X-plorer problems, potential recall?

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 4th 2007 at 10:30AM }

Apparently, all is not well in the land of rock. Reports are coming in to Joystiq that many Guitar Hero X-plorer guitars have unresponsive whammy bars. We've also received reports, along with Joystiq, that some Target stores are refusing to sell the game, saying that there has been a recall. We have been unable to confirm whether or not there has been a recall yet, though we should know sometime today.

Here at Fanboy Towers, we have at least one broken X-plorer, owned by none other than our own David Dreger. It seems that there are two variants of the X-Plorer, one with the pedal jack near the power cord and one with the pedal jack on the bottom of the guitar (near the headset jack and shoulder strap). Joystiq reports that the problem exists in the variant with the pedal jack near the power cord, but David claims otherwise, as his pedal jack is on the bottom. If you've been upset because you cannot yet afford Guitar Hero II (like me), then you may want to hold off a bit longer to see where this all goes. We'll keep you posted on the situation as it develops.

[Via Joystiq]

Update: Added some language to clarify what is meant by the "bottom" of the guitar.

Tags: gh ii, GhIi, guitar hero, guitar hero ii, GuitarHero, GuitarHeroIi, harmonix, red octane, RedOctane

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

nick @ Apr 4th 2007 10:35AM

Yeah when i got my first copy the Whammy bar and the tilt sensor were shot. i had to Jump around the room like a kid with too much suger to just get star power. I ended up returning it at walmart and grabbed a new one.

All seems fine now...

nick @ Apr 4th 2007 10:37AM

dam spelling... "sugar".

Phazzer @ Apr 4th 2007 10:38AM

Damn. Not even out for 24 hours yet....

Vader582 @ Apr 4th 2007 10:48AM

As my wife and I played last night, we discovered at least one of our guitars has the unresponsive whammy bar AND that the tilt function (used for Star Power) activates by itself and does not respond when the player tries to activate it. Nice, welcome to next-gen...*rolls eyes*

Emphar @ Apr 4th 2007 10:50AM

Two of my roommates got GHII and both guitars have issues with the whammy bar. They work 1 out of 5 times and it feels like you almost have to break the bar to get it to work. Both have the "pedal" input on the bottom. The star power tilt works on both but takes a mush higher tilt then the ps2 version.

Side note: Those with HDTVs, don't forget to calibrate for video lag in GH's video settings.

Shafnitz @ Apr 4th 2007 10:54AM

I think there is a mistake in this post. The port on the bottom of the guitar IS the port near the power cord. One has it on the bottom near the power cord and the other has it on the side near the headset port.
My guitar has it on the bottom near the power cord and I haven't had any problems so far. My wife works at Target and I asked her to check to see if it has been recalled or not.

Tony @ Apr 4th 2007 10:55AM

Oh man, they've really screwed themselves with this one. I'm glad I didn't pick it up yet. Someone mentioned the Target recall the other day and I figured it was just someone at the store with bad info. Guess not.

EB @ Apr 4th 2007 10:58AM

The Target recall was a glitch. I bought my copy at Target yesterday. After they intially told me they could not sell it to me, I hung around for a minute in disbelief. A manager found a message that the recall order was a mistake and changed the UPC so that it would ring up. Luckily, I got the controller with the jack on the back, so no problems with the whammy bar.

FeatherKing @ Apr 4th 2007 11:01AM

The Target recall was just to prevent them from breaking street date. They wouldnt sell it to me yesterday morning, but they held it for me and i bought it last night

Lets all take a breath..

Leathersoup @ Apr 4th 2007 11:15AM

I got mine and the only problem I have with it is the placement of the start, select and xbox button. I keep brushing them with my sleeve and pausing the game...

Dan @ Apr 4th 2007 11:18AM

My whammy bar seems to be a little futzy too. Thought it was just me.

