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Home > Guitar > Guitar Reviews > Synsonics > Terminator

Synsonics Terminator

Summary
Similar Products VTG 3-Pin DMX Terminator @ Musician's Friend
Carl Martin Noise Terminator Pedal @ Musician's Friend
Features 5.2 (28 responses)
Sound 5.0 (27 responses)
Action, Fit, & Finish 4.8 (26 responses)
Reliability/Durability 6.0 (27 responses)
Customer Support 2.7 (13 responses)
Overall Rating 5.7 (27 responses)
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Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 01/20/2001 at 05:55pm by Anonymous

Features : 2
Black plastic/cardboard finish, it says that it comes with a whammy bar, but no bar to be found on the thing, shitty built in amp, plastic tunings, 1 volume switch....and that sums it up.

Sound : 3
sucks, turn the volume knob up and it gets shitty distortion/scratchy waves.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 3
they glued it all on...most likely.

Reliability/Durability : 4
aha it sucks. cant depend on it, and id never bring it on stage.

Customer Support : 1
they probably went out of business years ago

Overall Rating : 3
it sucks, if it was stolen, i'd feel bad for the person who stole it.


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $50
Submitted 10/19/2000 at 09:33am by Anonymous

Features : 8
What's to say? Pawn shop, $50. 2 pickups, Black, built in "amp", slight repairs to stuck 'Pots', crappy strip tuners. But with a little tightening on the truss pod and a pack o' 10's this little thing has proven to be a very playable hack around machine and a plus on the road in the van on the way to gigs figuring out or writing tunes.

Sound : No Opinion

Action, Fit, & Finish : No Opinion

Reliability/Durability : 5
This ax may someday be a lifesaver at a gig someday but I wouldn't rely on it as a backup.The short scale and non adjustable, fixed bridge makes acceptable intonation a problem. Although I haven't used it this way, the built in amp is plenty good for busqueing or street playing and turned up gives a non-crunchy overdriven sound and complements a harmonica well,while at lower volumes it is almost clean.

Customer Support : 2
Wouldn't attempt any customer support. Is this funky company still in business? I did enjoy their electronic guitar from the eighties but mine broke.

Overall Rating : 8
I had been looking for some time for a non-serious ax with a built in amp for some time and like this thing alot. If it was gone, I'd miss it but wouldn't hold out much hope of finding another. All in all, a funky toy


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $38$ used
Submitted 08/19/2000 at 06:42pm by chris tomisack
Email: krmro at hotmail<dot>com

Features : 10
This guitar has a nice sounding built in speaker with 2 volume controls and 1 tone. The features and fairly simple other than the built in speaker.

Sound : 10
This guitar has the best jazzy sound of any guitar ive ever played. no the pickups are very quiet and erotic. i have no dislikes about this guitar.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
one word motzart

Reliability/Durability : 10
i think it will withstand stone cold steve austin himself. ive dropped it and flopped the son of a bitch so much and it still goes strong.

Customer Support : 5
never dealt with them but there probly not bad.

Overall Rating : 10
ive been playing 2yrs and i own a strat copy and a dearmond mc65 and this guitar is better than them by far. if i lost it i would buy it again because it has a nice feel for my playing style.


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $0 used
Submitted 03/03/2000 at 07:42pm by Tim
Email: jababa0 at aol<dot>com

Features : 1
I'm sure what year it was made in, but it does say Made in Korea on the back. 22 frets on it...and the top, well...uhh...whats left seems to be made out of some kind of wood...or maybe that plastic wood stuff that comes in that little can. 2 volume, 1 tone, one two way switch, and two outputs (amp-headphones). It's also got a ghetto little speaker on the top of it. Two toy-like single coil pickups...maybe by Mattel or Hasbro...not sure. Electronics are pretty much gone due to my frustration with getting it to work. I pulled everything out and wired the bridge pickup directly to the output jack (my parents found this guitar in a garbage can on an evening walk). It seems like the whole guitar is made of one "wood". I'm just not quite sure what that is. It's got a black...maybe water color finish on it, but also some natural spots. Body style is kind of like a scale downed version of a strat. The bridge is made from a large castle door hinge of some kind...when there are no strings on, it flaps up and down like some kind of percussion clacker (two instruments in one!!). The tuners are...well...a peice of art to say the least. The neck is a fingerboardless, warped, and chipped peice of wood (still not sure what kind). I think it used to have a whammy bar, but it looks like the previous owner busted it off with the end still left in the bridge. Except for that and the built in speaker, nothing else was included (except 3 rusty strings).

