my favorite Mesa patch on my HX Stomp I proceeded to get down to business and start laying down the heavy riffs. As you might expect the JS22-7 is very much at home with syncopated djent chugs, fast thrashy power chord riffing, and blazingly quick lead work. The high-output humbuckers offer a seriously aggressive tone that will go down a treat with any guitarist who likes things heavy and I was soon playing sludgy riffs with loads of pinch harmonics thrown in.
I did notice things were a little noisy on higher gain settings, particularly with headphones on. After checking several things in my signal chain I concluded that the output jack was reverse-wired as the hum increased when I touched the strings and decreased when I touched the metal end of my cable or the metal shroud for the jack.
It’s a minor annoyance that’s easily fixed, but I could see that causing newer guitarists some issues, as although it wasn’t that noticeable through my amp it would be impossible to ignore on recordings or practicing via headphones. At this price point, it’s to be expected that you’re not getting a perfect guitar however, so I can’t be too harsh with this slight bodge in quality control.
Next, I switched to the neck pickup to try some lead work but I found it initially quite muddy. This happens a lot with pickups at this price point and although I could tame the mud some by rolling back the tone knob, it’s still more dull than warm to my ears. To caveat I will say I’m spoiled with many great-sounding - and many times more expensive - guitars so I’m sure newbie guitarists will find it perfectly serviceable for their needs.
Switching to a clean setting my favorite position was both humbuckers on with some of the tone knob rolled off again. This gives a great balance of low-end heft from the neck pickup and the bright articulation of the neck, and you can play some really nice picked arpeggios and even open chords this way. It sounds great and will work well for players who are into their prog metal and love a clean interlude.
Jackson JS22-7 DKA Dinky HT review: Verdict
If you want to take your first foray into a 7-string guitar without spending too much cash then the Jackson JS22-7 DKA Dinky HT is an awesome option. The neck is joyous to play on, blazingly fast and the compound radius fretboard is a subtle but amazing feature on a guitar at this end of the price spectrum. It looks, sounds, and plays great, which is about as much as you can ask for on a guitar that costs less than $200.
The small QC niggles are worth noting, but they don’t take that much away from my experience playing this instrument. With some better pickups, the Jackson JS22-7 would be a powerhouse for progressive metal players, so it’s worth a look as an upgrade platform if you don’t have the cash to spend on something pricier.
Jackson JS22-7 DKA Dinky HT review: Specs
- Price: $199.99 / £239 / €285
- Body: Poplar
- Fingerboard: Amaranth
- Fingerboard Radius: Compound 12-16”
- Neck: Maple
- Pickups: 2 x Jackson High-Output 7-String Humbucking
- Bridge: Jackson HT-7 String-Through-Body Hardtail
- Tuners: Jackson Sealed Die-Cast
- Contact: Jackson
