I have literally never heard of a RB guitar that handles overdrive correctly

[MysteryMan]

Note: It may seem like this thread should go into tech support, but I don't really need any tech support here, and I've already ordered a replacement. I am simply asking a question!

Has anyone EVER had a Rock Band guitar that activates overdrive correctly via tilting? By correctly, I mean "overdrive activates as soon as I tilt it up, not 5/10 seconds later." I am now on my third Rock Band guitar, and none of them have activated overdrive correctly. Often, it just fails to register my tilting at all - when I was dealing with my second guitar, I decided to time it. I held my guitar completely vertical, and then tried waving it. It finally activated after *30 seconds* of doing this. My third guitar is a tad better, but the guitar still has to be held p for 5/10 seconds before it registers, and to make it even more bizarre, sometimes overdrive will activate as soon as the meter is filled, regardless of how it is being held.

I know four people in real life who has Rock Band; everyone's guitar works similar to my own. I thought that perhaps we were very unlucky, but then I went to another internet forum I go to, and I created a poll asking how people's guitars worked in regards to overdrive. Of the 26 polled, EVERY SINGLE PERSON reported that their guitar often acted odd/refused to activate.

So, this is my question: is there any such thing as a working RB controller, in regards to overdrive? Like I said, I've ordered another replacement, but I'm beginning to think that this is just the way the Rock Band guitar *is*. If anyone can tell me that theirs works *all the time*, then I would feel much better and feel like maybe I'll get a good one one of these days :)

[SplashFrog]

Mine works *instantly*. Funny though, the downstrum doesn't work properly.

[v0lum3]

Mine works perfectly every time... I press the back button with my palm ;)

But I've never tilted it... actually that was my biggest gripe with the xplorer, tilting is a horrible way to activate star power and it's a silly way to activate overdrive, pressing the button gives you complete control over it and is really quite easy to do.

[MysteryMan]

Wow, though it sucks about your strum, that already makes me feel better! I didn't make this topic to cause trouble, or to create another "the strat sucks!" thread. I had simply never heard of a working overdrive on the Strat. So they do exist :)

[Magnet]

I've used two PS3 Strats. Both tilts have always functioned perfectly for me.

[ThePaska]

I don't think mine works very poorly at all. this is my 2nd guitar, the first one had a bad strum bar. This guitar works flawlessly so far as I can tell. The only time I have had problem with overdrive is when I accidentally hit the select button with my hand.

[Aartox]

*knocks on wood VERY LOUDLY*

Mine works fine. Instantly Overdrives when tilted. Strum bar works perfectly.

[Goliath9592]

Mine doesent work, i had to buy two Guitar hero controllers, much better.. now if only i knew how to add a effects switch...

[rascal13]

I had two strats for 360. first had the delayed tilt sense and the second would go into overdrive whenever it felt like it (no tilt or button pressed). i just use two xplorers now.

[admanimal]

Both of mine work fine.

[monkeynuts]

i find mine only has that problem if the batteries need a charge. but how do i get it replaced if my strum bar is jaking up. when ever i down strum it double or triple shoots it

[bjorn9486]

Mine *OCCASIONALLY* does not work when I tilt it up the first time, but I quick re-level and then re-tilt and overdrive activates. I am sending it back anyways though because the whammy bar is broken.

[Dronlothen]

if i were to just tilt it upwards casually, it doesn't do much for a good 5 seconds. i always fling it upwards and it works instantly. i'de try different amounts of force?

also an easier way to test the buttons would be to plug in the adapter to your computer and have windows auto-install it. from there you can go to control panel, game controllers and see how every button is reacting.

[Bakkster]

Mine *OCCASIONALLY* does not work when I tilt it up the first time, but I quick re-level and then re-tilt and overdrive activates.

Same with mine, and no different from either my GH or GH2 guitars.

[CRF150_53]

my guitar works perfectly, but i dont tilt at all, i just press the button, because usually when u tilt the guitar u cause yourself to miss a few notes, so i used 2 just tilt while i was doin a long note, but now i can do the button at any time i feel the need

[TheDemiGodx]

mine works after several tilts.
it sucks. But i'm happy that the strum bar works well.
So i'm not gonna turn it in, because from what I've read it's not worth it.

