CRKD Gibson Les Paul Blueberry Burst Pro Edition Guitar Controller review

CRKD (pronounced "Cracked") has got the band back together to make an all-new yet entirely familiar take on the third-gen guitar controller that kickstarted the golden age of rhythm games in the west. Bringing mechanical switches, Hall effect technology, and even haptic feedback, this CRKD Gibson Les Paul guitar controller marks a new generation of quality rhythm game controllers. And it should survive a generation, too.

Featured around every curve of CRKD's Gibson-inspired guitar controller body are not just guitar-game buttons but face buttons typical of the best PC controllers out there; a D-pad, joysticks, and everything else you could need are on hand to play any type of game. This isn't to encourage playing the best FPS games with a plastic musical instrument - though someone will doubtless give it the old college try - it's instead designed to remove the need to reach for a separate controller to navigate UIs bewilderingly never designed with guitar inputs in mind.

The CRKD Guitar controller isn't the first guitar to hit the market in recent years. The space sees a small resurgence every half-decade or so when a publisher decides that maybe the lightning of the late 00s boom can strike twice. But this controller has some pedigree, as it's designed by some of the folk behind the iconic Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock peripheral that kickstarted the golden era of rhythm gaming. We've been using it for a few weeks now, and with a multitude of connectivity options (that stretch even back to the PS3) and dozens of remappable controls to fill in the blanks, it's a serious upgrade. However, for those who mastered speedy slides up to the smaller frets featured on later rhythm games and controllers, last year's PDP Riffmaster will be the better bet at its current pricing.

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Specs

Features

CRKD is offering multiple SKUs of its Gibson Les Paul controller. The base model that comes in a Black Tribal finish includes rubber dome fret buttons and the classic style of noisy strum bar that demands cranking up the game volume. For just $10 more, the Pro model, which comes in the Blueberry Burst finish tested here, gets you mechanical switches under the five frets and a Hall effect strum bar with variable actuation and haptic feedback, to make up for the lack of the iconic click that once came with every strum.

Along with its multi-platform compatibility and modern mechanical switches, this guitar has an improved neck connection compared to the classic Guitar Hero 3 controller. If you haven't jammed since shortly after your ATI GPU became an AMD, you should be able to rest easy knowing you won't have to tickle the stem with your school eraser to get that red button recognized in the middle of a sick solo.

This strong joint also means you won't feel like you're about to decapitate the beast if you're a little heavy-handed with your repositioning. Sadly, our model did come with a slightly loose whammy bar, which is an issue reported by some early adopters of this controller. This means gravity can cause it to rotate out of reach on occasion. It's more of a minor annoyance than an outright deal breaker, though.

A shoulder strap, cable, and setup literature are about all you'll find in the package, but you will spot some stickers designed to help when using KeyJam mode to add support for older titles and platforms. The 2.4GHz receiver is housed in a sturdy nook below the faux neck pickup, while a compartment below the whammy bar plate houses the rechargeable, removable battery pack.

There are some optional extras available for this controller too. If you decide you miss the rubber dome frets, need to replace the neck, or if you've bought the non-Pro version and decided to shift up to the mechanical mashers, you can buy a replacement neck (rubber dome or mechanical) for around a third of the price of a new unit.

And if, like me, you're disappointed about the lack of tiny frets, a "solo fret" neck is due out in late September that features full-sized mechanical main frets and replaces the color-coordinating LEDs along the neck with a cluster of tightly packed rubber dome frets, making it CRKD's answer to the original Rock Band pad. The Pro model releasing without these upper frets is the one major advantage the PDP Riffmaster has over the CRKD solution. It's not even like the replacement neck with the extra buttons is more expensive - it's the same price as a replacement mechanical switch neck. Still, when this option does become available, it's not a massive extra cost.

Design

There isn't a shred of metal on CRKD's new guitar. It's a wholly plastic product. And outside of the cool Blueberry Burst or Black Tribal designs, it does show. It's a thin and surprisingly light product with a couple of compartments for its extras. However, it's solid in the hand, smooth to the touch, isn't prone to creaking under pressure, and resists fingerprints and smudges far better than the competition. Overall, it's a much sturdier product than the PDP Riffmaster in almost every regard. Combined with its similar launch day pricing, it's the better guitar controller on the market right now.

Styling itself on Gibson's Les Paul line of guitars, CRKD's offering is a very rounded one. The body is easy to hold tight, and it sits into your lap perfectly, if you're staying seated and stationary with a more relaxed setlist. And if you were one to unwind between heavier songs by massaging your weary hand on the top of the neck, that tradition is alive and well here, too: That Endless setlist on Rock Band felt downright impossible without it.

What does take some getting used to is the vast array of buttons scattered across its shapely body. Most of your menu navigation is done via a tall joystick disguised as a clicky dial by the base of the neck, with tiny face buttons surrounding it. Reach up and around the head and you'll find a similar-feeling substitute for a D-Pad that I fully expect someone to use at an FGC event. At the very bottom of the body is where you'll find two more dials cutely repurposed into a profile switcher and a more thumb-friendly joystick. A large A/Space button is situated just under the strum bar.

