# Jackson Dominion or SLS3?



## willyman101 (Jan 22, 2009)

Hey chaps. I need some opinions of these two guitars which I have some serious GAS for. Anyone tried em out, thoughts on how they feel etc? Cheeers.


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## sakeido (Jan 22, 2009)

The neck on the Dominion is huge. I wanted to like that guitar, but between the small frets and the baseball bat neck I wasn't diggin it too much. The SLS3 is the polar opposite, having the skinniest neck and biggest frets that Jackson uses.

The stock pickups in the Dominion and the SLS3 are the same, but I liked how they sounded in the SLS better. They had a great articulate chug to them, I still ended up switching them for Bareknuckles though. The Dominion has coil taps and way too many knobs on it.. if you use those kind of tone shaping options it has the edge over the SLS there. 

Fit and finish wise, I've played three Dominions. One (primer finish with blank board) had a dead switch on it and a different one had a horrible setup. I've only played two SLSes really and bought them both  My SLSMG and SLS3 are my two favorite guitars, ever. The fret jobs are fantastic and you can get the action very low on them right from the factory. The bridge saddles are a little annoying and sharp on the SLS3 though. 

Both of the guitars are unusually light.. the Dominion since its semihollow and the SLS because it has a tapered thin body on it. My SLSMG is heavier than the SLS3 by a good bit for some reason. 

But I personally love the SLS3 above any other six string I've ever played and would recommend it in this case. The Dominion is cool, especially if you want a Les Paul type sound, but the SLS comes very close to that, is punchier sounding, and much more playable.

They also look very good


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## willyman101 (Jan 22, 2009)

sakeido said:


> The neck on the Dominion is huge. I wanted to like that guitar, but between the small frets and the baseball bat neck I wasn't diggin it too much. The SLS3 is the polar opposite, having the skinniest neck and biggest frets that Jackson uses.
> 
> The stock pickups in the Dominion and the SLS3 are the same, but I liked how they sounded in the SLS better. They had a great articulate chug to them, I still ended up switching them for Bareknuckles though. The Dominion has coil taps and way too many knobs on it.. if you use those kind of tone shaping options it has the edge over the SLS there.
> 
> ...



Now that's a reply! Thanks alot dude, really helped out. And yes, the SLS3 is beautiful.


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## sevenstringj (Jan 22, 2009)

Or... 22 frets on the Dominion versus 24 frets on the SLS. End of discussion.


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## awesomeaustin (Jan 22, 2009)

sakeido said:


> The neck on the Dominion is huge. I wanted to like that guitar, but between the small frets and the baseball bat neck I wasn't diggin it too much. The SLS3 is the polar opposite, having the skinniest neck and biggest frets that Jackson uses.
> 
> The stock pickups in the Dominion and the SLS3 are the same, but I liked how they sounded in the SLS better. They had a great articulate chug to them, I still ended up switching them for Bareknuckles though. The Dominion has coil taps and way too many knobs on it.. if you use those kind of tone shaping options it has the edge over the SLS there.
> 
> ...



this.


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## C-PIG (Jan 22, 2009)

I own an slsmg and a modified dominion , the dominion IMO is a better playing and sounding guitar.




http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq215/kbrr/IMG_1772.jpg


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## nedheftyfunk (Jan 22, 2009)

Another thing to bare in mind: as of NAMM, the Dominion has a couple of tasty "upgrades": an oiled neck and natural body binding:


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## The Overmatt (Jan 22, 2009)

Wow, I felt that the Dominion I tried had a tiny neck. Maybe my hands are just huge? lol

But yeah, you can't really go wrong with either guitar IMO, though I personally would go with the Dominion because the Soloist body is almost TOO small to me. Hell I'm looking at possibly picking up a Dominion next month.


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## budda (Jan 22, 2009)

Both are good - it depends on neck feel and tonal options, in this case.

and cody, if 4 knobs and 2 switches are too much for you.. well damn son  dont buy les paul .

Will, can you test them out? because that's what it comes down to, if that's at all possible.


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## Totem_37 (Jan 22, 2009)

The dominion has a Les Paul style feel to it, very different than the soloist. The dominion is also an extremely versatile guitar, moreso than any other signature guitar I've ever seen.


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## Harry (Jan 22, 2009)

sakeido said:


> The neck on the Dominion is huge. I wanted to like that guitar, but between the small frets and the baseball bat neck I wasn't diggin it too much. The SLS3 is the polar opposite, having the skinniest neck and biggest frets that Jackson uses.
> 
> The stock pickups in the Dominion and the SLS3 are the same, but I liked how they sounded in the SLS better. They had a great articulate chug to them, I still ended up switching them for Bareknuckles though. The Dominion has coil taps and way too many knobs on it.. if you use those kind of tone shaping options it has the edge over the SLS there.
> 
> ...



Oh god, stop posting this
I'm going to end up with an SLS3 one day because you keep posting this.
Seriously, if you ever decided to part way with it in a few years time, you know I'm GASing for it
I'm guessing the frets are about Dunlop 6100 size?
The frets on my friend's Jackson DK2S are pretty big too, about 6100, so I imagine about the same on the SLS3


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## willyman101 (Jan 23, 2009)

budda said:


> Both are good - it depends on neck feel and tonal options, in this case.
> 
> and cody, if 4 knobs and 2 switches are too much for you.. well damn son  dont buy les paul .
> 
> Will, can you test them out? because that's what it comes down to, if that's at all possible.