Sound : 1
I play many different styles and have not yet found one that this suits, but I'm still looking. So far, I've been afraid to try it on any real amp because of a high pitched sound it was making, so I've been putting it trough one of those little 9volt fender amps. Before I ripped out all the electronics, it was pretty noisy, but amazingly, its almost noiseless with just the pickups. It has a very...originial...sound. If your looking for anything that sounds like a guitar...even remotely...this isn't it.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 1
Well, the neck has no adjustable trust rod, so the warpness is kind of stuff. The strings raise up at about a 2 degree angle from the 1rst to the 21rst fret. The fretwire is coming out of the neck. Theres many, many scratches. I'm not even sure if its wood anymore. Everything, including your fingers after touching it, has a bit of rust on it. The tuning pegs arn't loose...I used thick strings. The controls and selecter are firmly in place after my adjusting...but they really no long have a function. They are now merely decoration.

Reliability/Durability : 1
This guitar would probably melt under heavy lighting...so I wouldn't recommend it on stage. The hardware did not last long. I can rub the finish of with tissue paper. The strap buttons are alright, except for the one falling out of the neck. I would depend on it for a wall hanging. A gig? With this?

Customer Support : 1
I never delt with the company. I repaired it myself. Since I could get nothing but a very loud dog whistle out of it through an amp, I had to take it apart, pull apart all the electronics, and rewire the pickups. Took a good couple of hours, but it was a fun learning experience. No warrenty.

Overall Rating : 1
I've played guitar for about seven years. I own an epiphone strat copy, a washburn d12 acoustic, a fender american strat, and a gibson studio lite. I own a crate gx15 little krappy amp, a fender 160 watt stage 112 solid state amp, digitech rp7 preamp, morely pro-wah, dod distortion box, morley crystal chorus box, and many other little accessories. I didn't buy this guitar, nor did I ask for it. It came to me...from my parents...who recieved it from a garbage can. If it were stolen or lost...well...unless someone takes it off my wall, I don't think its going anywhere. I love it because it was free. What can I hate, it was free. Well, it taught me how to wire pickups...kind of. My favorite feature has to be the free part. I havn't really thought of it as a real guitar yet, so I havn't been able to compare it to others. As a toy though, its very realistic. I wish it had a check for a lot of money pasted on to the back of it. Not really, except that I don't recommend paying anything for this thing. If you find it on the street, as I did, it can be a lot of fun, and help you to waist some useless time. I really think its a great thing for someone who wants to mess around with parts and try to build their own stuff, just as long you don't pay a dime for it.


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $0 used
Submitted 12/25/1999 at 01:13am by Phil
Email: pdcasto<at>hotmail dot com

Features : 3
Made in China. Half-ass-strat-copy. Has built in speaker thing. 21-frets. 2 volume, 1 tone control. 2 jacks--1 for input, the other for headphones. Body made of hard cardboardlike shit. No fretboard (it's part of the neck). Tuners are open pieces of crap.

Sound : 1
The built in speaker is HORRIBLE! I plugged this into a Peavey amp (not sure of kind) and it STILL sounded bad. No matter what I did it sounded bad. If you play hard the sound becomes really distorted, but not good distortion--cheap, shitty distortion.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 3
I had to adjust everything on this P.O.S. almost everytime I played it. Finish didn't scratch too easily, it outlasted the guitar.