[HollywoodBound]

Both my strumming and tilt work perfectly. I've had it since release.

[SoKGiX]

mines fine, take less than a second to register once i tilt it up

[MisterSchulz]

2 that i have gotten don't work. Tilting is EXtremely inconsistent

hoping 3rd times the charm....

[AdamBomb629]

Mine works just fine.

[icantwaitforrockband]

tilt is my only complaint about the strat...

[IamAwesome]

My guitar is just fine and overdrive works fine

[IamAwesome]

I guess its just my luck srry to all of you with broken stuff

[micah21]

why did they make these guitars so dang cheap in the first place? tryin to save money instead they are losing money

[SkeetInYa]

The RB guitar has a mechanical tilt sensor (ball barring hitting contacts). You might have more luck if you tilt down first to ensure it is away from the contacts, then tilt up. I have had quicker response with this method. Give it it a try, it MIGHT work for you as well.

[Mario_Freak4]

Mine works fine, but sometimes when I strum, it registers two strums. I'm getting a new one in a few days.

[Bearclaw]

My strat works fine as far as tilt goes, the strum bar is dead, however. The strange thing is, I get a delay when using my X-plorer, but nothing on hte strat. The x-plorer has always worked perfectly on GH, so I am flumuxed as to the dilemma.

[Sgt Pepper]

I've only had trouble out of mine twice-

1. Online, played a few songs with a group of folks, we're having fun. THEN the bassist flunks out on a song- I have half of the required overdrive. Seconds before the song ends, I land enough to activate. I tilt the guitar-"these guys are gonna be kissin' my feet" I say to myself. No dice. They kick me, oh well.

2. Green Grass and High Tides on Expert. 95%. Overdrive won't go. Needless to say, I was pissed. Still haven't beaten that song...

[Draconis77]

The overdrive on mine was wacky at first. It would randomly engage and when I wanted it to I would sometimes have to shake the guitar to get it going. I was planning on replacing it but after a couple days it started working perfectly. I guess I just had to break it in, now I'm playing on Expert and passing all the songs. After getting used to it I like it better than the Xplorer. :)

[Etapi1000]

mine works fine, better that my GHIII Les Paul actually. Pretty much instant, where with the Les Paul, sometimes you have to tilt it rapidly a few times to get it to respond.

[Kingfish]

I modded both of mine to activate with a foot pedal...works 100% now. But yeah, i've had 4 strats so far and only ONE of them had a working tilt sensor, too bad that was the one that also had the 3 song strummer(three songs and DEAD!).

I am currently looking for a way to put the effects on a foot pedal/selector too...i'm having no luck in finding a proper "switch" to handle it tho...oh well. At least my overdrive activates when I want it to.

[Xero314-2]

I'm justing going to add that I have two strats and both work perfectly, one has been used everyday since release and the other is brand new, but they both work flawlessly. I hope it will keep up, but so far so good. Oh and my drums and mic work perfectly too.

[Rock_Starman]

Mine either takes 2-7 attempts to work or it'll randomly go off by itself.

[cjkuhlenbeck]

People only comment when theres something wrong. Thats why you wont find a post that says "Hey everything on my fender works great, good job EA/HMX!!!"...oh and because people are dicks ;) lol

[Kaoticc]

I got RB for christmas and so far the guitar seems to work fine. Sometimes when I lay down to play, the overdrive will go off on its own though. But whenever I play normal, it's instantly activated. Maybe I just got a newer version or something?

[Vigorousjammer]

I'm on my second RB guitar... the first had a malfunctioning strumbar...
in the case of Overdrive, i'm not really sure if mine is working or not...
if I stay still and don't move around a lot, overdrive doesn't activate...
but if i start to rock out, overdrive gets turned on...
seems like a good system to me
half the time i don't even need to use overdirve, so it doesn't bother me, really...

[eachann]

Mine works fine.. strums fine (so far ) and activates overdrive perfectly when tilted.

Funny thing is that my Guitar Hero wireless LP activates star power fine in Guitar Hero.. in fact if anything it's too sensitive but in rock band I have to tilt it further and/or hold it vertical for a second or two to activate the star power.

Even with that, I actually prefer the LP to the strat.. especially with it being wireless, and the fact that I don't use the teeny solo buttons that my fingers are too big for on the Strat anyway...

