Cheapie SG review demo & thoughts on SGs vs LPs

[mountainmaster]

A Les Paul through a loud Marshall amp is THE sound. Played at bedroom level it is nothing special.

I have a Les Paul Double Cutaway. It is a little less bassy than a regular LP.
If I ever get an SG it will be one with P90s. A raw guitar deserves raw pickups.

[Naillerz78]

A Les Paul through a loud Marshall amp is THE sound. Played at bedroom level it is nothing special.

I have a Les Paul Double Cutaway. It is a little less bassy than a regular LP.
If I ever get an SG it will be one with P90s. A raw guitar deserves raw pickups.

on the p90s. I’d love one of those.
Yup Marshall’s bring out the best in an LP for sure.
A nice half stack is the ticket
What about an SG thru a Marshall tho…?
That AC/DC crunch … horses for courses I suppose.

Funny re this 59 “holy grail” LP thing .. I watched a video of Metallicas guitarist (?name escapes me) playing classic rock riffs on his Peter Green ‘59 LP…

I thought it sounded like shit tbh.

And all my fave players play Les Pauls pretty much,
Maybe the Marshall is the key - with the Bass pot on 0

Orange amps also are another for an LP - have an interesting “furrier” tone . pagey used Orange amps in his amp rig.

The thing about Jimmy Pages sounds on records for me is .. sounds there was a lot of EQinh done on his guitar tone in the mixing to me.
Possibly to take out the woofiness/bass of the guitar.
So when I play his riffs on an SG , to me it sounds closer to record tone than with an LP.
Then again on the other hand - record has 2-4 tracked guitars and also other styles of guitar mixed in. Who knows what he was using half the time on which song.
Heartbreaker has 5 tracks for the opening riff I read .. tho a cranked Vox solid state shaking amp. ( possibly others say it was a Marshall ) tis impossible.

[vurt]

Never wanted an SG,

I've wanted an Explorer for years,

me too, but they weigh a f**king ton!
if i wa worried when i was younger, with my skeletal issues of later years, its a definite no go

[vurt]

A Les Paul through a loud Marshall amp is THE sound. Played at bedroom level it is nothing special.

I have a Les Paul Double Cutaway. It is a little less bassy than a regular LP.
If I ever get an SG it will be one with P90s. A raw guitar deserves raw pickups.

on the p90s. I’d love one of those.
Yup Marshall’s bring out the best in an LP for sure.
A nice half stack is the ticket
What about an SG thru a Marshall tho…?
That AC/DC crunch … horses for courses I suppose.

Funny re this 59 “holy grail” LP thing .. I watched a video of Metallicas guitarist (?name escapes me) playing classic rock riffs on his Peter Green ‘59 LP…

I thought it sounded like shit tbh.

And all my fave players play Les Pauls pretty much,
Maybe the Marshall is the key - with the Bass pot on 0

kirk hammet?
he always has his wah cocked if hes not wah wahing, so its high passed, he always sounds a bit tinny imo.
not that he cant play, just likes a wah.

[Naillerz78]

A Les Paul through a loud Marshall amp is THE sound. Played at bedroom level it is nothing special.

I have a Les Paul Double Cutaway. It is a little less bassy than a regular LP.
If I ever get an SG it will be one with P90s. A raw guitar deserves raw pickups.

on the p90s. I’d love one of those.
Yup Marshall’s bring out the best in an LP for sure.
A nice half stack is the ticket
What about an SG thru a Marshall tho…?
That AC/DC crunch … horses for courses I suppose.

Funny re this 59 “holy grail” LP thing .. I watched a video of Metallicas guitarist (?name escapes me) playing classic rock riffs on his Peter Green ‘59 LP…

I thought it sounded like shit tbh.

And all my fave players play Les Pauls pretty much,
Maybe the Marshall is the key - with the Bass pot on 0

kirk hammet?
he always has his wah cocked if hes not wah wahing, so its high passed, he always sounds a bit tinny imo.
not that he cant play, just likes a wah.

Mmm.. pretty sure it was just guitar and amp.
I’ll find the video and post.

LPs sound a bit “clanky” to me .. TOO much content very narrow sound range and slow me down that’s all I can say personally.
I love the weight of an SG and the zing of it it’s more 60s sounding for me. I can play that Krieger raga style for example on an SG (like The End by Doors) but not an LP .
That’s why I was asking what tones/songs does an LP really Excel at.
Cos I can play everything pretty much as well or better on an SG personally and it opens up to playing other music for me.
I don’t lean towards Sabbath on an LP or System of a Down or many others .. it gives me more inspiration.. but I can still play all the LP stuff,

With an LP I’m not as inspired I dunno. I stick to the usuals. And it’s still sounding too bassy / too much even then.

Maybe I’m just a pussy lol

[pekbro]

Never wanted an SG,

I've wanted an Explorer for years,

me too, but they weigh a f**king ton!
if i wa worried when i was younger, with my skeletal issues of later years, its a definite no go

I dunno, I don't like the style of the cutouts, what can I tell you. I like Santana and all,
even friends with his nephew Brian who likes to golf. I even like ACDC. As for the SG,
if I didn't have to pay to get one then sure...

