Love the Firebird shape and sound. Ever since someone turned me on to Johnny Winter I loved this guitar format. Now with ESP/LTD version you get the best of old tone (vintage) and modern along with their craftsmanship and hardware I’d say it’s up there with Gibson Firebird. Like to see a comparison review of the two Gibson/LTD going through the guitars cosmetic and playability maybe even internal wiring see what’s doin’
Echoing what some others have said, I'm always impressed by how well thought out your videos are. You come across as very level-headed and your chops and tone are killer. Wish they made an MIJ version too.
Hi John, awesome review! I was researching this guitar yesterday and came across your channel. Wanted to hear it through an EVH 5150 III as well. Problem solved! Subscribed and look forward to seeing more content! So I wanted to add a bit of information. You mentioned that the guitar has a maple neck. Meeotch commented there seems to be some confusion between it being mahogany or maple. I reached out to ESP yesterday and got a response from a rep this morning. The guitar does indeed have a 3pc Mahogany neck. The design changed in 2019 and switched from maple to mahogany. Seems like a bunch of sites haven't updated their specs accordingly. Thanks again for the fantastic review! Cheers!
So 3 months ago I bought a Korean Phoenix-1000 and let me tell you it's amazing. Resonates amazingly and it's very comfortable. Also, they look great when standing up. If you're looking to standout among all the superstrat players, go for it.
@@davemarriott9332 You'll abosuletly love it! It's really like Gibson's Firebird, just a little more on the juvenile side and with some extra girth. Mine qualifies for PLEK treatment, but 12 years of constant use is more than enough I guess.
@@2k2nbmta No, it's fine. One concern I have is the weight, I think they used the heaviest log of mahogany they had laying around. Can't speak for the indo models, as I never encountered one.
I purchased one of these guitars. I love mine. Great review video. I really like all of the different tones you pulled out of this guitar and amp / speaker combinations.
Awesome guitar, looking forward to get one, also I wish LTD would do a proper EX shape guitar with Seymour duncans. Not really feeling for the EX black metal or the EX 401
I don't know that song but I know that I really dig the single coil tones with the orange too! The OwnHammer IR has a lot to do with how awesome that sound is too.
I've got an xtone that has 2 phat cats -- love those pickups. I think I want this guitar next. I want a killer hard rock guitar and this seems to have the looks and the sound
Really should be putting towards my amp wall but I like to support what few channels I dig watching religiously. Your studio set up sound really good. What do you run off of ? Protools?
I totally agree. John I guess come up with these riffs. Not sure where he lives but if I lived there I’d be wanting to get a project together. Killer f-ing riffs and arrangements
Great demo! First time I’ve seen your channel. I’ve always wanted a Firebird but I chose food and shelter instead. ;) This looks to be a good (better?) alternative.
I'd love to see you do a comparison video between this guitar and your LTD with the JB in the bridge. I feel like the SD Custom and the JB are both really popular SD pickups and I know at least I'd love to hear the differences between the two.
I'm really on the fence here, I really love the phoenix model but not sure if it's gonna be too heavy for me. Do you know the exact weight of the guitar?
@@trysth It's probably at or around the 8 pound mark. Keep in mind it's an offset body shape too. But in all honestly, I wouldn't ever give this thing up. The pickup combination is awesome. The Phat Cat became one of my favorite pickups because of this guitar. And the bridge pickup is a screamer!
@@khall187 Not sure if you caught my review video but I wasn't really a fan. The evertune was just kinda ehh for me but the actual physical shape of the Phoenix just was really not my thing. The neck is pushed much further to the left than any other guitar so you're reaching out further with your fretting hand. I also didn't care for the Fishman Modern Fluence pickups. I get why people would like them but I greatly prefer a nice set of hot passive pickups. One of the Evertune engineers is a sub to my channel and actually commented on some of my gripes with the system and while I was able to set it up how he suggested, I still prefer a good old hard tail or a blocked (dive only) floyd rose. I also think that, after talking with a few others who have Evertunes, the evertune system robs the guitar of some tone and fullness in the sound. At first I thought maybe it's the pickups but a few online acquaintances with lower output pickups said the same. Anyways, I get the appeal of the evertune system and I can't say I'll never have a guitar with one in it but the Phoenix was just an all around bad time.
