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Guitar World Verdict
If you want to get heavy and look like a proper metalhead while doing so, the Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Christian Andreu Rhoads RR24 EVTN6 certainly ticks both of those boxes. It’s a great guitar for live players with a solid build, and the Evertune bridge means it can also be a proper studio weapon, provided you like playing standing up. As the signature model of a metal guitarist, it’s not a surprise to find a pretty one-dimensional instrument in terms of tones, but then you should be able to tell that just by looking at it.
Pros
- +
Single Fishman humbucker is perfect for modern metal.
- +
Playability of the neck profile and stainless steel frets is superb.
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Evertune bridge delivers perfectly intonated playing.
- +
Comes with a good-quality semi-rigid case and straplocks.
Cons
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The shape naturally makes it difficult to play sitting down.
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Price point means it’s only likely to appeal to Gojira super-fans.
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What is it?
The Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Christian Andreu Rhoads RR24 EVTN6 is the signature guitar of one of modern metal's most underrated players. Andreu is often found in the shadow of the brothers Duplantier, thanks to Joe’s outspoken nature and commanding stage presence, and Mario’s incredible displays of virtuosity on the drums, but he’s no less important to the precision machine that is Gojira.
It’s no surprise then that as part of the rhythmic foundations of the band, his signature guitar is a very Spartan, metal guitar affair, prioritizing stability and simplicity. It’s a three-piece maple neck with a neck-through-body construction. The truss rod is assisted by graphite reinforcement, and it features 24 jumbo-sized stainless steel frets on an ebony fingerboard, with Luminlay side dots and inverted pearloid ghost fin inlays. It’s got a compound radius fretboard, which moves from 12 to 16 inches as you get further up the neck.
The reverse headstock features Jackson die-cast locking tuners, while an Evertune F6 bridge anchors the strings to the body at the opposite end. The body itself is two alder wings joined to the maple running through the center, coming in the classic Rhoads body shape with a white bevel on the gloss black body.
It features just a single master volume control and a single Fishman Fluence Open Core Modern humbucker with a three-position toggle switch that allows for three different voices: active, passive, and single coil tone. The guitar comes with a semi-rigid guitar case and a pair of Jackson straplocks to help keep it in place when on a guitar strap.
Specs
- Launch price: $2,429.99 | £1,849.99 | €2,199
- Made: Korea
- Type: Six-string electric guitar
- Body: Alder
- Neck: 3-piece maple
- Fingerboard: Ebony
- Scale length: 25.5" (648 mm)
- Nut/width: Black plastic / 42.86mm
- Frets: 24 frets, jumbo, stainless steel
- Hardware: Jackson die-cast locking tuners, Evertune F6
- String spacing at bridge: 50mm
- Electrics: Fishman Fluence Open Core Modern OEM-MO6-ABB, master volume, 3-position toggle switch
- Weight: 7.27lbs/3.3kg
- Options: N/A
- Left-handed options: No
- Finishes: Black with white bevels
- Cases: Jackson semi-rigid case included
- Contact: Jackson
Build quality
Build quality rating: ★★★★☆
The case that the Pro Plus Series Signature Christian Andreu Rhoads comes in is absolutely gigantic due to the guitar’s odd shape. It looks more like the sort of case you’d find a Nord piano in rather than a guitar, but as it’s unlikely to fit in any other standard guitar case, it’s certainly a welcome addition.
Taking the guitar out of the case, I can immediately feel a decent bit of heft from it. It weighs in at 3.3kg on my scales, so not insurmountable, but there’s something about the balance of it that makes it feel a bit heavier than it actually is. Performing an up-close inspection of the aesthetics, I can’t see anything drastically out of place. It looks great, but the gloss-black finish tends to pick up every tiny bit of dirt and dust.
There’s a little bit of paint bleed where the white bevels terminate near the neck, and the same where the nut and binding meet, but you’ve really got to zoom in to see these. I do spot a tiny circular dent in the fingerboard on the 23rd fret, which could be a tooling mark that wasn’t filled, or an alignment hole that wasn’t covered up when the fretboard was glued to the neck. It doesn’t affect the playability and is only visible close up, but I would expect better on a guitar costing well north of $2,000.
There’s nothing else out of place, though. The hardware is very well applied, and there’s an overall feeling of robustness about the guitar, thanks to its heft and the stable feel offered by the neck-thru construction. I don’t doubt at all that this guitar could survive the rigors of the road.
Playability
Playability rating: ★★★★½
I’m faced with the inevitable issue of having to play in the classical position due to the body shape
Sitting down to play the Christian Andreu Rhoads, I’m faced with the inevitable issue of having to play in the classical position due to the body shape. While I’m sure many guitarists prefer this position, and with a footstool it’s objectively better ergonomically, sometimes you just want to pick up a guitar quickly and play, which isn’t possible here.
Out of the box, the Evertune bridge is not set up properly, so the guitar is out of tune. Due to its unique operation, it’s not just a simple case of turning the tuning machines either. I have to loosen the strings until they’re slack, then tighten until the pitch of the note stays the same despite the tuning machines being turned. Once this is done, it requires two more full turns, which puts it into ‘zone 2’. From here, I need to use the included hex key on the saddle to tune the guitar to correct pitch, which is D standard from the factory.
