Jackson Diamond Rowe Monarkh DR12MG review: the ultimate modern metal single-cut?
$1,699/£1,499, jackson.com
Both signature guitars and overtly metal guitars are a reviewer’s gift – rarely do more anonymous instruments state their goals so clearly. So in the case of the Jackson Diamond Rowe Monarkh, it’s fairly clear what I’m getting into – this is a guitar built for down-tuned riffs and ripping solos.
READ MORE: Diamond Rowe is charting an unprecedented path with Jackson guitars
Tetrarch are part of quite a numerous wave of new bands that are indebted to the sounds of late-90s/early-00s nu-metal. But, lead guitarist Diamond Rowe sets the band apart, mainly by shredding in a genre that’s normally pretty averse to solos. She’s still got riffs for days, of course, but it’s notable within this style to hear someone break out the Digitech Whammy and the scale runs. Can her signature instrument capture the entirety of her playing approach?
Image: Adam Gasson
What is the Diamond Rowe Monarkh?
This is a strikingly-spec’d guitar – electronics are relatively minimal, with a classic combo of an EMG 81 and 85 in the bridge and neck respectively and per-pickup volume controls – no tone pots here, because realistically if you’re buying this guitar you’d leave them on 10. The bridge is an Evertune, which uses a complex combination of springs to maintain constant tension for extreme tuning stability.
Other specs include the Luminlay side-dots, 24 jumbo frets, 12” ebony fretboard with no inlays and a set of locking tuners. The neck is a three-piece nyatoh design with graphite reinforcement rods, while the body is nyatoh with a maple cap and a poplar burl veneer. Sadly, we don’t get stainless steel frets which, unlike tone controls, many metal players swear by (and for good reason – they can offer enhanced durability with heavier strings), and are also found on some other Jackson signature instruments.
Image: Adam Gasson
There’s also a new headstock design for this model, which in my view is far cooler than the standard Monarkh’s. It’s closer to the size you’d expect to see on a single-cut like this, and while it’s not quite as capable of shish-kebabing a stage invader as the original, its swooping horns still say metal. At the body end of things, Diamond has added a really dramatic bevel to the standard Monarkh’s lower cutaway for easier 24th-fret access.
It can be hard to explicitly evoke a metal aesthetic without tipping over into just being a bit cringe – but it’s a balancing act the Diamond Rowe Monarkh nails, mainly by sticking to a generally minimalistic approach and adding just the right amount of flair.
Take the poplar burl veneer, for instance – I’m not normally a big fan of burls, but if you’re gonna do one, do it like this. The dark red sunburst/stain makes the overall look relatively subtle, but when the light catches it right, it’s a gorgeous effect, evoking a fiery, sulphurous landscape (very metal) rather than just flashily showing off how burled the wood is (very lame).
Image: Adam Gasson
Does the Diamond Rowe Monarkh feel good to play?
Out of the box (and then also out of the included very slightly padded gigbag), the Diamond Rowe Monarkh comes set to B standard – Tetrarch play in Drop A, and so in the spirit of the guitar that’s where I do my testing. Dropping the tuning is easy enough – I’m not keen to touch the Evertune’s setup and mess with something, but once I’m in drop A things are perfectly playable, and true to the promise of the unit, tuning barely budges across my time with the guitar. Whatever magic the system is using clearly works. The action and intonation are bang on, and the guitar comes loaded with 10-54 strings – thick enough to deal with the dropped tuning on the wound strings, but still slinky and fun on the plain strings.
Build quality is in general very good – there are one or two minor imperfections on the fretboard binding, but nothing that can actually be felt as you play. There’s also a small bit of separation of the binding from the headstock going on behind the nut, but this is underneath the finish and doesn’t seem to be structurally worrying. The frets are particularly impressive, being at a mirror shine out of the box, and perfectly level with no choke-out points.
