The Maybach sounds fuller to me and more dynamic! Both Gibson's were impressive as well, I guess it's expected at that price range. Love all 3 of these guitars! Thanks for sharing!
The R8 and the Lester have the real Paula sound and long sustain. But the Lester comes with a lot more harmonics. That is amazing. The LP Standard is out of the race. Jesus! What a difference Congratulation well played
I can really hear the differences here. Was on the fence but definitely buying an R8 today. The Maybach really impressed me as well but to me, there is an unmistakable sweetness and clarity that talks to me with the R8 and I found one that I really like. I would love to take lessons from this guy, Amazing effort...thank you.
Dont do it!Not all R8,s sounds like this one.If you lucky you might find one good R8 out of 10.The Maybachs are more consistent so make sure you try a bunch of R8,s before you buy one.
Great video Nikolay. The differences are subtle, but whenever I had the video playing in the background and heard something that I though sounded really great, it turned out you were playing the R8.
As far as I understand , the R8 is the 1st tested on the left, the Standard in middle and the Lester on the right. My tone preference goes to the R8 on the left, Lester comes 2nd. Lester is way louder than the Gibson.
One of the best comparison video I saw on RU-vid. Thanks. I really liked the Maybach. I tried à 57 and à 58 2 days ago and I was very impressed by the feel of the neck and the very woody tone. I wasn't planning to buy a Les Paul but I know have to compare with a proper Gibson Standard T to buy one ASAP :-)
The Maybach has more bass. But I would like to hear the Maybach with the PU´s of the other two. Different pickups. Maybach does a great job and I don´t care if it stands Gibson on the headstock or Maybach.
Great review and playing. The Maybach is a Gibson killer. A great guitar and it does'nt break the bank to own one. I own a Lester 59 Havanna burst and a Teleman. I enjoy them every day.
+Philippe Argence The Teleman 54 is a great guitar. Looks, finish, playability and sound are superb. It's a very good telecaster. It's versatile and the pickups are very good. It cuts through the mix like a knife. I sold my Fender tele and Gibson LP the same day as I bought the Maybach guitars.
I just bought a Leister 59 for a week. I tried before a R8 and 59 reissue. The Maybach is a killing guitar and for the différence us Gibson, I'll do it again and again... Mine don't sound such clearly as here . She's really precise , with a sustain incrédible , good bass a little bit mellow in the médium but she sound fabulous and really enjoyed to play on. The Amber's pickups are really PAF with a sound really customized such a Gibson. Not a big différence, really without for the price. I'm from France. Ibought her 1900€ the same guitar in Gibson it's under 5000 to 6000 € !!!!!!!! Big différence of price to have the mark writing on !!! Whatever try to find one Maybach and taste, they really are great guitars an dHand made 100% pickups too !!!!!!!!! A true "Vintage" for a very small price... I play on 8 to 10 hours a day !
Ok, a lot of people say it´s just a Les Paul copy... whats about Suhr? The make Strat copys but way more expensive than a Fender Strat Standard USA. I bought a Les Paul Standard for around 2500 Euros and had to do a lot of work to get it into the shape of a 2500 Euro guitar (tuning stability and so on). Maybach is a custom shop and the guitars cost less than the Gibson custom shop or even the Standard non custom shop.
I hate that „oh it‘s just a copy“ argument. Have these guys ever looked around other instruments? For example: Trumpets, Trombones, Pianos, Cellos, Violins, Sousaphones, Acoustic Guitars, Double Basses...the list goes on and on. Are all these instruments by different manufacturers copies? No! You can‘t invent the wheel every other year over again. Some guitar designs are just as they are now and everyone is grateful to Gibson for bringing out the timeless single-cut design...but please, cut the crap. Almost every manufacturer is building some kind of „copy“ now and that‘s great. So you can have your preferred design and the little twist that every manufacturer adds for their models.
Lots of nuances. Thanks. I think I agree with the others that the Standard stands out. I liked the comment that the Maybach sounded a bit "immature". An excellent description.
WOW,you make them all sound good! I think you favour the Maybach, you seem to get a little more out of it. Thankyou Nik, cheers from downunder, i enjoy your playing.......
Excellent video, thanks! To my ears the Standard was best - a nice 'plummy', 'tubular', relaxed articulation and a touch 'nasal-y'. The R8 next. The Maybach (I was thinking about trying one of these) was a tiny bit brash, immature. But in terms of price/tone ratio the Maybach has to be an extremely serious option. But it's all a matter of personal taste!
Wherever you are "Sir" you sound like that fuckstick that was given a $3 glass of wine and sat there and pontificated of the superb, full-body, hints of anise and cherry ash....SHUT THE FUCK UP.....Heres one for you "Winterbotham ole chap" My balls are "Plummy" and the helmet of my cock can make you 'nasal-y', Stay Safe
Tone difference always seems to be most noticeable to the player, more so than the audience. I think of the difference between playing my Les Paul and my PRS. To many audience members, there wouldn't be enough of a difference to even think about. To guitar players, yes, we hear the difference, but still have to concede the similarities, especially in a mix....but to the player..?? Night & Day! Two completely different animals. If I want the dynamic, raucous, untamed, ferocious yet sweet tone of a Les Paul..I reach for Gibson. 🤷♂️ P.S. And through the compression of Utube, and then into each of our various sound systems..the tone signatures of each instrument becomes less defined.
