My new guitar....

[Zman86]

I've been spending alot of timeat the local Long and McQuade lately, helping a friend who is just starting out choose a guitar. For some reason I stopped in thursday night just to browse, theres an acoustic there made of carbon fibre that is the best sounding acoustic I've ever played, and I've been debating buying it. I got talking to a salesman thursday and he showed me a brand new just introduced Mesa Boogie MK-V, and said I should try it out. The amp was in the Gibson section of the store, so I found a Les Paul that looked good, a '09 LP Standard in Honeyburst. I power up the amp, plug in the guitar, turn off the standby and start playing.... This guitar, its like butter. It felt so amazing and sounded even more amazing. I played for about 45 minutes and ended up buying the guitar, and even though it was a bit pricey, I do not regret it at all. Now my '75 Flying V dosent have to hang out with my Fenders all day lol.

First band practice was yesterday. Took the Les Paul and ran it through my NOS edition Fender Blues Jr. I didnt even have to hook up my tubescreamer, I could get every tone I use just by playing with the volume/tone controls. We finished our first song and I looked at the drummer and he just had a blank expression on his face before he said that is the best guitar sound I've ever heard you have.

Needless to say, I'm impressed. The new standards were getting some flak since the bodys are now chambered, but this thing has sustain by the bucketfull. I'm not too fond of the locking jack, thats about the only complaint I have. I hate to say it, but I may be a converted man. I've only ever played Fender Stratocasters and have never really been fond of Les Pauls, but thats all changed. Heres some pictures. I dont know what it is, but the outside of the sunburst appears much darker than it really is, it almost looks like a cherry burst, but its really not...

[Bisquitlips]

Sweet Les Paul ZMan!!!

One of my favorite combos with the super humbuckers.

Congratulations!

[ippon20]

I feel your pain, I played my 62 strat for years before I came over to the "dark side". Each has it's place, but I love the LP. I wouldn't say yours looks like cherry, but more like iced tea with the pics. Computers aren't very nice to cherry burst...take mine for example:

looks almost like a clown.

[Bisquitlips]

I think they used to call it Tobacco sunburst back in my day.

I purchased one in this color about 1981, but I believe yours is a bit lighter.

[dubyatf]

Beautiful guitar zMan! I love a Les Paul!

You probably know this already but watch that stand against the (nitro) finish!

[Zman86]

Yup, its not going to spend any time on the stand. I'm currently looking for a better way to store/display my guitars, but until then, its in its case like the rest of them when not in use. When I eventually have my own house, I want to have a room just for my gear that I can monitor humidity in. One day...



This is what mine looks like in person. The camera/picture does not do it justice. I really wanted a tobacco burst, but the one they had didnt feel nearly as good as this one did.

I feel your pain, I played my 62 strat for years before I came over to the "dark side".

A '62 strat! My all time dream guitar. One day, way off in the future, I will own a pre-CBS stratocaster, its one of my main goals. I came across a 61 or 62 in Toronto, beat to snot for around 15k. I was seriously tempted to go look, but I worked out my finances and it was just not possible. One of my dads bosses has a '62 that he keeps locked in a vault, it never sees the light of day. That makes me sad. Your cherry burst is gorgeous too. What year is it? I almost had a '72 LP cherryburst a few years back. It was $2300cdn, and I was scraping all the spare money I could find up to buy it, got it all together, went to the store to pick it up only to find it gone. Same thing happened with a '72 SG and a late 50's Melody Maker. You win some you lose some I guess. Thanks for the compliments everyone!

[sleddog]

Les Paul's rock!!!!! Don't let this one go...the value and quality are superb!!!
Nice axe my friend....

[rajurama]

Sweet! Lets hear some music!

[Gerry]

Sweet guitar! Congrats!

[ducatidoc]

Treat yourself to a fully cranked AC-30 and check out the tone.

[Zman86]

Originally Posted by ducatidoc

Treat yourself to a fully cranked AC-30 and check out the tone.

