LTD Viper-400 [2004-2008]

I am going to tell about my LTD Viper-400. I acquired this guitar from a catalog company called Musicians Friend. 560 dollars was paid for this particular guitar. The main reason that I decided to buy this guitar is the fact that it has EMG 81 Active pickups. The sound from these pickups is awesome.

I love how this guitar sounds as I have stated earlier. This guitar has a low action and is farely easy to play. It has the new "Earvana Compensation Nut" which provides perfect tuning all the way down the neck which is hard to get in other guitars. It also has Grover tuning keys which all the guitar to stay in even while in a gig bag or hardshell. If u are an active musician u just might need this feature.

The only real thing I don't really like about this guitar is it is neck heavy like Les Pauls,but hey a leather strap will stop the sliding so there is a quck solution. Now I am realativly "picky" guitar player so the only other complaint that I have about my Viper-400 is when it is unplugged it had fret buzz. As soon as you plug it up however it disappers

The LTD Viper-400 comes with active EMG humbuckers to give u a nice crunch sound they sound awesome while on clean tone as well. A set neck is available on this model far better than a bolt on neck. It has a mahogany body and neck. While the fretboard is rosewood. This guitar also has simple controls a volume knob, a tone knob, and a three way pickup selector.

My final thought about this guitar is it is awesome. Not too expensive and it plays great.If u are looking for a moderatly priced guitar that plays excellent then the Viper-400 is the guitar for u.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

With the Viper 400 model you get probably the lowest price guitar that comes with fully active EMG pickups. This guitar is an LTD ESP which means it is made outside of Japan. This lets them sell it for a much lower price than normal ESP guitars but the specs are pretty much the same. You get great features on this guitar. You get a mahogany body in the offset SG/Viper shape. The neck is a set neck which is also mahogany. The fretboard is rosewood with 24 jumbo frets. The guitar is a hardtail with a tune-o-matic brdige. The pickups are a set of fully active EMG's which is insane at this price. The guitar has an 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. THe controls are simple with a master volume and master tone with a 3 way switch.

UTILIZATION

With the offset SG shape you can really reach all the frets. With the 24.75 Gibson scale the upper frets can get a bit crowded but the jumbo frets help with this. The jumbo frets also let you have a low action and you can really bend forever. The Grover tuners and the tune-o-matic stay in tune well. The Earvana Compensated nut means you have better intonation all the way up the neck so complex chords anywhere on the neck will sound in tune. The body is nicely contoured so it will fit nicely against you while you are playing and it is also pretty light. The finish has kind of a satin feel to it so it is pretty smooth. This smoothness extends to the back of the neck where it is most important. The neck is nice and thin and with this satin feel is very fast.

SOUNDS

It is pretty unheard of for a guitar priced like this to come with such nice pickups. Usually a guitar priced like this would come with some garbage in house pickups. There are thousand dollar Ibanez guitars that still come with junky Ibanez pickups. ESP is really helping you out by throwing in a set of active EMG pickups. This saves the cost of upgrading them. The 81 in the bridge has been an iconic metal pickup for decades. It has a high end crunch and distortion that gives it clarity no matter how much gain you are using or how low you tune. The 85 in the neck is a great pickup too. It has a more fuller sound than the 81 so in the neck position you can get fat lead tones. The 85 is also good too in the bridge. With EMG's quick connect system you can easily swap these pickups position without soldering anything. The 85 in the bridge produces a super thick tone and cleans up better than the 81.

OVERALL OPINION

I see these guitars for sale used all over the place for about 300 dollars. This is crazy when you consider the pickups alone in the guitar are worth about 200 dollars. This guitar does not feel like a 100 guitar with 200 dollar pickups either. This guitar feels like a 400 dollar guitar with 200 dollar pickups. This guitar is very very good for the price and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a well priced metal guitar.

The ESP LTD 400 line of guitar is one of the best values out there if you are looking for a metal guitar. LTD is ESP's line of budget guitars. They are like what Epiphone is to Gibson. Their guitars are made to the exact same specs with the same species of wood except they are not made in Japan. The 400 has awesome bang for the buck. This guitar design is like an offset SG with 24 frets. It has a mahogany body and maple neck with set neck construction. It has a rosewood fretboard with 24 very big frets with the ESP flag inlays. It has fully active EMG pickups with an 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. The controls are simple with a master tone and master volume switched with a 3 way selector. Up top it has Grover tuners and an Earvana compensated nut for truer intonation.

UTILIZATION

The playability is great as is with all ESP guitars. With the 24 frets you need the offset body to reach the upper frets easily. With the 24.75 Gibson scale the upper frets can get a bit crowded but the jumbo frets help with this. The jumbo frets also let you have a low action and you can really bend forever. The Grover tuners and the tune-o-matic stay in tune well. The Earvana Compensated nut means you have better intonation all the way up the neck so complex chords anywhere on the neck will sound in tune. The body is nicely contoured so it will fit nicely against you while you are playing and it is also pretty light.

