LTD V/XPL/FB Shaped Guitars

I acquired this unit off the Musicians Friend website. It was a scratch and dent item, and I paid $350 tax, shipping, and all. An excellent deal in my book, b/c the guitar was in great shape. It only needed some basic work, such as filing and buffing the frets (due to tiny cuts from something), and filling in some tiny cuts in the finish. Ok, I've heard a lot of people say that these guitars, along with the Gibson explorers, are very neck heavy. The gibson's are, definitely. The ESP's are not nearly as bad, because of the smaller body (love that). Also, the neck is very smooth and fast. Action was exactly 1/16", and intonation was nearly perfect. I've also heard people say that the emg-hz pickups suck. Yet again I disagree. You have to consider that these pickups are made for ROCK, for which they have an amazing sound. No noise, and great tone. The pickups in this guitar are a set of h-1's. Go check 'em out at emg's website (www.emgonline.com). They are great pickups, but still, you can't beat a set of emg-81's or 85's. I may upgrade soon, but I'll definitely save these and put them in another guitar. Great overall guitar in all aspects. Built very solidly. I would say that the higher-end esp ltd's are some of the best korean guitars made. I only have one dislike. The higher strings pass over the nut at an angle which I think is somewhat too small (something to hold them down lower would be nice). Other that that, you can't be this guitar for $550 (musicians friend standard price), and espceially for $350. I have yet to find a major flaw. The is one place on this side of the fretboard where the finish has a tiny crack due to the side of a fret, but that's all. Very solidly built guitar. Overall, I give this guitar a 4, b/c it has excellent playability, sounds great, and doesn't hurt your back like a gibson. I would stay towards the higher-end ltd's though, b/c the lower end models tend to lose quality quick. Excellent guitar. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Made in Korea Contruction/Scale: Neck-thru-body / 25.5 in. Body: Mahogany Neck/Fretboard: Mahogany/Rosewood Dave Mustaine custom fretboard profile Inlays: 8-ball on first fret + dots Pickups: Seymour Duncan JB (bridge) + Jazz (neck) Electronics: 2 Volume, tone, 3-way toggle Hardware: Black with Sperzel locking tuners Bridge: TonePros tune-o-matic with string-thru Binding: White (neck, headstock) Frets: 24 Jumbo UTILIZATION This guitar screams! The neck is fantastic - playing action can be set extremely close to the frets for maximum comfort. The balance of the guitar is a bit body heavy, which is ok on a V, but it still feels odd to me. Sitting down, the guitar is a bit of a chore to play, as one must rest the points of the guitar between one leg in order to have it rest on the lap. This results in a more upward-pointing neck than most are accustomed to, but it is actually comfortable on the fretting hand. Build quality is great at this price point - it could have used a touch more fretwork, but overall everything was good. SOUNDS This is a fantastic set of pickups. Once again, the Duncan JB and Jazz saves the day! This combo is one of the most popular pickup combinations in the guitar manufacturing world for a reason - they sound incredible, are very tonally versatile, and they balance well with each other. The bridge pickup cuts nicely yet isn't oppressive, and the neck gets a nice, soothing vocal tone to it. OVERALL OPINION Overall, this is a nice instrument for metalheads. This guitar is not going to cut it for most gigs in the looks department, but it would certainly suffice in the tone department - it can play anything! The ergonomics might be weird for many, but for anyone looking to riff away, this is a nice axe to check out.

Made in Korea Construction: Set neck Scale: 24.75" Body: mahogany 3-piece maple neck Rosewood fretboard 22 extra jumbo frets Dot inlays with model name at 12th fret EMG-81 (bridge) and EMG-60 (neck) active pickups Volume, tone, 3-way toggle controls Black hardware Earvana compensated nut Grover tuners Tune-o-matic-style bridge with stop tailpiece UTILIZATION This is a neat guitar from ESP. I'm not terribly into big, angular, metal guitars, but this is actually a decent instrument. The guitar balances well, yet is on the heavy side. Unfortunately, due to the size and shape of this axe, it is easy to accidentally bang into the wall, door, chair, other guitars... It plays very well - the 24.75 inch scale is a good feel, with the strings having a bit more "give" to them than others. The neck has a good profile - a bit chunkier than I would have liked, but still, the neck felt nice, and I could lower the action to a great, highly playable height. SOUNDS Performance-wise, this guitar excels in the tonal category. The pickups from EMG are more versatile than the look of the guitar would indicate. I could get nice blues tones, chugging metal, classic rock, a convincing chicken-pickin' tone, and even some buttery jazz tones from the neck pickup. The crisp, sheer output from these pickups means they take to effects very well. I would have preferred some kind of coil tap for added sounds, but what sounds that are available are quite nice. OVERALL OPINION This is a nice guitar overall. It's not for me - I can't hang with the big, pointy guitar look. I feel that they are too gaudy, and I want an instrument that I could take to any situation and feel at home. However, looks aside, this is a good axe, and for people that don't mind looking like a medieval warrior when playing a gig, this is a guitar they'd dig.

