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mooseherman « Great single humbucker version of Les Paul! »
Published on 08/23/11 at 13:29This is an American guitar, made by Gibson. It's a more affordable version of their Les Pauls, which are amazing guitars but are notoriously expensive. Its defining feature is it's single P90 pickup in the bridge position. It has a mahogany neck and body with rosewood fretboard with 22 frets. With just one pickup, it only has one volume and tone control, and no pickup selector switch. There are a variety of finishes that you have to choose from, of which I am not entirely sure, however that is more or less irrelevant to the worth of the guitar from a sonic perspective, which is where I focus my reviews.
UTILIZATION
This guitar plays very beautifully. It's got a lot of versatility to it. It has a nice thick, smooth playability. You can really lay into power chords or even full barre chords nicely. You can also really feel out a nice jazz tune nicely with it, as well as do some chicken-pickin' (aka country playing). Basically I've never had a complaint with the way that it plays, which says a lot about the quality of the wood and the build.
SOUNDS
The only tones you can't capture with it are bright single-coil tones like Strats and Teles, which are basically impossible to replicate with other guitars that use humbuckers. Everything else is pretty much covered, which makes it a great guitar for rock, metal, country, even some jazz and electric blues. It's got a thick, rich tone with a ton of sustain and vibrancy. I prefer to use it with Fender Twins or Marshall tube amps. Metal players could have good results with a Mesa/Boogie.
The obvious drawback to this guitar, however, is that it only comes in a bright, bridge-pickup tone. There is no option for a neck pickup sound, which will give some jazz players a bit of trouble as they prefer the rich warmth of the neck pickup. However, if you simply play rock or punk or something like that, and you have no need of such versatility, this is a great guitar that you can get at about half the price of a comparable Les Paul.
OVERALL OPINION
This is a fantastic guitar. While you can get a decent amount of versatility with it, I don't really think I would use it for more clean sounds that need the neck pickup. However, plenty of rockers will find it more than capable. Great for hardcore, punk, some metal, and straight-ahead rockers, and certainly affordable, this was a great call by Gibson.
UTILIZATION
This guitar plays very beautifully. It's got a lot of versatility to it. It has a nice thick, smooth playability. You can really lay into power chords or even full barre chords nicely. You can also really feel out a nice jazz tune nicely with it, as well as do some chicken-pickin' (aka country playing). Basically I've never had a complaint with the way that it plays, which says a lot about the quality of the wood and the build.
SOUNDS
The only tones you can't capture with it are bright single-coil tones like Strats and Teles, which are basically impossible to replicate with other guitars that use humbuckers. Everything else is pretty much covered, which makes it a great guitar for rock, metal, country, even some jazz and electric blues. It's got a thick, rich tone with a ton of sustain and vibrancy. I prefer to use it with Fender Twins or Marshall tube amps. Metal players could have good results with a Mesa/Boogie.
The obvious drawback to this guitar, however, is that it only comes in a bright, bridge-pickup tone. There is no option for a neck pickup sound, which will give some jazz players a bit of trouble as they prefer the rich warmth of the neck pickup. However, if you simply play rock or punk or something like that, and you have no need of such versatility, this is a great guitar that you can get at about half the price of a comparable Les Paul.
OVERALL OPINION
This is a fantastic guitar. While you can get a decent amount of versatility with it, I don't really think I would use it for more clean sounds that need the neck pickup. However, plenty of rockers will find it more than capable. Great for hardcore, punk, some metal, and straight-ahead rockers, and certainly affordable, this was a great call by Gibson.