The Gretsch Electromatic series has been providing excellent workhorse guitars for highly accessible prices for a long time now, so it’s no surprise that the new iteration of their iconic Jet model, the Premier Jet, ticks all the boxes for a budget-friendly, rocking single-cut guitar. Gretsch’s sleek, almost menacing Jet has always been a true rock and roll staple, and the Premier Jet makes that iconic single-cut design more accessible than ever — and it’s looking cooler than ever doing it.
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The Gretsch Electromatic Premier Jet, in this case, finished in a stunning Onyx Storm Black, blends the tight impact of a solid-body guitar with the vintage resonance of a chambered design. Its mahogany body with carved maple top creates a snappy, driving response with cutting attack, defined mids and a beefy low end. The chambering keeps the guitar lively, warm and open-sounding, while the smooth contours and rounded neck heel make the guitar super comfortable to play all the way up the neck.
The Premier Jet looks fantastic. The Onyx Storm finish, in the words of Spinal Tap, could be ‘none more black’, and has a subtle sparkle to it that would look marvellous under stage lights. What would usually be a Rosewood fretboard is, in fact, a beautiful bound Ebony – a darker wood with a tight grain that looks perfect against the black finish and Nickel hardware. Completing the elegant and classic Gretsch look are the brand’s unmistakable Pearloid Thumbnail fret inlays, which never fail to look cool as hell.
The mahogany neck feels incredibly slick and comfortable, featuring a Performance C profile that sits perfectly in the hand. The Ebony fretboard features a 10 to 14 inch compound radius, meaning the curvature of the fretboard gradually flattens as it moves from the nut to the body. This design encourages relaxed open chord playing in lower positions while allowing cleaner bends and faster fretwork further up the neck. Capping it all off are handy Luminlay side dots that help maintain visibility in dark environments such as your local dingy rock club.
The Premier Jet is loaded with two covered Sphera Twin Six humbuckers that look like they mean business. Featuring a very wide tonal range, each Twin Six pickup has twelve adjustable pole pieces that refine string balance and articulation, making them beautifully dynamic, exceptionally expressive and addictively powerful.
Evidently, a lot of thought went into perfecting these pickups. In the neck position, Alnico VI magnets pair with clear poly sol coated wire, while in the bridge, Alnico VI magnets pair with plain enamel coated wire. Specially calibrated coil winds create the perfect marriage of brilliance and brute force, while vacuum wax-potting keeps noise and interference to a minimum.
What has also benefited from Gretsch’s immense attention to detail is the wiring. The master volume features a treble bleed circuit, which maintains top-end clarity at lower volumes, while individual no-load tone controls allow for very detailed tone shaping for each pickup. The master volume also features a push/pull that engages Gretsch’s Lumen Filter, a tone-shaping filter that tightens up the bass response and makes for a crisper attack. Completing the circuitry is a standard three-way pickup selector.
In the bridge position, the Premier Jet has all the sharp, snappy attack and shimmering high end that Gretsch is famous for. Never sounding shrill, there’s plenty of depth and low end on tap, as well as a very vocal midrange. When set clean, this pickup is perfect for bright rockabilly leads and chimey rhythm tones, and when pushed into overdrive, it is capable of some seriously meaty rock and metal tones.
In the middle position, it takes on a nice, even tone that sounds almost out of phase but not quite, a great sound for country leads as well as a natural, clean, open sound for strumming chords. The neck pickup has a rock-solid bottom end, smooth highs and a throaty midrange, great for bluesier sounds as well as chunky hard rock riffage when distorted. Engaging the Lumen Filter in this position is a real sweet spot, maintaining smoothness but tightening up the bottom end.
Other notable features of this mean rock and roll machine are a locking wraparound bridge that anchors firmly to the body to improve sustain and string energy transfer, Die-Cast sealed locking tuners for ultimate tuning stability and locking strap buttons that keep you safely strapped in no matter how vigorously you may be performing. Overall, this is definitely a working player’s instrument. Pretty enough to hang on your wall, no doubt, but absolutely tough enough for the road.
So who should buy this guitar? Well, if you’re a fan of the Gretsch aesthetic and lean towards the heavier side of rock, this one might be for you. You may have found in the past that Gretsch’s lower output, generally fairly bright sound, wasn’t quite solid or beefy enough for hard rock or even metal tones, but the Sphera Twin Six pickups in this model really kick it up a notch. The Onyx black finish definitely suggests an appeal towards the heavier crowd, too, so you’ll even look the part.
In saying that, this is a really versatile guitar and is a great alternative for anyone struggling to find a single-cut model in their price range that isn’t some cheap knock-off of an iconic single-cut model. The Jet is a classic. Straightforward, slick and now with these new pickups and wiring structure, more versatile than ever. You can’t really go wrong.
With a wide-ranging and expressive tone, a smooth, contoured and highly ergonomic design and plenty of modern appointments, this is a kick ass rock and roll guitar for the working musician. If you’ve had your eye on a Gretsch for a while but weren’t sure if they rocked quite hard enough for your needs, your time has come. For only $1,399 RRP, this one is a no-brainer.