Connectivity buttons are, a tad annoyingly, hidden underneath. Understandably positioned to avoid accidental inputs during a song, they're tricky to find when you want them. Buttons for Sync, Start,  and Select, and the USB-C for wired connectivity or charging our housed here, along with a four-stage slider for platform selection. It's hardly a dealbreaker, but much of the setup struggle was caused by having to fiddle around to find these. It should be noted that I'm left-handed and play with the controller flipped around, so these complaints might be not quite so apparent for right-handed users.

I elected to use the controller with its included cable most of the time, which worked reliably, but I personally would have preferred a lighter style of cable as found on many of the best gaming mouse options.

Meanwhile, if you do opt for wireless, its setup isn't without a few struggles, at least initially. It involves liberating the receiver from a particularly sturdy sliding latch, plugging it in, shifting to PC mode, holding the sync button on both devices, and then switching the profile dial to 1.

Also, unlike in wired mode where the controller just fires up, there's no obvious On/Off switch to turn on the guitar. This meant I danced with destiny by pressing over 20 buttons in an attempt to get the lights to shine bright. Turns out you just click the profile switcher like a joystick. Like the logos on a PlayStation or Xbox controller, there's a CRKD logo for a reason. I really recommend the official setup video on CRKD's YouTube channel. The fact it's almost 10 minutes long says it all.

Performance

Once setup, you shouldn't struggle to stay securely connected over wireless. I had the receiver plugged into a hub with at least two other wireless dongles and had no trouble strumming along for for sustained sessions. I left Dragonforce to wired play, but wirelessly jamming to the Beatles Rock Band playlist on YARG was no problem at all. The remapping features even allowed me to circumvent Clone Hero's wonky lefty-flip implementation entirely. Goo goo g'joob.

The difference in the mechanical frets is immediately noticeable. These are low-profile keys, so travel is slim, but actuation is immediate, and the return is smooth. Looking and feeling like Cherry MX Red-style low-profile switches, they're designed around smoothness, speed of response, and longevity. However, this means they could seem a little "cheap" to some users, as they don't give you the satisfying clicky feedback of some other styles of switch. Ultimately, though, they do deliver accurate inputs with much lower noise than clickier switch types, letting you enjoy the track you're trying to replicate without cranking the volume to 11.

For those who want a more clicky feel but the speed of newer swithces, this controller is moderately moddable. Swapping out the switches isn't recommended (though likely possible, if you're happy to break out the soldering iron), but their softness is partly caused by the sound-dampening measures you see on high-end gaming keyboards. Finesse a few screws and you can remove the padding, giving the frets a little more of a sense of travel and more of a clack.

Other minor tweaks with this controller compared to classic models include the flattened finder - the linear nub on the centre fret, designed, like the J and F on your keyboard, to help you return to a neutral position. Rather than risking a blister as it would on the Guitar Hero III pad, it's noticeably less proud. You'll feel it, but it won't rub you the wrong way.

But the real star of the show is the strum bar. Again, the Pro model swaps out the clicky feel of the original for a softer mechanical option with the same shame. And while that change means less noise and muted feedback, today's tech means the light rumble of haptic feedback is here to fill in the gaps. It's a delightfully modern solution to what now feels like an age-old problem, but one you'll start to notice less and less as you strum through faster songs.

Price

At around $130, the CRKD controller is on the pricier side of guitar controllers. Had this arrived at the same time as the PDP Riffmaster, the fight would have been entirely one-sided, with CRKD's option bringing far more to the table at $10 less, at least for the multi-platform product.

Well into the second half of the year, though, the impending one-year anniversary of PDP's product means it's available at a considerable discount. That doesn't outright remove the CRKD from the game, but for PC-focused players, it can make it a less compelling option for those just now starting their rhythm game journey. You won't know what you're missing without the mechanical switches, but you will have upper fret buttons and $30 bucks to spend on a fistful of Fortnite Festival songs to have a couple of 90s cartoon characters play alongside Scorpion doing the Macarena.

Alternatives

Verdict

If you long for the days of plastic musical instrument parties, there's little reason to pass up the new CRKD peripherals. Fortnite Festival may have some kinks for years to come, but with entirely free titles like YARG and Clone Hero ruling the roost on PC, and completely remappable keys ensuring compatibility in other titles, there's plenty of charts to top until a big publisher decides to snag a license for a new premium playspace.

The CRKD guitar rights all the wrongs of the first major generation of music controllers. And with a relatively inexpensive add-on set to shift it up a tier in the hopefully near future, paired with stellar connectivity options, this one's a keeper we don't expect to be replacing anytime soon. Just maybe hold on in case they update the Pro SKU to include the solo fret neck, saving you the $40 upgrade right now.

For more ways to get peak performance in games that aren't best played with a keyboard and mouse, why not check out our best racing wheel and best joystick guides for the those times you want to take to the track or to the skies.