Reliability/Durability : 1
THIS GUITAR SUCKS! I dropped it ONE TIME and the cardboard body broke. I guess the neck was bolted on well, but it couldn't take anything. I would NEVER use this thing at a gig. The strap buttons came off after i put a strap on it. I would never depend on anything this worthless.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never called about anything.

Overall Rating : 2
Been playing about 1 1/2 years. I own a Squier Stratocaster and an Ovation Celebrity (electric) now. ANYTHING is better than this piece of junk (but my other guitars are excellent). I don't care what happened to this, I dropped it once and it broke. SO i threw it in the closet and went on with another instrument. This guitar was a given to me, and I only took it because I didn't own any at the time. I did learn to play on this (and a squier strat) so it served its purpose, UNTIL IT BROKE! Total piece of crap. DO NOT BUY THIS!!! I think they cost $100 at stores, just go to www.musiciansfriend.com and buy the $99 strat copy, it's much a better deal


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $30 used
Submitted 05/09/1999 at 09:55pm by Steve
Email: sboudrea<at>bellsouth dot net

Features : 2
Features??? A built-in, ahem, "amp" is about all. One really cheesy pickup. Wammy bar, but spring was gone when I bought it. Made in China. 21 frets, if it matters- small scale. Solid top- solid paper! One vol and one tone-cut control. Neck is some sorta mystery wood- but get this- the fret board is non-existant! My nephew pointed out that the neck and fret board are actually one piece of wood.

Sound : 1
Sound?? What's that, sonny? This thing makes SOUND??? Never mind my style- if I thought this doorstop suited my style, I'd have none. Impossible to get this paperweight to play clean and still be heard over the roar of a gentle breeze. If you crank this fly-swatter up, it distorts out the wazoo- fun for about 15 seconds. You can hook it up to an external amp, but with only one pickup, you get no variety whatsoever from the guitar.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 1
Set up at the factory?? Come on! Bookmatched??? More like a book OF matches, which is the best investment anyone could make in this piece of firewood.

Reliability/Durability : 1
Well, it WAS reliable. I bought it to take on non-musical business trips- thought it would fit in my carry-on baggage, and I could mess around in the hotel room. I kept it stashed behind the seat of my pickup truck, and pulled it out when I wanted to dash off a riff or two. It was fun for that use, I must admit. Would I gig with it without a backup? HE HE!! I was ashamed to be seen playing it at all!

Customer Support : No Opinion
You'd think that since the company sold these roach-killers at every store from Radio Shack to the fruit stand on the corner, they'd be easy to get serviced, but I never tried.

Overall Rating : 1
I bought it for the uses stated above, and sold it (whew! Thought I'd get stuck with it!) cause it was actually pissing me off and making me not want to play- NOT the intent.


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $29
Submitted 04/06/1999 at 01:02am by Anonymous

Features : 2
How strange... so this thing is made outta paper? HUH? Well, I got mine direct from the co. so I am not out much.. I got it for $29. A built in speaker, on/off switch, one vol. knob, a headphone jack, an input jack, one single coil pickup, speaker on the front of the guitar, very small scale guitar (not even a 3/4 size). I bought it at a discount; I wasn't going to pay more than $29 for it. IT'S A TOY, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!!!! Some other person wrote in a review for it that he/she bought their's at a toy store. Hmm... So, Std. Strat tremelo... came w/ a bar, a 10'cord, 2 allen wrenches... The tuners? C'mon. What do you expect, Sperzels? The neck is strat thin, but the actual frets suck. Not installed well at all. The frets overlap on each side, giving it a pointy, sharp quality about it. Gotta file 'em down some. Other than what I listed, no addt'l accessories. MADE IN CHINA. IT runs off of one 9 volt battery, to power the cheesy built in amp. It did not come w/ a battery, nonetheless.

