P-44 Review

The P-44 has all the signature capabilities of the high-end Parker Fly in a beautiful solid-mahogany body.The humbuckers deliver twang and shimmer with plenty of attitude. The split coil lets you get a pseudo-single-coil sound, with zero hum. Count on the piezos for a very realistic acoustic sound, then mix them with the magnetics for a hybrid that introduces a whole new dimension to music.

Features:	9.5
Sound:	10
Action:	9.5
Reliability:	9
Impression:	9.5
Overall rating:	9.5
Users rating:	5.8
Comments:	24

overall: 9.6

Featured review by: darth_b, on may 13, 2008

Price paid: $ 500

Purchased from: ebay

Features: Mahogany body, bolt on maple neck with ebony fingerboard, 2 humbuckers, piezo bridge, pickup, vibrato bridge, grover 18:1 tuners, active preamp, mags and piezo can be summed mono or split stereo, mag volume, piezo volume, single tone control which pulls, up to activate single coils in mags with hum cancelling. Gig bag, stereo cable included. Really a 9.5 rating, would have given it a 10 if it had dual tone controls, and locking tuners, but maybe I'm too harsh for the price. // 9

Sound: I play a wide range of music, from rock to blues to country. Use a Vox AC15 for the mags, and a Roland accoustic amp for the piezo. This guitar has great sound, and a very wide range of sounds. The dual humbuckers sound very good, although an upgrade would improve it. The piezo gives a very good accoustic tone. Blending them gives a real depth and shimmer to your sound. Pretty much any guitar tone you want is in there waiting for your skill to bring out. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Guitar action was a little high when I received, but it had been slightly used as a store demo model and I think it was due for a tune up anyway. I replaced strings and spent a couple of hours doing the setup and got a quite low setup with no buzz and very good intonation. I'm sure a new from factory would be much closer to ideal. Finish is beautiful and flawless. Neck seated so well you can't slide a playing card into the neck joint. Neck is so easy to adjust with adjust wheel on body end. // 9

Reliability & Durability: Everything is rock solid on this guitar. I had one of the pickups go out soon after I acquired. I called Parker and they gave me a local place to take it for warranty repair. This place ended up being closed so I called back and they suggested Sweetwater since it is only an hour from my house. They fixed it within a week and I was back on the road. Both Parker and Sweetwater were very helpful. Since then I have banged it around quite a bit with no issues. // 10

Impression: You can play any music you want on this guitar. It is very flexible. I take it on the road with me and never need to use a backup. I did replace the Standard tuners with grover locking tuners. The Standard grovers are very good, but with a lot of trem use they can go out of tune. So the locking tuners helped that and make string changes a lot faster. This would be a great guitar for anyone, for any type of music. // 10

overall: 9.4

Reviewed by: JRock589, on july 27, 2006

Purchased from: Mr Entertainment

Features: The P-44 has all the signature capabilities of the high-end Parker Fly in a beautiful solid-mahogany body.The humbuckers deliver twang and shimmer with plenty of attitude. The split coil lets you get a pseudo-single-coil sound, with zero hum. Count on the piezos for a very realistic acoustic sound, then mix them with the magnetics for a hybrid that introduces a whole new dimension to music. // 10

Sound: This guy has a wide vareity of sound and tone, although for some metal heads the included Parker stinger humbuckers might be a little weak. I'm currently using it with a Behringer V-Amp 2, and a Fender Frontman 25R, and it performs extremly well. It's so versatile with the piezo and coil tap control, it can get all the sounds needed for nearly any genre of music. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: When I first got this guitar it was extremly well set up, the action was set to a desirable level, the pickups were fairly well adjusted, everything seemed to be in near-perfect condition. But of course, it still needed some personalizing. This guitar was flawless, the finish is excellent, and the build is just amazing. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I've already used the the P-44 for a live show, and it faired extremly well, because of it's build it's near indestrucible, although I wouldent want to find out the extent of this feature, as I wouldn't want to lose the guitar. My only concern with this guitars reliability is the fact the whole guitar seems to rely on the 9 volt battery thats inserted into the back of the guitar, this is because of the preamp/mixer system thats placed into the internal electronics. I always keep a spare batterie, and a spare guitar, just incase. // 8

