For Those About To Rock, The CRKD Les Paul Guitar Controller Salutes You

The CRKD Les Paul guitar controller marries nostalgia with smart design

By Madeline Blondeau | August 1, 2025 | 3:02pm

Video Games Features guitar hero

For Those About To Rock, The CRKD Les Paul Guitar Controller Salutes You

My basement living room stretches out in front of me in a constant state of motion. Objects slip away, then snap back into place before they slide off again. This is the effect playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band for several hours straight has always had on my vision. It’s the charting rhythm game’s equivalent of the ‘Tetris Effect,’ a term coined for the similar impact the perennial puzzler has on a player’s sight.

The last time I felt this feeling, in earnest, was in my dorm 10 years ago, during the ill-fated release of Guitar Hero Live. That release was a last-ditch effort on part of Activision to recapture the glory of less than a decade prior that only took purchase with a few fans—a small cohort that included both myself and Endless Mode’s Editor-in-Chief. While Rock Band was able to continue on and find its own place in the rhythm game community, the rest of the world largely moved on from plastic peripherals, and Guitar Hero itself looked more antiquated with each passing year.

But thanks to CRKD, the halcyon days of finger cramps and stiff legs are back—and they’re better than ever.

Toys In The Attic

On February 27, I placed a pre-order on the California-based peripheral manufacturer’s Gibson Les Paul Blueberry Burst as soon as the Cheap Ass Gamer post with the controller’s announcement crossed my timeline. Jumping the gun on a pricey gaming preorder isn’t usually my style, but at this point, $124.99 USD for a multi-platform guitar controller ($134.99 for Xbox and PC) is a bargain.

Plus—I really like Guitar Hero.

While the image of old plastic peripherals might conjure up Goodwill bins and dusty attics, models that are actually functional and in good shape are relatively rare on the secondhand market. OEM models that aren’t beat up or encrusted in the included stickers start at $50 and go up from there. What really complicates matters, though, are the proprietary USB dongles for the wireless controllers. These dongles sell for between $40 and $50 on their own before the controller.

This, then, is one of the baked-in appeals of the CRKD x Les Paul controllers—they’re around the price of an original controller, dongle, and cheaper boxed entry of the game. Another is that these are decidedly better controllers, in many respects, than the ones you likely played on in high school or college. The Blueberry Burst model boasts mechanical frets as opposed to the standard rubber membrane. (CRKD also offers a Les Paul Black Tribal model with those classic membrane buttons, if you want it to feel like the first time.)

CRKD Les Paul Guitar Hero

For me, the benefits of mechanical switches outweigh the comfort of the more classic feel offered by membrane buttons. They’re more precise, with an exact pressure point, and thus more reliable for rhythm gaming. The controller’s strum bar also gets a slick upgrade, with Hall Effect technology for a more reactive experience. It feels akin to the haptic feedback on DualSense controllers, and here, it encourages players to strum softer as opposed to jamming their button up and down.

Other quality-of-life features elevate the CRKD x Les Paul controller, such as a handy storage option for the USB dongle. The top plastic pickup slides off, allowing players to slide either the dongle or the cap by itself inside. Meanwhile, the bottom pickup displays the battery life, while a subtle directional pad behind the headstock allows for speedy navigation. Each knob also has a special function; a pickup switch acts as mode select, ‘power’ and home button, while the wheel next to it acts as a ‘select’ and analog stick. There’s also an extra knob up top surrounded by a suite of button prompts.

But these features would not amount to much if the controller itself didn’t feel good to jam on.

Plastic Love

Hooking the CRKD x Les Paul up to our PlayStation 3 was simple. I selected the mode on the controller, pressed the matching sync button on the dongle, and voila—the controller was connected. It’s had no input, connection, or latency issues after a week of rigorous daily play across multiple games.

But how does it feel? Different—in a good way. The first thing I noticed in Guitar Hero 3 was how much I had to adjust my play style to really appreciate that Hall Effect feature. It was much different than how I recalled practically destroying my wired Red Octane 360 controller. Playing softer took a short period of adjustment, but within an hour or so, the difference between this and the original controllers’ mechanical click was stark. There’s a surreal vibration that’s presumably meant to evoke the sensation of striking an actual guitar string. While there’s no replacement, of course, it’s impressive how easy this strum bar helps sell the illusion of rock stardom to the player.

How this translates to the playing experience lies in the rapidity. A series of soft, fluttered up-and-down strums as opposed to rapid downward slams yields satisfying results. It allows navigating complicated note highways at just the right speed so long as they can keep on rhythm. In the flow of heavy, technically advanced guitar tracks from acts like Metallica or Unleash The Archers, it’s easy to time out each little jolt of feedback and use it to inform your tempo. Landing, say, an Eddie Van Halen or Jim Martin solo can feel—suitably—like holding a pick in your hands and feeling that sturdy tautness vibrate your fingers as you shred.

