I have an S2 594, SE 594, and a 2012 Les Paul Studio. The one I play the most is the SE 594. I prefer the thicker neck compared to the Les Paul and the feel of the top carve over the S2. Sound-wise, I can get all three sounding pretty similar with some amp tweaks and they all sound great.
Nice one mate, very curious about the SE 594, they sound fantastic on all the demos I've heard, and just like you mentioned they can all sound pretty identical with a few minor amp tweaks.
Well like some had said they sound fairly similar, and your video does a great service by pointing that out. For the people that say the PRS has no soul or vibe... and the LP is packed full tone.... well this vid pretty much proves that in a mix, hard to tell the difference and a lot of the vibe all comes down to the player. Now I will say the US , vs SE CE 24 there is a noticeable differnce, but the SE is no slouch. I can say from my own personal experience there is a noticable difference between the CE, CU and SECU 24. The cool thing is this hopefully shows people that you can still get great sounding guitar for less than 1000USD and make great music! I do think the difference in feel and play ability is something and thats probably the thing people should pay attantion to the most when buying. Ofcourse how a guitar is setup from the factory vs how well if could be setup is something a new player may not know, and so for me PRS gets the win. The action (for me) is normally a little high, but I know PRS does quality work so there shouldnt even be a problem getting their guitars where I want them. Anyway great video and thanks for all the hard work that went into it. Thats a lot of recording, editing, sound synching, ect... ect. You do great jobs and withing the scope of guitars you're able to feature, you are quickly becoming one of my fav comparison channels. Plus did I mention your playing and arrangements are awesome ! Keep up the excellent work !!!
Thank you so much my friend, really appreciate it, very cool of you! It does take quite a bit work indeed :). Nice one, pleased you got the point of the video. I mean it wasn't intentional, I started working on the video by thinking there would be some very obvious sonic differences between all guitars, but was surprised that wasn't the case, specially in a mix context they did indeed sound quite similar. And totally agree, in terms of factory setup PRS takes the cake, it really is what sets them apart, even when it comes to the SE line, they just come ready to played. 🍻
I have a EC-1000, probably got it within the first few years of them being produced. It's a great guitar no doubt. We also have a PRS ZM (so basically a 245). To me the difference is the neck profile on the EC-1000 feels better for me to play faster runs on. The ZM inspires more string bends and vibrato in my playing with its fatter neck and shorter scale length. Tone wise I like both, but they are fairly different. My EC has EMG's in it, vs the more vintage lower output tones of the 245. Sorry not nearly as cool as hearing Gabriel play, but that's my break down owning both. Between the 245 or my freshly refreted Epiphone LP with Gibson Bursbuckers... well the PRS still plays better, tone is subjective. Clean and low gain the PRS wins, mid to higher gain probably the LP. The PRS is a semi-hollow and has a better shaped neck joint so for playing comfort it wins for me. Again though it also depends on my mood and what I'm playing. Above all( and slightly off topic) my US Custom 24 ot US Semi-hollow CE24-08 are my most played guitars. If I had to get rid of my entire collection save but one guitar... one of those two would be the keeper.
It sounds good but your demo has made everything sound identical. It may behoove you to stick away from doing instrumentals and to just showcase the guitar. With whatever little tracking you have in there it becomes impossible to differentiate a single guitar from one another. Maybe that's the point?