The choice to tune down to A on a 25.5” scale rather than use a baritone is one I respect – what you lose in snappy string tension, you gain in an aggressive bark at the front of the note. Things crunch out of tune momentarily when you hit hard, lending big riffs an extra level of chaos. The scale length also tracks with Diamond’s shreddy approach to lead parts– staying at 25.5 means you can get really silly with bends and fast licks in a way that’s a good deal harder at baritone tension.
Similarly, the slim neck is profiled for speed across its entire length – if you’re used to the taper and massive heel of, say, a Les Paul, it’s almost jarring. The neck profile is incredibly fun, and when you combine the slim heel with that deeply beveled lower cutaway, shredding away above the 20th fret is almost as easy as anywhere else on the guitar.
Image: Adam Gasson
How does the Diamond Rowe Monarkh sound?
An unappreciated fact of active pickups is their increased noise rejection – plugged in, I’m struck by the almost completely absent noise floor from the EMGs, even with an amp set to high gain with no gate. The two volume controls are also clearly quality parts, with easy, low-friction action and a very usable sweep. Not that I’m planning on using any settings other than 10 or 0, but I digress – time to actually get going.
Some low-A gallops are a great reminder as to why the EMG 81/85 combo is so popular in metal. On the bridge pickup, there’s a tight, focused low-end that keeps things thundering along but still coherent, and a strong upper-midrange presence that ensures a cutting, aggressive edge. The sound is one that makes me want to play fast, rewarding palm-muted gallops and speedy alternate-picked runs.
For sustained chord work the neck pickup gives out a massive, thick sound, but despite the ultra-low tuning, the bass frequencies aren’t blown out. The amount of sustain is fantastic and while the Evertune bridge provides a bit of a different resonance in the body to, say, a regular string-through hardtail, it never really presents any issues.
Heading tentatively towards the upper frets, soloing is bright and clear – shredding away on the bridge pickup is great for aggressively-picked licks, while the neck’s more rounded profile is, as you’d expect, suited to more big, expressive melodies. All this is helped by how truly awesome the ergonomics of the upper carve are – Rowe’s love of chaotic, spidery lead playing has clearly found its way into the bones of this guitar.
Image: Adam Gasson
Should you buy a Diamond Rowe Monarkh?
While it’s all well and good for the idiot reviewing the thing if a guitar’s intentions are clear, the average player perhaps doesn’t want them to be too clear – signature instruments can occasionally put you in a box, especially if the feature set is really specific to the artist.
But here, Rowe’s stamp is used to give the guitar a direction, an identity, without crushing it into a single-use tool, true to her broad range of cited guitar influences. Combining thick strings, a set of EMG 81/85 pickups and a slim neck is the guitar design equivalent of running a Tube Screamer into a 5150: ubiquitous across vast swathes of metal because it works. It’s a combo that opens the guitar up to all kinds of fast, aggressive music – it’s neither solely a 0-1-0-1 djent machine or solely a 12th-fret-and-above shredder.
The biggest mark against it is perhaps the Evertune bridge. Not because it doesn’t work as intended (it absolutely does), but more as a buying decision-maker. The extreme stability does mean a lot of added complexity for setting up intonation and action – all well and good if you’re constantly touring in drop A, perhaps excessive if you’re not . Additionally there is a portion of the shred camp that would rather see a tremolo here – but hey, it can’t be all things to all metalheads. With that said, stainless steel frets are becoming more and more common at even well below this price point – they could have really tied the whole spec sheet together.
In any case, provided you’re willing to climb the Evertune learning curve and are happy with a hardtail, the guitar is otherwise a fantastic example of focused, metal-forward design, and genuinely one of the best-playing instruments I’ve put my hands on.
Diamond Rowe Monarkh alternatives
Looking for a slightly more affordable carved-top single cut with active electronics and a generally metal approach? Check out the ESP LTD EC-1000 (from $1,099/£999) – there’s also an Evertune version if you fancy it. Alternatively, the Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy ($899/£879) comes loaded with Fishman electronics but stays a lot closer to the traditional approach to the single-cut, as you’d expect.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