What’s more, the mechanical frets feel sturdy and tactile enough to allow for more complex maneuvers. Previous controllers were prone to sticking problems and an eventual mushiness to each press—a consequence of those older membrane buttons. While long-term wear and tear will be the true judge, my past experiences with mechanical switches lead me to believe these will hold up much better than the guitars I grew up with. And if something goes awry, CRKD x Les Paul offers not only replacements, but alternate frets for those more accustomed to, say, 10-button controllers. (I also purchased a carrying case for extra protection.)

Across the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, the controller works like a charm. This is a blessing thanks to Rock Band 3 Deluxe, where I’ve done a majority of my testing. A custom build of the game released by Milohax, this version bundles in numerous quality-of-life and accessibility features, as well as—vitally—a simple way to import custom songs. Between multiple DLCs, previous game setlists, tracks from Guitar Hero, and our own custom additions, our in-game library has blown past the 2k threshold. I mention this to give a sense of scale that this controller holds up to—across styles, genres, eras, what have you. Playing along to Curtis Mayfield is as satisfying as a laid back Frusciante riff; metal, jazz, country, symphonic metal, rap-rock… if the note highway is good, the CRKD x Les Paul plays it like a dream.

PC players will also be pleased by KeyJam Mode, which allows each button on the controller to register as a keyboard input. This is extremely helpful for popular titles like Fortnite Festival, as well as other rhythm games on the platform. Essentially the idea is that if you can play it with a keyboard, you can play it with this controller. This year’s Rift of the Necrodancer, for example, is a fantastic fit considering the note highway already bears similarity to Guitar Hero’s. After some remapping, it worked great with DJMAX Respect, and may have sold me on picking up one of CRKD’s smaller controllers. Open source games like Clone Hero will benefit, especially. If you play rhythm games on the PC and are in the market for a sturdy, guitar-style controller that works across a variety of keyboard based games, this fits the bill quite nicely.

If I were to pick any real bones—and this is a real nitpick—I don’t much love the actual Blueberry Burst design printed onto the guitar body. There’s a distinct ‘photo of wood grain’ aspect to it that looks a bit flat in the wrong lighting, though it’s stylish otherwise. The RGB effects and premium buttons are worth the trade-off, as I’m sure infused molded plastic would have tacked on a hefty fee. Plus, in the moment, it doesn’t really distract that much from the overall aesthetic—and the novelty of matching guitars with Casey Lynch in Guitar Hero 3 and Aerosmith made it all worth it, really.

In The End

Across genres, games, and platforms, the CRKD x Les Paul controller is a certified face melter. The pricey aftermarket mark-ups on OEM accessories make this the most reliable way to pick up and play just about any rhythm game that has a note highway.

Now—is this controller for everybody? That depends, I think, on what the market bears out to be. Influencers have promoted the controller on platforms like YouTube and Twitch, and CRKD has shown it off via IGN’s FanFest earlier this year. There’s a clear effort to not only market this thing, but to market it across several demographics. It’s aimed at not only modern Fortnite Festival fans, but Guitar Hero nostalgia as well. But beyond this, it’s also a button with premium accommodations geared towards hardcore rhythm gaming enthusiasts.

This is anecdotal, but last month, I went to a metro area GameStop to trade some things for a PlayStation 5 Pro. While browsing, two men in their late thirties to early forties barged in and loudly proclaimed, “we’re here to rock,” to the employee. One man explained that his “little nephew was in town,” and he wanted to get things to play Guitar Hero. It was clear he hadn’t been in the gaming loop since 2010 or so. Sheepish, the employee explained that the controllers are mostly at secondhand retailers and retro stores now, and won’t be stocked by an average game store.

But my closest retro games shops don’t stock these plastic instruments for the most part—they take up a lot of space. When they do, they bundle them together as premium sets and sell them for ludicrous prices, sometimes more than what they sold for at retail. Which leaves potential buyers with three options: get lucky, spend a lot of money, or hedge their bets on the internet. But now, courtesy of CRKD, consumers like those two men have a viable, durable option when they Google “new Guitar Hero controller.”

(Kudos to whoever’s running SEO on that team.)

How many other consumers will be “here to rock?” Ultimately, CRKD will have to wait and see. But this writer, at least, has several months (perhaps years) of vision-distorting, hand-cramping jams left to bang out on this excellent peripheral.

Madeline Blondeau has been writing about games since 2010. She’s written for Paste, Anime Herald, Anime News Network, CGM, and Lock-On, among others. In addition, she has written, hosted, and recorded film criticism podcast Cinema Cauldron. Her published fiction debut is due out between 2026 and 2027. You can support her work on Patreon, and find her on BlueSky @mads.haus.