Today’s video is a shootout between one of my Gibson Les Pauls and one of my Epiphone Les Pauls. For this video, I put a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickup into my Epiphone to ensure that both guitars had the same pickup, and then did a discussion on the pros and cons of each, as well as a track featuring both guitars for comparison.
A few thoughts about this video:
- I really do believe that the only real difference between a lower end Gibson Les Paul (such as a Tribute or a Studio) and a standard Gibson Les Paul is pretty wood and plastic binding. Some will argue that the actual pretty wood used is tonally superior, but to me that doesn’t make much sense. Get two Tribute Les Pauls and the wood will be slightly different and they might sound slightly different, but they’ll sound very similar.
- The Epiphone did have a little more zing, but the Gibson really did have a fuller sound, at least in the room. However, in the recorded track, there were some spots where it was hard to tell the difference.
- Had I compared the Epiphone to a Gibson Les Paul Standard, well, at four times the price the sonic results would have been similar. But I still firmly believe that a used Tribute or Studio for around $750 is still a good deal, if you can find one.
- I prefer the Gibson Les Paul. It plays better, it sounds better acoustically, it sounds better amplified. But… the difference is not night and day. And if your budget is around $300, you can’t even dream of getting a used Gibson Les Paul anything for that money. Epiphone is a great buy used or new, in my opinion.