In 11 years of playing, I've never plugged into a Vox AC-30. Come to think of it, I dont even think I've seen one in person

[erwin]

Love and hate les pauls! Produces the best tone and really a back breaking heavy guitar!

[Dan Pierce]

Beautiful LP. They do tend to be a bit heavy though. I've been playing vintage Fender basses for 25 years. Then started enjoying the tone, vibe, and weight [or lack there of] of hollow bodies.
Here's my Gretsch.
dP

[ratmotortom]

Nice guitar. You will like it. I have played one for many years.

[ducatidoc]

Originally Posted by Zman86

In 11 years of playing, I've never plugged into a Vox AC-30. Come to think of it, I dont even think I've seen one in person

Now that is a deplorable sitch. The AC30 is unique by running on 4 EL84 power tubes (you probably knew that). They are the only power tube TMK that actually adds harmonics when they are overdriven, so that the tone gets fatter and sweeter the louder it gets. 30w from the bulldogs (oh yeah, you gotta have the blue bulldogs, not the greenbacks) gives you almost as much sound as you'd get from an early Fender Twin. Prolly the best tone amp ever built.

Check out here for some of the new Heritage re-issues. This guy is in Wisconsin but I believe he ships to Canada. I bought mine from Chuck Levin's Washington Music in DC. They also would probably ship.

[ippon20]

Originally Posted by ducatidoc

Now that is a deplorable sitch. The AC30 is unique by running on 4 EL84 power tubes (you probably knew that). They are the only power tube TMK that actually adds harmonics when they are overdriven, so that the tone gets fatter and sweeter the louder it gets. 30w from the bulldogs (oh yeah, you gotta have the blue bulldogs, not the greenbacks) gives you almost as much sound as you'd get from an early Fender Twin. Prolly the best tone amp ever built.

Check out here for some of the new Heritage re-issues. This guy is in Wisconsin but I believe he ships to Canada. I bought mine from Chuck Levin's Washington Music in DC. They also would probably ship.

I dunno, I really love my Vintage Modern for tone! I was an EL84 fan before I started using the KT66's....brings it more IMO.

[redshirt1957]

Nice Les Paul. I had a 72 Les Paul Custom, dark burgandy. Had to buy a 90 degree cord when playing on the sofa. I like the tone of the Les Pauls. Makes Strats sound kind of thin.

Here are some crummy pictures of two I play every now and then. I paid $150 for Strat and $300 for the Tele. I play them through an old Super Reverb.

[Zman86]

Is that a picture of the Allman brothers band I see behind the tele? The Fenders look great! Love the Gretsch bass. Once upon a time I had a 1959 Gretsch Clipper that I stupidly sold, but it went to a person I know, and I'm glad to know that it is gigged with on a weekly basis.

I'm just starting to learn about tone. I've literally gone through a dozen amps costing anywhere from $3000 to a couple hundred bucks, and I cant find a sound that makes me totally happy, but I dont really know what tubes/speakers/cabinets produce what sound, and I'm really picky, so that dosent help. The blues Jr comes pretty close, I can get alot of really nice bluesy sounds out of it with a strat, but the bass end of things I find really muddy with that amp. Maybe its because my strats have cheap pickups in them. I find the Flying V or the LP sound much better through it, I can dial in alot of Zepplin-like tones and other classic rock kinda sounds, but I find the Blues Jr does not cut above the rest of the band when I switch into a solo, no matter what guitar/pedals I am using. I also at the moment have a 1972 Traynor YBA-1 Bassmaster. Great sounding amp, but far too loud for any type of playing I do. I've been thinking about buying a attenuator for it. The search for the perfect amp gets quite frustrating sometimes. A guitarist I know has a Vox AC-30, and I bug him to bring it out everytime I see him so I can try it, but he always forgets. I will have to find one to try...

