Let me first off say that I bought this wireless Strat because I was hoping that it would work with Rock Band and Guitar Hero. It does not work with Guitar Hero. That being said the guitar seems to be a little more solid than the one that came with the game. A lot of people seem to like the Guitar Hero Les Paul better. However, I really play guitar, and I can honestly say that this one feels more like the real thing. The buttons allow sliding chords, the buttons feel more like frets than buttons, and overall it seems more second nature when playing.
Ultimately, this is a purchase for those who need freedom from the usb hub and 10 foot cable. As for Guitar Hero, well their taking sides has forced me as a consumer to choose sides. I am sticking with Rock Band.
Rating: 5 / 5
I owned an original wired Fender Rock Band Guitar. That one works awesome, and I consider it superior to the Gibson Guitar Hero III guitar. However, I just got my wireless guitar, and the tilt sensor does not work. I went to the support website and forums. Apparently many of the first batch of wireless guitars have this problem. Although this is covered under warranty, I will be without the guitar for approximately 21 days while they ship me a box, in which I will ship my broken guitar back to EA. They will then ship a replacement wireless guitar. I would urge caution when buying because of this. Hopefully, EA and Harmonix will rectify this problem and future production batches will have better quality.
**Update**
30 days after sending my guitar in for replacement: EA says all replacements are back-ordered and could take an additional 9 days more from their orginal 3 to 4 week replacement estimate. Buy at your own risk! Other wireless guitar controller issues have been reported on the Rock Band forums as well. I would recommend buying this guitar at a brick and mortar store where you can return it immediately if you have problems. The warranty replacement takes way too long. Some people on the forums even report that their replacement has issues as well. It’s a shame because Rock Band is an awesome game.
**Update 2**
After 35 days EA sent me a wired guitar controller to tide me over until my wireless guitar controller is repaired or replaced. The cool thing is I get to keep the wired guitar even after my wireless one is ready. I didn’t call them and complain either. EA did this without my provoking them.
**Update 3**
After 45 days EA sent me a replacement/refurbished/repaired wireless guitar. The guitar performs as advertised. The tilt sensor works great, as well as all the buttons, etc… I definitely consider it superior to the Red Octane Gibson Les Paul Controller for GHIII, which also works on Rock Band. Downside for this controller is that it does not work on any of the Guitar Hero series of games. One minor complaint for EA: When they shipped my guitar they packed an inordinate amount of silica gel packs with it. Some of these packs leaked small pieces of silica which fell inside the guitar and now make a rattling noise when I move the guitar controller. I’m hoping the wireless controllers out now are of the same quality I received in my replacement controller.
Rating: 1 / 5
I should have known better. Many other people have already commented on how poor the tilt sensor works in these things. Mine is a perfect example of this – I have never been able to trigger “star power” by tilting my wireless controller. Aside from that, the controller works well. Very frustrating for this aging wannabe rocker.
Rating: 2 / 5
There are two ways that an item can be poorly designed: too simple to perform the task, or so complex that when something breaks you may as well chuck it in the trash. I always prefer the former problem to the latter.
This controller has been the target of a great deal of criticism over a few things that commonly go wrong with it. Since buying it in April, with consistently heavy use, I have had two problems with it. First the strum bar was sticking in the down position instead of re-centering. The guitar is extremely easy to open up, and inside you can see that a couple of small sponges are being relied upon to bounce the bar back into position. Simple, but ineffective in the long run. It was amazingly easy to put two small rubber bands in place that had it working again. Second, I had a problem with the whammy bar not springing back into position. Once again, rubber bands to the rescue! A rubber band stretched from the strap-anchor at the bottom of the guitar around the base of the whammy bar, and voila! Good as new.
So despite the problems with the design, kudos to the manufacturer for at least making the mechanical aspect of the design so incredibly simple that any idiot can fix it.
I have never played a guitar game on anything other than this controller, so I cannot compare this to the wireless Les Paul replica, for example, used in Guitar Hero. I understand that it, too, has problems. The bottom line is that these are not just pieces of electronics — they’re mechanical devices. Mechanical devices should be expected to require some repair if they are being put to heavy use. I’d rather have a problem that can be fixed with rubber bands than one that requires a soldering iron or a re-wiring job, that’s for sure.
