Schecter Blackjack Sls C-1 Review
Schecter has come a really long way throughout the years. In recent times, they have managed to surprise us over and over. This year in particular, with the release of the Banshee Elite, we have seen really awesome “boutique-like” features on guitars that are priced very reasonably.
Tuners Grover: ROTOMATICS WITH 18:1 GEAR RATIO (102-18 SERIES) The original Rotomatic with an improved higher ratio gearing. The 18:1 ratio provides for fine. Blackjack SLS C-1 FR is a Floyd Rose equipped variant of Blackjack SLS C-1 with Sustainiac neck pickup. These two models differ from the regular SLS models by their pickup and controls department. Other than that, these S models are the same as others. C-1 S FR is a solid double cutaway model made of mahogany back and carved flamed maple top. Fresh from the drawing board at Schecter HQ, the Korean-made C-1 FR S SLS Elite aims to knock those old prejudices on the head. For a start, the upscale C-1 FR S SLS Elite tips the scales at around 3.5kg (7.7lb). That’s about the same as your average alder body Telecaster or Strat. This guitar won’t blow away if you leave a window open.
Today, we’ll be looking at the Schecter Blackjack SLS, one of Schecter’s most popular guitars, designed for the modern shredder.
Let’s see how it holds up!
Features :
– Set 3-Piece Maple Neck with Ultra Access
– Mahogany Body
– Set-Neck Construction
– Ebony Fretboard
– MOP Offset Dot Inlays
– 25.5″ Scale Length
– 12-16″ Compound Radius
– Flamed Maple Arch-Top Body
– Black Multi-Ply Binding
– 24 Extra Jumbo Frets
– Ultra Thin “C” Neck Profile
– Floyd Rose 1000 Series
– Seymour Duncan Full Shred/Jazz Pickups
– Volume/Volume/Tone/3-Way Switch
– See-Thru Blue Burst Finish
– Black Chrome Hardware
– Floyd Rose Locking Nut
– Grover Rotomatic Tuners
In terms of features, the Blackjack SLS offers a little bit of everything. The guitar comes in many different configurations, Floyd Rose, Tune-O-Matic, Sustainiac, active pickups, and of course 6/7/8 string models. The particular model we are looking at today is the Blackjack SLS C-1 FR P, or the Floyd Rose 6-string model.
The highlight of this guitar is how comfortable it is to play! Coming in at around 7lbs, this guitar is quite light for being made of mahogany. Couple that with the ‘Ultra-Thin C’ neck profile, and you get a very easy guitar to shred on. The compound radius and ultra access cutaway make it very easy to reach the high frets, and I was unable to stop myself from soloing in the upper register. Also thanks to the compound radius, the lower-end has a bit more chunkiness to the neck so you can really dig into some rhythm playing.
The ‘Blue Burst’ finish on the flamed maple looks nice, surprisingly much nicer in person than it does in pictures. I do wish it was a bit brighter so I could see more of the flame. That’s just my subjective opinion of course. The blue finish is well-paired with a black binding and a super sleek ebony board, which is always nice to see on a sub-$1000 instrument.
Tone :
Similar to the Damien Platinum that we reviewed a while back, the Blackjack SLS comes with a mahogany body, maple neck, and maple top. These tried-and-true tonewoods deliver a balanced, warm sound with a low-mid focus. Before even plugging it in, I enjoyed the loud, deep sounds I could get out of it. The mahogany body is also great to use when routing for a Floyd Rose. The heavy wood allows you to take big chunks out without sacrificing tone.
(We have a sweet guide to different tonewoods available if you want to read more.)
Once plugged in, you’ll really see the potential of this instrument..
The Seymour Duncan Full Shred was expertly chosen for this guitar. It’s a fat pickup with a really rich and complex midrange and a high-end bite. There is a lot of harmonic character going on and it really makes for an excellent shredder’s pickup. Aha! Now I see why they call it Full Shred. (You don’t have to laugh.)
In all seriousness though, the pickup was definitely built for the modern shredder in mind. The harmonics are full and make for great dive bombs. The pickup attack is very quick and powerful as well. Regarding rhythm playing, I found that it performed power chord filled and heavy riffing styles very well.
Paired with the Full Shred is the Seymour Duncan Jazz neck pickup. Due to the Full Shred being a really aggressive, mid-focused pickup, the Jazz was a perfect choice for when you need to tone it down a bit and get some smoother sounds out of the guitar. The Jazz performs well for bluesy crunch tones, as well as some fat clean tones.
It definitely succeeds playing many genres – rock, 80s shred, crunchy blues, as well as progressive metal and metalcore. I personally found it best for playing some Killswitch Engage-style riffing.
Build Quality :
Schecter’s quality standards have become increasingly better over the years. This is a Korean-made instrument, so it’s not to the USA shop standard, but it’s still above par for the price.
Most of the issues I found were very minor and didn’t really affect playability. There was a finish imperfection that I found on the back of the guitar near the upper horn, as well as some overspray on the binding near the headstock.
There were no issues with the frets or setup, and the guitar held tuning very well. These functional quality standards were probably met due to Schecter’s California shop checking the guitars once they arrive to the states.
Even though there were a few tiny issues, I was overall really satisfied with this guitar.