[Frederf]

My Strat handles overdrive activation decently but not perfectly. It often has troubles when trying to activate when already in a near vertical position, shaking and whatnot.

[Ultrace]

I am currently looking for a way to put the effects on a foot pedal/selector too...i'm having no luck in finding a proper "switch" to handle it tho...oh well. At least my overdrive activates when I want it to.
If you ever come up with a way to mod a Les Paul to simulate the effects switch, let me know. :)

[patm95]

my first guitar did ok but whammy bar didn't work. My second and third guitar works exactly how you described. I usually just use he select button to activate overdrive.

[madfox777]

all my stuff works perfectly...no breaks or faulty stuff

[MdubMedia]

I have one that works instantly, but that's also the one that I need to return due to a faulty strum bar :-/

[Xero314-2]

My Strat handles overdrive activation decently but not perfectly. It often has troubles when trying to activate when already in a near vertical position, shaking and whatnot.

I believe the instructions in the game say that you have to tilt the guitar from horizontal to vertical to trigger overdrive, not hold the guitar vertical and shake it. Sounds to me like your guitar works as designed. Sure this sucks when playing upright bass style, but seriously shouldn't really imped normal play.

[hessonbox]

I've seen a lot of different variations of how to "rock out" or activate overdrive. My bet is the way you do it is not quite right. Perhaps its the way you think it should work but you must adapt to how the controller responds.

I have a cousin who would rock out violently and snap his guitar up real quick and then back down. Unfortunately that's far too fast for the controller to pick up. How does it know your not just running around like a rock maniac? There's got to be a little give.

I had another friend who wasn't tilting but just lifting the guitar up, almost horizontally.

I find the best is a taking your time to do the lift. And i mean like 1.2 seconds or something i dunno. Just don't do sudden movements way to fast, and make sure the top part is going up and the base is being kept down.

I dunno.. mine works. Sometimes it seems to be a pain but if i just remind myself to make a smooth "rock out" it works just fine. i mean ****, my whammy just stopped bouncing back once, so i opened the sucker, found the broken spring, and just put it on the next coil. It's not going to last forever but ****. Why wouldn't they put a spring in there that is solid and sturdy.
Your overdrive at least works right?

EDIT: THE XERO IS RIGHT. THERE IS NOTHING IN THERE TO DETECT SHAKING! shaking can only cause things to come loose im sure. hahaha

[Touwe]

my friends seem to always get it to work perfect but it never does for me. Ive been using my GH controller for that reason

[MysteryMan]

Thanks to all those who responded! I certainly do feel better knowing working guitars exist. As a quick comment to those who suggested I was doing it wrong: I don't think that's it. My friends and I have set aside time specifically to try to get the guitar to activate overdrive consistently, and we've failed in every attempt. It doesn't matter how quickly or slowly we raise it, or to what angle: the guitar frequently fails to recognize it has been titled upward.

My Guitar Hero 3, as well as both my Guitar Hero 2 guitars, always activated overdrive fine, so I'm positive it's not me :) Once again, thanks to everyone!

[dagware]

I modded both of mine to activate with a foot pedal...works 100% now.

I love that idea! How did you do it? Do you have pictures?

Dan

[KaneTaker]

Mine is working just fine. Now, sometimes it DOES randomly activate OD, but thats only when I've plugged in the controller while its upright. Just have to make sure its not plugged in until its held horizontally.

[TribalDancer]

Mine is entirely inconsistent. I have tried lifting slowly, dipping it down then lifting it up, lifting it and shaking it, up-down-up, and a quick whip up. Not one of them seems to consistently work.
Looks like replacement #2 needs to be ordered.

[Kyidro]

Mines doesnt tilt into Overdrive until after bout 5-10 seconds afterwords, and that with shaking it...and my downstrum is completely broke...my rubber connecter broke off for the downstrum...

[Kingfish]

If you ever come up with a way to mod a Les Paul to simulate the effects switch, let me know. :)

I opened my xplorer...and its all micro circuitry...so, couldn't make even a simple switch for it. Oh well...i'll keep trying tho :)

[Frederf]

I believe the instructions in the game say that you have to tilt the guitar from horizontal to vertical to trigger overdrive, not hold the guitar vertical and shake it. Sounds to me like your guitar works as designed. Sure this sucks when playing upright bass style, but seriously shouldn't really imped normal play.