The range on the wireless guitar is great (I could play the game from another room away if I wanted to), the controls are responsive, so no complaints other than the mechanical problems, which were easily surmounted. At present (September ’08), this guitar works not only with with the XBox360 version of Rock Band, but also with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (I have tested it to confirm that.) It is being reported that it will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour, due out later this year. I would therefore expect this controller to function with all music games to be released over the next few years, and so it should be considered a viable — though flawed — controller option if you play games in this genre.
Rating: 3 / 5
Just like everyone else, we had trouble with the tilt switches on our wireless guitars. My brother-in-law bought two, one for him and one for me. The one he bought for himself wouldn’t boost no matter how he shook, tweaked, tilted, or swung his guitar. He could only get it to boost by hitting the good old fashioned start button.
The one he bought for me was the exact opposite. Every time you breathed, it boosted on you! You didn’t have to tilt at all, and wham–power boost! You could ever get more than half a bar stored up because as soon as you did, the guitar would boost on you whether you wanted it to or not. In a way, this was worse than no boosting because you could hit “start” to make it boost when it wasn’t responding; you couldn’t hit a “stop” button to make it not boost…
We returned both of them and stick with the wired controllers–which is a pain.
The real drag was that we waited several months to try and buy these. A lot of reviews said the “first batch” had the problem and newer ones were fixed. I just don’t buy this. Ours were a newer batch that we bought from a local store (and had just come on the truck in that day).
I didn’t give the product one star because the wireless feature seemed to work well with no snags. Also, they redesigned the wammy bar on this model, so it doesn’t accidentally hit the start button or trip up your effects switch quite as easily, so well done there. Those upsides just don’t outweigh the negative here, however. Like others say, buy at your own risk. I’m tempted to wait for Nyco or Madcatz to release an off brand one and see if it works any better…
Rating: 2 / 5
Let me first off say that I bought this wireless Strat because I was hoping that it would work with Rock Band and Guitar Hero. It does not work with Guitar Hero. That being said the guitar seems to be a little more solid than the one that came with the game. A lot of people seem to like the Guitar Hero Les Paul better. However, I really play guitar, and I can honestly say that this one feels more like the real thing. The buttons allow sliding chords, the buttons feel more like frets than buttons, and overall it seems more second nature when playing.
Ultimately, this is a purchase for those who need freedom from the usb hub and 10 foot cable. As for Guitar Hero, well their taking sides has forced me as a consumer to choose sides. I am sticking with Rock Band.
Rating: 5 / 5
I owned an original wired Fender Rock Band Guitar. That one works awesome, and I consider it superior to the Gibson Guitar Hero III guitar. However, I just got my wireless guitar, and the tilt sensor does not work. I went to the support website and forums. Apparently many of the first batch of wireless guitars have this problem. Although this is covered under warranty, I will be without the guitar for approximately 21 days while they ship me a box, in which I will ship my broken guitar back to EA. They will then ship a replacement wireless guitar. I would urge caution when buying because of this. Hopefully, EA and Harmonix will rectify this problem and future production batches will have better quality.
**Update**
30 days after sending my guitar in for replacement: EA says all replacements are back-ordered and could take an additional 9 days more from their orginal 3 to 4 week replacement estimate. Buy at your own risk! Other wireless guitar controller issues have been reported on the Rock Band forums as well. I would recommend buying this guitar at a brick and mortar store where you can return it immediately if you have problems. The warranty replacement takes way too long. Some people on the forums even report that their replacement has issues as well. It’s a shame because Rock Band is an awesome game.
**Update 2**
After 35 days EA sent me a wired guitar controller to tide me over until my wireless guitar controller is repaired or replaced. The cool thing is I get to keep the wired guitar even after my wireless one is ready. I didn’t call them and complain either. EA did this without my provoking them.