Final Verdict :
The Blackjack SLS is a fairly affordable guitar undoubtedly built for the modern shredder. It offers a ton of tonal options and it’s standout feature is it’s extremely comfortable neck.
Unfortunately there were a few minor aesthetic issues, which are sometimes overlooked. Luckily for you, if you want this guitar and order it through our shop, we carefully examine each guitar before sending it out. So you are guaranteed to quality instrument. Just check out our Free Guitar Enhancement Package to see more about that!
At $849, the Blackjack SLS is overall a really great value for any modern guitarist.
We upload new articles daily so if you liked this one, make sure to check out some more! We are also authorized Schecter dealers and can get you any current Schecter you’d like at the best price possible.
This article was written by Zac Buras, our editor located in Louisiana.
Schecter Blackjack V
The Blackjack SLS range includes a variety of models with similar specs but across different body shapes, hardware features and string counts; the single cutaway Solo-6, the eight-string superstrat-style C-8, the Tele-like PT, the Floyd Rose-loaded V-1 FR V… they’re all unmistakably Schecter but they each offer something slightly different to each other. What unites them is that ‘SLS’ – it stands for Slim Line Series. These guitars feature a thinner arched top body measuring 45mm deep for a lighter feel. And many players swear by the tonal qualities of lighter guitars.
[geo-out country=”Australia” note=””]Buy the Schecter Blackjack SLS C-1 from Guitar Center[/geo-out]
The Blackjack SLS C-1 is one of the more straight foward models in the line-up: six strings, through-body stringing. The body is made of mahogany (models with transparent finishes have a flamed maple top as well), with a three-piece maple neck, ebony fretboard, 24 Jumbo frets, black multi-ply binding and set-neck construction with Ultra Access joint carve. This is a very clever way of sculpting the neck joint area so that it looks and feels like a neck-thru (that is, a guitar where the wood that makes up the neck continues on all the way along the body, often with ‘wings’ of a different type of wood glued either side). All models feature a super-cool Mother of Pearl ‘Hell’s Gate Skull’ inlay centred on the twelfth fret, but it’s to big that it spills out onto the 11th and 13th as well. It catches the light and reflects some rainbow-like hues, which is pretty cool!
Schecter Blackjack Solo 6
Most models in the SLS line are available in two electronics options: an active version with Seymour Duncan Blackouts humbuckers, or a passive variant with Seymour Duncan Full Shred and Jazz humbuckers with a coil split. The exceptions are the eight-string SLS C-8, which is only available with the AHB-1 eight-string Blackouts set, and the C-1 S and C-1 FR-S, which have a Full Shred in the bridge position and a Sustainiac driver in the neck slot. The review model, the SLS C-1, has the Full Shred/Jazz combo, dedicated volume pots for each pickup, and a master tone pot which doubles as a push-pull coil split for both humbuckers. Pickup selection is via a three-way switch, so you end up with a total of six different sounds.
The setup out of the box was far too high and with a considerable bow in the neck, so after taking to the guitar with a screwdriver and Allen wrench and letting it sit overnight it was ready to shred. The satin feel on the back of the neck takes a little getting used to if you’re accustomed to glossy finishes, but if you’re into the oiled wood thing you’ll feel at home. The neck shape is definitely geared towards power chords and fast soloing rather than huge bends, and the string spacing seems particularly well-suited to techniques like sweep picking and string skipping.
The choice of a Full Shred in the bridge position is a slightly surprising one, considering the huge popularity of the JB as the Duncan of choice for many guitar companies. The JB is a great all-round pickup for rock and metal styles. But the Full Shred is perfectly suited to the audience this guitar is aimed at: it has a fat and chunky low end but its double rows of Allen screw pole pieces give it a finely-tuned high end. It’s a very articulate pickup, so it’ll certainly keep up with you if your lead playing includes lots of intricate phrasing and dynamic shifts. It’s great for 80s-style rock crunch, and it totally kills for modern metal rhythm chunk. And because there’s so much musically-voiced high end, you don’t lose cut and clarity when you turn down your amp’s treble. This brings out some very expressive, creamy solo tones (and testing this guitar was part of the reason I went for a Full Shred in my Buddy Blaze 7-string – read my review of the pickup here).
The Jazz in the neck position is a very ‘noodly’ pickup with an almost vocal quality and emphasised pick attack: kind of the best of both worlds. It really sings when you sustain or bend notes, but it has almost a ‘honk’ overtone when you play fast, and this really helps to maintain the definition and character of all-out shreddage. The coil split is a lot of fun and the sounds are perfectly usable, especially for sparkly cleans or ringing semi-dirty open chords – the Jazz is particularly nice in single coil mode – but if this was my personal guitar I’d probably take to it with a soldering iron and install individual coil splits on each pickup’s volume control to get even more flexibility out of it.
Other than wishing for dual coil splits, there really isn’t anything I’d change about the SLS C-1. It’s well-balanced, it plays very well (especially if your technique is skewed to the metal/shred side of things), and it has a deceptively wide dynamic range for a genre of guitar that you might expect to squish everything down a little. And it’s a much more versatile guitar than you might think on first glance.
[geo-out country=”Australia” note=””]Buy the Schecter Blackjack SLS C-1 from Guitar Center[/geo-out]