SOUNDS

You are not going to find many other guitars this cheap that come from the factory with EMG pickups. It uses the classic EMG set that pretty much everyone uses with the 81 and 85 EMG pickups, also known as the Zakk Wylde set since he has been using it the longest I guess. The 81 in the bridge has been an iconic metal pickup for decades. It has a high end crunch and distortion that gives it clarity no matter how much gain you are using or how low you tune. The 85 in the neck is a great pickup too. It has a more fuller sound than the 81 so in the neck position you can get fat lead tones. The 85 is also good too in the bridge. With EMG's quick connect system you can easily swap these pickups position without soldering anything. The 85 in the bridge produces a super thick tone and cleans up better than the 81. Speaking of cleans if you do the 18v mod on the EMG's. With the 18v mod you run the pickups on two batteries instead of one. This provides a more organic tone with more headroom. This tone produces better cleans than stock EMG's and clean tones are usually the weakest part of the EMG sound. This guitar is super cheap but sounds as good as guitars that cost twice as much with EMG pickups. EMG's are some of the best pickups out there and they tend to take over the sound of a guitar so if you can get a cheap guitar with EMG over an expensive guitar with EMG's the cheaper guitar will most likely sound just as good.

OVERALL OPINION

When these were new these guitars sold for about 450 guitars. Now you can get these guitars for 350 used all day long. The pickup set in them alone costs 200 dollars. This is not a 100 dollar guitar with 200 dollar pickups. Its a 500 dollar guitar with 200 dollar pickups that you can buy for 300. It is the bargain of the century when it comes to metal guitars nowadays. With the Viper or EC 400 LTD ESP guitars you cant go wrong if you are looking for a heavy metal machine at a low price.

The guitar is made in Korea and not to United States (a 700 euro increase in emg, MECAS Rotomatic grover mini ($ 75 even when the game), graphite nut offset, set neck, binding around the handle, all mahogany, should not be thought in Santa Claus either!)
otherwise it has a nice rosewood fingerboard, inlays plastok but nice (especially compared abalone Series Deluxe is sheaves!), 24 frets a little big, tune 24.75 gibson type, a rather good position toggle, one volume, one tone and a simple tunomatic. Note reinforcement behind the neck for added security.
you can do with reflections on the table that the body is made of three pieces of mahogany (I think ... eh).
the base it is mounted in 81/81 but since this year's 81/85! yay!
was inside the cavities are shielded with aluminum tape, a small clip to the battery not move, a chti Serflex for all that have to be clean! great!
I put richly deserved Sept. 1 at this price it's really good at all!

(For 10 flight case should be supplied, strap locks, and why not mother of pearl inlays for!)

UTILIZATION

The handle is rather late, rather narrow, a mix between tradition and modern gibson. I immediately loved it. Access to the sharp is very good, 24 cases are easily playable (even if the top of the handle ... it's tight)

the guitar is super comfortable as much as sitting upright, the body is super light weight (3kg). on the other hand, a small imbalance (and yes, copra is really light!) That if we loose the guitar side looking head. I put the tie strap behind the heel, it's going better now that behind the horn, and you'll quickly get the hang of caller forearm tightly against the body. A bad point which disappears completely in 1 week.
Acordage for the good and great nut MECAS allow an agreement really easy.

the controls are damn good, although I prefer the toggle up lespaul kind, you got more class tapper with a fist above without gaffe to change gears um micro switch.

9 because of the imbalance.

SOUNDS

This scraper is great for hard, rock and metal. saturates everything quickly and well, full of the 81 mediums resortent directly into the ear, the ecstasy. the tone is not bad, and not easily mitigate acute ultra loud when we play has whawha (yeah, emg 81dans a cry baby in a pod mod jcm800a bottom with drive boost, it sounds not very metheny or benson)

issue a clear, plenty to do, but it is not the strong point of guitar.c 'estpour why I put a 89 (a splittable 85) instead of round 81. I turned the tone to make use of the site to volume 89 and its split. I kept the master volume (some would put a micro volume) pasque anyway for me the bridge in 81 is always a bottom or anything)

So I rule the 89 (or 85 SA, volume) according to the PARALLEL I need in the 81. Mstera thoroughly, and I play with the toggle for the pieces.

and it is the dream.
8 with 2 81 9 with 81 and 85 (as at present) and 10 with a 89coté handle.

OVERALL OPINION

Jel'ai for 15 days, I find great, although low sounds clear with two 81 (finally clean sounds ...), and what individuals despite this flaw balancing.

otherwise, the sound, comfort, everything is good ...

in the competition, I see that the schecters diamonds (especially the series blackjack), and some yamaha are able to compete (and TFW new washburn ...)
I would do well obviously that choice, I love the scratches.