As for the LP weight issue, I know exactly what your talking about, however, this guitar is chambered, making it much lighter than the typical solid body Les Paul. I just put mine on the bathroom scale and it weighs in just over 7lbs. I played with it for 2 hours on Friday night and my shoulders felt great afterwards.

[redshirt1957]

I collect old albums that have never been played. Over the Tele is the Allman Brothers Band Live at Fillmore East album and over the Strat is The Jimi Hendrix Experience Elecric Ladyland album. The Hendix cover was changed for distribution in the States.

[JBat]

Dude, beautiful Lester! Congrats! I bought one in Desert Burst earlier this year, and haven't picked up my Strat since. I love the tone and playability of the Les Pauls (mine has a 60's neck). Just feels right, ya know?

[ippon20]

Originally Posted by Zman86

Is that a picture of the Allman brothers band I see behind the tele? The Fenders look great! Love the Gretsch bass. Once upon a time I had a 1959 Gretsch Clipper that I stupidly sold, but it went to a person I know, and I'm glad to know that it is gigged with on a weekly basis.

I'm just starting to learn about tone. I've literally gone through a dozen amps costing anywhere from $3000 to a couple hundred bucks, and I cant find a sound that makes me totally happy, but I dont really know what tubes/speakers/cabinets produce what sound, and I'm really picky, so that dosent help. The blues Jr comes pretty close, I can get alot of really nice bluesy sounds out of it with a strat, but the bass end of things I find really muddy with that amp. Maybe its because my strats have cheap pickups in them. I find the Flying V or the LP sound much better through it, I can dial in alot of Zepplin-like tones and other classic rock kinda sounds, but I find the Blues Jr does not cut above the rest of the band when I switch into a solo, no matter what guitar/pedals I am using. I also at the moment have a 1972 Traynor YBA-1 Bassmaster. Great sounding amp, but far too loud for any type of playing I do. I've been thinking about buying a attenuator for it. The search for the perfect amp gets quite frustrating sometimes. A guitarist I know has a Vox AC-30, and I bug him to bring it out everytime I see him so I can try it, but he always forgets. I will have to find one to try...

As for the LP weight issue, I know exactly what your talking about, however, this guitar is chambered, making it much lighter than the typical solid body Les Paul. I just put mine on the bathroom scale and it weighs in just over 7lbs. I played with it for 2 hours on Friday night and my shoulders felt great afterwards.

Seriously, you should look into a Marshall Vintage Modern. It's 50 watts (unless you go with 100 watt version) loaded with KT66's and Celestion Greenbacks. I dumped my 65 Fender Twin Reverb and Dr.Z Maz because this amp has all the tone you could want and more. Best of all, it gives total control over your guitar pots. I can literally go from Marshall cranking distortion to crystal clean just by turning my volume knob and get everything in between. I run 2 pedals in front of it, my Crybaby and my DS-1 that's it. Change guitars and it's totally different. Trust me you need to give it a shot and tinker with it. Check out this clip, and no I don't work for marshall!

Paul Gilbert is playing them, and so is this guy. Obviously he's on the neck p/u
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_SfmrJSgaI

[Lol-x]

I want a Marshall Vintage/Modern

[dubyatf]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

I want a Marshall Vintage/Modern

Here, here! That and a couple vintage Marshalls please!

Hey zMan - do you plan on putting the pick guard on? Just curious - I personally am a pick guard on kind of guy on my LPs. Some LPs look great without 'em though.

[Zman86]

Originally Posted by dubyatf

Here, here! That and a couple vintage Marshalls please!

Hey zMan - do you plan on putting the pick guard on? Just curious - I personally am a pick guard on kind of guy on my LPs. Some LPs look great without 'em though.

Pickgaurds staying off of this one. And I have to check out that Marshall. I like what I heard on the net so far.

[Leighton]

Originally Posted by redshirt1957

I collect old albums that have never been played...................... and over the Strat is The Jimi Hendrix Experience Elecric Ladyland album. The Hendix cover was changed for distribution in the States.

Oh hell!!!!