[Naillerz78]

Never wanted an SG,

I've wanted an Explorer for years,

me too, but they weigh a f**king ton!
if i wa worried when i was younger, with my skeletal issues of later years, its a definite no go

I dunno, I don't like the style of the cutouts, what can I tell you. I like Santana and all,
even friends with his nephew Brian who likes to golf. I even like ACDC. As for the SG,
if I didn't have to pay to get one then sure...

This is the video I was talking about



I just don’t get it re this Holy Grail thing

The neck pickup sound of that Greeny is pretty awesome but it’s just that one big lead sound is the highlight of it,

The middle position out of phase is more interesting than the usual in phase sound but still,,

They are just not very versatile imo

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I've got a nice Epiphone Les Paul here that's had all the electronics redone (Gibson Classic '57 PAF pickups, new pots/caps) and a really nice '61 Gibson SG RI.

I wouldn't say the two don't compare. They feel pretty similar. The SG just kind of pushes your fretting arm out a little further which takes some adjusting. It's also much lighter and more comfortable to play when seated (due to the body shape) or standing (due to the lighter weight). They sound pretty similar. The SG definitely pushes the mids, whereas the Les Paul sounds like it's got a gentle scoop (a little more bass, a little more highs). I've heard people describing a good Les Paul sounding like a fat Telecaster and that applies to the one I've got here. The SG is more throaty in the mids.

Where I do agree wholeheartedly with Uncle E is the SG is killer on slide guitar. I'm trying to learn how to properly play slide in standard tuning and the SG just sounds killer with a Marshall or 5E3 and slide.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I've never played an ES-335 with humbuckers, but I'd be curious how that compares to the SG and Les Paul. If I weren't so short, I'd already own a 335 but I'd legit look like Marty McFly playing one. That body shape is too big for short dudes.

[Uncle E]

The Memphis models are smaller than 335’s. Tone-wise, 335’s are smoother and fatter. Great guitars.

Look, I just appreciate each instrument for what it is. I hear big differences between all of them.

[guitarzan]

I've never played an ES-335 with humbuckers, but I'd be curious how that compares to the SG and Les Paul. If I weren't so short, I'd already own a 335 but I'd legit look like Marty McFly playing one. That body shape is too big for short dudes.

There’s the Gibson ES-339 – pretty much a 335 shaped semi hollowbody but in more like a Les Paul size.

There’s also an Epiphone ES-339 for the budget option, and the Epiphone Casino Coupe for a thinline full hollowbody in the same body style and size (I don’t know if Gibson has a thinline hollowbody equivalent).

I think I’m kind of interested in the Epiphone Casino Coupe… be cool to have a small hollowbody for low volume feedback. It would have to get a Bigsby though, and a vintage spec Firebird bridge pickup!

[Naillerz78]

I've never played an ES-335 with humbuckers, but I'd be curious how that compares to the SG and Les Paul. If I weren't so short, I'd already own a 335 but I'd legit look like Marty McFly playing one. That body shape is too big for short dudes.

ES335s have a nice sound but a big ass body under the picking arm. They are a bit unwieldy to play standing up (for my height) anyway. Better cleans for open chords/ chord work like used in country , blues, jazz, funk, indie etc they have a bit softer & prettier tone than an LP or SG when clean I think.

With dirt they can approximate either an LP or SG tbh. feedback a bit more easily too afaik. Alex Lifeson of Rush is a good example of a big rock sound on a ES type guitar.

I think the pretty clean tones are the main attraction for ES style axes.

LPs main attraction seems to be massive neck pickup Rock tone a la Gary Moore or Slash.
And also massive slamming bridge pickup Rock tone for riffage.

And an inbetween or neck pup tone clean for rock cleans and blues , so like 4 useable tones really afaics. Rock and blues genres for the majority.

Outside of those I don’t see anyone using LPs en masse for other styles of music tbh, their sound is kinda all-or-nothing to me , it’s such a massive sound with the thick body and the humbuckers.

[Uncle E]

And an inbetween or neck pup tone clean for rock cleans and blues , so like 4 useable tones really afaics. Rock and blues genres for the majority.

There's a great video of Carlos Santana on a Les Paul when he was younger and he was completely manic with the bridge volume knob. He left the pickup selector in the middle position the entire time and rode the volume pot to add gain, sustain, and feedback. I tried it when I had a Mark 1 and it sounded like him. I kept the neck pickup around halfway the entire time.

SG's and 335's can do the same thing, obviously, but his PRS's can't.

[pekbro]

Even his nephew Brian plays PRS...

[tapper mike]

There are quite a few SG players from the past. Most moved on.
Mary Ford (Les Paul's wife)
Sister Rosetta Thorpe
Eric Clapton during his cream years.
Tony Burrows (lead singer guitarist Edison Lighthouse)
Peter Hamm -Badfinger


Before PRS gave him a PRS... Santana who played both a Gibson SG and a Yamaha SG2000


I personally find the body style looks like crap. The tone is very focused. Every SG sounds like every other SG to me. It doesn't mellow out. When ever I hear them in "ballad" type arrangements I think to myself it would sound better if they were playing a Les Paul or a Telecaster Deluxe