Top Midrange Electric Guitars
See below for details on the top midrange electric guitars. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Jackson X Series Soloist | Ibanez JEM
Jackson X Series Soloist
$650 (USD)
Check prices at: Amazon
At a glance
Typical review comments for the Jackson X Series Soloist:
Sound:
- Intense and precise low end crunch and punch, and beautiful and distinct highs that sing.
- The guitar sounds fantastic!
- Sounds bright and the harmonics are good too.
- Perfect pickups for high gain very tight sounding no mud.
- The pick ups sound very nice.
- Looks cool.
- Definitely an eye-catching instrument.
- Every note was ringing for days compared to my old string through jackson JS.
- Great sound versatility.
- The pick ups are fantastic for metal.
- It screams with tone.
- This is a great sounding guitar.
- It’s loud, it’s crunchy, it’s purty!
- Great sustain.
- The tone from the humbuckers is flat out AWESOMENESS DEFINED!
- The pickups sound great and hot.
- Bold and clear.
- The guitar has amazing tone and sustain.
- Pick ups are SUPER hot.
Appearance:
- Absolutely stunning.
- The guitar looks really good.
- The finish is nice.
- Looks great!
- The wood is beautiful!
- It looks awesome!
- She’s a beauty!
- Looks fantastic!
Build Quality:
- Some of the nicest fretwork I’ve seen in this price range.
- The quality and build of this guitar is top notch!
- No dead spots or sharp ends.
- This guitar is very high quality.
- Paint work flawlessly applied.
- Quality craftsmanship.
- The fret job is well done.
- Has great tuning stability.
- Fit and finish are flawless.
- This guitar is beautifully crafted.
- It’s a flawless instrument.
- Very solid and reliable.
- This is a very well built and solid guitar!
Playability:
- This is a fast playing metal monster!
- It feels lightning fast.
- I love the neck. It’s smooth and plays really well.
- This guitar is a blast to play!
- Fast action.
- Good for shredding.
- The guitar plays awesome!
- Really smooth and fast.
- This guitar plays like butter.
- It holds its tuning.
- Great action on this axe.
- It’s a total shred machine.
- Jackson really nailed neck contour and fret size.
- Very comfortable.
- The frets are well dressed and the neck feels amazing.
- The guitar has a great feel to it.
- Awesome neck access.
- The fretboard is just fantastic.
- Plays like a dream.
- Upper fret access is amazing.
Value:
- If you’re looking for a great guitar in this price range get it!
- Excellent guitar for the price.
- It’s a steal!
- Real nice for the money.
- Worth more than the price.
- Great value for the money!
- Awesome price!
- This guitar is a very, very good deal.
- A great guitar for its price range.
- This guitar is an amazing deal!
Specs
BODY
- BODY MATERIAL: Poplar
- BODY FINISH: Gloss
- BODY SHAPE: Soloist™
NECK
- NUMBER OF STRINGS: 6
- NECK MATERIAL: Maple
- NECK CONSTRUCTION: Neck-Through-Body with Graphite Reinforcement and Scarf Joint
- NECK BINDING: 1-Ply Black
- NECK FINISH: Gloss Color Matched
- SCALE LENGTH: 25.5″ (64.77 cm)
- FINGERBOARD MATERIAL: Laurel
- FINGERBOARD RADIUS: 12″-16″ Compound Radius (304.8 mm to 406.4 mm)
- NUMBER OF FRETS: 24
- FRET SIZE: Jumbo
- NUT MATERIAL: Floyd Rose® Special Locking
- NUT WIDTH: 1.6875″ (42.86 mm)
- POSITION INLAYS: Pearloid Sharkfin
- SIDE DOTS: Black
- TRUSS ROD: Dual-Action Head Adjust
- TRUSS ROD NUT: Truss Rod Adjustment at Nut
HARDWARE
- BRIDGE: Floyd Rose® Special Double-Locking Tremolo (Recessed)
- HARDWARE FINISH: Black
- TUNING MACHINES: Jackson® Sealed Die-Cast
- CONTROL KNOBS:Dome-Style
- SWITCH TIP: Black
ELECTRONICS
- BRIDGE PICKUP: Duncan Designed™ HB-103B
- NECK PICKUP: Duncan Designed™ HB-103N
- CONTROLS: Volume, Tone
- SWITCHING: 3-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge and Middle, Position 2. Bridge, Middle and Neck, Position 3. Neck
- CONFIGURATION: HH
Artists
- Chris Broderick
- Jeff Loomis
- Marty Friedman
- Mick Thomson
- Chris Caffery
- Gus G
Note: Some may have played older versions or variants of this model.