Impression: The P-44 was a near-perfect match for me, especially the price tag, I couldent ask for better. I would of expected to pay another $500-$1000 for a guitar of this quality. I have to put some stress here on my only problem with this guitar, the battery supply, there have been numberous occasions when I've gone to practise, and that annoying little red light comes on and I lose allot of tone and volume. So the price of the 9 volts to power it can be irritating. Looking beyond that, this guitar is incredible, I definitly reccomend it for all players, well except for those Who dont enjoy the looks, you either love it, or you hate it. // 9

Comments

[sithian476]

Those are poor amps, did you try playing them on others too?

[JRock589]

sithian476 wrote:

Those are poor amps, did you try playing them on others too?

Unfortunatly it's the only amp i've got, and I havent had the oppurtunity to run it through anything better yet. Im saving for something a little more high end, although I dont have a clue what to get.

[myvaliantleap]

I have the p-38 and I love the thing. Parker FTW.

[jOHANEN]

I got the p-42 in metallic grey, ****ing amazing guitar!!

[masterometal666]

whats with the price you paid? it says zero in case you didnt notice. you get it for free or forget to say price? if it was free, how'd you get it that way?

[JRock589]

masterometal666 wrote:

whats with the price you paid? it says zero in case you didnt notice. you get it for free or forget to say price? if it was free, how'd you get it that way?

I put in a price...it came up as 0.
I paid $700, I got a special price since it was the last 1 they had, lucky me. Normally this guitar goes for $800-$850 CDN.

[dimebag7]

I garauntee that my jackson slsmg soloist is better!

[JRock589]

You cant really compare A Jackson and a Parker. There styles are so differnt.

I'll take my parker over a jackson anyday tho, it's way more versatile.

[aurian4parker]

god, that guys a metalhead. im not trying to be rude, well...yes i am. because he hasn't played a parker.

i have a p-44. and im played a soloist. i'll tell you.

parkers play much better than any jackson ive played man.

dont say your jackson plays better if you havent played the parker.

you listen to dimebag man. obvious metalhead. the parker is for people who have a variety of taste in music. not for the type of guy that likes to go to guitar center and show off his sweeps on a crappy peavey XXL. im just saying. those two guitars are not comparable.

parker: parker alnico stinger pickups(active), (and my parker, the first gen.) has a wilkinson trem, grover tuners, piezo acoustic pickup, coil tap. and a bunch of other features.

where as the jackson is just simple, shred. with, die-cast tuners, a jt390 bridge, and some EMG's. too plain and "metal" for most parker users taste.

parker players are unique, and are usually very technical and skilled players. not just the type to consantly shred in the chromatic scale.

bam

[Sirwinston89]

Does this have a locking nut? I've heard lots of different comments, some saying it has and some saying it doesnt.
And can these guitars play heavier rock/metal(non death)?

[El_Bozo]

I can't disagree with aurian4parker that parkers are for versatile styles of music, but lay off the smugness plz...
It sounded almost like you are a superior race over metalheads.
Peace.

[batiboy06]

what are those 2 switches for??

[plakkert]

That thing is really ugly

[J.J.G.]

parkers have the best price-quality balance period.