@@FastRedPonyCar damn man sorry to hear that! I see a lot of people struggle with the ET, myself included, I hated my first one but once I dug in and learned EXACTLY how it works and how to get it in the sweet spot, I was sold. It's almost like getting a Floyd Rose for the first time and quickly discovering you need an engineering degree (lol) to make it stay in tune. But I trust you learned all that and I agree, it's just not for everyone. Interesting note about the tone loss, I've not noticed but I'll have to look into that. Rock on
Wow, that guitar has near perfect specs. Seems like there is some confusion if the neck is indeed maple or mahogany (like their website says). Weird. Fantastic video as always. Your creativity in coming up with these super tasteful licks is damn impressive man. I know I've read some complaints about your strategy of loading down amps and using IR's, but it sounds consistently great and I appreciate that approach. If it's good enough for Pete Thorn, it's good enough for me!
Dude, that is pretty cool. Hopefully he left some of his Mojo on the neck for you. How do you like it? I’m trying to decide between this one and the Cherry one. I’m used to EII’s so I’m not sure what to expect with an LTD.
Sounds fantastic but that killer high gain tone is not honest it’s multitracked at least two guitars in unison so of course it sounds huge please do an honest test so we can really hear this beauty❤ have a nice day
Awesome video man! That guitar is great and your demos as always rock! How would you say that EVH compares to that JCM 800 Studio sound wise? I've been contemplating picking the EL34 EVH up as I can't seem to get my stealth to have that mid-range bark that one or a marshall can
Man I am so torn on this one simply cause I'm small and this guitar seem so big, I'm wondering if this would be a mismatch. I really want this pickup configuration. Not enough guitars do a humbucker in the bridge and a P90 in the neck.
I love this thing. Hell, I like a ton of ESP/LTD models. BUT, low and behold I can’t play any of them because they think their entire market has tiny little fingers the size of a 12yo girl (41.98mm). Make wider nuts!!
(((( Anyone wanting superior reviews of Guitars, Amps & Pedals and more Subscribe to Sonic Drive Studio )))) John, I've been looking at the Epiphone Prophecy, LTD's of all sorts and this video sealed the deal for me. Purchasing it from Zzounds tomorrow. SDS is my top favorites for reviewers. Killer riffs & arrangements to show what's being reviewed, not trying to overload with how great I am on leads, to the point no BS.......Just my wife keeps dropping in when I'm watching these videos and asks "Your not gonna go on a spending frenzy and get a wall of amps and guitars like those guys are you?!?!" Uh.....No honey Just the new LTD I told you about........(Racks are in the closet already)
![Tee Grizzley - Detroit (Feat. 42 Dugg) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/aeKfTtt0x14/mqdefault.jpg)
Killer guitar eh guys?
Maan...it kills it!! When i get money this will be added to the collection 😜 Killer tones!! Cheers:)
I own one of these. It's a fantastic guitar that really covers everything very well. Mine was made in Korea (2020 model)....Great review!
Love the Firebird shape and sound. Ever since someone turned me on to Johnny Winter I loved this guitar format. Now with ESP/LTD version you get the best of old tone (vintage) and modern along with their craftsmanship and hardware I’d say it’s up there with Gibson Firebird. Like to see a comparison review of the two Gibson/LTD going through the guitars cosmetic and playability maybe even internal wiring see what’s doin’
Buying one for my son. We are Irish giants who need a large guotar.
Looks great, I wanna get one and swap the pickups. I played one at guitar center and they didn't have enough swat for me
This guitar was in my wishlist. Bought one after seeing your review: it's amazing, thank you. Totally agree with your feelings about it
ESP’s LTD line has numerous excellent options I’m considering right now.
Man! You're so talented. Not only your chops but your video production as well. Your videos are always well thought through and put together. Thanks!
Thank you!
