ESP LTD Guitars

zepp76

Hi, does anyone have any experience with the LTD guitars? I am quite taken by the looks of the EC-401 satin black and gold guitar, it will be my first foray into active pickups but need something for when I'm in a metal playing mood so was hoping these guitars were up to the challenge and are of good quality. Any thoughts or advice on these guitars would be greatly appreciated thank you.

Jack_

I'd look for a used EC-1000, because they often come up for around £400, but the 401 is perfectly good enough.

Personally, I don't like EMG's, so I'd be on the look out for the Seymour Duncan kitted ones.

Great guitars though, quality control with ESP/LTD seems to be top notch, rarely hear of a bad one.

skunkwerx

I have a couple. An ex-360 and a kh-202. I love them. 

Like jack says, I've seen 1000 series go for that used as well. But I'd happily go for a 401 myself too! 

Deadman

Only watching Captain Sensible using one with The Damned many times. His preferred choice for many years now.

samzadgan

Ive had an EC1000, with DiMarzio PAF's...and that was amazing, not just the pickups but the feel of that guitar was amazing. I haven't heard anything bad about those guitars, except for people talking negatively about EMG's, but that comes down to taste than quality of product.

Nikko

Only problem ive seen with the satin finishes on the ESPs (you may not see it as a problem depending on how OCD you are about how your guitars look), is that they mark up very easily, and never look as good as soon as they have been used a couple of times. Like I said though, this may not be an issue for you.

On the whole though, I like most of the ESP/Ltd range. Solid, well made and finished etc. In fact, I have a new ESP/Ltd Viper on its way to me at this very moment

Dopesick

The new ESP Bill Kelliher model looks amazing, but pity it's almost a grand.

close2u

To add a further question ... What about the budget end tele style ESP/LTD models?

TE212 is it?

zepp76

Thank you for the replies chaps, well it's all good feedback so far! I'm waiting to hear back from a store that has them at a very good price but is showing up as out of stock/special order only and am wondering if it's the old trick of showing it at a low price purely because they are out of stock, it's priced at over £100 less than anywhere else. I'll also keep an eye out for an EC-1000 but it has to be satin black/gold that's the colour that hooked me!

Nikko

Where are  you ordering from if you don't mind me asking?

FRockStar

I think the major difference between the 400s and 1000s is the hardware. 1000s usually come with locking tuners, Tonepros bridge and Earvana nut (which some like, some don't - I like.) 

I've had an EC1000 (with SDs) for a few years and it's solid. The only thing I didn't like was loads of treble loss soon as I rolled off the volume a little bit, so I swapped out the wiring. 

Chalky

close2u said:

To add a further question ... What about the budget end tele style ESP/LTD models?

TE212 is it?

I've got the ESP LTD strat and its a good guitar with a surprisingly chunky neck considering they call it a Thin U. But things like fret finishing is not so good so it benefits from a good setup and extra finishing.  Got truly superb stratty sounds in position 2 and 4, though in other ways the pickups are just ordinary.

hassleham

@Chalky ;
I've also owned an LTD strat in the past which played and sounded nice. And I agree, the fret finishing wasn't great. Overall it didn't feel like the quality control was that great just from tiny errors here and there, but the playability and sound were good.

The first ever LTD I bought was an MH-50 in around 2006, made in Indonesia (i think). Played far better than it should have done for only £170 and I still have it! 

Chalky

@hassleham - I think you're spot-on there, the QC says "that'll do" and leaves it there. And for the money you can't blame them.

zepp76

Nikko said:

Where are  you ordering from if you don't mind me asking?

@Nikko I've just ordered from Absolute music, best deal I could find on the internet and just down the road from me!

Jack_

You're local to me then.

zepp76

Jack_ said:

You're local to me then.

@Jack_  by saying just down the road I mean 30 miles away from Southampton! 

Jack_

zepp76 said:

Jack_ said:

You're local to me then.

@Jack_  by saying just down the road I mean 30 miles away from Southampton! 

Such is the nature of a guitar shop being local in this day and age.

ennspek

I think there is a big jump from the 400 to the 1000 series. I'd go second hand for the latter.