ESP LTD James Hetfield Signature Snakebyte Review

Hardwired for Metal

I've had a few guitars I've tried to use to simulate a Metallica tone, but finally decided to go straight for the replica of Papa Het's own axe. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. The looks are amazing, and the guitar is surprisingly light and well-balanced; no neck dive here. The fretboard plays beautifully and looks great. The white model has a finished neck-the satin… read more neck on the black model is a bit faster and more comfortable but the finished white neck is still quite playable. Just a tiny bit stickier. The pickups are incredible. Distorted tone is similar to the 81/85 but with more clarity, dynamics, and they clean up much better. Cleans are very warm. I only wish this guitar had a master tone control…but at the end of the day this isn't a guitar you get to play every genre, it's designed for metal and does it very well. If you're a Metallica fan, it's a must have. Stop reading this and buy it already!!!

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It's a one trick pony that does a REALLY good trick!

So you're obviously looking at this guitar because you want that Metallica tone. The aggression, speed, clarity, and chunk. I have had all kinds of guitars and amps over the years. The first guitar I bought was an LTD explorer that I fit out with EMG's. It was close, but it just wasn't there yet. I plugged a few guitars into my Kemper and BIAS to find those perfect Metallica presets.… read more They were all close... but not right. Enter this guitar. I decided to give it a try. I have to tell you that when it comes to playing Metallica style songs nothing comes close to this guitar. It just nails that so well. Extraordinarily well. The next feels fast as hell, the pickups are sharp and weighted, yet clean. The clean sounds really match that live Metallica tone. It is a one trick pony and it does that trick extraordinarily well. When putting it through its paces to try to play John Mayer, Pink Floyd, and AC/DC it didn't meet the mark. Why? Because this isn't meant to be your swiss army knife guitar. This is meant to be your thrash knife guitar. And it absolutely nails it. My strat, PRS, and telecaster haven't had much love the last 5 months since getting this. If only the guitar came with a bionic Hetfield forearm capable of downpicking at 5,000 BPM for 8 hours straight.

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Better than I expected!

I was worried that this would not hold up to the Japanese version. This is my go to guitar for recording heavy metal riffs, my Gibson explorer is collecting dust now... Shoutout to my sales engineer Joe Schafer for the guidance!

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Best guitar I have ever played!

Was on the fence about this guitar at first, since I couldn't play it before buying it. So glad I went with my gut. It arrived almost tuned and was perfectly set up and intonated . Not one flaw with this guitar at all. It is not neck heavy like most explorer style guitars. It's lighter as well so you can stand up comfortably and even sit down and play it comfortably. No regrets… read more and worth every penny.

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No Disappointments

I own both the ESP and LTD Snakebytes. The LTD version is not all that much different from the ESP. I would take this thing on the road any day. Great playability, great tone. If you're looking for a Hetfield sounding guitar, you can not go wrong with this. Very great crunch tones paired with a Mesa, and great clean tones with a Roland JC. Tone is a Newer type of Metallica… read more sound. So if you're looking for the older sound(Justice/ Black Album), an 81/60 swap would not be that difficult. Either way, it has it's own thing that can be used to your own liking if Metallica ain't your thing. Beware though, this thing is huge and the case is even bigger. Hard to look bad with an Explorer type guitar tho. If an ESP is out of range for you, the LTD does not disappoint.

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