Hi mate, thanks for chiming in and appreciate you checking the video out. In reality these guitars sound very close to one another, specially in a mix context, I do play back the isolated tracks to highlight the differences in tone, even though they’re subtle, I can hear them - at the end of the day these are just tools to make music with, and I do feel it’s important they’re shown in that context. From all the videos I’ve recorded, there’s one thing I’ve learned, the speakers or IRs used, plus the amp or amp sim make up more than 80% of the tone, specially in a high gain setting, that’s why if you play the same parts as close as possible and make the pickup height the same, the guitars come out sounding so close. Just like you mentioned that’s part of the point of these videos, to show that in terms of tone they can indeed sound nearly identical :)
@gabriel_guitar I agree, the more I do demos myself (take a peak at my channel) the more I realize that the most decent sounding electric guitars sound very close to one another and it's really the amps, speakers, modelers, and YOU that make it sound different. I can hear subtle things sitting in front of my amps but when you play it back it's much less than you may feel sitting right there initially. Thanks for taking the time dude! Good stuff and great playing 🤘🤘 all very good points
Absolutely mate, that's been my experience as well, it actually can be a bit disappointing, I'm always anticipating guitar X or guitar Z to to come out on top or to show some very obvious differences, but that's never the case when listening back - that's not to say the playing experience isn't as important, how a guitar feels to play is huge in terms of being inspired to pick up the instrument. Again, thank for checking the video out - I just realised that I've seen quite a few of your videos before but wasn't subscribed to the channel, just fixed that. Super entertaining content and what an absolutely insane guitar collection you have there, thanks for sharing all those awesome instruments with the rest of us 🍻
@gabriel_guitar we are both doing that. It's my pleasure. It is disparaging in some ways, but also eye opening about what really causes tone. If you think the difference between a fender squire is really that crazy, it doesn't seem to be. It's really the end user. Thanks for watching brother and thanks for subscribing. I appreciate you and I very much appreciated this video. I went back and watched it again (all the way through). Again, great playing. Killer vibrato
I've owned them all. The PRS guitars are the most consistent from a quality perspective. The guitar I reach for the most is my S2 McCarty 594. I prefer the Gibson/Epiphone pickups more than the S2 and SE guitars but that's an easy fix. I think the Epiphone Probuckers are a legit pickup that is superior to what is in the PRS offerings. For my money the PRS guitars are amazing considering the quality and playability.
Nice one mate. Yeah, the quality of PRS guitars across their different lines is undeniable, my mind is blown by what they’re offering in the SE line at the moment. Interesting that you mentioned the stock Epi probuckers being nice pickups, I really quite liked the custom probucker Alnico II pickups that came stock on an Epi slash I had a while back, defo the highlight of that guitar. 🍻
@@gabriel_guitar I don't usually play Epi's but wound up with a Custom with Probuckers after a trade. The guitar is really solid but the Probucker pickups floored me. They worked really well on full humbucker as well as split mode. I swapped out the stock humbuckers on my S2 McCarty for some Bare Knuckle Old Guards. The Old Guards are a really great PAF replacement. Incidentaly the Core 594's do not come with locking tuners. My S2 has the same tuners as the Core. I've never felt the need to swap them out for locking tuners.
Nice! I've been on the lookout for one of the newer Epi LP Customs, they just look so classy with the ebony board and block inlays, great to know that the pickups match the looks. Also been meaning to try the BKP Boot Camp series for a while, big fan of their pickups, I'd be curious to hear how the Old Guards compare to the mules for instance. Yeah mate, I believe the S2 594s have all the same hardware and electronics as the core series except for the pickups, all high quality stuff for sure.
I currently have the 245 and the 594 (except i went double cut on the 594). These guitars have made me a loyal prs guy. I own others, but these prs guitars are just too good for the money. Im still debating on the dgt next. I love the thicker necks that all of these have.
Absolutely mate, best value guitars hands down. I highly recommend the DGT, there’s something quite special about that guitar, neck profile and pickups are fantastic.