Don't tell me a flaw is a feature. When the guitar is vertical overdrive should be activated. One major reason why this can't be "by design and working correctly" is simply because it's inconsistent: Sometimes vertical orientation means activation immediately and sometimes it has problems.

And yes shaking it has an effect, they are metal BBs in a tube and also shaking has worked.

[dagware]

Don't tell me a flaw is a feature. When the guitar is vertical overdrive should be activated. One major reason why this can't be "by design and working correctly" is simply because it's inconsistent: Sometimes vertical orientation means activation immediately and sometimes it has problems.

And yes shaking it has an effect, they are metal BBs in a tube and also shaking has worked.

I can verify that this is NOT how it's supposed to work. The first guitar I had worked flawlessly, as far as overdrive is concerned. I never had to think about it. Just tilt and BAM there it was.

Unfortunately the strum bar on my first guitar was faulty (not always working, then sometimes registering two strums when all I did was one), and the new guitar they sent me has the same problem you have. I compared the two before I sent my old one back, and almost didn't send my old one back because of the overdrive issue, but finally decided it was better than the problem the first one had. I will be replacing this new guitar also.

So I emphasize that there is NO WAY this is by design. It's just not working right.

Dan

[Chris_Gonzalez]

The 2nd one I got works (second bundle, not replacement), provided you're not what we call "Monkeying it up" (playing with your guitar tilted up already). Most of us play sitting down, so it's not a problem anyway.

[dagware]

The 2nd one I got works (second bundle, not replacement), provided you're not what we call "Monkeying it up" (playing with your guitar tilted up already). Most of us play sitting down, so it's not a problem anyway.

Funny you should mention that. Last night when I was playing with my wife (Rock Band, you degenerates!), she was holding the guitar at an angle and the overdrive was kicking in by itself (not immediately, but eventually). We decided we liked this better than her having to go through gyrations trying to get the overdrive to engage. So until we get the new guitar, we'll probably intentionally tilt the guitar while playing.

Dan

[xyberviri]

Mine works fine But i have found that if i leave it in the "up" position after activating overdrive i have to move it back to the down position then back to the up. Some one in another thread opened up his Strat and found that the overdrive was activated by a Ball in a tube. so that it rolls from one end of the tube to the other(probally metallic) and makes a contact so that it can trigger overdrive.

one thing you can try doing is holding it in a more level position and you might get a better responce.

[dagware]

Some one in another thread opened up his Strat and found that the overdrive was activated by a Ball in a tube. so that it rolls from one end of the tube to the other(probally metallic) and makes a contact so that it can trigger overdrive.

Interesting. If I was sure I could get it back together again, I'd open mine up to see if I could determine the problem. Perhaps there's some dirt or something in the tube. I suppose it might even be possible to put a smaller ball in the tube.

Anyone got pictures of opening up the guitar?

Dan

[Xero314-2]

Mine works fine But i have found that if i leave it in the "up" position after activating overdrive i have to move it back to the down position then back to the up.

one thing you can try doing is holding it in a more level position and you might get a better responce.

I believe the instructions and tutorial make that pretty clear by showing the guitar in a horizontal position then tilting it vertical. But then again I was previously told this was a flaw and not how it should work so I could be wrong.

[RockstarJantzen]

Yea, mine does the same. Or I should say that it DID the same. It was activating overdrive immediately. It stopped working completely after an hour of play. I was really bummed. I should be getting the box to ship it back today. Then wait forever for my replacement. It sucks. I got RB for Christmas and can't even enjoy the guitar feature. I feel ripped off. But that's for another thread. I don't know what the problem is, but I would bet that over half of the guitars have some sort of issue with the overdrive.

[x-gaucho]

My first guitar had a bum downstrum within the first week, however overdrive worked perfectly fine.

I ordered my replacement from EA which solved the downstrum issue, but now the overdrive doesn't work. Hasn't worked from the moment I received it. I regretfully had to send back the first guitar within the "25 day limit" to return the broken downstrum guitar. Now I believe it's time to order another replacement for the broken overdrive guitar.