CES 2009: Peavey

by: Dan - posted: 1/11/2009 1:02:00 AM

Sean and I had some extra time between appointments yesterday, so we decided to head over to the Peavey booth and check out the AG RiffMaster Guitar controllers. They had their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers out, and Sean spent some time with the 360 version playing about four songs. Below are Sean’s impressions: 

The fully crafted Peavey Guitars for Guitar Hero and Rock Band are extremely impressive. The controller itself is made like an actual guitar, right down to the size of it, even though it is just a bit smaller than your standard guitar. Made from the same material that Peavey uses for its real guitars, you get an extremely solid feel on both the fret bar as well as the body. The strummer itself is very quiet, which for anyone that has played Guitar Hero knows is very important. The strummer from the original Guitar Hero games was generally loud and could be heard over softer music systems. This strummer is very quiet, allowing you to play freely without hearing the annoying sound of your thumb hitting the plastic.

Playing the game itself with the Peavey controller was extremely enjoyable. While it took about half a song to get used to the spacing of the frets (they are a bit wider than a normal controller), I found that there was little issue actually using it. The response of the controller is exceptional as I found no delay in pressing a fret and having it appear on the screen, which was an issue with the first wireless guitars.

The only issue that I had was that the whammy bar was far lower than what I was used to. In short, the whammy bar is where it is supposed to be on a normal guitar, so it would just take some time to get used to having the different placement of the unit. Besides this very slight concern, the Peavey Guitar controllers are a fantastic buy, even if they are a little on the expensive side with an MSRP of $149.99.

Also making an appearance at the booth was the new LandShark controllers for the PlayStation 3. They were part of a display that was put in place to promote Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. They had a unique shark head design and had black buttons with the color coding along the neckline instead of on the buttons. I don’t recall pricing or availability on these, but we should find out soon.  Be sure to check out the images from the booth.