I can say that I hear a difference but in fact instrument is not just more in quality it is far more superior. Play them unplugged and tell me if you can hear a difference. You most certainly will. Worth every penny
I can say that I hear a difference but in fact instrument is not just more in quality it is far more superior. Play them unplugged and tell me if you can hear a difference. You most certainly will. Worth every penny
@@filipragusa5344 unplugged is completely irrelevant. Imagining comparing two Rhodes pianos unplugged, you'd be a laughing stock, but guitarists do not possess logical thinking.
No kidding! The difference in tone is subtle. The difference in price is not. Maybe the Gibson is massively superior in staying in tune, longevity of usefulness and plays much easier. Still, not $5,000.00 better in all these things.
@inferiorpatty yeah I don't usually think too hard about prices when it comes to my music gear, I pick what I like and pay for the consequences later, because when I'm playing my guitars and it puts a smile on my face because how much I love the sound 🎶 coming out it's priceless!!!!!
The value isn’t just in the pickups- it’s in the playability and reliability. A $200 German Floyd rose original and a $50 Chinese knockoff sound the same but the $150 goes to the bridge holding intonation and lasting longer
When it comes to buying guitars, I literally couldn't care what pickups it has as long as theres a humbucker in the bridge. The rest is for tuning stability
I’ve got a couple of Epiphones and they’re really good guitars, but I’ve got a Gibson Les Paul Custom as well and there’s nothing that feels like that. In my hands, in my chest, in my head. It’s worth the money.
The one that you keep playing is the better one. I bought a Les Paul standard 50s after being disappointed by the Epiphone 1959 kit Les Paul (highest dollar LP that isn’t a signature for Epiphone). You can say I paid too much, but after watching and touring the Gibson USA factory, it has tons of hands-on sections of manufacturing and proud employees. Get your value guitar sure, but it was inspiring to see how much work goes into the carve, finish, nitro lacquer, and set neck for Gibson guitars. Most people that dump on Gibson guitars are the same people that would pay $1.5k+ for a bolt-on neck with polyurethane lacquer. Talk about margins. Whatever you like go ahead. Guitars have diminishing returns in the higher budgets and somewhere out there is a person better than all of us with some Squier or unknown cheap brand. Ultimately I paid more for the passion I saw in my tour and love my guitar more because of what I saw. Not for everyone as consistency is for from perfect, as like I said there are a bunch of hands-on parts in the manufacturing. Always play the guitar you want if you can or go through reputable retailers that keep their guitars in a well kept environment. Guitar center has some of the driest fret boards on the floor.
It’s not about the sound. It’s about the feel of the instrument. Mid range guitars these days sound terrific and depending on the song can sound better when recording. It is about the feel and which instrument you can play better.
I own a tribute and love, plug it right into my Marshall and can sound like any classic rock group I want, wouldn’t catch me spending $6,000+ on a Les Paul lol
I bought a Chinese strat that had a near perfect body neck. I Needed to sand down the ends of the frets below the bottom string. But it wouldn't play but in the bridge position on the pickups. Had no tone, and the volume was scratchy. It had the pickups in HSS. I had some strat and telecaster wiring and pickups. So I used a Tele wiring harness that had a H,and a double hot rail with a spliter and I added a humbucker to it for a HHand the hot rail at the neck. Only the rail pickup worked. I was about ready to hang the guitar on the wall for decoration when I stumbled across a strat pick guard that had all Gibson and Epi pickups and electronics except for the strat 5 way switch. It has a pushbutton switch that is a on and off switch . And 4 toggle switches. All mounted on the pick guard. So it was an easy installation,I just need to remove a lil more material beneath the pick-ups so everything sits nice and level. I wanted a Les Paul copy to begin with, but I couldn't afford the shipping, which was more than the guitar! Now it looks like I have a Les Paul that is disguised as a strat with H,H,H pick-ups. I thought it was coming in gold color pick-ups and knobs but they were silver. Which is okay,it actually looks better than the gold would have. I'm a beginner, so I'm kinda confused about what the toggle switches are for! I'm thinking that each humbucker has a splitter,and the 4th toggle a master splitter for all the pick-ups. Can anyone tell me if I'm right or are they something else??? I can't hardly wait to get it up and playing. I'm just waiting for a new set of router bits and strings to finish my rebuild! Buy the way I can't tell the difference between your Gibson and Epiphone with my eyes shut. I'm hoping my Chinese fake strat turns out to be a Frankenstein! If I could afford it, I'd buy that Epiphone in a heartbeat!
The Epiphone might be naturally darker. It may also feel a little different in your hands. It just depends if it matters to you and if it’s financially a reasonable decision depending on where you are in your life.
@@mrcarlc1980 I ended up getting the Gibson tribute then upgraded the bridge pickup to 498t then replacing he control module with Gibson pots, then upgraded the tuners to Grover. Turned out decent. Got all the parts used or on trade :)
@@fpcawolff I just put a tone rider rocking and rebel p90 in my epiphone with all new wire, legitimate CTS pots and orange drop capacitors. That thing is ridiculously nice sounding now :) It wasn’t terrible before, but it’s in a completely different realm now.
@timn5008 Don't have to bet. I KNOW. I've played several of both over at Least the last 10 years. Get over it that someone can tell the difference and YOU can't.
The question is whether it is your job or not. If it is your job, having the best tool, saves time and money. If you are good at it, any tool can work, but some feel more comfortable, and the comfortable one is the one to own because you can work longer with it.
