Better Les Paul than Gibson? | Boutique Les Paul comparison (PRS, Huber, Gustavsson, Bartlett, B3)
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- Опубліковано 17 кві 2021
- Is the Gibson Les Paul still king? Here is the best Les Paul I’ve ever played compared to several high end Les Paul style alternatives. Which is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!
I love Les Paul style guitars, but I sold all of my Gibson Les Pauls a few years back because I was getting more joy from high end alternatives like my Nik Huber Orca 59. When Gibson came out with the 2019 60th anniversary models, my interest was piqued. The new specs brought more touch sensitivity, dynamics, and playability to the table - all things I appreciated in other high end LP type guitars in my collection. So now I have a proper Gibson back in the fleet and love it!
Even though I love my Gibson Les Paul, I’m open to other takes on the formula - I'm not a purist. As such, I was curious to make a video to more closely compare several LP style guitars. For simplicity I focused on bridge pickup lead tone. In reality the tonal range and variance amongst these guitars is more pronounced than this scenario, but it was still interesting to hear the similar yet distinct voice of each guitar. I was surprised by a few of the outcomes, but I still can’t choose a favorite!
All of the guitars have Brazilian rosewood fingerboards and mahogany bodies & necks except for: Gibson and B3 have Indian rosewood fingerboards and the B3 has a Korina body and neck.
The guitar tone is a B.K. Butler Tube Driver into a Vemuram Jan Ray into a Friedman BE-100. Check out my “How to get Eric Johnson LEAD TONE” video for how I use this pedal chain.
Please subscribe if you would dig more vids like this. Happy to answer any questions in the comments!
For more cool guitars, tones, and licks, follow me at on Instagram @ratherberiffing.
Thanks and rock on!
-Johnny Z
Guitar Gear:
- Gibson Les Paul 1959 reissue with Wildwood spec'd humbuckers
- Paul Reed Smith 594 Private Stock
- Nik Huber Orca 59
- Johan Gustavsson Bluesmaster 59
- Bartlett Retrospec
- B3 Sl
- Friedman BE-100 amplifier
- Suhr Reactive Load with OwnHammer IR of Friedman 4x12 cab
- B.K. Butler Tube Driver with Bias mod
- Vemuram Jan Ray overdrive
- Chasetone Secret Preamp (recreation of Echoplex preamp circuit)
- Ibanez Echo Machine Delay (in the amp's fx loop)
Recording chain:
- Neve style mic preamp
- Apogee Symphony converter
- Cubase
Hey Everyone! I received some requests to do another comparison with a simpler signal path and no post fx, which you can now find here: ua-cam.com/video/lj5eB5mrVlk/v-deo.html
These are great comparisons, nicely produced too.
Curious, what are your thoughts about the Collings City Limits or even the Suhr Aura?
Great Content, please count me as a new Subscriber.
Bro, I love your playing in this! Its been stuck in my head on and off for the past year, so I decided to slow down the vid and learn the part! Thanks for the inspiration as well as the vid LOL!
Thanks, Affan! That’s so cool that you took the time to learn it - I’m really flattered!
All these guitars sound amazing, and your playing/technique is a big part of it as well. Awesome, thank you!
My pleasure and thanks for the kind words, Steven!
Late here but wanted to say thank you, great video and playing! Super excited at potentially getting more comparisons of these! Subscribed and watching this space closely!
My pleasure - glad you found you your way here! I do have another comparison in the works so more to come. Thanks!
Yes! Fantastic demo and all such wonderful guitars! That Gene Baker sounded (here) that it had a monster bottom end yet sweet highs but, yeah, it's all in the feel of the instrument and we can't get that from just listening. Please do a tuition video of this amazing riff/sequence you played - that would be really great! 🏆
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed. I agree - the feel is just as important to me as the tone can only be experienced first hand. Glad you noticed the Baker. It is killer. I’m surprised how under the radar they are. 🤘
Coming in late, but DAMN...stunning collection!! Blind taste test, hard to tell. Let's just say you can't go wrong with any of them. Ok Johnny, you gotta gives us some tab or a lesson breakdown of your little etude.
And...HOW are you not over 100K subs? Content, production, tones...all great. Good stuff, keep it coming (with those tabs too please).
Wow - Thanks, man! Better late than never and well said regarding the guitars… not huge differences in this context and they are all stellar in their own right. Noted about the tabs!
Thanks for the encouragement and comments. Only 99k subs to go! 😜
Nice vídeo!
I woul recommend the Pannuci ‘59 as well, I have one and it is astonishing.
