Jackson JS20 Dinky or Yamaha Pacifica HSS?

[latvianxave8]

I play mostly metal but a variety of lower gain styles, including blues & classic rock aswell. I need a new guitar because I had to sell my old one due to low funds for other things that I will avert mentioning, and in a local guitar shop I noticed two guitars priced at $100, a Jackson JS20 Dinky and a Yamaha Pacifica. The Dinky is an HH set up which I understand is very common in metal guitars, but the Pacifica is an HSS set up which provides a single coil neck pickup which I prefer over a humbucking neck pick up, personally due to the clarity and the lower output for cleans and soloing and stuff like that. Thoughts? Amp is a Roland Cube 15X

[cthrubuoy]

Lead or Rhythm?
I'd be more inclined to go with the HSS for Lead playing.

It might be worth playing on both and seeing which feels better though. Buying the Yamaha and then finding out it plays like a brick with cheese wire might piss you off a bit after forking out $100.

[Unimatrix]

I'm a fan of the Yamaha Pacifica. It's not a shred guitar, but it's very good for rock or classic metal like Maiden.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

It might be worth playing on both and seeing which feels better though. Buying the Yamaha and then finding out it plays like a brick with cheese wire might piss you off a bit after forking out $100.

This.  A million times this.  Always play out any guitars you're considering, to be sure it feels right, the neck feels good, it feels comfy when it's hanging on you, that you can sit down with it comfortable on your leg, that you can reach higher frets more easily, that there aren't knobs or screws or anything in places where you might normally anchor your pick hand, etc.

Also, take your amp with you (the 15x is fairly small, IIRC) and play the guitars through that.  If that's the amp you'll be playing through, you wanna know that not only does it feel good in your hands, that it sounds good through the amp you'll be using.  If the guitar shop wants to make a sale, they certainly won't mind you bringing your amp in.