PDP RIFFMASTER Wireless Guitar Controller for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, PS5/PS4, Rock Band 4, Audio Jack, Rechargeable Battery, Officially Licensed by Sony - Black

The Riffmaster guitar made by PDP is simply one of the best guitars I've ever owned. It feels sturdy even though it's lightweight, the frets are good (even though it's a pain to hit HOPO's) and the strum bar is excellent - fast alt strumming is so much easier now (I was playing songs with sections like this on RB4 - Black Magic, Heir Apparent etc) and I hardly broke my x4 multiplier when I have using GH/RB strats guitars in the past.There are a couple of nitpicks of course - the whammy bar is springy and if you go to far down with it it can catch the pause button and if you're going for a FC it can mess you up, and also sometimes the strum bar doesn't register standard speed alt strums. The ability to choose between PS4 and PS5 is awesome, and the fact it's totally wireless (up to 40 hours on a single charge) is a welcome plus, saves having to scout for 2 AA batteries every time.I think PDP have done a fab job with this but I think if they make more of these down the line maybe they should cure the original faults this one has even though there aren't many. Overall, a bloody amazing guitar and I'm having so much fun with it.

I bought this guitar as I was desperate to play Rock Band again and I did my research being as I hadn’t played since having an Xbox 360. I was well aware that the road ahead would get expensive being as this is now the only new guitar controller you can now get, trawling eBay for new old guitars is way too expensive and I didn’t want to risk getting a used one that only worked for a couple of months. You can still buy Rock Band 4 on modern consoles and you can still buy the majority of their old library for the same prices as back then. Anyway, the guitar is a bit pricey but they quality of the guitar is great especially if you used to love the standard controllers that used to come with Rock Band, I’d actually say this is better and it’s wireless, you can even pack it back down to compact form so it’s portable. The battery life is great, I can use it for multiple days before needing to consider charging it. The only downside is that it’s meant to be made for Fortnite Festival as there’s a joystick behind the top end of the guitar, it would be fine if the directions made sense, plus despite Fortnite Festival being Harmonix’s latest venture it is thoroughly disappointing as it’s seems slower and clunkier than Rock Band 4 which came out for PS4 multiple years ago. I now see that there are details suggesting Rick Band 5 has been confirmed, if it’s true then I am holding my breath on the gameplay is Fortnite Festival is anything to go by. I am a massive fan so I’m secretly hoping it’s gonna bring back the game genre.

works great, feels very similar to the original rock band guitar in feel. people complaining about lag are not calibrating the controller to the tv, after calibration it is perfect, this is a game/tv issue not controller, modern tvs have input lag, set the tv to game mode and go into rock bands setting and calibrate the controller, the controller doesnt have an auto calibration so go to the calibration in rock band 4 settings, where it says to hold the controller mic to the tv press the blue button and it will switch to a calibrater based on presssing a button vs mic. if you want it for fortnite it does a button calibration before playing.

Summary:➕ Rechargeable, USB-C➕ Microphone/headphones input➕ Storage for dongle inside➖ Non-tactile (not clicky) strum bar➖ Awkward options/share button layout➖ No Bluetooth➖ PS button doesn't turn on the console➖ No auto-configure for display lagThis is really just a first impressions review, since I've only gotten it out of the box and put it together, then played a song to see if it's working. I played Rock Band 4 with it.I purchased this guitar because my Rockband 4 guitar (the blue "Jaguar" one) failed on me. I've owned mostly Guitar Hero guitars over the years, for various consoles, but I've had 2 of the blue Jaguar guitars now that have failed in the same way. I can't comment on the longevity of the Riffmaster yet, but hopefully it will prove more reliable in time.In terms of features, the Riffmaster feels like both a step forward and a step back from the Jaguar guitar. The thumb stick is a nice touch, we've never seen that on a guitar before and it felt fairly natural to use. However, it really only matters for selecting the user and the game, and you'll probably use a normal controller for that anyway since the PS button on the guitar does not start the console. Once you're in the game, the strum bar feels more natural for getting around. One letdown is the size and placement of the options/share buttons. On the Jaguar, these were good-sized, large and spaced apart. On the Riffmaster, they are small and quite close together (separated in a row by a programmable "P1" button). It could make pausing mid-game a little trickier. The programmable button itself is interesting, I have no idea what you would use it for but it's also awkwardly positioned between the other two.Perhaps the most refreshing feature is the built-in rechargeable battery. No more hunting around for AAs when you want to play. The purported 36 hours battery life means no interruptions if you charge before a session.I'm a little disappointed by a return to the dongle, after the Jaguar was Bluetooth. You might argue that this was done for lower latency, but Playstation controllers can achieve as low as 4ms over Bluetooth. The thing that makes it disappointing is when you have a full band. Drums, 2 guitars and a microphone is 4 USB-A ports in use, meaning you will need a USB hub or a converter for the USB-C port to plug everything in. At the very least, they could have made it so two controllers can connect to one dongle (ie with a built-in hub).Finally, it was a small but appreciated feature of the Jaguar that it could set up your display lag by detecting screen flashes. It looks like the Riffmaster doesn't have that feature, which is a shame.Overall, the guitar seems good quality, the design is slick and it works well. I can look past the missing featurs if it beats the other guitars in terms of reliability, though.