Thanks! Surprised I hadn’t heard of Panucci until now. Just watched some vids… those look and sound killer!
I love Gibson LPs, and have many of them, but I wasnt expecting them to stack up against the others quite as well. I was surprised! I liked the tone most from the LP, it just had the guttural fullness, and clarity that sounds so good. The PRS surprised me to. Although i have to say, after playing an Orca 59, I cant imagine the others(even the ones I havent played) would feel nearly as good. That guitar is so well made, looks unreal, and sounds fantastic too! Thanks for this comparison!
My pleasure! Thanks for sharing your experience and observations. I was surprised too. The playing experience of each is more distinct than the difference in the recorded audio are. I have some similar videos planned including some Gil Yaron’s, testing out Stephens Designs pickups in the Gibson, and so on. Should be fun!
Indeed the Orca feels amazing. I put 9.5’s and top wrapped it to give it a little more slinky of a feel than the 25” would be otherwise.
In the mashup the last two sounded like one guitar. I preferred the sounds of the Gibson and the PRS and the last guitar from the mashup. All nice guitars by the way! Thanks for sharing your talent!
Have to say it again... that Wildwood Les Paul is absolutely smokin. Doesn't hurt that your playing is too. Nice work.
Thank you! I got lucky with that LP. Everyone seems to agree on the channel.
Nobody would figure out what is what in a blind test
I suspect that is probably true as well! Some nuanced differences, but similar vibe overall in this application.
The Gibson and the Bartlett sounded exciting (very 3D).
Indeed. Two of my favs 👍 (played most often amongst the group lately).
Surprisingly I preferred the Les Paul over the others in this clip. It has a great combination of warmth on the low end, great bite on the high end, and a beautiful growl in the mids. The lower frequencies differentiate it by a mile. I love the warmth of it. The others are great, but the Les Paul really impressed me in this one. Great job all the way around. Thanks for the side-by-side comparisons.
After previously watching some of your other clips I found the Les Paul to sound noticeably fatter than the others, almost like it was doubled. I noticed it in your clip "Klontastic", which I really enjoyed. This clip really confirmed that I wasn't just hearing things. It's just an incredible tone. Some stiff competition. It's tough because my brain keeps fooling me with the $10,000 price tags, exotic woods, and those beautiful flamed, carved tops. There's just something about the design and tone of a Les Paul that keeps it a step above.
Thanks, man! I was surprised as well. As much as I love each of these instruments, a great Les Paul just has a thing that just works. I like how you described it. I wrote these lines on the Les Paul and I usually find that my music sounds best with the guitar it was conceived on so the Lester had an unfair advantage. I was also surprised by how much I liked the 594, which I don't ordinarily play for tones like this. While it lacked the low end warmth of the Les Paul, I enjoyed the string separation and sweet top end (i.e. no fizzy stuff up top). Fun video to make - never know what your gonna find.
@@RatherBeRiffing I did find that Wildwood Guitars has several of these 60th Anniversary LP's and a PRS Private Stock Mcarty 594, almost identical to what you're playing. It's only a couple of states away, I'm almost fully vaccinated, and I think it's time to book the trip.
I appreciate the videos. Very helpful.
@@tel52799 That sounds like it would be an amazing trip! My 594 was spec'd by Wildwood as well. I think it has similar specs as the one they have at the moment (Peruvian mahogany neck, BW board, etc.). I'd love to go there in person some day, but Bruce picked me out a good Lester over the phone.
Whoa, very cool comparison even with the processing. I'm surprised no one has commented on the B3 - notes bloomed a tad more than the others to my ears. All of them sounded great. Still waiting for a a YT'er that can properly convey "feel" - maybe it can't be done.
Thank you! Indeed the B3 is really killer. I’m surprised they haven’t garnered more attention.
I just finished shooting a second comparison with more traditional playing, several pickup/volume pot configurations, through a champ with no processing. I should have it uploaded later this week. Rock on!
Any chance you have this tabbed out? your tone and feel is amazing bro. I've been a prs guy a long long time but not a singlecut fan... trying to force myself into liking scuts. thinking about getting an orca 59 w brazilian rosewood. I'm also the biggest EJ fan and man your tone is "where the sun meets the sky". More videos like this please sir.
Thanks, man! I appreciate the amazing compliment. Can’t go wrong with an Orca. Nothing tabbed out at the moment, but maybe down the line. Going through a Strat phase myself at the moment and building an EJ style Strat out of sassafras and looking forward for putting to good use in more videos like this!
