Overdrive on Guitars

[ShroomerD]

I cannot activate my overdrve at will by fliping the guitar. (PS3) I have to click select to activate it. And on more of the difficult songs with tons of strumming, star power goes off as soon as I get it. Anything that I can fix?

[ShroomerD]

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[rEDChief55]

i have the same problem, only i have the 360 version. Overdrive doesn't activate when I tilt the guitar up, but for some reason it instead activates at random times throughout the song (and i made sure i wasn't hitting the select button by mistake). Does anyone know any fixes? Or are there only certain guitars this has happened to so we can do a serial number check?

[Araseth]

I've also had the same problem.

[dvdmike]

I have the exact opposite problem. I have to stand like a statue with my guitar perfectly parallel to the ground to PREVENT overdrive from kicking in. Very disappointed with the guitar controller. :mad:

[mtitelbaum]

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Ditto from the guy on his 4th replacement for the same problem.

[ParanoidSarge]

Alright I just bought Rock Band and I fell in love with it right away, but I am having the same problem as you guys. I bought the 360 one and Overdrive will not activate unless I hit the Back Button!

[Leni Pocky]

I don't want to seem like a jackass, but maybe you guys are being too aggressive when you try to activate it? Throwing it up like you're in a metal band doesn't trigger it. My friend has the same problem, and that's how he tries to activate it, only to fail 95% of the time. I gently tilt the neck, and without even pointing it straight up, it works. Give it a shot. Also, not waving it around like you're in Anthrax helps a lot with it randomly tripping, because unless you're picking really hard, that's about the only way you could accidentally hit back as far as I'm concerned (no to mention all the crazy stage antics lead to accidental tilting).

[mtitelbaum]

I don't want to seem like a jackass...

Too late. :-)

Seriously, though. I play sitting on my couch sitting perfectly still with the guitar not tilting forward or backward in my lap and the neck tilted ever so slightly upward. When I play like this, overdrive goes off automatically whenever I have enough "star power" or whatever it's called now. It's really frustrating, since you can't save it up for when you need/want to use it.

I'm glad you were blessed with a guitar that doesn't have this problem, but it seems like several people on this board all have this problem.

---Matt

[teflon067]

I recently recieved a replacement guitar because my strum bar stopped working. After using the new one for a few hours, I think I liked the old one better.

I like to stand and move around a bit while playing so I can't give exact numbers, but I would normally hold my old guitar at about a 5-10 degree tilt, then smoothly move to 25-30 degrees to activate Overdrive. Unfortunatly, my new guitar seems to have a few issues with Overdrive. When I hold it between 0-15 degrees it will randomly activate Overdrive. So I hold it around 20-25, and when I want to activate Overdrive I have to tilt it quickly (but not violently) to around 75-85 degrees. I have to be careful to get the speed just right or it won't activate at all, and I'll have to return to neutral to try again. This whole process can get a bit taxing durring gameplay.

The other thing I don't like about the new guitar is that the fret buttons are very stiff and make a fairly audible click when pressed, occasionally distracting me from playing. I'm hoping that'll soften, and eventually go away with time.

I do like a few things about the new guitar though. The strum bar feels sturdier and is now completely silent (though that doesn't matter as much since the fret buttons now click). Also the guitar in general feels sturdier. My old guitar would creak and twist with heavy use, where as the new guitar does not creak or twist at all.

[asemili]

I'm running into the same problem with overdrive. It was working perfectly for the first few hours, and I wasn't being agressive with it or anything, just standing still playing and kicking it in with a gentle tilt. After a few hours it got very inconsistant. Now it's a miracle when it actually does kick in. I think I'm going to go buy a couple new X-Plorers or just buy a copy of Guitar Hero III just to get the wireless guitar since it sounds like from other posts that stock Rock Band Fender is rough to get a clean replacement for.

[mtitelbaum]

This is the question I wrote to EA support. I'm still waiting for a reply. I'll post it if I hear anything good.

---Matt

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To whom it may concern:

My original guitar and all 3 of my subsequent replacements have had issues with the tilt sensor. All of them have engaged seemingly at random, triggering Overdrive without me desiring it. As a Guitar Hero fan, I never had similar problems with Guitar Hero controllers, so I don't think this is simply "user error".

Am I the only one with this issue? I understand that there was a design defect in the strum bars, but is there also one in the tilt sensor as well? What can I do to get one that works? What happens if I don't get a working guitar within 60 days of purchase? Will the warranty be extended?

This is really disappointing, since the software itself is so awesome. It is also disappointing that only the early customers who had issues with replacement got compensated for their hassle with free games. How many times do I need to request a replacement guitar before I am similarly compensated?

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
Matt