ESP LTD Viper-104

2003 Viper made in Indonesia. Normal 4-string with a grey satin finish. 2 volume, 2 tone knobs with double humbuckers. It is of course the lowest end of the viper bass line and it shows it on this bass. The finish looks kind of cheap, even cheaper than most satin finishes. My mom's friends who knew nothing about instruments said it looked cheap (which felt like crap). 34" scale. warped SG body style. Stock tuners are average. Also, someone has to get this straight. It has active EQ, active pickups. Its a good thing too or I'm willing to bet this thing would sound like a rubber band....micced up that is, but still just a rubber band, which don't sound good.

I like to play anything from experimental to metal and this bass does the job ok. An average job. It gets a nice bottom end, but can get kind of snappy if you only use the bridge humbucker. Otherwise though, it has a nice sound. Nothing to complain about really, it really stands out decently. By decently I mean satisfactory. It doesn't suck, but it's not extraordinary. If it were in school it would get a C.

The pickups were decently set up, nice and solid, and if I were rating on pickup setup this thing would get a 9. However I can complain about the rest of the set up to no end.

For one thing the neck is warped to no end. Seriously man, if you look at it straight on it looks like a roller coaster. Simply horrendous, which made me have to raise the action up literally an inch. Now i get all these cracks about it being a cello (or a paddle by my friend because the headstock is also offenseively large and ugly). This make it almost impossible to play.

As if that weren't enough the knobs started coming off as if the bass were a leper or something after a month.

Well lets see....after the neck went retarded and the knobs fell off, well then otherwise the thing is built soldily. but its made of heavy ass agathis wood so it kind of should be. to be quite honest though, i dont even consider it a bass anymore. When i first got it i named it albert, then me and my friends changed it to robert for retard albert, which is a terrible joke in text, but hilarious as a visual. after covering it with black duct tape in an attempt to make it more ugly and humiliate it, it actually now looks better because it covers up the ugly finish. Also sometimes i kick the neck to get the action somewhat normal.....which believe it or not, hurts if you don't wear shoes. the final test of durability was when i threw it to the ground by the e string out of anger. A little bit of the tape came off, but otherwise the body was alright. In short, this things a piece of crap and only makes me more angry that it doesn't fall apart now that i want it to....because i hate it.

This thing came with a 1 year warranty from esp and a 45 day thing from musicians friend (not my friend). I tried to contact both and got a reply after about a week saying that they could do nothing. I couldnt even return the POS because i lost the reciept (yeah i know, hella dumb). So im stuck here with robert, and $150 poorer.

ok fine, i paid $150 for this thing, so what am i to expect. Lesson learned was dont buy basses on 50% off sales or anything like that. Ive been playing for a little over a year, but mainly consider myself a guitarist even though i play bass for my band. Anywhom, i play through a Crate 30W, and normally with a Jackson that was actually very nice, and i dont like jacksons, but then i had to start playing with robert, which was so terrible that i just started vomiting and gave up. It gets a 2 because the pickups still work and even though now im trying to destroy it, it holds together, which may be good for you, the consumer, but bad for me, the guy that wants his bass to be completely and utterly destroyed. So there it is, all in all i think i went too soft in this review.

22 Large Frets built on a rosewood fretboard. It's got 4 strings (hence the 10[4]) and it IS the lowest end of the Viper basses. It's got a H/H config that are jet black with no finish but the body itself is jet black with a shiny finish. No pickguard and the warped SG-style body give it a very gothic look but not too much.

Not too sure about the tuners, but they're standard on all ESP basses. All you'll really need. Smooth and precise.

Their are 4 non-marked metal knobs on the lower end of the body. 2 for volume and 2 for tone. With the active electronics it's got you can really hear the difference. Going from low and bulky to snappier and funkier and you can treble it out for a Rickenbacker sound.

Note: It IS pretty heavy.

Didn't come with a case but I had to pick one up to protect this baby.

Great sound for anything. Blues, Jazz, Metal, Funk, or even Slap sounds great. It's not meant for any one style but I think you can play just about anything on it. It's definetly got more of a dark sound and even when playing slap it sound bulky and not light but I like it.

This is the 104 so it's supposed to be the lowest end but it sounds high end. Great tone and large sound for a low price.

Action was set really high when I got it. The ability to change this is severely limited by the bridge so you can't really change that setting all that easily.

Pickups are in great position for finger style, great for picking, but Slap you have to be careful to hit it in the right spot. Not difficult to do, though.

This thing is a tank and I mean it. It was definetly meant for being played hard and even though it's the lowest end 4 string Viper, it's got a great quality feel to it.

Haven't dealt with anyone yet.

The only thing that's bad about this bass that I've seen is that the weight can get to your shoulder if you don't have a well padded strap. Other basses I've tried don't really compare in the price range. It sounds just as good as the $500 Viper 304 and upward models. Definetly worth the money.