Man that Huber guitar sounds like it did the first time I heard Randy Rhodes rip. There's just a really crisp drive and defined tone that I really like. I've never seen a Huber before but I will be looking into them to hear more.
That’s so cool as I love Randy! I’m planning to feature the Huber more in future vids - stay tuned if interested. Ridiculously well made guitars.
You mentioned the differences in playing experience being a lot more distinct than the audio would allude to. It'd be really cool if you could elaborate on that more in future videos. Nobody really goes into much depth when it comes to comparing what it feels like to play them, it's always just sound demos and specs. UA-cam's audio compression algorithms make audio comparisons all but worthless IMO. Fun to geek out on, but I'd never buy a guitar based on them. The playing experience is actually valuable intel, even if it's subjective. I think it'd be fun to geek out on an in depth comparison of the playing experience, what you particularly liked about each of them. It's a guitar geekgasm waiting to happen :)
Thanks for the comments, John - I’ve enjoyed reading your POV. I think this is such an important point you make here. I’ll definitely try to elaborate more on the playing experience in future videos.
Amazing collection you got here. I wish you also played them clean, straight in a tube amp so we really can hear the character of each guitar. With processing and effects, they almost all sound the same.
Thanks! Great suggestion - I will put that in the pipeline. I do have a clean shootout that will post soon, but still with effects as like to see the differences in the context of a more “finished” sound. But it does dilute some of the differences that are more obvious with less processing and when you play the guitar and hear it in the room. I’ll try to isolate and compare those qualities in a future video. Thanks for listening and sharing your thoughts!
FYI - new comparison straight into a clean tube amp posted today. See pinned comment for link. Thanks!
@@RatherBeRiffing Awesome videos man! I just watched and subscribed. Awesome contents! Thank you for making them!
All sound pretty similar, but each time the Nik Huber came out, it caused me to look down to see which one it was….sounded great!
Thanks, man! I thought the same when I heard the uploaded video too. I think the UA-cam compression homogenized them a little, as the difference are more apparent in the room. Glad you liked the Huber - it’s killer for sure!
Came for the guitars...stay for the playing! Awesome solo!
Thank you!
For me that Orca 59 sounds more balanced and dynamic, it has some extended high end which I adore. BTW great work man! Do you have a plan to make some detailed videos?
Thank you! I do find the Orca’s balance and dynamics to be off the charts. I have another similar video with a clean tone comparison that I will post soon. As for more detailed videos, what would you like to see? I’m always open to suggestions. Thanks!
@@RatherBeRiffing Thanks man! I really enjoy your music. For more detailed video, maybe talk about the different characteristics of these guitars and why you keep them all? I think they all sounds fantastic but they are different, right? Normally we don't have a chance to play those wonderful single cut guitar at a time, and some of them are unfamiliar to me(like that amazing orca 59!). I did a research for huber's guitars ten minites ago, very beautiful but very expensive lol...
Thanks, man. Glad to hear you enjoy my music. Great suggestions and will plan some more vids to elaborate for sure. They all do the singlecut thing, yet they’ve all got their own spin on it and each one brings out different aspects of my playing.
@@RatherBeRiffing Looking forward!
That PRS sounded the best to me but I am partial. I really wanted to like the Les Paul and I bought my custom shop only to sell it because it did not get used, prs did. Once you get used to that clarity and articulation it feels odd to hear something beefier like my Les Paul was. I tried an orca and it sounded great and played awesome but didn’t really need it. Close to the prs in my opinion. You should check the Paoletti too, their wine junior is a killer single cut
that PRS PS is one of the most beautiful guitars I have ever seen!
Thanks - it’s quite the looker for sure!
Bartlett makes great sounding guitars..
For sure!
Bartlett for me but with that much gain the difference is subtle between them all
All beautiful instruments, and although there may be some tiny differences coming from tone woods (neck more than the body), the main differences here are the pickups. Having said that, I think I liked the clarity of the PRS.
Thanks! The clarity of the PRS stood out to me as well, which has a Peruvian mahogany neck. They all have lower output PAF style pickups, but different makers. It would be interesting to swap the pickups around amongst the guitars and see what changes.
@@RatherBeRiffing yeah that would be a lot of work for you, and to be honest they all sound good, with just minimal tone differences. Some people prefer darker, some prefer brighter, etc. Kind of comes down to whether you feel it's the pickups vs the woods. My opinion is 90-95% the pickups determine the sound. In any case keep up the great playing and videos. You are obviously a guy that doesn't buy anything evenly remotely mediocre.