Photos
Videos
Ibanez JEM
$1,600 (USD)
Check prices at: Amazon
At a glance
Typical review comments for the Ibanez JEM:
Sound:
- Outstanding sound from high gain to acoustic simulator, on any pickup.
- I could literally jump into any band with this and get an appropriate sound.
- The beauty of the tone can be distracting… I got pretty choked up.
- Pickups sound awesome.
- This thing RIPS under some drive!
- Crisp, distinct sound.
- Pickups are breathtaking and very satisfying to my ears.
- Will handle everything from progressive shred to merle Haggard tele tones.
- Surprised by the number of sounds I can get from it.
- Pickups are extremely hot.
- Bass, middle and treble are well balanced.
- You can achieve a lot of different tonal properties with 5-way selector switch.
- Does it sound amazing? Yes.
- Tones are huge! More than a one trick pony.
- The sound is very bright and crisp.
- Sounds great with or without effects.
- Excellent sound quality.
Appearance:
- This guitar is absolutely gorgeous!
- The beauty of this guitar is breathtaking.
- This is a beautiful piece that deserves to be hung as art.
- It looks fantastic!
- This guitar is absolutely stunning.
- The design is lovely.
- The look is really intriguing.
- What a beautiful guitar.
- The finish is fantastic.
- This is such a joy to look at when I’m not playing it.
- Sometimes I take this out of the gig bag that it comes with just so I can stare at it.
- Does it look fantastic? Yes.
Build Quality:
- The Edge tremolo is basically perfect. Pops back every time.
- Everything about this guitar oozes quality and excellence.
- TITANIUM TRUSS RODS!!! YES!!!!
- It is a very well built guitar.
- Premium fret edge treatment.
- The neck, and fretwork is impressive.
- Almost every time I pick it up it’s perfectly in tune.
- Build quality is fantastic.
- Fit and finish are spot.
- The Edge tremolo system is very stable.
- The finish is awesome.
- Overall craftsmanship is amazing!
Playability:
- The feel of the guitar action is stupendous.
- Fast, wonderful neck.
- It’s surprisingly easy to play finger style on.
- This guitar plays itself.
- Stuff that was difficult on my other guitars is much easier on this thing.
- Love the smooth neck.
- Takes a beating without going out of tune.
- Great neck on this guitar.
- Plays like butter.
- Does it play beautifully? Yes.
- Playability is sweet.
- It plays absolutely AMAZING.
- It’s really very easy to play.
- Making adjustments is a breeze!
- The weight and balance are spot on.
- It plays flawlessly.
- Smooth action, easy on the fingers and wrist.
- The neck on this Ibanez plays like grease lightning.
Value:
- Great bang for the buck!
- The price was awesome!
- Just buy it. It’s worth every penny.
- It is worth the price.
- Amazing guitar for the price.
Specs
BODY
- Top/Back/Body: Alder body
NECK
- Neck Type: Wizard 5pc Maple/Walnut neck w/KTS™ TITANIUM rods
- DIMENSIONS:
Scale : 648mm/25.5″
a : Width 43mm at NUT
b : Width 58mm at 24F
c : Thickness 18mm at 1F
d : Thickness 20mm at 12F
Radius : 400mmR
FRETBOARD
- Fretboard: Ebony fretboard/Tree of Life inlay
- Fret: Jumbo frets/Premium fret edge treatment
- Number of Frets: 24
- String Space: 10.8mm
HARDWARE
- Hardware Color: Gold
ELECTRONICS
- Neck Pickup: DiMarzio® Evolution® (H) neck pickup (Passive/Ceramic)
- Middle Pickup: DiMarzio® Evolution® (S) middle pickup (Passive/Alnico)
- Bridge Pickup: DiMarzio® Evolution® (H) bridge pickup (Passive/Ceramic)
ADDITIONAL INFO
- Bridge: Edge tremolo bridge
- Factory Tuning: 1E,2B,3G,4D,5A,6E
- Strings: D’Addario® EXL120
- String Gauge: .009/.011/.016/.024/.032/.042
- Recommended Case: M300C
- Machine Heads: Gotoh®
- Gig bag: included
Artists
- Steve Vai
- Joe Satriani
- Herman Li
- Kiko Loureiro
- Paul Gilbert
- Adrian Vandenberg
- John Petrucci
- Andy Timmons
- Nita Strauss
Note: Some may have played older versions or variants of this model.