ESP Kerry King V

Action is too low and the pickups sound too harsh.

In two words: IT SUCKS! I can't do any SRV stuff and I can't do any KID ROCK tunes either. I even ran it through my POD and it totally sucked! I can't even play GWAR with this damn thing. The guy at the shop just suckered me into this thing and said "OH YEAH! YOU CAN GET ALL THE SRV TUNES"... yeah right you big liar! This thing made my Rogue GS-100R combo sound so terrible and I almost blew out my speakers. The sound was just too harsh.

As I said, the action is too low. Sheesh!

well, it's a guitar right? DUH! of course it's gonna be rock solid. But does it really rock? NO!

Well, the guy at the store is a complete idiot and a big liar too. Don't let them sucker you into this guitar cuz you can't do ANY SRV tunes whatsoever. No Kid Rock and No GWAR either. It just sucks aye.

If you wanna rock like SRV, GWAR, or KID ROCK then you better stay clear of this thing. This the sound is just too harsh. I've been playing for 9 rock solid years now and I have played just about all the cool stuff. I have a burgandy Paul Reed Smith that will totally spin circles around this thing. I can bend and bend some more without it sounding harsh. My advice is to stay way from this thing and get a Paul Reed Smith. The fans like PRS too. Anyway, I'm gonna get my money back and file a lawsuit for misrepresentation to a guitarist. Peace out.

Black flying V guitar, 2 EMG 81's active humbuckers, EMG adjustable volume boost switch, one volume knob, one tone knob, kahler pro bridge, single locking at the nut, reverse headstock shaped like a hocky stick, nice neck almost as thin as an Ibanez Wizard neck, bolt on, diamond inlays, 24 frets.

would've giving this category a 10 but it is damn hard to adjust the volume boost. you have to adjust it by taking the back panel off, which is no problem but the adjusting knob is akwardly placed too close to the wall for comfortable adjustment. also i like neck-through construction compared to bolt on.

this guitar screams METAL! METAL! METAL!!! I play into a 100 watt marshall valvestate amp and an ampeg 4x12 speaker cab. since marshall valvestate overdrive really blows i use a boss metalzone for distortion and i have an equalizer to fill up my tone. also use an old boss analog delay pedal and ocassionally a boss digital delay pedal. with the booster off, this guitar is the least noisy guitar i've ever played w/ or wo/ distortion. it gets really noisy with the booster on, but its not that bad.

the sound is full and ear peircing. the EMGs suck and compress and shoot out so much that you get a nice solid balls out wall of sound. this is NOT a BLUES guitar. it is STRICTLY METAL. this is not to say that you have to use distortion, cuz it sounds great clean too. the clean tones have an intersting and creepy hollow sound that i just love! guitar picks up harmonics very well, but its not uncontrolably piping hot. i dont like how i cant play Iommi/black sabbath style stuff on this guitar but hey, thats what my Yamaha SBG is for (its an SG knock-off and for the price and quality and playablity it kicks the shit out of any damn overpriced Gibson).

this guitar is used, looks like the previous owner took good care of it, while the owner before him appatently liked to bash into things with it. but this guitar still looks solid as a rock and very well built. looks dependable, electronics are well put together, solid long lasting finish. i probably wouldn't need a backup guitar.

this guitar is loud as fuck. the EMGs really bust your sound open, while the volume boosting switch will add up to 20 db (so i've read) to your tone. with all these features you wont even have to say "it goes up to 11." i know i paid too much for this guitar, but it was exactly what i wanted and more-so. the kahler bridge is amazing. floyd rose bridges can go to hell! the kahler is better constructed and will stay in tune a lot better and easier than a floyd rose.

I have the bolt-on Kerry King V which is black and made of mahogany. It's a bolt on but the back of the neck is still painted. The fretboard is rosewood w/ diamond inlays, and the headstock is reversed like a Kamikaze. It has 2 EMG 81 pickups w/ a built in preamp that can be turned on/off w/ a toggle switch. It has a locking Kahler Pro trem unit which is very nice since it doesn't go through the body like a floyd. This guitar looks very intense!!!

