LTD Viper-50 Review

It offers a biting sound for a great price! Part of the LTD series, the Viper 50 features a bolt-on maple neck, Tune-O-Matic bridge w/stop tailpiece and an ESP LH-100 pickup set.

Features:	8.7
Sound:	9.3
Action:	8.7
Reliability:	9
Impression:	9.3
Overall rating:	9
Users rating:	8
Comments:	19

overall: 9.2

Featured review by: flame843, on march 26, 2005

Price paid: 200

Purchased from: Pianos 'N' Stuff (Pittsburgh)

Features:
- 24 frets
- Bolt-on neck
- Rosewood fingerboard, rest of neck is maple
- Agathis body
- Black finish
- SG-style double cutaway, but kind of tilted to one side like the other Viper models
- Tune-O-Matic bridge
- One tone, one volume, three-way toggle
- Two ESP LH-100 humbuckers
- Nothing was included.

My only comment is that the knobs have no numbers on them, wihich is kind of annoying. // 8

Sound: I play most kinds of metal and rock, and this guitar fits both styles well. I've never really played much else on it, though, but from screwing around with it I can tell you that it would probably sound good for blues. The humbuckers handle all distortion well, and it also sounds great played clean. I'm using it through a DigiTech RP80 and a Sunn Beta Lead, and there are no problems with this guitar on either of those. The humbuckers give it more of a rich sound, but if you know how to adjust the amp and play with the knobs on the guitar, you can get it sound any way you want. I have no comlaints here. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The action was great when I got it, but after a month or so it got a little buzz. I've since dealt with that. The pickups were fine. Strangely, though, my volume knob doesn't work. That doesn't affect me much, but I thought it was worth noting. Other than that, the guitar is great. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I've never played a gig with this guitar, because I don't have a band, but It hasn't broken yet, so I trust it. THe harware looks great, the finish looks durable, it's good. // 10

Impression: For rock and metal, this guitar fits the bill, looks the part, and takes the cake (as well as other three-word phrases with "the" in the middle). I have been palying it for about six months. I ahve n regrets in buying this guitar. All I can say is that is owns the Ibanez GAX70, the other guitar I was considering. If someone stole it, I'd hunt them down, corner them, and beat the hell out of them with a brick. Or I'd get another one. Either way sounds good. As for what I wish it had, I'd have to go with a $100 bill dispenser, or maybe a built-in home theater system. But as for music-related stuff, it has all I need. // 10

overall: 10

Reviewed by: stumtk, on january 09, 2006

Price paid: 0

Purchased from: Mothers Music

Features: This is a great ESP guitar for heavy metal, hard rock, or whatever you really want to play. bolt-on construction; 24.75" scale; agathis body; maple neck; rosewood fingerboard; dot inlays; ESP LH-100 pickups; volume & tone controls w/3-way toggle; black hardware; Tune-O-Matic bridge w/stop. // 10

Sound: This guitar has great sound for metal, rock, clean, acoustic. I use a DigiTech footpedal with about 120 different effects and it sounds great with everyone. It has full sound and great quality sound. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: When I got this guitar everything was in excellent working condition and I hardly had to change any of the origional setting except for tweaking a few things to my likings. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This is a very reliable and sturdy guitar. I have bounced it off walls, chairs, and pretty much anything else that was near me and I dont have a single scratch or chip taken out of it. It is a very heavy guitar which I dont mind cause I like to think that what I'm playing actually has some meat to it not like these other cheap guitars that weigh like 2 pounds and feel like they are hollow. I've had this guitar for almost a year now and I love it. Nothing has gone wrong with it except for breaking a bunch of strings but thats cause I play a lot of heavy songs. // 10

Impression: My overall impression on this is awesome! It is a great guitar for beginners, intermediate and even advanced players. If this guitar was stole or lost I would definitly buy another one like it and if they didn't have one I'd probably go with any other one of the ESP guitars. They are all good reliable guitars that wont fall apart after a week of hard playing. // 10

overall: 7.8

Reviewed by: billthegeek, on september 29, 2007

Price paid: 299

Purchased from:

Features: Made in Indonesia. It has the shape of a skewed-version of the Gibson SG, possibly to avoid a lawsuit. The shape feels pretty comfortable to play with and rest on your lap. The rest of the specifications can be found on the ESP website, so I guess I won't bother to list them here. // 8

