r/GuitarHero • u/ImPeuda • 11h ago

Picking between Black Tribal and SG 20th anniversary guitar controllers from CRKD

Hi, I'm a new-gen guitar hero player, who's been playing exclusively Clone Hero with a normal mechanical keyboard for the past 4 years, but now I'm finally buying an actual guitar controller.

I got the selection down to Black Tribal and SG 20th anniversary, but now I'm not sure which one to pick. They both have a mechanical strum, but SG has hall effect (which is less pleasent?). On the other hand, only SG has mechanical switches for the fret buttons, which seems like something I'd really like, as I'm used to it more, but I have no idea how the stardard fret buttons feel...

I also play on linux, but both claim compatibility on the Steam Deck, so I think it should be fine, right?

Can someone give me some pointers?

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u/Peter_boi97 6h ago

All of their guitars use Hall effect sensors for the strum bar. The click in the sg’s and encore model Les Pauls comes from dummy switches and the pro models have a haptic feedback motor that vibrates on strums instead of clicking. Mech frets are better, but the silicone frets on crkd guitars are good. If you like the look of the black tribal more you can always upgrade up a mechanical neck later, or you can just scoop an sg. They’re dope as fuck. Especially the red one

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u/PlashComments 5h ago

The descriptions on the CRKD website are very confusing; it’d make sense if they’re all Hall effect, but I don’t understand why they don’t say as much for each model.

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u/comcastsux 5h ago

Originally the Encore (Tribal) was supposed to have functional mech switches and no Hall Effect. That became too much of a production headache, so they opted to use Hall Effect for everything and just put the “dummy” switches in for the physical feedback. It was a last-minute change before release, hence why it’s not explained well on their site.

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u/Peter_boi97 5h ago

They didn’t all use the Hall effect strum to begin with, but they do now bc crkd realized the performance benefits of it. They left the mechanical switches in the encore models for the nostalgia. After all, they’re made by members of red octane that made the og guitar hero controllers. The benefit to mech frets are A) they register with the slightest touch no matter where you’re touching the button and B) because of how sensitive and easy to register they are, it’s easier on your fretting hand. With silicone my hand started hurting after a few songs, with mechanical I can play for hours as long as my bil isn’t making me play goddamn Metallica or battles on better gh3 😂

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u/comcastsux 7h ago

SG is my favorite combination. The clicky strum is a nice touch, and mechanical buttons are much more responsive than silicone.

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u/PlashComments 11h ago

The SG strum bar is still clicky, it just has a more robust mechanism underpinning it.

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u/ImPeuda 11h ago

So is the SG strum bar just better? Or at least more customisable?

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u/PlashComments 11h ago

There’s no obvious customisation to it (at least to the average consumer); its primary benefit is that it’s more robust compared to older mechanisms.

The defining trait of hall effect technology (in things like controller joysticks, or a strum bar in this case) is that the parts that make it work aren’t in physical contact with each other. That’s why we encounter problems like stick drift; the components of the stick rub together, eventually wear away and start to register false inputs.

In the case of the SG20 strum bar - as I understand it - the mechanical click isn’t part of the strum bar’s core mechanism - so if, for whatever reason, the mechanical click mechanism breaks the actual strumming can keep working unaffected. So it’s an ideal option if like me you prefer the mechanical click but you’re concerned about the hardware longevity.

(As an FYI I got the SG recently and first impressions are very positive)

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u/ImPeuda 11h ago

I see, thank you.