Schecter is a brand that has demonstrated that the employees behind the name know a thing or two about building a guitar. Being the owner of a Schecter, myself, I’ve watched their production over the years and even have them on my list of brands to test out in my search for a seven string guitar. Today, however regretful this fact may be, is not the day that I put one of their seven stringers to the test. Instead I’ve returned to my sanctuary for solidarity from the entropic environment of the real world only to be greeted with pictures and a matching press release for Schecter’s Blackjack SLS C-1.
Now I’ve read my fair share of releases on guitars, if you can believe that. Of all the guitars, few models, nice as they may have been, have had me willing to reconsider what plan to do with all the lunch money I’ve been saving up. Of the top of my head the SLS C-1 is in the top three. Possibly even the title-holder of the coveted number 1 spot in that debate, though that’s a whole different discussion.
The SLS C-1 Under the Microscope
The Wood and Hardware
Schecter’s new Blackjack is easily primed with the heavy metal guitarist in mind. It uses a lot of choice details that have become staples for years within the genre. A mahogany body sets the foundation with a maple neck and an ebony fretboard. While it’s not exactly a revolutionary combination of woods, it has been tested by many guitarists and has proven to be quite reliable in getting a deeper sound.
The full model name is the Blackjack SLS C-1 FR-S. The FR part stands for Floyd Rose – one of the standard features on the guitar. However it’s not the only alternative for the bridge. Apart from a Floyd Rose 1000 Series tremolo a TonePros TOM bridge is also available.
The SLS C-1 is available in Crimson Red Burst and Satin Black with an MSRP of $1,499.
The Pickups and Electronics
Everything from exclusives to sustainiacs and extended range guitars is within these pages. If you're looking for a specific model or series, roll over the 'GUITARS' header and choose from the drop-down menu OR just type what you are looking for in search box in the top right corner. Using Schecter's Slim Line Series body styles, the Schecter BlackJack SLS C-1 Passive Electric Guitars offer a lighter guitar design for players of all styles.
Speaking of combinations to aid in that heavier sound. The SLS C-1 takes a set of Seymour Duncan humbuckers around for a spin. The role of the bridge pickup is fulfilled by an SH-10. The SH-10 is described as being apt at delivering treble as well as lows. More than likely it’s designed to handle vast quantities of distortion with lots of highs and lows, and scooped mids. A proper design for the modern riff master.
The neck pickup, on the other hand, is the Sustainiac. With a name like the Sustainiac I feel like its strength is already divulged, making my literary build-up a big waste of time. The Sustainiac is a switch-activated humbucker that in one mode deliver tones much like other humbuckers. However when you flip on one of the switches by the bridge the Sustainiac kicks on electromagnetic feedback that will sustain your notes until kingdom come. In short the guitar comes with the powers of an E-Bow built right into it.
Schecter Blackjack Sls C-1 Passive Voice
This is a feature that is probably even more valuable these days than it’s ever been before. Back in the day guitarists had to build a relationship with their amp, so to speak. They had to learn how to use the feedback for the sustain they were after. The E-Bow initially offered an alternative to that, but I don’t know that sustain was as much a concern as it is now. As of this writing I’ve spent more recent time with headphones on and plugged into my POD. Endless sustain just doesn’t come that way. The Sustainiac is a solution to that concern.
The other switch, lest we leave that one out, will toggle harmonic modes within the Sustainiac that will blend various harmonics in with your signal.
You can find out more information at Schecter’s web site.
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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!
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).
Schecter Blackjack Sls C-1 Passive Preamplifier
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]