GuitarPlayer Verdict

Stylish with its Dark Rose finish, the Jackson Pro Series Signature Diamond Rowe Monarkh is a pro axe with versatile sounds and features that will suit players of rock, blues and even country. The EMG active humbuckers sound great clean or heavily overdriven, and the absence of a tone knob is no problem as it delivers great sounds via its pickup selector and volume controls alone. Beyond its superb feel and performance, the guitar stands up to aggressive playing styles and climate conditions with its EverTune bridge, which self-adjusts to overcome problems that could throw the tuning on a regular guitar.

Pros

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Excellent playability and sound
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Rock-solid tuning stability via the EverTune bridge

Cons

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Nothing

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Created for Diamond Rowe, co-founder and lead guitarist for Tetrarch, this new Jackson model is a stylish electric guitar that looks splendid in its Dark Rose finish and black hardware. The body is constructed of nyatoh, a Southeast Asian hardwood that’s an alternative to mahogany, and has a bound, arched-maple cap with a veneer of poplar burl.

The Monarkh features a gloss black set neck that’s made from three pieces of nato with graphite reinforcement to strengthen the joint and increase rigidity and sustain. The ebony fingerboard sitting atop carries 24 jumbo frets that are nicely worked and wear a bright polish that feels super smooth under the fingers. Single-ply white binding runs along the fretboard edges and the bound headstock is also faced with matching Dark Rose veneer. To maintain a clean look Luminlay side dots are the only markers on the fretboard. You have to use a flashlight to charge them and they produce a soft glow that stands out well and should last through a gig.

The feel of the neck is excellent and the factory setup yielded low action and solid intonation in all positions, a quality that is also due to the EverTune bridge, which uses a balancing system to maintain constant string tension regardless of how hard you play, the tuning or climate conditions. Rowe has been using EverTune since 2017 and has solid reasons for doing so.

Diamond Rowe poses with her Jackson Pro Series Signature Monarkh DR12MG — (Image credit: Courtesy Jackson Guitars)

“We play six-string guitars but the majority of our songs are drop tuned to A, which is pretty low on a six string,” she says. “That in itself can make tuning and staying in tune on a Tune-o-matic or standard bridge a nightmare.

“With the EverTune I have absolutely no problems, and I also play relatively light-gauge strings for that tuning.”

There was no literature with my test guitar explaining how to set up the EverTune bridge, so it’s a good thing there are videos on YouTube that show how to do it. Basically you start by pulling the strings to pitch with the headstock tuners, then you make the final tuning adjustments by turning a screw on each saddle with the included hex wrench. This is all done in what’s called “Zone 2”, where bending the strings has no effect on their pitch.

To enable string bending, the system has to be moved closer to Zone 3 by turning the headstock tuners until the pitch changes when you bend a string, and then you back the tuners off a bit. Do this for every string and EverTune will now respond like a standard guitar when you wiggle the strings. It can take a little effort to get the bending feel exactly how you want it but, as Rowe explains, it’s time well spent.

“I like to make sure that since I do play leads and solos that I dial in enough bend on each string so I can maintain the character of my playing and vibrato,” she says. “If I was just a straight rhythm player I’d probably limit how much bend there was just to make the tuning even more stable.”

Upon arrival, the Monarkh needed some tweaking to get it in tune and playing with a proper bending feel, but after making the adjustments it was playing great and only needed a few touch-ups on the saddle screws to get it totally dialed in. EverTune brings a feeling of invincibility because you can literally yank on the strings and they stay in tune. I could take the guitar to a gig and not touch the tuners, even if a string broke. Awesome!

Anyone interested in the Monarkh should check out EverTune and be sure they’re comfortable with the learning curve it presents. Otherwise, have your local guitar tech set it up for you. Either way, the great thing is that you can enjoy playing a guitar that sounds perfectly in tune and stays that way.

The Monarkh is a superb rock machine but it’s also a versatile guitar that could fit right in on a blues or country gig. The pickups are EMG active humbuckers with smoke-chrome covers that are powered by a nine-volt battery hidden under a hatch on the back.

These pickups differ in that the 81 in the bridge position uses ceramic magnets for more high-end emphasis, while the 85 in the neck slot uses Alnico 5 magnets for a smoother response. They both sound great clean or heavily overdriven, and I liked the ballsy mids and massive chunk the DR12MG dished out through various high-gain models on my Fender and Kemper digital rigs.

I never missed not having a tone knob either, as this guitar consistently delivered great sounds when switching between the neck, middle and bridge positions and just using the volume controls to go from clean to distorted textures. The EMGs are also quiet and mostly immune to hum, which is a nice aspect of their design.

If you’re looking for a guitar that can throw down for hard rock and metal the Diamond Rowe Monarkh totally gets it for a single-cutaway axe with two humbuckers. If you don’t need a trem and want a guitar that plays — and stays — solidly in tune, the Monarkh offers the best technology available with its EverTune F6 bridge.

Although the locking tuners make it easier to change strings, they aren’t even necessary here because EverTune self-adjusts to overcome tuning problems caused by aggressive playing, string breakage, temperature/humidity extremes and other things that could throw the tuning on a regular guitar. Bottom line, the Diamond Rowe Monarkh is a pro touring axe par excellence and deserving of five stars.

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