I can only try the Dominion, I think. That's all the shop had last time I checked. Would other Soloists be similar to the SLS3 in terms of neck width/thickness etc?


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## budda (Jan 23, 2009)

If your store carries jackson, then order in the SLS's


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## willyman101 (Jan 23, 2009)

budda said:


> If your store carries jackson, then order in the SLS's



Yeah man I would, but I'm going at the weekend and I just wondered whether I could find something similar in terms of neck dimensions and playability to try out...


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## bibz (Jan 23, 2009)

Nothing plays like an SLS. I tried a usa sls and it was an absolutely amazing guitar....but I'd have my jap slsmg over it. It's an incredible design, plays so well and so fast and is amazing quality. I really like the dominion too which surprised me. Had a nice sound, played really well, perfect vintage vibe guitar imo.

But if you don't have an SLS you need to get one before you get the dominion imo


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## sakeido (Jan 23, 2009)

willyman101 said:


> Yeah man I would, but I'm going at the weekend and I just wondered whether I could find something similar in terms of neck dimensions and playability to try out...



The neck profile is the same as any old soloist, but it is thinner. According to the spec sheet, its 18.7mm at the first fret. The DKMG dinky has roughly the same thickness and profile, but the SLS's fit and finish is a lot better


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## willyman101 (Jan 24, 2009)

sakeido said:


> The neck profile is the same as any old soloist, but it is thinner. According to the spec sheet, its 18.7mm at the first fret. The DKMG dinky has roughly the same thickness and profile, but the SLS's fit and finish is a lot better



Any way I can get hold of that spec sheet dude? I've looked on the website but the SLS3 isn't up yet... it's still only the SLSMG, unless that's the same as the SLS3?


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## Triple-J (Jan 24, 2009)

nedheftyfunk said:


>



WTF? The model in black is a bolt-on and lacks inlays is this some kind of cheaper new version for 2009?


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## sakeido (Jan 24, 2009)

willyman101 said:


> Any way I can get hold of that spec sheet dude? I've looked on the website but the SLS3 isn't up yet... it's still only the SLSMG, unless that's the same as the SLS3?



Yup they are the same, the only difference between my SLSMG and SLS3 is the upper horn on the SLS3 is a little thinner


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## nedheftyfunk (Jan 25, 2009)

Triple-J said:


> WTF? The model in black is a bolt-on and lacks inlays is this some kind of cheaper new version for 2009?



Yeah, it's the Mark Morton D2. No coil-tapping on it either.


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## Piledriver (Jan 26, 2009)

If the Dominion Was a 25.5" with different bridge i would probably have it. 

but i own a SLS3,and it is amazing,super light,great neck,big frets...


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## Nitsuj (May 17, 2009)

Piledriver said:


> If the Dominion Was a 25.5" with different bridge i would probably have it.
> 
> but i own a SLS3,and it is amazing,super light,great neck,big frets...



I'm shopping for a new 6 string fixed bridge and have been reading a lot of threads on the SLSMG and the SLS3. The specs look good and seem to lean towards being sleek and fast. 

My question is, does it have a big sound to it? Will I be able to get a good chunk outa it?


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## DigiV (Sep 8, 2009)

Currently shopping for a new axe and this is on the top of my list. 

Question is what's the major difference between the SLS3 and SLSMG? 

Is it just the pick ups?


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 8, 2009)

Pickups and inlays.


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## vampiregenocide (Sep 8, 2009)

Dominion has a very classy look to it


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 8, 2009)

vampiregenocide said:


> Dominion has a very classy look to it



I personally think it's a hideous body shape. Versatile guitar, but I love the look and feel of my SLSMG.


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## ToniS (Sep 9, 2009)

I would probably take the Dominion.


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## DigiV (Sep 10, 2009)

i haven't had a chance to play it yet but i found a perfect condition SLSMG going for 550. I'm about to jump on it, I want to try out the dominion though. 

which has a faster neck? i'm assuming the SLSMG, but the Dominion probably has better tone eh?


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 10, 2009)

The Dominion is more "classic" sounding and has a good-sized neck. 

The SLSMG (depending on how old it is) will come with either EMG-HZs or EMG 81 and 85. If it has HZs, you'll want a new bridge pickup right off; the neck isn't bad if you like bright single-coily neck tones.

The SLSMGs that came with EMG-HZs have slimmer necks than the ones that come with 'real' EMGs, but both of them have very comfy profiles.


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## MF_Kitten (Sep 10, 2009)

i would get the sls3. i like the looks of it better, and the specs are more to my taste.

and yeah, if anyone´s seen the footage of mark morton trying to put together his signature guitar, you´ll remember he tried tons upon tons of different guitars to gather features he liked. on the dvd, you see him trying different fenders and stuff, and he talked about getting just the right neck. so i guess he went for a more vintage-style neck. he´s a very vintage kinda guy though, really. lots of david gilmour influences that you notice once he´s soloing


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## buffa d (Sep 11, 2009)

I kinda have a dominion GAS right now. There's just no place to test it because no one has it in stock


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