Yes,& "feel"is priceless,a quality higher end instrument will help you progress as a player,& it's only going to appreciate in value- if youre a serious musician,you'll wantvto play on the best sounding & feeling gear- compromise if you want to sound compromised
Yeah I guess playability and overall quality of materials will be affected by the price tag but at that point the pickups are the most responsible for tone
The black has more harmonics for me, but the the most important thing is that You're happy. I have 14 guitars and 1 bass, but are 5 months that don't touch them cause depression.
I have a Epiphone standard pro, and I just got my first Gibson, a les paul tribute and I cant explain how insane a difference in the feel, playability and tone especially clean tones, I got my epiphone for $400 used and got extremely lucky to find a local musician who was sick of high resale prices and sold me his gibson for $650 cdn! love it and will never resell it
So this is perfect for me then? Cheap but sounds low, new to guitars and love that heavyish low like sound. The game Cyberpunk 2077 got me into guitars, cool song in the game is called Never Fade Away
To be fair they do sound nearly alike with the Gibson being much more smoother and nicer and the epiphany being cheaper still had that nice tone to it so I would sag the cheaper one wins but the real competition is the amp
Mine is a 2002 studio red wine color, no binding. No push pull or grover tuners. Before all that stuff. Still has a decent resonance to the tone. Alnico 5s and trapizoid inlays. I did install locking machine heads to help with tuning stability. It's my less played guitar but still holds a special spot in my heart. I pull it out every now and then and polish her up. Jam on it. I recently built a diy explorer from a kit and installed cheap zebra knock off invader style pick ups. Been jamming on it. Did a crackle half glitter burst paint job with gloss and ebony stained the rosewood fret board.
@koreanname it depends on what you are comparing. If what you care about is comparing distorted tone, a clean comparison gives zero information. It also depends on the person. A metal person's ear will be much more finely attuned to sonic differences in distorted tone than clean. A jazz guitarist hears fine differences in clean tone, but a heavily distorted tone will sound like mud.
@@shortbusbully An undistorted clean amplification is needed to bring out all the tonal profiles of a pickup, dirt will cut a lot of those microtones out. Hence why it's called distortion. Also, the commenter has a point, this is a guitar comparison after all. We want to hear what it actually sounds like.
@nickgartman7326 Are you a pro guitar player? Do you aspire to be? If you get to the point where you're able to creatively improvise ( solo) on the fly, & write songs,then u will get it- a quality instrument is IA great investment, not only for your musical journey, but they appreciate in value over time- so its a win/win deal...
I own an Epiphone, and I've always felt like they are the Gibson factory seconds. Like they're good enough, but they are missing the level of shine and refinement that a Gibson has. I would certainly get a Gibson, if I had the money, but I happily play the crap out of my Epiphone. They're pretty darn good.
How? Unless he destrys it, it still has value and will be worth more than $6k in years to come. You can't say the say of an Epiphone. Just because you don't want one, or more likely can't afford one, is no reason to think it's money wasted.
Put Seymour Duncan JB's on that Epi and the sound will blow the Gibson out of the water. The difference is playability and feel. But for that money, I'd rather get a code PRS for cheaper than the Les Paul Custom.
The Gibson's are for the pros who will go onstatge and demand respect with a guitar that has a solid history of over 120 years. They earned respect as the OG not the copy.
I have a Donner semi hollow body that I put some Seymour Duncans in and it is my top pick for the time being. Has a warm sound, but turn it up and it gets nasty.
For $650 sounds good enough to me. If you can play on a cheap guitar and make it sound good, you can make any guitar sound good. It's all about the setup, the effects, and how much time you're willing to give into it. I have a cheap Frankenstein looking guitar and I can make it sound sweet, with my amps and pedals. Even cheap pedals sound great.
The biggest difference is the guitar snobs saying “yeahhh that’s my $6000 dollar Les Paul, totally worth it” I’ve played the fancy Les Pauls and the Epi’s “ No difference in playability or feel. I can say the same about pretty much every other guitar I’ve played. I wouldn’t trade my Epi SG for anything.
For most players the Epiphone with possibly other pickups would just sound as good as the original. But the feeling will always differ (not saying it will be better but different for sure) and if I‘d could spare the money it would be the Gibson.
The difference in prices cannot be explained only by sound. Workmanship, ease of playing, wood quality, electronics quality and the type of wood used reveal the price difference.
I do think it’s night and day difference. $6K is expensive but nothing replaces that tone. Diminishing returns but there absolutely is a night and day difference
I have a Gibson Epiphone Lynyrd Skynyrd 30 yr anniversary and love it Don't play it much in fear of smearing the autographs ! This is one beautiful guitar and for sale !!👍💪🎸🇺🇸
Tbh u can only hear the difference side by side AND even then it’s not a 5k+ difference in tone. Whether epi holds intonation and tuning as well and how much environmental changes effect them would be the real test
The Epi is not as tight, but most people can’t really tell the difference. I don’t know how much it would matter in a live mix, so much ambient noise in the house. But maybe better electronics could get you closer and still be money to spare? Pots , caps,switches and pickups
I think the difference isn't in the sound, cause part of the sound of a guitar may be influenced by the amp your using, but I think that the difference is most of all in the feeling you get when you play that instrument
The gibson does sound better, but that epiphone rauns a really close second. I have an epiphone sheraton 2 (Korean with Gibson on the headstock) and that sound amazing. Would match up to any 355.
The first one definitely has a fuller sound, but 6000 is not justified. With some EQ and amp-work, the Epi definitely could work. I’d say go for something slightly more expensive than the Epi if you want a cleaner tone out the box.
