Tagged As: Jackson Warrior Guitar
Question:
I recently lucked into a beautiful fuscia Spectrum I know it doesn't qualify as vintage or collectable, but I've wanted one ever since I first saw the orange one pictured in Tony Bacon's Ultimate Guitar Book, so after more than two years of searching I'm VERY pleased to get my hands on this. I was wondering if anyone could help me with a couple of q's I have regarding the electronics on this guitar. This is my first guitar with active pickups (well, technically it's my second, but I haven't received the first yet - it's in transit and I'm very impressed with the number of tones available, especially with the funky boost switch/wah pot - in fact, overwhelmed might be a better word. Can anyone tell me how the tone knob operates when the boost is not engaged? It doesn't just roll off the highs like a normal passive tone control, and now I'm thinking that it doesn't really change the tone so much as variably tap the pickups, or maybe alter them from parallel to series, or something like that? Additionally, there's a tiny blue pot on a PCB in the electronics cavity - does anyone know what adjusting this does? I thought I'd ask around before I go twisting it to see what happens...
Answer:
The Spectrum was (as Bacon said in his book) Charvel's answer to fusing modern and vintage characteristics in one guitar. The active circuitry was referred to as Jackson's JE-1500 system. The pickups themselves (J-200's) are not active, they are wired directly to the circuit board and that is what provides the boost. (EMG's have the preamp built directly into the pickup) This system was most popular on Jackson's Warrior and Fusion guitars of the early 90's. When engaged, it acts as an envelope filter very similar to like having a wah-wah knob built into the guitar. I am not entirely familiar with the Spectrum, but I believe there is a 3 way mini toggle (the Warrior and Fusion had a 2 way toggle) which can be set for the envelope, standard active control (in which the second knob controls mid boost, not really the tone), and a kill switch, which silences the guitar. So, to answer the question, when the envelope filter is not engaged, the second knob acts as a mid boost control, allowing you to select a mid range frequency and exploit it. Those guitars were made with poplar bodies, maple necks, choice of maple or rosewood 22 fret boards, reverse headstocks, 3 Jackson J-200 single coils, the active circuitry, and a Schaller tremelo with the Charvel logo. The necks were all bolt on and the finishes were very loud (fluorescent orange, blue, seafoam green, desert crackle, etc.) There are a variety of sites on the web showing the history of Charvels and Jacksons, my favorite being Larry Langell's: http://www.charveljacksonclassics.com
requesting info re: Charvel Spectrum
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Comment #1 (Posted by bobw
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Your man is mainly right. Spectrums were only made in 89-91, and evolved from the rare Jackson model 8 which Jeff Beck played around the time of his 'Flash' album. A few early ones had small Charvel logos, but most have the bigger 'toothpaste' logo, so called because it looks like it's squeezed from a tube. They were sold in six finishes - black, foam green, fluorescent orange, fuchsia pink, dark metallic blue and desert sand ( a beige crackle over black). All fininshed were available with both rosewood and maple fingerboards, though in practice some combinations like Desert Sand with maple were not offered. There were also a few custom one offs made, probably for promotional purposes - I have seen a gorgeous silver sparkle Spectrum with a white pearloid pickguard, and yes it was orginal. In the up position of the mini toggle switch, the tone control works as a low cut, rather than a high cut like most guitars. As this thins the sound out, it makes it pretty useless and the control is best left fully anticlockwise.... ...until you flip the mini switch down to its other position (it has only two, not three) and then the sweep filter engages, like an onbopard wah and very good for zoning in on harmonic 'big hair' lead tones. Poistions 2 & 4 on the five way pickup switch are also very useful, very 'reedy'. The mini pot on the curcuit board inside the guitar controls the mix of the filter circuit, from unnoticeable to profound. I find it most useful set near to the high end of its range, but this is a matter of taste. Being active, these guitars rely on an onboard 9v battery, and they begin to sound really horrible as towards the ned of a battery's life, so althgouhg battery life is very long, it's a good idea to keep a spare to hand. I hope this helps - I'm very keen on these guitars, have several and am always looking for others.