This video should be named “The Baller Shootout”. Three killer Pauls, Mesa Mark IV, Marshall Plexi, and Soldano SLO!!!! Now THATS a rig I can get behind! Good on you! Keep ‘em coming! 🤘🤘🤘
I LOVED this shootout, Fluff! I actually liked the 50's sound the best on the clean and pushed amps. It sounded way clearer and still delivered the crunch. To my ears, the high gain amp just leveled the playing field, as they all sounded very similar. I was quite surprised to hear how different they really did sound (clean and pushed). I did have to trade my Gibson LP Custom in for an SG because of the neck. My sausages just can't wrap around those baseball bats they call necks!
Slash looks like nice compromise. Pickups got best bite - 50s and 60s still sounds killer but much less agressive than Slash model. Also Slash LP got best top cause AAA. I'm going buy new LP in on my birthday in September and now I'm pretty sure its worth to pay more to get Slash one.
50's for me was the sweet spot, followed by 60's. The slash sounded way too hot for my usual preferences. I think i also tried a 50's standard in the store once and also preferred the neck on it at the time. At least in my hand it had the "baseball bat" feel that i quite like usually on a LP.
I tried out a bunch of Les Pauls recently. I was sure I wanted a 60s before I arrived at the store, but ended up going with a Slash model. It just sounded better to me and I’m a no-pickguard guy so not having one pre installed was a bonus.
Great comparison thanks. It seems that the 50s has a slight mid emphasis, the 60s mid highs, and the Slash like an overwound 50s. I have a 60s, and I find the pickups were too peaky and a little hot, so I changed over to Tonerider Alnico 2 Classics and it sounds soo much better and sweeter. I would call the 60s neck "meaty slim", as I have had an ES 335 and two SGs from the early 60s, and their necks were much slimmer.
Thanks for the review! Love the 'clean' tone of the slash compared to the others. Overdrive sound, have to admit I can barely tell a difference between the 3. After trying a couple of slash models in store, I prefer the neck on them to both the 50's and 60's as well (can't stand the 60's...)... Cheers
I have a Slash (in Anaconda burst) and a 60s Unburst with a Seymour duncan SH-6 on the bridge and SH-1 for the neck. The Slash's just ridiculously incredible ! Incredibly versatile (I play metal stuffs, go check Echoes Of Nihil if you want a brief taste...), love everything on it, the sound, the finish, etc. And my 60s is my riff to go guitar, can't stop riffing & noodling with her !
Hey Fluff! Can you you get Sweetwater to send you all three equivalent Epiphones to do the same video comparison- so we can hear the Epiphone differences. Then you can also compare the Gibsons to the Epiphones. Hope you can make that happen! Tyvm - great vid!
Thanks for the comparison! I liked the 61BB pickups in the 60’s Standard the best. The pickups in the Slash LP were hotter. You could say the Slash LP would “slash” through a thick mix. 😂
i was the guy that said my Les Paul Standard 60s w/ Bare Knuckle PAF was as good or better as any other Les Paul Standard, and people who pay for Custom Shop are just spending money. Then I bought a Gibson Custom LP R9 M2M. I can confidently say I was wrong. I don't know if I will buy anything but custom shop LP from now on.
Man I got the gold top Victoria slash version and now that I see that November burst I think I might have made a mistake lol 😂 that November burst is beautiful.
I have 3 humbucker equipped Les Pauls each with different versions of the Burstbuckers. BB1/BB2, 61BBs, and Tradbuckers. There are so many different sounds depending on pickup height with Gibson pickups. Right in the sweet spot where I set mine, the sound changes so much with the smallest movement of the pickup. All pickups can sound different depending on the height but with Gibson humbuckers (not counting the super hot ceramic stuff) I can always dial in what I what by adjusting the height. The Tradbuckers are probably my favorite though, and they're the least talked about.
Very nice review. I picked up the Slash LP in Appetite Burst, played it with the Slashbuckers then switched them out for the Seymour Duncan Slash Alnico II Pro. The SD pickups elevated the play on my guitar.
@@urgidover they have a very rich, full sound. Very crisp and clear and sound amazing whether you are playing them clean or dirty. Great hard rock sound out of them.