Totally agree
Echoing what some others have said, I'm always impressed by how well thought out your videos are. You come across as very level-headed and your chops and tone are killer. Wish they made an MIJ version too.
I love the pickups in this axe. They've got that 00s hard/alt rock crunch without sacrificing highs.
Hi John, awesome review! I was researching this guitar yesterday and came across your channel. Wanted to hear it through an EVH 5150 III as well. Problem solved! Subscribed and look forward to seeing more content! So I wanted to add a bit of information. You mentioned that the guitar has a maple neck. Meeotch commented there seems to be some confusion between it being mahogany or maple. I reached out to ESP yesterday and got a response from a rep this morning. The guitar does indeed have a 3pc Mahogany neck. The design changed in 2019 and switched from maple to mahogany. Seems like a bunch of sites haven't updated their specs accordingly. Thanks again for the fantastic review! Cheers!
Awesome, good to know, cheers!
Hey John, great run through all the tones. To my humble ears though, it sounds the best on the crunch department.
Man, I really dig this guitar! If only they'd make a version without the gold hardware, I'm not sold on gold... But yeah, great video!
They do now
Since I've been getting into Johnny Winter and his style of playing, I would definitely love to have one of those.
Just bought one of these, really exceeded my expectations. Love it!
Sweet! Enjoy!
So 3 months ago I bought a Korean Phoenix-1000 and let me tell you it's amazing. Resonates amazingly and it's very comfortable. Also, they look great when standing up. If you're looking to standout among all the superstrat players, go for it.
Thanks for comments I’ve been want in g one and pulling trigger since seeing this review and your comment
@@davemarriott9332 You'll abosuletly love it! It's really like Gibson's Firebird, just a little more on the juvenile side and with some extra girth. Mine qualifies for PLEK treatment, but 12 years of constant use is more than enough I guess.
@blackorbit416 Yeah, mine has a Nazgul in it, and it does B just fine. Sorry fo the late reply.
How's the balance with this guitar standing up, does it neck dive?
@@2k2nbmta No, it's fine. One concern I have is the weight, I think they used the heaviest log of mahogany they had laying around. Can't speak for the indo models, as I never encountered one.
Fantastic demo! Mine’s one the way.
I purchased one of these guitars. I love mine.
Great review video. I really like all of the different tones you pulled out of this guitar and amp / speaker combinations.
Thank you for reviewing/demoing this guitar. I rarely see the Phoenix around.
Heerlijk dat enthousiasme! En dat geluid ook :) Oh en de riffs ook natuurlijk, as always.
Dankjewel! :)
Great demo
im in love with this guitar man! the review is a 10/10 as always. f&%$ing genius.
I like the looks of the red one and the specs of the white one, hope they offer more options
Been wanting this guitar, awesome review man! Your videos never disappoint.
You need this guitar..... ;)
Awesome looking and sounding guitar and a great video to show it off. How is the neck dive on it and is it comfortable to play standing up?
Thanks.
Awesome guitar, looking forward to get one, also I wish LTD would do a proper EX shape guitar with Seymour duncans. Not really feeling for the EX black metal or the EX 401
Single coil sound plus the orange tiny reminded me of the tone from “separation of church and skate” by NOFX. Now I want that in my life!
I don't know that song but I know that I really dig the single coil tones with the orange too! The OwnHammer IR has a lot to do with how awesome that sound is too.
looks really cool, on question though, does it neck dive?
I always love your videos
I've got an xtone that has 2 phat cats -- love those pickups.
I think I want this guitar next. I want a killer hard rock guitar and this seems to have the looks and the sound
Great review and sounds great. And then I realized too great, are all the tracks doubled?
Thanks!
Thanks very much!
Really should be putting towards my amp wall but I like to support what few channels I dig watching religiously. Your studio set up sound really good. What do you run off of ? Protools?
Dude, your demo songs are incredibly awesome. You should put out your own songs!!!
