Jackson Dinky DK2M
By Rob Sandall
| Posted in Guitar
Review by Ryan Saunders
Continuing on my theme of pointy superstrats, I thought I’d move away from Ibanez this time and talk about The Jackson Dinky series, specifically the DK2M model. Jackson, much like Ibanez, have a huge following in the hard rock and heavy metal genres, with most of the big names in metal sporting one at some point, and as such I was quite keen to give the guitar a damn good thrashing (pun intended).
So what is this Dinky? Well the series – named because of its slightly smaller body – is one of Jackson’s takes on the superstrat which, as you may have guessed based off my previous reviews, is something I have a certain degree of fondness towards.
This particular Japanese-made Dinky comes with a maple fretboard and a bolt-on neck (as is standard for Dinkys), so when you add the alder body into the equation it has an incredibly snappy and focused tone, even acoustically - it’s great to hear the quality of materials shine through before soaking them in gain, in fact. Whilst we’re on the subject of blasting this through an amp, though, it’s worth talking about the stock pickups in the DK2. The series comes with the option of a humbucker in the bridge and two single coils in the middle and neck positions respectively, or dual humbuckers in the various incarnations of the Dinky. This model contains the latter, and comes with the classic Seymour Duncan combo of a JB in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck. Boy do they scream.
This is unsurprising of course – it can do metal, but you’d hardly expect anything else of a guitar with a headstock capable of skewering several people in one go. That said, the great thing about this axe is the fact that it sits comfortably down in the lower-gain settings and, because we metalheads can have a sensitive side, it sounds lush and defined on a clean channel thanks to the combination of body materials and fantastic pickups.
As well as sounding great, the guitar is a killer player; it boasts an extremely playable neck that has a nice satin feel to and doesn’t get sticky during those marathon sessions. There’s also a great low-profile licensed Floyd Rose that just begs to be dive-bombed. Add to that the fact that you get a nifty hard case (as far as I can tell it’s identical to the cases that come with American deluxe Strats) and the Jackson Dinky DK2M blows most of the competitors at this price range out of the water!
Tags: Dinky, jackson, Jackson Dinky DK2M