I’ve played all 3 pickups. My take for what its worth (not much)… 60’s BB pickups aren’t my fav. A bit too much treble and sound a bit thin. The Slash pickups are decent but for me a wee bit muddy and dark. The 50’s BBs would be my first choice of the 3.
from tests that i've seen on youtube about different pickups (mainly glenn from spectresoundstudios' tests), the differences between pickups becomes more and more minimal once you start adding more gain to the signal. i have found from listening that a bigger factor in pickup differences is uncovered vs covered humbuckers. covering a humbucker usually makes it have less output than uncovered and also makes it just a little bit darker and more muffled. if you compared 3 different uncovered humbuckers in a high gain setting then they would sound even more similar. personally i dont care too much about different tones that different pickups have because i play extreme metal genres, i only look at the output numbers because more output = more chug and more clarity in extreme high gain settings (and before anyone says it: no, clarity and output differences is not tone.)
Where's Glenn Fricker to say they all sound the same? :D I love the 60s sound for rhythm for this song in particular and Slash for leads with just a little more pronounced bottom end; something that can definitely be adjusted in speaker choice/eq. I'm one of the few that feel best with the 50s neck though.
Couldn’t agree more with your opinion on swapping the P/Us in the 50’s Standard. I found mine had a certain Honk to them I wasn’t a fan off. Swapped my bridge to a uncovered SD JB and got way more clarity. Great Video as always!
It's amazing how the difference all but disappear once you add some gain. The 50's and 60's were pretty close. The Slash is obviously pushing the amp a little harder. They all sound nice, but I like the breakup you were getting with the Slash on the clean demo.
This is it, right here. All the tone snobs cry when you point out the differences between tones almost disappear when you go beyond medium gain. Put them in a mix and most people wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Clean and edge of breakup is a whole other story.
nice comparison! what i hear most is that the slash les paul has that extra bite... it would be interesting to hear that slash les paul with PU-Covers and the 50s and 60s without the PU-Covers. when i uncovered my Pickups in my 2016 Gibson Les Paul Studio i was surprised how different the sound was before and after;)
Ryan, very well done fair shootout here. To my way of playing (More an edge of breakup tone) The slash was just too much overpowering the harmonics. I would have like to have heard an edge of breakup, but I understand that is not your type of tone, and that is fair. The 50's and the slash seemed close, and the 60's seemed more mid focused. In the clean test I think the 50's one was my favorite, but the slash won the overdriven tones hands down.
You should try a set of Bare Knuckle Rebel Yells in one of them. They v sound killer in a Les Paul. I've got a 60's standard with them in and the guitar is perfect they way.
I prefer the 50's LP. I like a chunkier neck and the Burst Buckers are perfect for blues and classic rock. The Slash pickups are definitely designed for higher gain.
I listen to the sounds without looking at the video, there is pretty much 0 difference in the tones, the only difference is the amp speakers and mics used to record it, especially with the gain added, the Clean tones are pretty much exactly the same too
Very good shootout I own a 2022 LP 60's Standard @ 10 pounds,I swap out the pups and put a Dimarzio Super Distortion in da bridge and 36th anniversary PAF in da neck. Sounds great I like the Slash model but I like the neck on 60's model .
Awesome comparison. I don't have the greatest ear but, on the cleans, it was clear that the Slash had higher output. On the crush demo, I could still hear the difference, but on the high gain, it all sounded the same to me.
Because of the higher output, I like the Slash the most, followed by the 50's, then 60's. But wildly, when you go to the high gain, the 60's sounded better imo. Crazy
I have a 60s Standard Les Paul from the Mod Collection that came with 70s tribute pickups in the neck and bridge. Those things absolutely scream. Perfect for high gain IMO. I would definitely recommend those if you're going to change pickups in that 50s Standard for something hotter.
Hear soo many people say they don't care for Burstbuckers. That's a very broad statement. In what guitar, in what position, and which BB model? Personally, I'd switch the BB2 to the neck, and go with a BB3 in the bridge to pep that 50's standard up.