I bought this guitar mainly for it's looks. EMG 81's aren't my favorite pickups, but they sound pretty good for rock,metal,industrial and other hard styles of music. The neck pickup doesn't clean up very much, but gives a nice distorted rythym sound when cranked. I guess Kerry has it set up this way because he doesn't need any sparkling clean sounds while on stage w/ SLAYER. Consider this guitar for rock only. With the preamp on sustain is almost infinite..it holds notes for a very long time.

Action is great. The feel of the neck is nice,not too thin,not too fat. It's slightly narrower than a Kamikaze neck. The workmanship on this guitar is great, as with my other 3 ESP's. I bought this guitar used so the points on the V are a little beat up.

All my ESP's are tough guitars that would stand up on the road. The only problem with this guitar would be it's headstock. I have a Kamikaze with the same reverse headstock that fell over and shattered. Beware, ESP won't replace the neck if this happens to you!!!!!

See above. ESP's customer service did not impress me. When the headstock on my Kamikaze shattered they said they'd replace it for $400!!!! I had it repaired instead.

I have been playing guitar for over 10 years and own many rockin guitars(2 ESP Kamikaze's,ESP Mirage,Kramer Proaxe,Jackson Vinnie Vincent,Peavey Vandenberg,Wolfgang,Gibson Les Paul,Fender Strat). This guitar is my only guitar that couldn't really be used for playing a versatile song with some nice clean parts. For rockin it sounds great,but if I was going to play some cover tunes I'd choose one of my other guitars...if I wasn't playing Slayer :). I'm tempted to install an EMG 85 in the neck which would dramatically increase it's versatility.

1995 Made, Japanese (from ESPs Custom Shop). 24 frets. 1 volume, 1 tone, 3-way pickup selector, on/off for the onboard EMG PA-2 Preamp. H/H pickup config, both EMG-81s. Totally active electronics, powered by 1 9-volt body. Body and neck are mahogany, painted black. Finish is the aforementioned black.. very glossy by the way. Body stlye is a evil-looking flying V (i.e. very pointed) with a reverse Explorer-style headstock with ESP KERRY KING on it. Kahler Pro locking tremelo (one of the best trems ever!), flat-mount. (no springs, cam-action). Tuners are standard Gotoh non-locking 14:1 ratio tuners.. wide, medium thickness neck.. like a little thinner les paul. Finished black. Came with deluxe ESP case (purple velour interior)and all necessary wrenches, and a whammy bar. I bought it from Digibid, an on-line auction service, but i picked it up from their warehouse. It was a store demo, mint condition, not a single scratch. Just needed a new set of strings (Blue Steel .10-.52)

This is a metal axe. No shit. With the agressive body style, EMGs, and Kerry King's name on it, you know this ain't no country or blues axe.. with the EMGs and the preamp, you get MASSIVE distortion.. my amp's clean channels are no longer clean, they get tons of crunch! With the preamp off, it's cleaner, but still pretty distorted.. not very versatile.. you can't get sparkling clean (even by turning down the volume) or les-paul fatness, and you can't get a nice blues overdrive.. but it has amazing distortion.. very distorted, but each string still is defined.. no muddiness.. if you've ever heard Slayer, Zakk Wylde, or Metallica, you know the sound.. it cuts but it is pretty full.. very little noise, by the way, and no hum.. if only you ocould coil split the neck.. but you can't. I'm saying 7 on my rating, but I really mean 10 for distortion, and 5 for clean.

Don't know.. guys at digibid set it up very nicely... low and even, great intonation. Everything fits well and was finished 100% perfectly. Kudos ESP.

I don't know.. the strap buttons are certainly big enough though.

Pretty helpful.. they knew about most stuff, like where and when the guitar was made, and gave me Kahler's phone so I could get a manual for the Pro Trem.. but they couldn't tell me what store it originally went to or anything. oh well.

I can't believe I got so good a value on this thing! These puppies sold new for around $1600.. I got for less than half of that with a case and everything.. I wish you could coil split it, but it's not meant to be a versatile all-in-one axe.. it is made for full metal krunch and you get full metal krunch.. I didn't even try it out before I bought it. I new ESP made great guitsrs (I was contemplating buying a George Lynch or James Hetfield model) and had good quality. I got it home (i had a return policy of course) and fell in love.. great axe! I don't even need a distortion pedal (or any pedal), running straight into my marshall JCM800 stack.. awesome tone.