Sound : 2
Strictly practice guitar. I might mess around on it. Get this, when I got it, I made an interesting discovery. The factory did not bolt the neck on properly, so when I took the neck off the guitar, I found that the factory did not drill the bolt holes properly. So now, I'm gonna fill the holes with a wood compound, sand it down, re-drill it down in order to install the neck on the guitar. XTRA WORK FOR ME!! I can't comment on the sound yet. With just one single coil, it won't produce any variety whatsoever. Do not care for the extra work I'll have to put into it.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 1
Because of the neck situation, I'll give it a low grade. Otherwise, the nut will need adj., very poor quality wood ( Paper? They can't be serious). Very poor fret job. This gets a grade of...

Reliability/Durability : 1
Don't even ask.

Customer Support : 1
Some snooty bitch answers the phone every time I call there. Obviously, she doesn't like her job, or needs a good fuck. Customer service sucks, to be polite. No warranty.

Overall Rating : 1
Overall rating... it's a joke; after I get done fixing it up and fixing it RIGHT... it might be ok. It was a factory 2nd closeout product, but still... I'll be able to take it out to the lake, the park, to the john, whatever... w/ a built in amp/ speaker, I'll be able to play whenever inspiration strikes, or whatever the saying goes... Maybe w/ the built in speaker, I can get some wicked feedback action going on w/ an amp as well. Or I'll just destroy the f**king thing. What a hunk of S**T!!


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $100
Submitted 02/06/1999 at 01:04am by alex
Email: lprmesia at aol<dot>com

Features : 2
Built in amp, hey!

Sound : 5
The sound on it (naturally) sucks, but if you plug it in to a good amp and set up some good settings on it, it's not too bad. What this guitar is good for though, is writing songs on if guitar is not your natural instrument. I have had this guitar since 1993, and I have written so many songs off it, and all I paid was $100. It does have some use.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 7
It hasn't gotten out of shape at all! although one of the bridge saddles came off when i moved but it was easily fixed for only $3. no biggie other than that, it won't even scratch

Reliability/Durability : 6
It will last a while, unless you decide to smash it to death. i would never use it at a gig, never, and not even as a backup. it's just good for writing. It is reliable tohugh, i just don't think the sound is great enough. and it is light

Customer Support : 10
15-year warranty comes with it, and it got fixed, quickly.

Overall Rating : 3
if it were stolen, i'd buy a new one it's cheap, and good for writing songs i just wouldn't use it as your main guitar the little things got some use after all but overall, for those who view it as a normal guitar...


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $gift, but I've seen the new for around $100
Submitted 01/06/1999 at 01:38pm by Joe
Email: chung_5 at hotmail<dot>com

Features : 2
My dad bought me this nasty thing about two and a half years ago with good intentions, but I swear I was mad when he bought it. This was my first guitar and If had to keep it as my only guitar I am sure I would have quit. It features a 3/4 or smaller size body and according to another entry the body is made of paper? I don't have it with me right now,although I still own it, I'm not so sadistic as to pass it on to somebody else, so I'm not sure about everything. I don't know where it was made, but it has 21 frets, with a straight maple neck, no slant at the headstock, cheap plastic nut, cheap open gear tuners that are supposed to be for an acoustic. I think it has a maple fretboard, but I'm not sure it even has a seperate slab of wood for a fretboard. There is one knob for volume and an on/off switch for the built in practice amp. Here is the real joke of this guitar, a guitar is good, an amp is good, therefore an amp built in to a guitar must be good, right? WRONG! What's even stupider is that the 3" speaker is mounted in the back of the guitar so the strings end up being louder than the amp. There are two jacks, one for output ,the other for headphones. This 'axe' (yeah right, more like hatchet) has one low output single-coil pickup and a fixed Fender style bridge. This one does have height and intonation adjustments, but its is next to impossible to get a string through the saddle, you have to bend the string and snake it through. The finish is a metallic red, it looks like automotive paint. Overall this guitar sucks, sure it has that awesome practice amp built into it, but that just doesn't cut it.