This is what they did with the Dave Mustaine signature model after Dave left for Dean. The guitar was really good so they kept it around for a few years without him. It is basically ESP's version of the old Jackson King V. The guitar has a mahogany body with "set-thru" construction. This means it is just a set neck with the neck set in slightly deeper than normal. The neck is mahogany with a 24 fret rosewood fretboard. The tuners are standard Grover and it has an Earvana compensated nut. The bridge is a standard tune-o-matic design with a string through stop tail. The pickups are a set of active EMG 81 pickups front and rear. The controls are a volume for each pickup and a master tone all with a 3 way toggle. UTILIZATION Because of the broad shape of the V on this guitar the highest frets are kind of hard to reach. The body joins the neck at about the 18th fret so beyond that you will have to reach around some wood. Because of the deep set in neck there is not much of a heel to worry about which is nice. The Earvana compensated nut means intonation is slightly better all the way up the neck. You will notice this if you play a lot of chords high up on the neck. The strings will be in better tune with each other and your chords will ring out truer. SOUNDS The EMG pickups are a great addition for a guitar at this price. The set they chose to use on this guitar is one that is not used very often. The pickups this ugitar has is a dual set of EMG 81 pickups. I guess when Mustaine left they did not want to keep putting his Seymour Duncan Livewire pickups in a guitar that didnt have his name on it so they decided to find some EMG's with a similar sound. There is nothing unusual with the 81 in the bridge. If it wasnt for guitars like this it would be considered a bridge only pickup. It has a super sharp sound with a lot of high end. This high end grinding tone keeps your riffs super clear. It helps prevent them from becoming muddy and sounding bad. This sharp high end tone is not what you want in a neck pickup. This guitar has an 81 in the neck position. Its high end tone is not that smooth and does not work well in the neck position. The mahogany neck and body help smooth it out a bit but overall it is too bright and harsh for the neck position. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is good if you are a fan of the old King V design but do not want to pay a ton of money for a USA made Jackson. The top quality hardware in this guitar means this guitar sounds better than some double its price. These guitars are discontinued like most other good guitars so you will have to try and find one used. If you can find one for less than 500 bucks you are getting a good deal.

This was Mike Amotts signature ESP for the short time he played for them. He is one of the guitar players for the popular band Arch Enemy. For a long time he played an ESP custom flying V which looked a lot like a Gibson. Then he decided to switch to a real ESP and this is what we got. He was part of the large wave of players that switched to ESP just to switch to something else a short time later. Krank amps also had a large influx of players for a short time also around the same time. This guitar has a pretty basic construction. It has a modified Flying V shape with a mahogany body. The guitar has set neck construction with a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard. The fretboard has 22 jumbo frets. The pickups in this guitar is a classic set of Seymour Duncans. It has a JB in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. The controls are slightly unusual as it has two volume knobs and no tone knob with its 3 way selector. It has a reflective chrome pickguard which gets covered in fingerprints instantly. It has locking tuners up top and a locking bridge at the bottom. UTILIZATION The neck on this guitar is pretty fat. It feels like a real Gibson when it comes to the neck. The body has some hard edges on it. They wont cut you or anything but they can be pretty uncomfortable. The mirror pickguard gets dirty in like 5 secconds. It gets covered in fingerrprints so fast it is annoying. The dual volumes and no tone is unusual. I thought it was a master volume and master tone at first. Locking tuners and locking bridge are great. Every guitar should have locking tuners even if it doesnt have a tremolo. Locking tuners lock everything down so you can pickup the guitar after weeks and it will still be in tune. The locking bridge is great if you change strings a lot. The tune-o-matic is normally held on with string tension. Without this it can fall off. These locking bridges are locked on and dont fall off. SOUNDS Although being in a death metal band. Mike has a pretty old school tone and feel to his playing. You can really hear this in his other band Spritual Beggars. The pickup set in this guitar gives an old school tone and feel as well. The JB in the bridge is what you find in a ton of Gibsons. The JB is the benchmark hot rodded PAF. It gives you classic tone but with modern output and old school feel with modern tightness. It is a classic design from Seymour Duncan and is one of their most popular models. The 59 in the neck is another classic pickup. The 59 Jazz combination is a classic combination and Seymour Duncan sell them as a set. The 59 is closer to the original PAF sound than the JB. I guess it would be a cool rod instead of a hot rod. It gives you super smooth lead tones. The blues just pours out of the neck pickup on this guitar. Throw in some wah and you are in blues heaven. You can be like mike and call this metal heaven too because that is exactly what he does. OVERALL OPINION I really dug Amotts old ESP Flying V copies so I was a bit disappointed when these first came out. There were a few in between models That I remember seeing. Traditional shaped Flying V's but with chrome pickguards and what not. This was a pretty radical depature from what he had been playing for nearly a decade But once I played one I realized it had all the sound and feel that Amotts old V's had but now they could make a signature model of it and get it out to the fans and kids. If you are like me and like his old Flying V setup you can get an Edwards Flying V just like his old one with the rounded headstock and block inlays and everything. If you are a newer fan you probably know him better for this guitar and the Deans. I prefer this over the Deans also. On the base level you get a Flying V with a slightly more metal shape and excellent pickups. What more could you want.