Thanks and I appreciate the encouragement to keep posting! Indeed swapping all those pickups would be a lot of work and my soldering skills wouldn’t help either! Other than tweaking pickup height and action, I just leave guitars stock how I found them and enjoy them for what they are and what element of my playing they draw out. Some are brighter, warmer, more sustain/less, etc. I like variety👍.
What pickups were in the Gibson and the Bartlett? Great work!
Thank you! Wildwood spec custombuckers in the LP and OX4 in the Bartlett (not sure the model, but suspect they are lower wind)
Nice job
Thanks!
UA-cam compression not withstanding... they all produce "that" sound to my ear. Which one feels the best to play?
Right on, man. I had the same reflection when I listened back to the raw wave forms on playback. I think the higher gain setting and YT compression neutralizes the tonal differences to an extent. The Gibson feels best for this riff. The action is so low (I think the factory Plek helps) and I wrote these lines on it so it just feels natural. However, they all play wonderfully in their own respect. The Huber literally vibrates up against your body and the satin finish and compound radius are wonderful. The B3 has a thinner 60's profile and bigger frets so it's super fast. Their individual personalities come out more in their feel, but also across different gain stages and pickup selections (for a future video).
Your Gibson LesPaul gives more low end than others... and I love low end.
But the PRS is gorgeous. Hum hard to say witch one I prefer.
Well said and tough choice indeed! They’ve each got their unique appeal.
Hi, What pickups are in the Gustavsson?
Wolftone in bridge and Rocketfire in neck.
Bartlett for me. Fat and clear. Lots of harmonic overtones. Like a great vintage guitar.
Hard to choose a favorite personally, but truth be told, it’d be the Bartlett for all the reasons you described.
Nice kind of "cliffs of tone"
Thank you! Certainly inspired by that elusive Cliffs tone. Rock on!
@@RatherBeRiffing Love and hate this song lol
The LP is a beast, very nice!
Thanks!
For me its the Huber and the Bartlett...both are super balanced. The Bartlett nails the "vintage" vibe.
Agree! The Bartlett does have the most vintage tone and feel to me. Thanks for your reflections.
it would have been nice to have a lower third info on which one is which....
Thanks for the feedback. There is a title slide introducing each guitar, but I did miss one (the tele-shaped Gustavsson 59).
Often Imitated but never Duplicated Gibson !!!❤❤❤
Which one do you enjoy playing the most?
Gibson ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Huber 😎
that Gustavsson is gorgeous, but they completely lose me with those bridges
The Les Paul sounded like the real one. The others sounded like "a Les Paul but with more mids" or whatever.
I know what you mean. When I need a classic Les Paul tone, I always reach for the Gibson. The only exception is the neck pickup on the Gustavsson, whic has that Allman Brothers live at the Fillmore East neck pickup lead tone for days! (Will feature in a future video). Rock on!
@@RatherBeRiffing I used to own that JG and had the neck pickup put in. Glad you dig it!
@@chrisbarrows4304 Nice, man! Killer guitar.
it would have been so much better to go into a simple tweed champ ... then it would have been the exact video I was hoping to find
This saturation of modern effects made the video almost useless sadly
Gents - it be no sweat to oblige a more traditional comparison. I have access to a tweed champ. What are you most interested in getting out of it?
How about comparing the clean tones in all three positions ... then a small amount of natural output tube distortion - no effects pedals at all .... just a guitar and amp. If you would be so kinds as to do that please respond back to my post here as I don't want to miss it ! THANKS IN ADVANCE
@@mrgiggles7840 I 2nd that
@@RatherBeRiffing Thanks for your interest and positive attitude
Uh…You forgot a Terry Mcinturff Carolina…he is probably amongst the top 5 builders in the US…
I’d like to try one!
What is your favorite alternative?
I have favorites depending on the situation, but the one I use most is the Bartlett. It has a distinct character from the rest that is difficult to put into words.
What brand Is no. 3 there is no title...
Johan Gustavsson Bluesmaster ‘59
Who can tell what is what with all the effects on them…might as well buy a $300 guitar.
Well, for starters, I can tell as well as others in the comments. But admittedly, as mentioned in the description, the differences aren’t the most pronounced in this scenario. UA-cam compression doesn’t help, though differences are detectable with headphones 👍.
@@RatherBeRiffing Either way…I want them all.
Those people were not telling the truth. You could layer effects on guitars…and never know what the guitar actually sounds like. Good to know what they sound like under a blanket of effects…I guess. If they got the same effects.
WTF , these sound like synthesizers, not guitars. Play them clean.