Saapanael
Ancient Mariner
I also had that Adrian Smith Jackson SDX. That was awful. Don't buy one, not worth it. Though Saap will probably disagree with me. If you must have one that bad, get the expensive one. I sold it and got the Schecter Stealth, which was a significant upgrade over that thing.
The guitar has its flaws but changing the stock pickups should make the SDX a viable guitar for its price range. Some things like difficult access to the higher frets, Floyd Rose Special (rather than the Original), bright Fendery sound etc do bug me about it but I don't see why you think it's downright awful. I'm looking for an upgrade anyway, waiting to try out some Music Man JP models once a local store acquires them.