Members id-man Posted March 16, 2006 Members Share Posted March 16, 2006 I've spent my guitar beginnings 'discovering' Fender's and am a bit sheepish to admit I've never played any Les Pauls. But I got this used Epi standard recently and it has really surprised me with it's distinctive sound, it's comfortable neck and the whole way the tone and volume controls interact to alter the output. It's talking to my tube amp in a totally different way than my Fenders or DeArmond does. It's hard to describe the tone. It's smooth, thick and crunchy at the same time, begging to be turned up a little louder and played a little harder, and makes all that cool classic rock tricks like palm muting and pinch harmonics waaaay easier and 'right'. If this was a Gibson I'd totally be saying "I get it now why people like them so much". But this is only an Epiphone. I don't know what pickups are in it (maybe I should look, maybe they've been replaced with Gibson pickups or something because I just love their tone). A 'Standard' is all I know. It was squealing under high gain when I first got it but that was largely resolved by knob tweaking. Lower gain, sweeter sound. How different is what I'm hearing from the real thing? If this is 'the LP tone' and there's something that sounds even more LP than this I need to have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alchemist Posted March 16, 2006 Members Share Posted March 16, 2006 There really is no les paul tone since they all sound different (even among the same model, which is actualy the cool thing about it). If you are happy with your epi, stick with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted March 16, 2006 Members Share Posted March 16, 2006 I think you'll find more variation in "how a Les Paul sounds" based upon the pickups than whether its an Epi or a Gibby. There's the 490/498 combo dual '57 Classics 496/500T Combo dual Burstbucker Pros and a few custom Burstbucker 1 & 2 combos I own an Epi Elitist and a Gibson LP Studio. The Epi sounds sweeter and more "vintage", the Gibson sounds thicker and darker. But my Gibby has the 490/498 combo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members curseoftruth Posted March 16, 2006 Members Share Posted March 16, 2006 I have 496/500T Combo in my Epi LP Custom. I have grown really tired of them though. Great for the high gain stuff I was playing, but not really a soulful combination of pickups. And I am not sure I really would call the tone "LP" even though it does rock and sounds really good. Going for some more PAFish and nasaly tone this summer. Look for em on the spam thread in a few months. Going take me that long to figure out what I really want -- I want to put gold covers back on it, damn it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted March 16, 2006 Members Share Posted March 16, 2006 Yeah, I got "exposed" to the 496/500 combo from buying an Explorer for my kid. I agree with your evaluation. Not particularly sweet or soulful, but great for crunch and harmonics and for cutting thru the mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alchemist Posted March 16, 2006 Members Share Posted March 16, 2006 Originally posted by GAS Man Yeah, I got "exposed" to the 496/500 combo from buying an Explorer for my kid. I agree with your evaluation. Not particularly sweet or soulful, but great for crunch and harmonics and for cutting thru the mix. It works really well in certain amps though, not so much in others. With the volume rolled back its heavenly through a smooth Mesa or through an overdriven Rivera. Through your average Fender twin or a Marshall, it doesnt mix so well. I guess the harshness of the pickups interplay very nicely with smooth dark amps, and not so well with brighter amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fendergibson Posted March 16, 2006 Members Share Posted March 16, 2006 Originally posted by id-man If this is 'the LP tone' and there's something that sounds even more LP than this I need to have one. Come on dear chap.....you KNOW you want the word Gibson on that headstock.....dont deny it That`ll definately make it sound more LP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KM1959 Posted March 16, 2006 Members Share Posted March 16, 2006 Originally posted by GAS Man I think you'll find more variation in "how a Les Paul sounds" based upon the pickups than whether its an Epi or a Gibby. I wish I could agree with you there. I'd be a whole lot richer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members markas214 Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Very simple. An Epiphone Les Paul is 1/4 the price of a Gibson. Therefore the sound is 25% as good as a Gibson. Now not all Les Paul shaped guitars follow this simple equation. For example an Agile is 1/10 the price of a Gibson but the sound isn't 10% as good. The shape of the Agile headstock and the improper shortened horn will subtract another 3.75% from the sound so the Agile is only 6.25% as good as a Gibson Les Paul. Now the final caveat. Every guitar is different to some degree but the formula is accurate +/- .02%. However when a guitar has an inordinate amount of mojo built into it it needs up to 35% upward adjustment. I hate to get so technical but there is a lot of confusion regarding this matter.. I hope this helps explain things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hardtdc Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by curseoftruth I have 496/500T Combo in my Epi LP Custom. I have grown really tired of them though. Great for the high gain stuff I was playing, but not really a soulful combination of pickups. And I am not sure I really would call the tone "LP" even though it does rock