I totally agree. John I guess come up with these riffs. Not sure where he lives but if I lived there I’d be wanting to get a project together. Killer f-ing riffs and arrangements
Beautiful guitar and great demo
Great demo! First time I’ve seen your channel. I’ve always wanted a Firebird but I chose food and shelter instead. ;) This looks to be a good (better?) alternative.
Awesome demo and playing that's one cool looking and sounding guitar
I'd love to see you do a comparison video between this guitar and your LTD with the JB in the bridge. I feel like the SD Custom and the JB are both really popular SD pickups and I know at least I'd love to hear the differences between the two.
loved the video!
I 🥰 ESP 🤘 Great demo/ review.
I have this guitar. And i freaking love it. It is definitely a heavy little bastard though. But the sounds and feels are so KILLER.
I'm really on the fence here, I really love the phoenix model but not sure if it's gonna be too heavy for me. Do you know the exact weight of the guitar?
@@trysth It's probably at or around the 8 pound mark. Keep in mind it's an offset body shape too. But in all honestly, I wouldn't ever give this thing up. The pickup combination is awesome. The Phat Cat became one of my favorite pickups because of this guitar. And the bridge pickup is a screamer!
Hello, I saw that you have a Krank amplifier, but I did not find a video demonstrating its sound on your RUclips channel
Nice. I’ve got the silverburst evertune version on the way (my first evertune) and I will have it on my channel soon.
Once you get to know the mechanics of the Evertune it's really a game changer! I have 8(!) Evertune guitars and it's hard to imagine going back.
@@khall187 Not sure if you caught my review video but I wasn't really a fan. The evertune was just kinda ehh for me but the actual physical shape of the Phoenix just was really not my thing. The neck is pushed much further to the left than any other guitar so you're reaching out further with your fretting hand.
I also didn't care for the Fishman Modern Fluence pickups. I get why people would like them but I greatly prefer a nice set of hot passive pickups.
One of the Evertune engineers is a sub to my channel and actually commented on some of my gripes with the system and while I was able to set it up how he suggested, I still prefer a good old hard tail or a blocked (dive only) floyd rose. I also think that, after talking with a few others who have Evertunes, the evertune system robs the guitar of some tone and fullness in the sound. At first I thought maybe it's the pickups but a few online acquaintances with lower output pickups said the same.
Anyways, I get the appeal of the evertune system and I can't say I'll never have a guitar with one in it but the Phoenix was just an all around bad time.
@@FastRedPonyCar damn man sorry to hear that! I see a lot of people struggle with the ET, myself included, I hated my first one but once I dug in and learned EXACTLY how it works and how to get it in the sweet spot, I was sold. It's almost like getting a Floyd Rose for the first time and quickly discovering you need an engineering degree (lol) to make it stay in tune. But I trust you learned all that and I agree, it's just not for everyone. Interesting note about the tone loss, I've not noticed but I'll have to look into that. Rock on
Sup dude cheers from Sweden. Do u think it would be a good guitar for a metal core deathcore setting?
Great sounding guitar! Cool licks, too!
Wow, that guitar has near perfect specs. Seems like there is some confusion if the neck is indeed maple or mahogany (like their website says). Weird.
Fantastic video as always. Your creativity in coming up with these super tasteful licks is damn impressive man. I know I've read some complaints about your strategy of loading down amps and using IR's, but it sounds consistently great and I appreciate that approach. If it's good enough for Pete Thorn, it's good enough for me!
If you look at the Black Cherry model, the neck appears to be maple and the wings made of mahogany.
I've got an actual esp Phoenix. I love it.
I just got this guitar after seeing this video, by complete surprise it was owned by Jeff Loomis. Double win!!
Dude, that is pretty cool. Hopefully he left some of his Mojo on the neck for you. How do you like it? I’m trying to decide between this one and the Cherry one. I’m used to EII’s so I’m not sure what to expect with an LTD.
Nice demo mate, not my type of guitar in regards of looks but it sounds wicked!!!
Thanks! It's pretty unique but that's why I love it :)
Sounded fantastic!
You had me at "long scale."
The tones absolutely kickass
Cheers! That guitar sounds killer eh?
