View other reviews for this product:
Hatsubai « The standard KH-2 »
Published on 09/21/11 at 15:48This is the standard KH-2 that everybody knows and loves. Most people who are fans of Kirk Hammett have probably played this guitar. It's been his #1 for the longest time, and it's probably his most iconic ESP. In fact, it's probably the most iconic ESP signature guitar out there. It used to be the only way you could get an M series in this spec over in the States, but thanks to the recent M-II NTB, you now have options. The guitar features an alder body with a maple neck-thru neck, a rosewood fretboard with 24 extra jumbo frets, the signature skull and crossbones inlays, an original floyd rose tremolo, two EMG humbuckers, two volumes, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is great in nearly every way. The frets on this were nicely leveled and crowned properly. You could get some very nice action on this without fretting out every single step bend. The ends were nicely beveled, so they didn't cut up your hand every time you moved up and down the fretboard. The one thing I'm not a real fan of is the knob configuration, but it's easily correctable with a few slight mods. The rest of this guitar is up there with any other ESP Standard/Signature model out there.
SOUNDS
The guitar is pretty good, tonally. It has the EMG 81 in the bridge. This works great for metal. The pickup itself is a fairly low output pickup, but it's boosted internally by the EMG preamp, and that's what helps give it its natural compression and clarity under high gain. It's great for cutting through super thick mixes that metal usually has to offer. However, it can be a bit shrill on its own at times. It also lacks versatility compared to normal passive pickups. The neck in this was also an EMG 81, and I'm not really a fan of the 81 in the neck. I prefer to have the 85 in the neck as it's thicker, and it helps aid in those smoother legato lines that I tend to gear towards.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is great, but now that the ESP M-II NTB has hit the shores, it's really not worth buying anymore. You pretty much have to be dead set on the control configuration and inlays to justify the extra grand or whatever these go for over the M-II NTB. Great guitar, but I'm just not so sure it's worth it anymore. If you do decide to get it, buy it used as you'll get the best deal.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is great in nearly every way. The frets on this were nicely leveled and crowned properly. You could get some very nice action on this without fretting out every single step bend. The ends were nicely beveled, so they didn't cut up your hand every time you moved up and down the fretboard. The one thing I'm not a real fan of is the knob configuration, but it's easily correctable with a few slight mods. The rest of this guitar is up there with any other ESP Standard/Signature model out there.
SOUNDS
The guitar is pretty good, tonally. It has the EMG 81 in the bridge. This works great for metal. The pickup itself is a fairly low output pickup, but it's boosted internally by the EMG preamp, and that's what helps give it its natural compression and clarity under high gain. It's great for cutting through super thick mixes that metal usually has to offer. However, it can be a bit shrill on its own at times. It also lacks versatility compared to normal passive pickups. The neck in this was also an EMG 81, and I'm not really a fan of the 81 in the neck. I prefer to have the 85 in the neck as it's thicker, and it helps aid in those smoother legato lines that I tend to gear towards.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is great, but now that the ESP M-II NTB has hit the shores, it's really not worth buying anymore. You pretty much have to be dead set on the control configuration and inlays to justify the extra grand or whatever these go for over the M-II NTB. Great guitar, but I'm just not so sure it's worth it anymore. If you do decide to get it, buy it used as you'll get the best deal.