ESP Viper

The ESP Viper is their SG style model. It has a body similar to that of an SG but the horns are a bit offset to give you better upper fret access. This is a full label ESP. This means it is made in Japan and has custom shop level fit and finish. The guitars you see labeled LTD are still ESP guitars and they have the same specs but they are made outside of Japan so the quality is slightly lower. This guitar has a mahogany body with a mahogany set neck and an ebony fretboard. The fretboard has 24 jumbo frets with ESP's flag inlays. The neck and headstock are fully bound for a classy look to complement the Urban Camo paintjob. They do not skimp on the hardware on this model. This guy has a set of active EMG 81 pickups. The controls are a master volume and a master tone with a 3 way toggle switch.

UTILIZATION

This is a top spec ESP guitar and plays like it. The guitar is not heavy and has a neck that feels superb. It has a nice thin profile with a nice flat radius neck. The frets on it are super big and let you really dig into notes. Locking tuners mean you stay in tune. This guitar is a set neck but ESP calls it a set-thru neck. This just means that the neck is set deeper into the body like almost half a neck through guitar. This means there is very little heel to get in your way. With 24 frets and a 24.75 scale the upper frets can get pretty crowded. With the active pickups you need a battery to power them but ESP helps you out by adding a quick access battery pack so you can change the battery on the guitar without opening up the entire control cavity.

SOUNDS

The dual EMG 81 set is an alright set. In my opinion the 81 is not a good neck pickup but it is a great bridge pickup. The 81 in the bridge is very common. It has a nice sharp voicing to it. It has a good high end crunch to it. If you have heard any Metallica record in the past 20 years you have heard the 81 in action. It does not have the right voicing for the neck position though. Kirk Hammett uses them in the neck and I dont think anyone would say he has a good neck position tone. The pickup has too much high end to be used well in the neck position. It has kind of a harsh tone in the neck position. It is not smooth like you want in a neck position pickup. I would recommend swapping in an 85 in the neck position. It has a smoother voicing which provides a better tone for high gain neck position leads.

OVERALL OPINION

This is the current model of the Viper. It seems that they are only making these high end versions now. The old LTD versions use to be a great value. The Viper 400 also came with EMG pickups and were only around 400 dollars. Those were great guitars. This is a great guitar as well but being a full ESP it is pretty expensive. If someone is looking to buy an ESP at the shop I always try to get them to try out some LTD ESP's first. The specs usually are pretty much the same and any playability differences can easily be taken care of with a proper setup.

The Viper is part of the Standard series that ESP offers. The guitar is meant to rival the Gibson SG series, and it does it with ease. This guitar features a mahogany body with a set through mahogany neck and ebony fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with dot inlays and the name at the 12th fret, a TOM bridge, EMG pickups, locking tuners, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

ESP does an amazing job on the Standard series. First of all, the necks feel wonderful. It's a thin U shaped neck which feels great in the hands. It's not quite Ibanez thin, but it's still fairly thin, so it's great for shredding. The fretwork is top notch on these guitars, too. The ends are beveled nicely, and the frets are level enough to really slam the action if you'd like. That's a huge plus for me as I love to run super low action. The guitar also comes with locking tuners, so changing strings is real easy. It also eliminates any binding or slip issues that might occur with normal tuners.

SOUNDS

The guitar is aggressive as hell. The EMG 81 in the bridge is super cutting, and it complements the mahogany body and neck nicely. You can get some extremely tight staccato metal riffs with ease thanks to this pickup. The EMG 85 in the neck delivers this super powerful, warm and fat lead tone that sings for days. The neck pickup, while kinda weak for clean, allows you to do some of those super fast legato licks with ease. The cool thing with EMGs is that, besides the fact that they record amazingly, they also are super easy to swap out with other EMGs so you can taylor this to your taste.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking at a Gibson SG alternative, I highly recommend picking up one of these guitars. The ESP Standard series is ESP's flag ship series, and it really shows. They put in a decent amount of time into these guitars, and they're packed full of features that the lower end LTDs don't seem to have. I recommend buying them used if you can as you'll save a ton of dough, which is always a nice thing. eBay is a great place to find these guitars cheap, as well as various guitar forums.

Guitar made in Japan - a real ESP
Mahogany body
Mahogany neck-through
Ebony fingerboard
Pickups: 1 x 1 x EMG 81 and EMG 85
Gotoh
24 frets
Color: Black
Comes in case Thomann

UTILIZATION

The handle is very nice, the guitar is very light and comfort due to the shape is similar to a Gibson SG, that is to say that mutes are very pleasant to attack and treble are easily attainable. However, it is not easy to play standing up, because as the SG handle leans toward the ground, the dropping it is horizontal (so it looks less to the ground as the SG). This is a problem for me personally.

NB: my viper is very light, but I have a friend who bought the same in "black satin" and it is heavier and does not have the same feeling ... strange.

SOUNDS

I've never met a guitar that sounded better for my style of music (rock, pop, punk modern rock), it is very clean, neat, straight, powerful, no spurious frequency goes. If you like very specific, powerful, clean, bright / dark incredible balance and mute precise, it is the ESP Viper will be the best - beware, if you want a hot or dirty vintage grain, it must pass your way, you'll hate this guitar by treating object without a soul.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 5 years and I compared it to Gibson SG Standard, Esp Eclipse II, Ibanez RGA, Esp F Sanskrit and PRS Custom 24, because I've always wanted to replace it or have a back up to par, but no guitar has ever managed to get to his ankle, I sent all these guitars from Thomann after a few weeks of comparison.

It costs € 1,600 and each Euro is profitable by his excellency, the price / quality ratio is perfect and when I hear the misery she put a custom 24 to 3k I raises serious questions on the faces of these foutage sponsoring brands that we all take for balls.

The body is mahogany with a driver handle 24 cases in maple with ebony fingerboard and jumbo fret the octave is marked with an inlay ESP microphones are EMG-81 active electronics (just like his blade I find especially we expect a big fat well) mechanisms are a traditional oil bath, self-locking Sperzel even if the tuning is reliable enough it is very difficult to have a tune that moves. With a binding on the neck and any t beaute.on by a 2 button one of the other tonal and volume with a 3 position selector

UTILIZATION

For me the handle is not super nice because for some it may be very rapid access to acute is pretty easy though not too often we go in boxes 22 23 24 th. As against the guitar is a bit heavy compared to a gibson which for me is superior in therm of quality (and price of course) the sound is rather bland unless it is a big fat marshall behind I do not Consiel play on a small 15-watt combo as you will be on it. For this kind of guitar he fo mesa boogie, marshall of light c is essential to exploit the potential of this guitar.

SOUNDS

This guitar is Excellent for the hard style trash fan of Max Cavalera will find their account and all cheveulus and other lovers of no-metal. It is preverable to play on a big fat JCM 2000 for a great sound as the EMG-81 is missing (for me) a comparison of power-Di Marzio Seymour Duncan or the clean sound is not great (but I think that must come from the marshall) after the crunch and the overdrive can go to the microphones are still relatively precise

OVERALL OPINION

The shape of the guitar is quite attractive it is a fairly standard guitar, whatever people may say but I have a jackson and I must say IE is not the picture ESP is a whole step down (I do not speak the tuning) I think this Guitres is a bit expensive for what it is, moreover, all the range ESP Ltd are expensive and very average apart from the EC-1000 which is pretty good I do not think that fans should move her big in this range but rather in Jackson, which for me offers the best models o the best price