Brilliant video - awesome playing and thank you! . The video demonstrates that players do not have to pay through the nose for over hyped, poor quality les pauls. Understandably because its a sound test you don't see the incredible ageing process that the Maybach has gone through which is better than any relic I have ever seen at £4k + . On top of that the quality of the woods used for the maple are simply staggering. In 21 years in the trade no Gibson I have ever played has made me feel the same way a Maybach does when I play it. Every owner will tell you the same. It is natural that every Gibson devotee and owner will hear some kind of wonder from this video that will re-inforce their decision in buying one but the reality is a Maybach beats a Gibson into submission. Something else you won't see from the video is the weight balance on the Maybach. Gibson have resorted to drilling holes in their guitars for "weight relief" which is just a short cut to bypass sourcing quality, resonant woods. Every Maybach I have played has been wonderfully resonant - the guitar feels alive - and is NOT heavy. So its a brillant video but understandably it only gives you one element of the overall brilliance of a Maybach.
Maybach is routing holes in their Lesters as well. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_ViKRfXpvnU.html See at 1:59 😙 Don't get me wrong, I am a proud owner of a Maybach Lester myself.
Thanks for that brilliant play thru comparison! Thumbs up... my personnal verdict would be....R8 it seems that playability and neck pick up is different then the 2 others.. when playing lead the Standard and the Maybach become more undefinded and muddy...may be a different neck pick-up would do.. Sustainwise i was a bit disappointed on all of them...may be a amp adjustment would do (or a compressor) ...there was a fine noise of a power tube in the background or a stray in from an other electrical device...For a certain type of music the Maybach seems a not so cheap but good backup option, but again a Standard offers all the features for best versatility @ nearly the same price point..and if the stdrd is to bright (BB2) then a less expensiv Traditional can give the players top notch vintage sounds with either 57th classic or 59 s tribute humbuckers and less or no weight relief...hence if someone wants best versatility and budget why not go with an Studio option with 490/498s pick ups...budget, hell of a sound and best playabilty! my winner is the 58 (i would like a 59 or R9) with Custom bucker........not w/o reason someone said "its the holy grail" or the "beast".....
Yeah the sustain was not good, maybe the strings were too low (choking). Maybe it's the guitars? I've got a '93 Standard that has more sustain, more bottom, more of everything than my R9. Unfortunately more weight too..haha.
My next purchase Stradivari in white or candy blue for sure. I actually play on a US Stratocaster Standard!!! But I have to save for her ............ pfffffffffffff Perhaps my next Christmas gift !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thon Gibson in the middle holds it's weight , similar to the Maybach. Although the Maybach seems slightly brighter and fuller in sound . Good review. Good approach.
Great playing and tones. For me Maybach wins because it has nice openness which Gibsons are missing in this comparison. It's most hearable on the clean channel.
The R8 is clearly (literally) the winner here. As for the Maybach it's also great but it's just an expensive good copy, no added value to it from a buyer's view. BUT the Standard is the guitar I'd get to play gigs and rehearse and do lessons, really. The Std is a real world guitar IMHO, the one I would sweat on. Cheers Nikolay, good chops man.
This player is so good that he can do many things - he will create a phenomenal sound - the guitar / gear quality is of minor relevance - all three guitars are excellent - to me there is no real difference - especially with the pedals
@@auchnureinmenschhuber1664 because you'll lose a lot of money if you ever resell one of those non-major brands. For example you can buy a Maybach '57 model for about 2000$ and you'll be lucky if you can sell it for 1300-1400$ later on. A used LP R7 you can buy for maybe 3500$ and you'll probably be able to sell it for the same. You can just go buy a used Maybach but one will be much harder to find and if you don't like that particular model, it'll be even harder to find a second one to try. While Gibsons are everywhere.
obican I really don‘t know where you got that idea from. I haven‘t seen any Maybach that lost more than 200 Euros when it was sold as used yet...and they‘re in the game for quite some years now.
Great playing and demos. The Standard sounds (and looks) the best. Then the R8. Wasn't impressed by the Maybach (brighter, less focoused /less Les Paul tone character). I wonder what that Standard specs are (weight relief? neck profile? pickups?), sounds great.
:), nice man - i feel the same when listening to them. The standard has that poor woody and slightly compressed tone, yes, that's it. Greets & rock on + thank you Nikolay for playing !
The strengths of the Mayback that it is affordable considering the handmade quality you get and t he fact that those are some light guitars Some people may not care that much about it but it's indeed a huge problem that cannot be changed whatsoever once you buy a guitars, especially a set neck guitar
Hmhm ... it's not the R8 I personally prefer. Which makes me wonder. And the Lester drives a tiny little bit too much. It's the standard Standard that I like best when in the hands of a true Master.
I have an R9 and I prefer the sound of my Standards. And also in this comparison I liked the Standard the most because that R8 was too bright. Most people tend to prefer that treble though...
