Jackson PXD Demmelition King V review
By Rob Sandall
| Posted in Guitar
The Jackson PXD Demmelition King V answers an important question: what makes a guitar METAL? Is it pointyness? Is it humbuckers that are seriously high gain and built for a better class of shred? Is it a fast neck, or perhaps a suitably evil paint job?
Taking no chances, Jackson has opted for all of these things on the PXD Demmelition. As much as the actual construction and sound of the resulting guitar could be happily applied to a number of genres, I can’t see many bequiffed indie kids or foot-tapping bluesers getting chordal on this baby. Widdle is where it’s at, and loud widdle at that.
The jagged V is made of alder, but note that regardless of the streamlined body shape, this is still not a light axe. You’ll be able to pose with it while chugging, no doubt, but in my experience some metal guitars have an inclination to be a little flimsy. There’s no such worry here – you can still frighten crowd and band members alike with a little flailing should the need arise. Obviously though, sitting down with this guitar is a bit awkward – it’s one for the stage.
The rock maple neck is suitably quick to fly up and down, with jumbo frets that are dressed very well indeed, offering nothing but smooth running. It’s a 12-16″ compound radius (nut to heel, for those unsure), and I lent the guitar to one of our shop’s metalmen to get a little Zakk Wylde on it, much to his delight. He gave a suitably happy thumbs up to the PXD Demmelition, and from my point of view, it would be a great guitar to learn to shred on, the neck and board are accessible enough, and the pickups are suitably high gain so as to be forgiving.
Ah yes, those pickups. They’re EMG-HZs, no less. The emphasis is undoubtedly on bite and boom, with the neck pickup quite capable of massive wall-of-sound washes or meaty chug-outs. There’s enough definition to provide some solid rhythm backup, mind, although this is a lead guitar without question.
To that end, the bridge is hot and heavy, delivering loads of treble cut-through backed up by a bottom-end growl. It’s a fiery enough change from the neck, too, so you can really pile on the emphasis for solos. Used together, the pickups are confident and driving. It’s exactly what you need against brutal double-bass-pedal outings, so this is a well-crafted design indeed.
A Floyd Rose is pretty much compulsory for a guitar of this nature, and the Jackson tuners complement it well – everything holds firm, and you have a free reign to experiment and rock out to your heart’s content.
Everything, in fact, has been designed for some uber-metal stylings, and there’s a lot of backbone here to facilitate a truly heavy sound in both one- and two-guitar bands – the latter would allow some wonderful sonic overlay. Whatever the case, if you’re a metal player and want to destroy the masses, I would give serious consideration to making your weapon of choice the PXD Demmelition King V.
Tags: Jackson Demmelition King V, Jackson King V, PDX Demmelition King V