Sound: It sounds great with high gain settings, just like any other ESP guitars. Perfect for metal, rock or maybe, even blues. This guitar is built primary for heavy metal musicians who are 'high gainers' and 'gain-depraved'. However, that does not mean it sounds terrible clean either. It sounds pretty decent on clean as well. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The finish and construction is close to perfect. Couldn't find any flaw with it. I think the glossy finish looks especially good on this guitar shape with the nice curves. The action is low enough to please shred fans, while at the same time, not too low to cause fret buzz. Perfectly nothing wrong with the pickups, switches and knobs. I have no problems with the tuners, despite some guitarist claiming the guitar can't stay in tune. Even in this case, it is nothing a screwdriver can't resolve. Another thing is, high fret access might be rather difficult because of the bolt-on joint. That is not a major concern for me since I hardly uses high frets. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This guitar seems rather sturdy and reliable. I have not played it live before (have been a bedroom musician so far) but I imagine it could 'survive' a live performance. One thing you should know before you purchase this guitar is: it is a heavy guitar. When you wear it on a strap, the neck simply tilts downwards due to its heavy head, which might be a little uncomfortable to play with. // 7

Impression: I play anything from thrash metal to blues. I think it does the job of any rock music perfectly. It makes a great choice if you are considering your first electric guitar or if you want to save yourself some money and get something affordable. If it was stolen, I would hunt down the thief and force he/her to get me another new one. Pros: low action, good stock pick-ups, sounds great with high gain, great shiny finish, visually-appealing, affordable price. Cons: heavy neck, hindrance to higher frets access. // 8

Comments

[GibsonBarracuda]

stumtk is my friend play with his viper all the time:nm: and just for people to know IM NOT RETARDED!!!!!

[choii]

GibsonBarracuda wrote:

stumtk is my friend play with his viper all the time:nm: and just for people to know IM NOT RETARDED!!!!!

wtf was that about

[Guglet]

How dose a guitar like this get a better over-all value than a viper 400 the 400s pickups alone make it a far better guitar.

[foxboxes]

dunno maybe they have higher standards or sumthing

[[EspHellRaiser]]

My friend uses this guitar in our band =D awesome guitar, i like my KH-202 better though =P

[Samppa92 [Fin]]

How much better this is than EC-50(ESP Ltd)? I got an EC-50!

[korn56]

Samppa92 [Fin] wrote:

How much better this is than EC-50(ESP Ltd)? I got an EC-50!

is the same thing, except for the 2 vol 1 tone controls, and the shape of the body

[bankrupt]

Should i buy this or an Epiphone G-400???
Someone help me =[

[life 4 a life]

i love my viper-50. im surprised no one mentioned the fret access tho, for me it is the only thing that i noticed. the pickups are great, the feel is great, and if i ever find anyone else complaining about no numbers on the knobs, ill fly kick them in the face. dude, who cares? the viper-50 is my favourite in the viper series.

[willlplaysguita]

bankrupt wrote:

Should i buy this or an Epiphone G-400???
Someone help me =[

buy an esp instead because well....theyre alot better than gibsons

[archangelseren]

willlplaysguita wrote:

bankrupt wrote:

Should i buy this or an Epiphone G-400???
Someone help me =[

buy an esp instead because well....theyre alot better than gibsons

i hope thats true coz i think ile buy one of these if its good

[Hobbestiger]

its a realy good guitar. ive had it for a while and ive seen nothing wrong with it. i love the finish on mine (crimson red) and love the shape.

[billthegeek]

Guglet wrote:

How dose a guitar like this get a better over-all value than a viper 400 the 400s pickups alone make it a far better guitar.

I believe the reviews are wrote keeping in mind that the Viper-50 is a really affordable guitar.

[heartrocks_yogi]

is it better than the standard stratocaster hss?i'm plannin to buy my 1st electric guitar so plz can someone advice me...

[BozoKu]

Hi, I would like to buy this guitar (200$ price) but I don't want to pay 120$ for esp case.. for me it makes no sense to pay 1/2 of the guitar price for this cheep guitar. Is there any other guitar case that'll fit this one? THANKS

[BozoKu]

Also, if someone has this guitar, can you please tell me what is the length width ... so I can compare it to some uni. cases. thanks

[DNC]

bankrupt wrote:

Should i buy this or an Epiphone G-400???
Someone help me =[

definately get the viper. i have a gibson SG special. and im getting the viper as well. ive always loved the look of it.

i played it today in a shop, and i loved it. not MORE than my SG but not dramatically less either. so yeah, im getting it.

sound wasnt quite as chunky as my SG, but still a fantastic one.

[Quicktime09]

I'm stuck for choice. I've the option of either the ltd viper 50 or the m-50

and whats a tune-o-matic bridge?

[nirvanapwns]

probably this fits on any sg case there´s a fit-all case on musiciansfriend.com for like 70 bucks