Amazing crunch tone on the EVH!!! Was there an OD pedal ?
Sounds fantastic but that killer high gain tone is not honest it’s multitracked at least two guitars in unison so of course it sounds huge please do an honest test so we can really hear this beauty❤ have a nice day
Awesome video man! That guitar is great and your demos as always rock! How would you say that EVH compares to that JCM 800 Studio sound wise? I've been contemplating picking the EL34 EVH up as I can't seem to get my stealth to have that mid-range bark that one or a marshall can
The EVH is much more high gain and modern. The Marshall is mid gain and classic.
jonnnnnnn are this stainless steel frets?
This one, no
foam behind the nut?...standard?
Great tunes !
website says its 3 piece mahogany neck with mahogany body wings, not maple.
nice riffing as well
2:07 Maple? Are you sure? Supposed to be mahagony, too.
I have Korean made one what a beast of a guitar
I thought these were mahogany neck and body? You said maple neck?
i saw this on euge channel as well. now off to hunt one down
you too ? 😁 Are you going to shave it too ? :)
Zzzounds
Purchasing the Korean version of this guitar on offer up tomorrow for 700.00
Man I am so torn on this one simply cause I'm small and this guitar seem so big, I'm wondering if this would be a mismatch. I really want this pickup configuration. Not enough guitars do a humbucker in the bridge and a P90 in the neck.
It's a great guitar! Do it!
Beautiful guitar. If the LTD's came with a slightly wider nut width on them I'd be all over it. I can't get along with the 42mm nuts.
How much does the neck stick out compared to a Les paul/single cut?
Would you say this would be versatile enough to play death metal and math rock??
Yeah
@@SonicDriveStudio hell yeah🐎
The problem is if I give him a $50 guitar this guy can make it sound good! 🙂
I have always wanted a real firebird. But this one might tear me away from that.
They are all “import models” is you don’t live in the country of origin.
How does the neck play? Is it comfortable and/or fast?
Not ibanez thin but super comfortable and fast!
Super son avec la 5150 mais je ne comprends pas à quoi vous raccorder l’ampli sachant que vous utilisez des iR pour les enceintes???
I don't understand?
@@SonicDriveStudio ok
probably amp head into Fractal Audio LB-2 or Two Notes Captor X. For you might be " _le_ reactive loadbox" 😀
@@RapttorX merci
I love this thing. Hell, I like a ton of ESP/LTD models. BUT, low and behold I can’t play any of them because they think their entire market has tiny little fingers the size of a 12yo girl (41.98mm). Make wider nuts!!
Not only wider necks, but a regular U or thick U would be nice.
And not to mention, I have small hands!!! And I hate ESP necks. I prefer 50s gibson baseball bats
how many whammy pedals does one person need? :D Awesome demo as usual! :)
More, always more!
@@SonicDriveStudio we all know more is more. I'm really thinking about getting a Phoenix just like yours. Does yours have stainless steel frets?
@@Fredlund666 I don't think so
Тяжёлая ? Сколько весит ?
How heavy is that bad boy?
8 lbs
@@johndaugherty4127 8 to 9 LBS.
@@RogerBrenon mine is 8.
This shape is weird af, but I like it
Neckdive?
Not on mine.
saya kira review kapal selam bang, ternyata gitar
you have it going through so much gear a 50 dollar kid guitar would sound good.your misleading . smh i happen to know its a great guitar though
Cheers grandpa
(((( Anyone wanting superior reviews of Guitars, Amps & Pedals and more Subscribe to Sonic Drive Studio ))))
John, I've been looking at the Epiphone Prophecy, LTD's of all sorts and this video sealed the deal for me. Purchasing it from Zzounds tomorrow.
SDS is my top favorites for reviewers. Killer riffs & arrangements to show what's being reviewed, not trying to overload with how great I am on leads, to the point no BS.......Just my wife keeps dropping in when I'm watching these videos and asks "Your not gonna go on a spending frenzy and get a wall of amps and guitars like those guys are you?!?!"
Uh.....No honey Just the new LTD I told you about........(Racks are in the closet already)