With acoustic guitars done, meet the light audio recording cajones. This is the Dean USA Z. It plays chords so fat you can walk on them.
This is the backbone of my own guitar sound when I record. The one known to my missus as “the red one.”
My first Dean was a V 79 in a Blueburst finish. I bought it at PMT in Brum. Fred the manager expressed surprise because it’s very metal, and I’m not. Fred also claimed that Michael Angelo Batio played that very guitar at an in-store event.
Background
I sold that beauty during a period of unemployment. In between, I got a new job that paid a little more money. My first American guitar would be a treat to myself. This Dean USA Z was in GuitarGuitar in Brum, and I perved on it in store and online for months.
I phoned to see if they could tell me anything else about it. They said it came from their Newcastle store, it was made in 1996, and they thought it was all-original. Not too much info!
I wanted to buy it on their finance plan. The credit check took about four hours, and was refused. The store manager felt so bad, he gave me a ridiculous discount so I could get it there and then. I think I paid £575 for it in the end.
1996 Dean USA Z: specs
So, as noted, the store didn’t tell me much about the instrument. A similar scenario to the axe bass really.
I pulled this information together.
| Country of origin | USA |
| Construction type | Set neck |
| Body material | Mahogany |
| Neck material | Mahogany |
| Fingerboard material | Ebony |
| Number of frets | 21 |
| Pickup configuration | Two Seymour Duncan humbuckers – unknown models |
The pickups bother me a little, and put a question mark over the guitar’s originality.
Images of USA Zs from 1996 show zebra pickups, rather than all-black ones like mine. However, I learned Deans of that time came equipped with Seymour Duncans as standard, so I didn’t query it any further.
If anybody has ideas about how to figure it out, tell me!
Parts
The heart of the Dean USA Z is a humble slab of mahogany. Its weight hints at a USA-made instrument. Guitars made in the east can also be mahogany, but cheaper, less dense varieties to keep costs down.
The ebony fingerboard is cool. I think I originally just assumed it was a dark rosewood. I felt ebony was just the fanciest, and beyond the scope of my ownership.
The headstock has Grover tuners, and the body has a Tune-O-Matic style bridge attached.
I wish I knew more about the pickups though.
Construction
Apparently Dean guitars from the mid-nineties are known as ‘Tropical Turds.’
From 1986 until 1997, Tropical Music owned Dean guitars. Apparently the USA models from that era are great, but the ones made in the east are not.
Meh. This is made in the USA, so it should be fine. One of the reasons that USA-made guitars are more expensive is because of the build quality: they’re not quite as mass produced, so there’s more time for quality control.
This Dean USA Z is built as solid as a rock.
As testament to its construction quality, it once fell face down on a road. Not a scratch on it.
I mean, not from that. It’s a pointy, gigging guitar. It has battle scars.
The neck is cleanly set. No scrapes or glue residue. The neck is also the fattest of my guitars – more on that in a bit. All the parts and hardware are securely fastened. The iconic Dean split-headstock is a marvellous beauty.
Tones
For the most part, this slab of mahogany with a couple of humbuckers stuck in it, sounds exactly what you would expect it to sound like.
It sounds like a slab of mahogany with a couple of humbuckers stuck in it.
I play this through my Laney VC15-110. My standard settings are: tone at five, bass at four, mids at six, treble at six, drive at six.
I said right at the start, this is the backbone of my guitar sound. This Dean USA Z has a super-thick, fat sound. With the valve amp, it still has some warmth to it though.
This makes it awesome for power chords – lovely grungey sounding stuff! When I record my guitar parts, I use those power chords on verses, then switch to open chords to brighten things up for choruses.
Here’s how that sounds on Alroight Bab. This is the end of a verse and the start of a chorus, with no effects or processing.
That’s how I do it on my recordings.
Playability
I mentioned in the construction section that the Dean USA Z has a noticeably fat neck. In terms of playability, that means it feels like you’re playing a tree trunk!
It’s fatter than any other neck I own, but not uncomfortably so. I don’t have the most slender fingers in the world, therefore it works well for me.
Apart from that, it’s a fun guitar to play. On stage, it’s not too heavy: it has a reassuring weightiness so that you know it’s there. And it certainly looks the business!
Conclusion
I’ve owned this Dean USA Z for eight years now. So, if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t still have it!
It makes the sound I need, it’s comfortable to play, and it looks wild. I don’t know what else anybody needs from a guitar!
Apart from an appropriately badass strap.
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