ESP EX-400

2008
22 frets
solid top
volume, tone, and 3-way pickup switch
81 bridge, 60 neck
active EMG pickups
Rosewood neck, mohogony body
black polish finish
explorer style body
Tune o matic bridge
Grover style tuner
Jumbo frets

I play Rhythym guitar for my band and it sounds incredible! i mix it in with a line six spider III duel 12 inch amp and it sounds incredible! and of course with line six amps, you can pretty much make it sound like anything you want it to sound like. The active 81/60 pickups really give you alot of options from a clean dethklok or cradle of filth sounding style to a bluesy or softer lacuna coil sound. It has a very clean sound to it when using the 81 pickup but the 60 really compliments the guitar as a rhythm guitarist and doesnt over power the lead. I love this guitar for its sound let alone its appearance.

The guitar was shipped from a hot humid environment to a dry cool one which tends to need a little tweeking to get a proper sound. I inintially had a problem with the low E vibrating against the fret board, however, after a restring with thicker strings and a raise on the fret board, it came out perfect. The pickups were adjusted perfectly, and the bridge had an unmatchable straightness to it that ive never seen in any guitar ive owned. As far as flaws? the only one i had was the string vibration from my E and its eaily fixable. the locking nuts on the neck hold the same tuning as long as you need it. its really an incredible guitar

havnt played it live yet
The hardware is of good quality and im sure it will last
the finish is pretty solid and after a few whacks against doors and walls, seems to be holding up unscathed
the strap buttons were never tested as i bought a strap lock system just for this guitar and that is working extremely well. I recommend anyone spending a good deal of cash on a guitar o use a strap lock system.
I highly depend on this guitar for my uses of it. I both sing and play rythm and thus far its not failed me. The neck is pure silk to play and transitions are exraordinarily easy.
Id use it on a gig in a heart beat but since we play in drop D, id have a backup for our one or two standard tuneing songs

havnt used it, but the manual provides details for a lifetime warranty, something ive never had with any other guitar. incredible!

Ive been playing for four years and am and ESP guy who basically couldnt afford a gibson and fell in love with ESP guitars. I use line 6 amps from recommendations from other local bands im friends with. If it were stolen id defenitly buy another. I love the way the neck works. The frets are amazingly smooth to work with and fast fret work is made easy with this. I love the way it looks. I have something with the style of a gibson explorer without having to make a house payment for it, and with pickups id have personally chosen. The only downfall is, the heavy neck. It does tend to pull a touch, but with a good heavy strap (black leather gothic cross in my case) it stays in place. The only thing i wish it had was an EMG 85 for its neck pickup, but the EMG 60 seems to add a particular crunch for rythm that the 85 doesnt, so its not really a complaint, more an expirament. The guitar itself is well worth the money. Id recommend it to anyone who wants a guitar specifically designed for any kind of metal. not only does it have the sound, its got the look as well.

thick black gloss with black chrome hardware
explorer styled shape
scale 24.5
tune-o-matic with stop tail piece
non-locking grover tuners
jap made
2006 model
22 medium frets
3 way toggle and 2 volumes
EMG 81 in bridge and EMG 60 in neck
mahogany body

this guitar suits me perfectly seeing i play rhythm most of the time and i play mostley metal.
i use it on a fender 15g with a metal zone but have played it on peavey xxl heads and valve kings and sounds great.
this guitar is not very noisey at all but wen u get to high gain with all guitars and amps u get noise unless u have a suppressor.
the sound i obviously very metal,very metallica sounding,u can get pretty much any good metal sound of it and evene the clean is alright with the right seetings.the sound is very clear and heavy and picksup all movement.

the action was great straight out of the box nice and low and it is a dream to play,nice fast neck and very little pressure is required to fret notes and chords.
everything was set up perfect no problems.
no flaws at all aside from the end of the neckbeing cut at a slight angle but is very hard to see.other then that perfect

i can see this guitar withstanding some punishment but the sharp edges would chip easily which is expected.
the hardwre is great quality stuff that i can depend on.
strap buttons are secured tight are of good quality.
i would gig without a backup defiantely unless i needed backup for different tuning.

12 month waranty and i only just got it.
never spoke with then no problems as yet

ive been playing for about a year and this guitar is such a great change from a strat squier.
if it were stolen id defiantely get another one.
i love everything just the main feel.
the 1 and only bad thing about this guitar is the neck tends to dive quite badly when standing up and makes it a little hard to play but its not to bad ill get used to it.
i didnt really get to compare it with much cause it was a speical order and i pretty much had to take it.
this guitar is definately a rhythm guitar so it would be my choice for a lead guitar but it sounds good as a lead guitar but a little hard to play higger end stuff.
everything was pefect everything i expected of an ESP.

I love the 22 jumbo frets on the rosewood fretboard and active EMG 81/60 pickups. Straight glossy black Explorer-style body looks awesome except it's a little harder to get to the 22nd fret especially since my last guitar had 24 and a big cutaway. There's no tremolo but I'd never use it anyway.

I like playing the metal and this guitar is perfect. I usually play it through a Peavey 65W amp with a wah pedal and it just howls. Even out of a little 15W Fender amp, it has power. It even sounds great with a clean tone, not too bassy but a full, rich sound.

It was setup up perfectly. Great action. The bridge pickup was a little close to the high E but it was a slight adjustment. There are a couple dings in the back of the body. I was a little choked but they're on the back so I'm getting over it. One odd thing is the low E tuning peg is a little too close to the neck and it rubs as it goes around. Not enough to get in the way but a little annoying.

It's a tough guitar, so far anyway. Other than any cosmetic dings, this one will hold up. It's a little awkward to play standing up. You really have to stand like a rockstar with your left leg way out to support the heavy neck.