Sound : 1
This guitar couldn't possibly suit anybody's musical style, except maybe somebody who's into the Backstreet Boys or something like that, in which a guitar isn't needed. I used the built in amp until I got some real equipment, if you turn the volume up and hold it in the most uncomfortable position, you can get enought sound out of it to hear it over the strings, and it even overdrives a little bit. The sound is really bright, but very low output, I plugged it into my Crate G40C and it made me want a new amp. The only rthing worse than hearing it acousticly, is hearing it plugged in. It almost sounds like it has a flanger on it or something, but not a good sounding flanger. I have this sick idea of putting a Duncan Duckbucker in it, sperzel tuners, graphtec nut and jumbo frets and making a badass little crapper out of it, but It's merely a joke.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 1
This guitar wasn't setup at the factory, some strings were thrown on and wound up so they didn't flop around. I don't think the pickup can be adjusted, never tried, it looks like it's just screwed into a hole in the body The body is a regular strat copy, minus any contours, so it's not abnormal, except that its 3/4 or smaller size and the cutaway doesn't have access to the 21st fret, but that doesn't matter anyway, because the pickup won't pickup anything that quiet. The frets are cheap they are worn down after two months of playing and after about 2 year of not playing it, they are a ll oxidized. They really are pathetic, they have severe scratches on them from bending, the strings are harder than the frets.

Reliability/Durability : 8
Overall this guitar is actually pretty reliable, I wouldn't gig with it because it sucks and it doesn't stay in tune. The paint has worn of in one spot after four months of use, and it wasn't a chip, it actually rubbed off. I've never put a strap on it, but they are really small. I wouldn't gig with this as my backup, I might smash, but this is such a funny conversation piece.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I don't think synsonics has a customer support, never tried to find out, I don't think anybody buys these with quality in mind.

Overall Rating : 1
This guitar sucks, I've been playing for two and a half years, I wish my dad had bought me something other than this. If it were lost or stolen I would beat the crap out of the person who stole it for stealing such a piece of crap. I love the built in amp, its such a joke, I hat everything else about it. You can't compare this to anything else, it sucks too much. If you're even contemplating buying this, don't. The only way I would have another one of these is if I saw one at a rummage sale for $10 or less and then I would use on stage as a battle axe.


Product: Synsonics Terminator
Price Paid: US $65.00 used
Submitted 12/20/1998 at 09:22pm by Douglas Lane
Email: g_oliath at hotmail<dot>com

Features : 7
Don't know when the make was, the body was made out of some stuff that looked felt and tasted like paper, so I guess it was just pressed glued recycled paper or something. Black finish, two single coil pickups, built in practice amp, two volume, one tone, an amp on off swith, two jacks, one for the amp, and one for headphones from the practice amp. strat style headstock with crappy tuners that broke easily, body was very small, came with a height adjustable bridge no intonation though, and a vibrato style tail piece, bolt on maple neck with 22 jumbo frets and an ebony fretboard, made it taiwan, nic action nice nut.

Sound : 5
Noisy and limited adjusting the pickups helped but play something really distorted through this thing and you'll be alright.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 6
Finsih was nice paper body sucked for sound pickups could be changed out thaty would help allot. bought it used from a pawn shop so it was set all wrong this was my brothers first guitar and it scared him out of playing for a while because he thogh all guitar would be that way. it is very light light as paper HA HA. knocked the headstock on things all the time and it was alright.

Reliability/Durability : 7
no way I would gig without a backup, this would be my second backup behind my peavey strat, or maybe I would just destory it, don't buy this for your kid buy them something better like a Samick or something . GHowever this thing is built very well it will hold together but it is easy to break the strings with that vibrola unit if your not carefull. It also takes hal an hour to change all the strings. Strap buttons were nice but the strap was crap, would like to be able to adjust the intonation.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Really didn't want to have anything to do with them anfter having lived with this thing for a year.

Overall Rating : 5
Do not torture your child by buying them one of these, like I said buy them a samick or something it will cost you less money in the longrun and last longer. No way you could play this thing live unless you wanted to destroy it or something

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