With the tuning set, I can set the bend sensitivity by tightening the tuners further, which means it will react quickly to bending and vibrato, or not at all. It’s definitely a unique feeling to be bending a string but hearing no change in pitch, and for the surgical rhythm playing Andreu is known for, this mode has some incredible benefits. Notes are always in tune, no matter how hard I press down on the strings, and it makes getting up and down the fretboard a lot easier, as I can press down hard without worrying about pushing the strings sharp.
Of course, I have to start playing some Gojira on the instrument, so I begin with my personal favorite, ‘Backbone’. It makes itself immediately clear that this is a guitar that’s made for chugging riffs and death metal-inspired tremolo picking. It comes with a 10-52 set of strings, which is nice and chunky, and with my finger on the 1st fret, the action measures at 1mm at the 12th fret on the low E string.
I find myself subconsciously trying to add vibrato to certain notes, and it's not working, which takes a bit of getting used to. You can set the bridge up so that you can bend certain strings and not others, so I opt to set the two low strings to stay stationary in pitch, while bending and vibrato is possible on the four higher-pitched strings. It’s a pretty amazing feature, and I can see why so many metal guitar players are using Evertune bridges at the moment.
The neck profile isn’t declared on the Jackson site, but to my hand it feels like a slim ‘D’. It’s very slinky and encourages fast and technical playing, with the body shape offering superb upper fret access. The jumbo frets give you plenty to bend against, which means it requires less effort to hit those full tone and beyond acrobatics. It does take some getting used to with the Evertune set in bending mode however, because it doesn’t respond in exactly the same way that a typical hardtail or tremolo bridge would.
Sounds
Sounds rating: ★★★★☆
The first time I play the guitar is in my home studio, so I plug into my audio interface and load up the Gojira Neural DSP plugin to put it through its paces. My first impression is that the humbucker is incredibly high output. Even with the gain of my input set to zero, it’s still hitting well above 0dBFS, which is so hot it makes the plugin sound way too saturated.
It’s an impressive amount of gain even with nothing in front of it, so I bring in an SSL E Channel Strip to roll back the input, which makes things a lot more controlled. Using one of the default rhythm presets on the plugin, with the active pickup voice (toggle switch towards the neck), it’s that archetypal modern metal sound: loads of attack, plenty in the high mids, and a tight, controlled low end. It’s the kind of sound that makes you want to keep chugging the low E string for hours.
It sounds really sweet when I play the intro of ‘Flying Whales’ with plenty of reverb and delay
With the toggle switch in the middle position, I get voice 2, which is the passive humbucker tone. It’s pretty similar to my ear, though, slightly less gain, a touch more midrange, and less low end. It’s slightly dynamic here versus the more compressed tone of the active voice, but the differences between the first two voices aren’t exactly night and day, and I naturally want to play heavy riffs and fast leads in this position as well.
Moving to toggle position 3 is the single coil emulation. It’s still pretty hot by all accounts, hitting just shy of 0dbFS on my interface with my plugin trim off, but it’s a much thinner, brighter tone. With the right amp EQ, I can get it pretty single-coil-ish, and it sounds really sweet when I play the intro of ‘Flying Whales’ with plenty of reverb and delay. It won’t fool any single coil purists, but for the mainly metalhead who wants to play the occasional clean passage, it does the job.
Verdict
It’s not a surprise that, as the signature model from a guitarist of one of the heaviest bands on earth, the Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Christian Andreu Rhoads is not the most subtle of guitars. For chugging precision-engineered riffs, searing shred leads, and generally getting heavy, it’s a brilliant bit of kit. The Evertune bridge is a marvel for technical and precise playing, and the neck offers phenomenal playability.
V-shaped guitars are just naturally unwieldy
I can’t imagine anyone other than dedicated metalheads and Gojira megafans finding loads to love here though, especially considering the price. Although the pickup surprised me with its capabilities, it still leans very much towards metal and rock tones. I also find V-shaped guitars are just naturally unwieldy, difficult to play sitting down, and basically impossible to put on a stand or just lean against something without the fear of it falling over
Guitar World verdict: If you want to get heavy and look like a proper metalhead while doing so, the Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Christian Andreu Rhoads RR24 EVTN6 certainly ticks both of those boxes. It’s a great guitar for live players with a solid build, and the Evertune bridge means it can also be a proper studio weapon, provided you like playing standing up. It’s not a surprise to find a pretty one-dimensional instrument in terms of tones, but then you should be able to tell that just by looking at it.
Test | Results | Score |
|---|---|---|
Build quality | Overall solid, but a few small QC niggles | ★★★★☆ |
Playability | Perfect for technical riffing and shred leads | ★★★★½ |
Sounds | Ideal for modern metal tones, but limited elsewhere | ★★★★☆ |
Overall | A good guitar for dedicated metalheads and Gojira fans | ★★★★☆ |
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