Haven't needed anything yet

I've been playing an Ibanez RG170 for about 5 years. I had no idea how cheap that guitar was until I got this one. My skill level went up as soon as I took this guitar home. The jumbo frets and active pickups make this guitar perfect for shredding and heavy power chords. I'd get this guitar again if it were stolen but in a different colour just to mix it up.

set-neck construction; 24.75? scale; mahogany body w/black anodized aluminum diamond plate; 3-piece maple neck; rosewood fingerboard; dot inlays w/model name at 12th fret; EMG 81/60 active pickups; volume & tone controls w/3-way toggle; black hardware; Grover tuners; Earvana compensated nut; tune-o-matic bridge w/stop tailpiece; 22 XJ frets

Couldn't imagine better features for a guitar... well, okay... the wood and pickups are a question of your opinion. I usually prefer alder bodies and maple necks, but mahogany sounds great for metal.

Two EMG 81 pickups would probably sound louder, but it's quite good, because you have two pickups which sound totally different. EMG 81 is better for lead and the 60 is (probably) better for rhythm. But I prefer EMG 81 pickups for both...

Everything okay, but there are two very bad things about this guitar, why I hate it now:

1. The fretboard is kind of porous. It feels very cheap if you touch it.

2. The headstock is very heavy. It's impossible to play it standing, unless you have something to stand on with one foot to have one knee under the guitar! You can't move your thumb, because the headstock is already on kneehight then!

You can play it live when you are sitting :/

Didn't use any support...

I've been playing for one year now and I can already play more than the guitar! I really can't recommend it except for studio recording. Then it would probably be a cheap solution, but why buying an Explorer style guitar for studio?! Explorers are made for showing them on stage, but this is impossible for playing it live, trust me! You better buy an original Gibson Explorer for 400EUR more...

i got mine about 4 months ago from the usa. the guitar itself is made in korea but you would never be able to tell from playing the guitar. EMG 81 active pickups are amazing humbuckers and there are 2 of them on this little best. the controles are the only thing i dont like about the guitar as there is only a 3 way selector which is lp style and one volume and a tone. it would be better if there was a volume and tone for indervidual pickups. the finish on this guitar is amazing. mine is the black one an the finish covers the whole guitar including he neck which makes for a fast action on the guitar. the grover tuners are ever responcive and stay in tune for weeks (im not joking). the guitar is lacking a trem system. the neck is 22 fret maple wih rosewood fingerboard. very confortable to use and very very easy to reach the top frets. the neck feels shorter then usual which makes it easy to pull off blinding riffs such as master of the puppets

i run this through line 6 pedals into a marshall mode four and wow. this thing is amazing. the distorted sounds are the best iv every heard out of any guitar iv played. i own a fender strat and a gibson lp studio and on distortion this guitar is better then both of them put together. when you go into clean channel you get sort of blusy sound which can be nice. i prefer however the clean sound of my strat as the single coils can give you a great sound. this guitar is load much louder then any of my other guitars. by this i mean not that it makes noise when dont play it, in fact its as quite as the lp but because of the active pickups this guitar can realy let rip. my little practice amp didnt know what it had coming and at the top of this clean channel it sounded very distorted (this was the amp not the guitar!!!). this guitars sound is very suited towards rock and metal so dont buy this if u want an all rounder, get a strat or lp for that. i gave the sound a 8 because the distorted sound beats all the clean channel is good aswell

form the box i havent changed anything. i even use the same type of strings. the action was set nice and low, but not so low the strings hit the fretboard. this guitar dosent take much effort to play and is very forgiving if you make a mistake. in fact it is easyer and nicer to play then my lp which cost nearly twice as much and i have to get it professionaly set up! the strings are quite close together compared to my strat but they are much lower and easyer to play. as i have said the finish to this guitar is brillient and shiny but it is very easy for it to pick up finger prints and grease ect. the finish on this is better then my strats.

i play rythem guitar for a metallica tribute band which ws th main reason i got this guitar so i can look the part and i can say that this guitar has been giged 4 times, droped twice on stage, used to push over my mode four, dangled into the crowed for them to hit it and it still looks the same as the day i got it, apart form one dent i put in it. this guitar feels light but once u play it you can feel its nice and solid. the finish looks like its got lots of pick marks from playing but after its been polished they go away easy enouth. the controles and jack socket are built very well and solid so are not likely to break. it have never failed me, but if i were to do a gig where i wasnt allowed a backup i would take the lp.

never had to deal with them

this guitar holds its own against guitars twice its price so therefore cant be bad for 600. as a player for 3 years im still looking for a guitar to call my own and although this guitar is very good i would not call it my own, but it will probly still be a part of my live arsanal even when i find my guitar. if it were stolen i dont think i would replace it as i would enjoy to try something new and exciting. overall an extreamly good buy for rockers with $600 to spend

Features on this guitar are quite nice, active pickups etc all make for a worthwhile guitar, only thing I am missing is that there is no tremolo system...

Okay now this guitar is primarily used for direct recording.....no marshall for this baby. It is used both clean and distorted with the sansamp and a g-major and sounds crystalline. cos of the active pickups there isn't much else to add. Very good for what it does but lacks a certain feel that passive pickups give.

The guitar was set up excellent. For this guitar I sat in the shop and tested the tuning, intonation and action before I left the store and it was excellent. The action may have been fractionally high but that is no problem at all. The look was excellent, with the back of the nexk and the main body in lovely gloss black. A little difficult to keep clean but you cannot with them all. I am though dissappointed about the position of the strap holders. It makes it rather headstock heavy when standing up.

No Problems here at all never had an issue, even the battery lasts well.

Never had to deal with them

Well I compared it against an epi goth les paul i have and it was favourably different enough for me to buy it.