The ESP LTD EX-401 is one of the newer explorer style bodies that LTD has released. This is for those who don't want to shell out the money for the expensive ESP model but still want a decent guitar. This guitar features a mahogany body with a maple set neck, a rosewood fretboard with 22 extra jumbo frets, dot inlays with the name at the 12th fret, a TOM hardtail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar is built pretty nicely considering its price. The fretwork wasn't perfectly rounded on the ends, but it was smooth enough to where it doesn't cut your hand when sliding up and down the neck. The finish itself was done pretty nicely, although I think it was a bit thick. This is a common issue I have with LTD guitars, but that's just kinda how they are. The frets themselves were fairly level, so no real issue with high or low frets when it came to moderate action. I also like that they used real EMGs, too. SOUNDS The guitar sounded very nice and resonant. The EMG 81 in the bridge has a great aggressive attack that worked nicely with the mahogany body. The maple neck helped add some bite, and the rosewood fretboard helped keep the super high presence under control. The EMG 60 in the neck worked out nicely for clean tones, and the lead tones gave this single coil kinda sound. However, I much prefer the EMG 85 in the bridge as it's fatter and more powerful. It's easier to do real fast legato lines with the EMG 85 than the EMG 60, in my experience. OVERALL OPINION If you're looking for a more extreme looking explorer style body and don't want to shell out the cash for a more expensive ESP, this guitar is a pretty good alternative. It was resonant, it had real EMG pickups, the fretwork wasn't bad, and the finish, albeit thick, wasn't too terrible. I'd definitely consider this as a nice gigging guitar.

(Originally written by Flo95/translated from Audiofanzine FR) Features: Agathis body. 22-fret maple neck. Rosewood fingerboard with jumbo frets. Pearly dot inlays and model name at the 12th fret. Two ESP-LH 150 pickups. Sealed lubricated machine heads. Black metal parts. Sealed lubricated machine heads. Black metal parts. Tune-o-matic bridge. 3-way toggle switch. One volume control. One tone control Good overall finish except for the jack that comes unscrewed after about one month! But it's not a problem because it can be easily tightened again! Great Explorer shape. UTILIZATION The neck might seem thick at first but you'll rapidly get used to it. The frets are too high for my taste and the hand doesn't slide easily on the fingerboard but you'll also get used to that. Good access to the upper frets even if the last fret is a bit difficult to reach. This guitar is rather light and comfortable when you play sitting down but the headstock is too heavy when you're standing up. It's a bit annoying in the beginning but it's ok once you find the right position. Ever since the LH-150 are the standard pickups of this model it sounds much better. SOUNDS As a reminder: you get two LH-150 humbuckers (neck and bridge) with a powerful response in the lows! I told myself I'd get a decent sound with an instrument in this price range. I wanted an Explorer shape and I planned to upgrade the pickups later because I didn't have enough money to buy a real Explorer! But it surprised me when I plugged it in! I mainly play modern and classic hard rock and heavy metal, and also some thrash metal. This guitar is perfect for that music style. I play with a 30 watt Roland Cube and a metal Muff Top Boost. The clean sound is ok with the neck pickup and you can also get a good blues sound even if the low frequency response is a bit too generous, which leads to some lack of precision. The combination of both pickups provides an average jazz sound but I never use that configuration. The bridge pickup provides a powerful but average sound, which can overdrive some clean channels. But the guitar sounds better with distortion! The neck pickup provides good lows, perfect for heavy rhythm parts and palm mutes, but the sound turns muddy with a heavy distortion. This pickup is also very good for playing solos. The sound is quite precise with a nice color but the response is not accurate enough for solos that demand extreme precision. I never use the mid position. The bridge pickup sounds good too. The sound is sharper and it sounds amazing with very high distortion settings, just like the neck pickup. You can get a good heavy metal sound without EQing. That's an important point for me. The bridge pickup is quite good for playing solos. It's a bit more precise than the neck pickup but it's a bit too sharp! But if you consider the price of the guitar the sound is great! OVERALL OPINION I've been using it for two months and I'm very satisfied. The finish is rather good for an instrument in this price range (especially the black heel with chrome plate). I previously tested lots of guitars, including more famous models, but to me the EX-50 sounds much better than all other ones. Excellent value for money!