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Well I lucked out and got the Adrian Smith SDX for my birthday from my wife and in-laws 
Being a big A.S. fan I really wanted one of these !!
Have to say, the guitar does look amazing! I've often looked at the USA model (which is about 4x the price) and the SDX does look as near-as-dammit the same. As per the specs, there are real differences in hardware and pickups (as well as the basswood body), but comparing it purely on looks to the USA it does impress.
It's not a lightweight guitar at around 3.8kgs (8.4 lbs) which was unexpected really as I thought the much less expensive version would just feel cheap. The Floyd Rose special really surprises and stays in tune well and even pushing all the way on the bar and returning it to pitch after having the strings flopping about in space makes no difference. The fine tuners feel a little bit scratchy but the trem as a whole is darn good.
I was surprised to read that they were keeping the 12-16" compound radius neck. On a budget version I thought they just do a 12" and leave it at that, but the neck really is good one with a dry, smooth finish to it. Profile is a thin, flattened C shape I'd say, not Ibanez thin but chunky enough in the hand. The fretwork is good, some sharp edges if I'm being picky but nothing major.
Sound-wise there's a lot of variation here. The bridge pickup may just need some more low end to it, but it's far from disappointing. Single coils are pretty cool too and, again I was surprised by the variation in the sounds available. This is far from a one-trick metal-only pony
All-in-all it's an excellent guitar for the money. OK, I'll probably mod it a little but there's definitely no urgency to do that.
Being a big A.S. fan I really wanted one of these !!Have to say, the guitar does look amazing! I've often looked at the USA model (which is about 4x the price) and the SDX does look as near-as-dammit the same. As per the specs, there are real differences in hardware and pickups (as well as the basswood body), but comparing it purely on looks to the USA it does impress.
It's not a lightweight guitar at around 3.8kgs (8.4 lbs) which was unexpected really as I thought the much less expensive version would just feel cheap. The Floyd Rose special really surprises and stays in tune well and even pushing all the way on the bar and returning it to pitch after having the strings flopping about in space makes no difference. The fine tuners feel a little bit scratchy but the trem as a whole is darn good.
I was surprised to read that they were keeping the 12-16" compound radius neck. On a budget version I thought they just do a 12" and leave it at that, but the neck really is good one with a dry, smooth finish to it. Profile is a thin, flattened C shape I'd say, not Ibanez thin but chunky enough in the hand. The fretwork is good, some sharp edges if I'm being picky but nothing major.
Sound-wise there's a lot of variation here. The bridge pickup may just need some more low end to it, but it's far from disappointing. Single coils are pretty cool too and, again I was surprised by the variation in the sounds available. This is far from a one-trick metal-only pony
All-in-all it's an excellent guitar for the money. OK, I'll probably mod it a little but there's definitely no urgency to do that.
I switch them if I have to.
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