**Update 3**
After 45 days EA sent me a replacement/refurbished/repaired wireless guitar. The guitar performs as advertised. The tilt sensor works great, as well as all the buttons, etc… I definitely consider it superior to the Red Octane Gibson Les Paul Controller for GHIII, which also works on Rock Band. Downside for this controller is that it does not work on any of the Guitar Hero series of games. One minor complaint for EA: When they shipped my guitar they packed an inordinate amount of silica gel packs with it. Some of these packs leaked small pieces of silica which fell inside the guitar and now make a rattling noise when I move the guitar controller. I’m hoping the wireless controllers out now are of the same quality I received in my replacement controller.
Rating: 1 / 5
I should have known better. Many other people have already commented on how poor the tilt sensor works in these things. Mine is a perfect example of this – I have never been able to trigger “star power” by tilting my wireless controller. Aside from that, the controller works well. Very frustrating for this aging wannabe rocker.
Rating: 2 / 5
There are two ways that an item can be poorly designed: too simple to perform the task, or so complex that when something breaks you may as well chuck it in the trash. I always prefer the former problem to the latter.
This controller has been the target of a great deal of criticism over a few things that commonly go wrong with it. Since buying it in April, with consistently heavy use, I have had two problems with it. First the strum bar was sticking in the down position instead of re-centering. The guitar is extremely easy to open up, and inside you can see that a couple of small sponges are being relied upon to bounce the bar back into position. Simple, but ineffective in the long run. It was amazingly easy to put two small rubber bands in place that had it working again. Second, I had a problem with the whammy bar not springing back into position. Once again, rubber bands to the rescue! A rubber band stretched from the strap-anchor at the bottom of the guitar around the base of the whammy bar, and voila! Good as new.
So despite the problems with the design, kudos to the manufacturer for at least making the mechanical aspect of the design so incredibly simple that any idiot can fix it.
I have never played a guitar game on anything other than this controller, so I cannot compare this to the wireless Les Paul replica, for example, used in Guitar Hero. I understand that it, too, has problems. The bottom line is that these are not just pieces of electronics — they’re mechanical devices. Mechanical devices should be expected to require some repair if they are being put to heavy use. I’d rather have a problem that can be fixed with rubber bands than one that requires a soldering iron or a re-wiring job, that’s for sure.
The range on the wireless guitar is great (I could play the game from another room away if I wanted to), the controls are responsive, so no complaints other than the mechanical problems, which were easily surmounted. At present (September ’08), this guitar works not only with with the XBox360 version of Rock Band, but also with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (I have tested it to confirm that.) It is being reported that it will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour, due out later this year. I would therefore expect this controller to function with all music games to be released over the next few years, and so it should be considered a viable — though flawed — controller option if you play games in this genre.
Rating: 3 / 5
Just like everyone else, we had trouble with the tilt switches on our wireless guitars. My brother-in-law bought two, one for him and one for me. The one he bought for himself wouldn’t boost no matter how he shook, tweaked, tilted, or swung his guitar. He could only get it to boost by hitting the good old fashioned start button.
The one he bought for me was the exact opposite. Every time you breathed, it boosted on you! You didn’t have to tilt at all, and wham–power boost! You could ever get more than half a bar stored up because as soon as you did, the guitar would boost on you whether you wanted it to or not. In a way, this was worse than no boosting because you could hit “start” to make it boost when it wasn’t responding; you couldn’t hit a “stop” button to make it not boost…
We returned both of them and stick with the wired controllers–which is a pain.
The real drag was that we waited several months to try and buy these. A lot of reviews said the “first batch” had the problem and newer ones were fixed. I just don’t buy this. Ours were a newer batch that we bought from a local store (and had just come on the truck in that day).
I didn’t give the product one star because the wireless feature seemed to work well with no snags. Also, they redesigned the wammy bar on this model, so it doesn’t accidentally hit the start button or trip up your effects switch quite as easily, so well done there. Those upsides just don’t outweigh the negative here, however. Like others say, buy at your own risk. I’m tempted to wait for Nyco or Madcatz to release an off brand one and see if it works any better…
Rating: 2 / 5