I have 2 58 Reissue R8's one with Custombucker's one with Burstbucker 2's, a Slash Anaconda and a 1993 Classic 1960's reissue. I definitely like the feel of Slash and the R8's and the Slash definitely sounds bests for 80's Rock where the R8 with Custombucker's is great for the classic LP blues/rock tones the R8 with Burstbucker 2's gets a good 70's/80's rock crunch as well. As for my 1993 Classic I just can't bond with the slim neck or the stock pickups in it. Both R8's and the Slash are from the Gibson Mod/Demo Shop which is why one of the R8's has Burstbucker 2's. They are all between 8.5-9lbs except for the 1993 Classic which is about 9.75lbs you can definitely feel that extra pound in the body. Great Demo...🤘🎸😎🏍
Ive been playing guitar since 78’ I absolutely agree with this video. I think the Slash Les Paul was the best sounding, as well as best balanced, mid neck size, between the 50s/60. And less weight to carry around then then 50s 1 Slash Les Paul 2 50s 3 60s
Great review, I also own a slash but had to change the bridge pickup. High gain palm muting doesn t sound good with alnico 2. To me they sound better with open chords driven sound. I put a suhr doug at the bridge and now it s a killer les paul for rock and metal shredding stuff.
the 50's have the best of both worlds. They have the aggresive push like the slash in the gain stages but retain a better amount of clarity and higher end like the 60's. All are excellent sounding.
I was just going to comment saying the "Slash" guitar top was awesome. But,they are all Gorgeous flame tops!!!*chef's kiss* muahhh!!! Awesome job Gibson.
These guitars could definitely be set up to sound almost the same by adjusting the pickup heights, especially if the covers were taken off of the 50s and 60s versions. Were these all set up the same to the same specs? I'm betting they weren't.
Slash said in some video on YT that he played really good and not very good sounding '59 les pauls. Different people says that having tried many les pauls the found some good sounding one and claiming that Gibson is not like PRS or Suhr that every guitar sounds great. Can somebody comment on that? Are all les paul standards sound similar or some are better or worse?
Of course the SLASH pu's were the loudest they are uncovered! Put a set of covers on them or take off the covers of those others then test again. Both the Slash and the BB's on the 50's have a A2 magnet so if you covered the slash pu's or took the covers off the 50's my money say's they would be VERY similar in tone and output.. The cover reduces high end and output.
Clean tone: tie between the 50’S and Slash LP Crunch Tone: Favorite was the Slash LP, second place 50’s LP but the 60’s cuts through well High Gain: Favorite was the Slash LP, second place 50’s LP but the 60’s cuts through well I agree that the 50’s LP falls right in between the 60’s LP and the Slash LP
Great case study in how gear reacts together. To me, the 50’s sounded best clean, the slash sounded best with the Marshall and the 60’s sounded best with the soldano. 50’s brighter than 60’s and slash balanced but extra crunchy
I couldn't discern any difference at all between the 50s and 60s burstbuckers. Seems like the exact same pickup to me, just with a different name or maybe slightly different output. EQ wise they're so close that I can't discern any difference like I said. Slash pickups are definitely hotter. Tonally they sound near identical, just hotter so a bit more gain. Maybe slightly more low end but that's really stretching my ear's ability to perceive a difference. They all sound pretty good here, despite the fact I've never been a fan of BurstBuckers.
100% agree that the slash model is something just a little different. I have goldtop, custom and slash model. All have something a little different from each other and love them all. I also swapped out burstbuckers on the goldtop for SD double cream Seth lover neck and George Lynch Bridge pickups. Way better!
Interesting to my ears the 60's sounded the middle between the 50's & Slash but maybe that's just me. I do prefer the 60s. Also the Slash has the correct scratch plate compared to the 50s & 60s ;)
Shame you aren't close to me in Florida or could have borrowed my Slash Victoria Goldtop for comparison, if ever around Gainesville you are welcome to drop in and Exercise it or my 83 Stratocaster Elite Some of First Run Slash Guitars have pickups labelled Slashbuckers, those are Rare Rare Rare, I think I have a set of Tim Shaw era Dirty Fingers for your 50's
At no and low gain I can tell a difference in guitars. However at high gain the change is so minimal I would adjust the eq to compensate the difference if you were trying to get one guitar to sound like the other(s). IMO anyways.
I'd rate them: Slash, 50's, 60's. The 50's neck wouldn't work for me though. I just dropped a set of the Slash pickups in a great playing Epi LP and they're amazing.
Slash is my over all favorite. My question is which Gibson Les Paul has the closest neck profile to the current Epiphone Les Paul custom neck which I think is a slim taper?