and sounds really good. Going for some more PAFish and nasaly tone this summer. Look for em on the spam thread in a few months. Going take me that long to figure out what I really want -- I want to put gold covers back on it, damn it!! If you still want the gold covers, why not go with a set of Seth Lovers? True PAF tone. I snagged a used set off of e-bay last week for $82. They didn't have covers, but I'm going to use the covers off of the stock Agile PU's for them. Slapping those puppies in my AS-820 semi-hollow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cbh5150 Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by Alchemist There really is no les paul tone since they all sound different (even among the same model, which is actualy the cool thing about it). If you are happy with your epi, stick with it. Couldn't have said it better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Omri_Maor Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 markas i hope you were sarcastic there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members L6Sguy Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by Omri_Maor markas i hope you were sarcastic there... i double-checked his math. he nailed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alchemist Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by L6Sguy i double-checked his math. he nailed it. I think hes being a little conservative in his uncertainty, he also left out the AAA flame top factor, but I guess that one can be ignored for rough approximations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IdaCrue Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by markas214 Very simple. An Epiphone Les Paul is 1/4 the price of a Gibson. Therefore the sound is 25% as good as a Gibson. Now not all Les Paul shaped guitars follow this simple equation. For example an Agile is 1/10 the price of a Gibson but the sound isn't 10% as good. The shape of the Agile headstock and the improper shortened horn will subtract another 3.75% from the sound so the Agile is only 6.25% as good as a Gibson Les Paul. Now the final caveat. Every guitar is different to some degree but the formula is accurate +/- .02%. However when a guitar has an inordinate amount of mojo built into it it needs up to 35% upward adjustment. I hate to get so technical but there is a lot of confusion regarding this matter.. I hope this helps explain things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cade Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 what kinda dog dumped THAT on the road? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members L6Sguy Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by Alchemist I think hes being a little conservative in his uncertainty, he also left out the AAA flame top factor, but I guess that one can be ignored for rough approximations. well, once you figure in the cases..... and the foofy pink thing.... its never a perfect science. but remember, this guy is building the best damn guitar he can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members L6Sguy Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 and so is this guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alchemist Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by L6Sguy but remember, this guy is building the best damn guitar he can. Well he sees us when we're sleeping, and he knows when we're awake, so why wouldnt he build a great guitar for goodness sake? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members markas214 Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 I also forgot to mention that most of the mojo Gibson had was used up in 1959. The '59 Les Paul sell for over $250 thousand dollars and sound 10,000% better than the new Les pauls. There isn't much mojo left in African mines. Most of the original mojo was brought here on slave ships 300 years ago. Jimi Hendrix inherited some and used to have his guitar tech put it in his Strats. A Jimi Hendrix played Strat is worth and sounds thousands of times better than a regular Strat. People attribute Jimi's playing to talent when it really was the mojo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peavey_impact Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 On that note I have six pounds of mojo for sale....$1000 per pound...PM if interested.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members markas214 Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 There aren't 6 ounces of real mojo left in the entire world. Must be synthetic mojo and probably Chinese! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DenverDave Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by markas214 There aren't 6 ounces of real mojo left in the entire world. Must be synthetic mojo and probably Chinese! Nope. The Gibson Chinese mojo is found exclusively in Epiphones guitars now. The problem is there is very, very little mojo left in China. So they only add it to 1 out of every 250 Epiphone LP copies. So if you own a Chinese made Epi, there is a .4% chance there is some mojo in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members L6Sguy Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by DenverDave ...So if you own a Chinese made Epi, there is a .4% chance there is some mojo in it. that might be alder, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Prages Posted March 17, 2006 Members Share Posted March 17, 2006 Originally posted by L6Sguy but remember, this guy is building the best damn guitar he can. HOLY CRAP...I think that's the guy that owns the shop where I bought my Les Paul! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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