[GuitarAustin95]

Dave Martone Uses those things and i ****ing hate them

[RenegadeDave]

aurian4parker wrote:

god, that guys a metalhead. im not trying to be rude, well...yes i am. because he hasn't played a parker.

i have a p-44. and im played a soloist. i'll tell you.

parkers play much better than any jackson ive played man.

dont say your jackson plays better if you havent played the parker.

you listen to dimebag man. obvious metalhead. the parker is for people who have a variety of taste in music. not for the type of guy that likes to go to guitar center and show off his sweeps on a crappy peavey XXL. im just saying. those two guitars are not comparable.

parker: parker alnico stinger pickups(active), (and my parker, the first gen.) has a wilkinson trem, grover tuners, piezo acoustic pickup, coil tap. and a bunch of other features.

where as the jackson is just simple, shred. with, die-cast tuners, a jt390 bridge, and some EMG's. too plain and "metal" for most parker users taste.

parker players are unique, and are usually very technical and skilled players. not just the type to consantly shred in the chromatic scale.

bam

This guy sounds like the type of guy that would drive a hybrid on southpark.

You could have just said.

"The type of player typically attracted to Parkers are usually have more depth to their musical taste while those who prefer a Jackson typically are more centered on one genre, namely metal".

[Tyler Durden]

dimebag7 wrote:

I garauntee that my jackson slsmg soloist is better!

I guarantee you didn't pass Grade 12

[Like I Is]

Ooh. Got him.

[eat_sleep_music]

Sirwinston89 wrote:

Does this have a locking nut? I've heard lots of different comments, some saying it has and some saying it doesnt.
And can these guitars play heavier rock/metal(non death)?

I play a P-44 and mine does not have a locking nut. I've never heard of one with a locking nut, but it might exist.
And yes, they can. They are almost perfect for a southern rock sound and can achieve a solid metal bite. It's not like a Jackson or a Schecter but it will give you what you want. Just flip off the piezo pickup and you're good to go.

batiboy06 wrote:

what are those 2 switches for??

One switch is the normal ryhtym and lead switch. The other takes you from the piezo pickup to the regular one. IF you don't know about the pieazo pick-up, google it. It's cool. It sounds like an acoustic electric comin through your speakers.

[Ali-b912]

parkers can do everything. jackson soloists are good, but cant do anything that isnt distorted. parkers can do everything and then some.

[stradivari310]

I love the features, but I'm not a fan of the body shape.

[munkyRobb]

theres one in my local cash converters (pawn shop for americans) for £200

worth getting?

[Hired Goon]

I'm getting one today for $350 Canadian. Unfortunately it doesn't have the Parker tremelo, but rather the cheaper bolt on one. Might upgrade to Sperzels, as some guys have done.

[weretarantula]

aurian4parker wrote:

god, that guys a metalhead. im not trying to be rude, well...yes i am. because he hasn't played a parker.

i have a p-44. and im played a soloist. i'll tell you.

parkers play much better than any jackson ive played man.

dont say your jackson plays better if you havent played the parker.

you listen to dimebag man. obvious metalhead. the parker is for people who have a variety of taste in music. not for the type of guy that likes to go to guitar center and show off his sweeps on a crappy peavey XXL. im just saying. those two guitars are not comparable.

parker: parker alnico stinger pickups(active), (and my parker, the first gen.) has a wilkinson trem, grover tuners, piezo acoustic pickup, coil tap. and a bunch of other features.

where as the jackson is just simple, shred. with, die-cast tuners, a jt390 bridge, and some EMG's. too plain and "metal" for most parker users taste.

parker players are unique, and are usually very technical and skilled players. not just the type to consantly shred in the chromatic scale.

bam

aurian, honestly do you have any idea what you are talking about?
Go listen to the Tornado Of Souls solo by Megadeth. Marty Friedman played that on a Jackson not a Parker.
Now if you are really so 'technical' play that.
Once again listen to the solos in Mr. Crowley by Ozzy Osbourne. Randy Rhoads played that on a Jackson. Those two songs have some of the most technically challenging pieces in them.

Yes I know they were both played on RR's not Soloists but my point is you generally referring to metalheads and 'untechnical' and to just use the chromatic scale is completely idiotic.

I have nothing against anyone who plays a Parker, I play a Fender Telecaster, a Dean Razorback and a Hagstrom Viking so versatility is key don't get me wrong.

Just don't go around branding everyone to be crap because they dont play a Parker, because chances are you couldn't outplay them if your life depended on it.