Joshua @ Apr 4th 2007 11:22AM

I have a unit with a pedal jack near the power cord. I admit that the wammy didn't seem to work as well as my friends on his PS2. I logged six and a half hours on the game yesterday (I'm a GH2 n00b). I know it seemed to be less effective the longer I played.

I can tell you that my tilt sensor is way too sensitive and will activate star power if the neck is not parallel to the ground. The smallest tilt upwards and it kicks on.

I can't say I would suggest on people waiting to pick the game. I'm sure Red Octane will be looking into this issue with a quickness and in the even that there IS a defect I'm sure they will make good. Everything about them seems centered on Customer Support.

El Niño @ Apr 4th 2007 11:24AM

I have the xplorer with the port on the bottom of the controller, and no problems yet. Whammy bar, tilt, buttons, and strum work fine. Just wish the controller was wireless, or offer a higher priced version with a wireless controller. Since I play late a night, headphones are required in order not to disturb the little ones.

Warlord Luthias @ Apr 4th 2007 3:19PM

At first, my whammy bar was pretty unresponsive. But I played through the entire game, and by the end, it seemed to be working fine. Perhaps it just takes some breaking in, and people shouldn't whine and complain right away after the first song.

Xerotime @ Apr 4th 2007 11:31AM

I have 2 guitars both with the pedal jack next to the headset port and they work just fine. This is the first Guitar Hero game I have played so I have no idea what the PS2 controllers were like.

ANt @ Apr 4th 2007 11:31AM

HERE IS A VITAL TIP:

1. Plug your guitar into your PC

2. Go to Control Panel, click game controllers

3. Click properties on Guitar Hero X-Plorer

4. On the test tab you will be able to test all the buttons on the guitar for proper functionality

I had a bad guitar and got another one, it works like a charm now.....Carry on Wayward Sons....

Barbie Fu @ Apr 4th 2007 11:34AM

picked my copy up the other day, i got one with the pedal jack near the headphone jack, no problems here...............

Joshua @ Apr 4th 2007 11:45AM

That unit with the jack near the headphone area would be great for the left handed folks. The other version isn't 'lefty' friendly.

Bryan T @ Apr 4th 2007 11:50AM

My guitar has the port on the bottom...very unresponsive...I'm going to try to take it back to best buy and exachange it for a new one.

Jarrett Kaufman @ Apr 4th 2007 12:54PM

I have the one with the port on the bottom (not near the cord), and my whammy bar does seem kind of screwy. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. I've found overall, though, that if I position the bar so it's perfectly straight, and if I do NOT press it all the way against the guitar (like I'm used to in the PS2 version) and instead waggle it only slightly, it works a lot better. Still, if this is a problem and not by design, then I might go ahead and exchange it, too.

nick @ Apr 4th 2007 12:16PM

I am now having problems with the disc itself. a notice comes up and says to clean my disc, but the disc is perfect.

Guibs @ Apr 4th 2007 7:50PM

Mine got the port clost to the headset and so far, it has been working really well.

dunnypop @ Apr 4th 2007 12:13PM

great USB tip.
I'm a GH noob so I had no idea that there was a tilt function and I didn't know when to use the whammy bar......

Big Bird @ Apr 4th 2007 12:43PM

I bought two yesterday. One at a small local walmart jack on the bottom. And one at circuit city with the jack on the back. I am of course keeping the one from CC because of the points card. I used it last night no problems. Im glad I am glad that is the one I am keeping. And thank you for the lag notice.

James @ Apr 4th 2007 1:08PM

I wonder how many players with whammy bar problems are actually just using it wrong,.. moving it up and down instead of in and out.

Nick @ Apr 4th 2007 1:20PM

My roommate and I bought the the duel guitar package off of red octanes website and did not receive it yesterday. We checked online and it seems we will be getting it on the 9th. The UPS tracking said it was rescheduled to ship out tomorrow from cali, WTF. This recall crap makes me slightly less upset considering that it may be the reason for the late shipping, but my guess is not. I'm thinking UPS or somebody messed up. If anybody else is dealing with this or has heard of it please let me know. Peace.