Maybach doesn't use ABR-1 bridge for some reason, it's a Nashville bridge that mounts into studs, not screwed into the wood directly, plus the connection to the studs is very loose and wobbly. Does that effect the tone? All I know is it sounds awesome!
The R8 is the first one right? It sounds much better I have to say. Better wood, better tone. It's more about the wood thsn pickips. The richness of the sound, the harmonics comes from the wood. That's why each guitar is unique.
Ugh....those r8's sound way too good. The standard sounds amazing on it's own....but muddy next to the r8. Maybach is great too, between the other two I guess. Bright, warm but not muddy. I prefer the r8.
I am revisiting this video once in a while. And I would like to say that man that r8 sounds great. Do you think it's just the pickups and wiring or evertything else too?
Honestly, they all sound so close. It's the player more than anything. That being said, some things I noticed: 1) You play the best on the Standard. Maybe the thinner neck? You seem to struggle a bit more with the R9. 2) The R9 definitely has the fattest tone, the most vintage sounding. The Maybach second. The Standard sounds a bit thinner than the other two. Not necessarily a bad thing, but different. Definitely more upper mids. With the R8 and the Maybach I hear some Eagles, some Free, maybe even some Aerosmith. They have that thick, underfund PAF sound. With the Standard, I hear Slash, maybe some Jimmy Page. It has a lighter, more airy and articulate sound than the other two.
I tried a Maybach at a guitar show today and it felt like a Gibson CS model. Fit and finish were great. No choking of notes. For the money they’re great, but what about resale?
They‘re pretty stable when it comes to resale prices. Haven‘t seen a single one that lost more than 200 bucks from it‘s original price. And the one that lost 200 bucks was beaten up like hell. So...
Maybach's are made in the NBE factory in he Czech Republic... but did you know that - for many years - NBE made Epiphone's for Gibson so well that these European made guitars where on par or sometimes even better than their USA counterparts?
You should try one out. That may change your view on them pretty quick. I was a die hard Gibson fan boy. And damn I tried to hate Maybach but then I got one in my hands...
It's all in the guitarist. Come on, it all sounds quite the same. Ok, there's a very slight minute very little speck of difference in the tone, but it's not THAT noticable. He's a very good guitar player though!
ajca320 Pretty true. If I couldn't tell apart the sound of the two Gibsons any more than their paint color. The other guitar was brighter, but in the way that if you turned down the tone knob it would be completely identical.
This may be true listening to it on youtube but there is a much more noticeably difference when you play it yourself. I've tried all three and I think the biggest difference is between the standard and the two others. The R8 really stood out in terms of openess and articulation. Fantastic pick attack.
I agree, It sounds like a Les Paul, no doubt. I own a LP Standard, and I've tried some Maybach Lesters at a shop. The thing I found most interesting is that now, after 7 or 8 months since I tried and they are still on my mind from time to time. So, they left an impression on me. Never tried one of those R8's though.
The TIMBRE ('tone' is a knob for high-freq rolloff) of all three is indeed very similar. The main difference is in the dynamic response of the pickups. The R8 is mellower while the other two have higher output. So how each hits the input of an amp (and pedals) is going to make a significant difference in feel and especially how it reacts at higher volumes. The R8 should feel more 'bouncy'/lively, while the other two would feel more solid, "punchy" and compressed.
The R8 is the winner for me. The guitar is singing at clean tones and have that round mellow tone with a bite in the overdrive tones.... The Maybach have a little too much mids. (for me) The standard has no crisp overtones... For me... the R8 is the absolutely winner.
I own a '59 Gibson Lp custom standard Historic. I brought it to the shop for a comparison wiht the Maybach Lester '59 aged.Well without any doubt the Maybach is a great guitar, but i'm sorry, my Gibson was 2 levels higher. 1 in term of neck shape. Maybach '59 doesn't have a gibson '59 neck profile. it's more chunky, really MORE chunky. 2 Pickups: obviously both guitars were plugged to them same amp...and again the custombuckers from Gibson were without any doubt much better. Honestly I have to say that i would buy a maybach for 2000 euro than a gibson standard for 2600 euro. my Gibson in the end cost more than 5K euro, Maybach cost 2K. but be aware, in 10 years time gibson will be 4K ...maybach 200 dollars.
@@alessiobuffa3038 j'ai acheté la mienne il y a 5 ans pour 1890 € pour en avoir une aujourd'hui c'est 2200 € ! Alors tu trouves toujours que rien n'a changé phénomène ?
oh la la la la @@jean-yvesterras2174I've bought mine R9 Gibson LP M2M 5 years ago for 5.4 k. try to buy one Reissue 59 M2M (do you know what it means?) standard today ..ah and after you find it,don't forget to put its price in your next comment..Phenomenon
first, thanks Nicolay for your killer Vids. I was wondering about MAYBACH (we have it now in France...). i am sure now that those german guitars sounds as good as the GIBS.(even better in crunchy mod).
Gregor Olbrich of Thorndal guitars makes them in Bavaria, Germany on the Czech border, that's the custom shop for Maybach which you have there. The standards are Czech made.