Lowell M @ Apr 4th 2007 1:33PM

Got the game yesterday-- my whammy bar is very unresponsive. After a random interval (0-2 seconds) it will start to work... I have the X-Plorer with the pedal jack next to the power chord.

I thought it was just me... glad to hear there's something wrong with it. I was starting to long for the PS2 SG controller.

Conbus @ Apr 4th 2007 3:32PM

I have terrible luck when it comes to possible defects in products. I always seem to choose the messed up ones. Any who, I'm working up the money to buy this game (selling some PS2 games on ebay) so this won't make the wait feel so bad. By the time I get the money, I'm pretty sure RedOctane will have issued a response.

kornchild2002 @ Apr 4th 2007 3:08PM

I purchased my copy of the game and X-Plorer controller on Thursday May 29th. My guitar has the pedal port near the headset, not near the USB cable (or power cord as described). I haven't had any problems with my whammy bar or tilt functions. I have played through the Easy campaign and am making my way through the Medium mode. Still, no problems what so ever and that is afetr about 5-6 hours of total play time.

John @ Apr 5th 2007 12:56AM

Had issues with my whammy bar, just returned it and grabbed a new one. Fingers are crossed, but I don't like my chances as I just checked the new one and it seems like the pedal is near the power cord and that seems to be the one with issues if I'm not mistaken.

If this one doesn't work, I'll wait on the recall I think.

John

Brken123 @ Apr 5th 2007 1:33PM

For what it's worth, when you plug it into your computer, it comes up and prompts you for drivers. Obviously I don't have the driver cd, so windows tries to install it, and the notification that "it has been installed but may not work correctly" comes up. Then when you go into control panel and open up "game controllers", the guitar isn't listed in the window, so therefore you can't click "properties" and check it out like the above post stated.

Brken123 @ Apr 5th 2007 5:56PM

HERE'S THE FIX!!!!! Try this if you want, I did and now I don't have to go through the hassle of mailing it back, etc etc. However, if you choose do to this, you are responsible for what happens, good or bad. See this link....

http://forum.guitarherogame.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&m=200260𰹄

Brken123 @ Apr 6th 2007 4:51PM

Don't follow the link above, as it doesn't work. They pulled down the post. Basically, it showed you how to open the guitar up, and use the adjustment screws on the whammy bar mechanism. If you loosen them and pivot the device clockwise about a quarter of an inch, tighten the screws back up, it works like it's supposed to. However, opening the guitar voids the warranty (although I'm not sure how they'd prove it - there's no seal that breaks or anything to prove it's been opened) and you run the risk of damaging the components inside if you aren't careful. Oh well. Here's hoping red octane does something about this soon. I know I shot them 3 emails (being that's the only way to contact them) back in Feb with questions regarding my pre-order, and I never heard back. Now that they've been flooded with "my guitar is broken" tickets, who knows how long it will take to get a response. Probably won't be within the 90 days that it's under warranty....

Phocas @ Apr 6th 2007 9:58AM

I bought my copy from circut city to get the free 1600 points. I was horrified when I saw that my jack was on the bottom. I am happy to say that my guitar seems to be in perfect order. I can't say enough good things about this game. It is simply amazing. First must have game of 2007.

ANt @ Apr 6th 2007 10:16AM

@31 you must not being using an updated copy of XP then. It works perfectly the control panel dealio.....

naib @ Apr 6th 2007 5:25PM

I don't know why they pulled that thread down. It worked perfectly for me.

Here's another post with the same info:
http://forum.guitarherogame.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=17898

Drew @ Apr 7th 2007 9:41PM

I had GH2 for 360 and had no issues with the controller.... that was... until today when the whammy stopped responding.

I returned it to gamestop for another model.... and the same thing was wrong with it.

Now Red Octane sends me to Activision for a replacement, and Activision says "we don't replace them". Como What?