So which "Les Paul" style guitar do you fine folks prefer? Gibson, PRS SE, PRS S2 or Epiphone?! Timestamps below 👇
0:00 - Intro
IN A MIX:
1:38 - GIBSON - ROCK RIFF 1 - BRIDGE
1:45 - PRS S2 - ROCK RIFF 1 - BRIDGE
1:51 - EPIPHONE - ROCK RIFF 1 - BRIDGE
1:57 - PRS SE - ROCK RIFF 1 - BRIDGE
2:04 - GIBSON LP - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE
2:10 - PRS S2 - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE
2:17 - EPIPHONE LP - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE
2:23 - PRS SE - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE
2:29 - GIBSON LP - METAL RIFF - BRIDGE
2:33 - PRS S2 - METAL RIFF - BRIDGE
2:26 - EPIPHONE LP - METAL RIFF - BRIDGE
2:39 - PRS SE - METAL RIFF - BRIDGE
2:42 - GIBSON LP - CLEAN 1 - NECK
2:45 - PRS S2 - CLEAN 1 - NECK
2:49 - EPIPHONE LP - CLEAN 1 - NECK
2:52 - PRS SE - CLEAN 1 - NECK
2:55 - GIBSON LP - LEAD 2 - NECK
3:01 - PRS S2 - LEAD 2 - NECK
3:08 - EPIPHONE LP - LEAD 2 - NECK
3:14 - PRS SE - LEAD 2 - NECK
3:21 - GIBSON LP - PROG RIFF - BRIDGE
3:24 - PRS S2 - PROG RIFF - BRIDGE
3:27 - EPIPHONE LP - PROG RIFF - BRIDGE
3:30 - PRS SE - PROG RIFF - BRIDGE
3:33 - GIBSON LP - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
3:37 - PRS S2 - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
3:40 - GIBSON LP - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
3:43 - PRS S2 - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
3:46 - EPIPHONE LP - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
3:49 - PRS SE - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
3:53 - EPIPHONE LP - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
3:56 - PRS SE - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
3:59 - GIBSON LP - CLEAN 2 - BRIDGE
4:05 - PRS S2 - CLEAN 2 - BRIDGE
4:12 - EPIPHONE LP - CLEAN 2 - BRIDGE
4:18 - PRS SE - CLEAN 2 - BRIDGE
4:25 - GIBSON LP - LEAD 3 - BRIDGE
4:30 - PRS S2 - LEAD 3 - BRIDGE
4:37 - EPIPHONE LP - LEAD 3 - BRIDGE
4:43 - PRS SE - LEAD 3 - BRIDGE
4:50 - GIBSON LP - LEAD 4 - BRIDGE
4:57 - PRS S2 - LEAD 4 - BRIDGE
5:03 - EPIPHONE LP - LEAD 4 - BRIDGE
5:09 - PRS SE - LEAD 4 - BRIDGE
5:16 - GIBSON LP - CLEAN 3 - MIDDLE
5:22 - PRS S2 - CLEAN 3 - MIDDLE
5:29 - EPIPHONE LP - CLEAN 3 - MIDDLE
5:35 - PRS SE - CLEAN 3 - MIDDLE
ISOLATED TRACKS:
5:48 - GIBSON LP - ROCK RIFF 1 - BRIDGE
5:54 - PRS S2 - ROCK RIFF 1 - BRIDGE
6:01 - EPIPHONE LP - ROCK RIFF 1 - BRIDGE
6:07 - PRS SE - ROCK RIFF 1 - BRIDGE
6:13 - GIBSON LP - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE
6:20 - PRS S2 - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE
6:26 - EPIPHONE LP - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE
6:33 - PRS SE - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE
6:39 - GIBSON LP - METAL RIFF - BRIDGE
6:42 - PRS S2 - METAL RIFF - BRIDGE
6:45 - EPIPHONE LP - METAL RIFF - BRIDGE
6:49 - PRS SE - METAL RIFF - BRIDGE
6:52 - GIBSON LP - CLEAN 1 - NECK
6:55 - PRS S2 - CLEAN 1 - NECK
6:58 - EPIPHONE LP - CLEAN 1 - NECK
7:01 - PRS SE - CLEAN 1 - NECK
7:05 - GIBSON LP - LEAD 2 - NECK
7:11 - PRS S2 - LEAD 2 - NECK
7:17 - EPIPHONE LP - LEAD 2 - NECK
7:24 - PRS SE - LEAD 2 - NECK
7:30 - GIBSON LP - PROG RIFF - BRIDGE
7:33 - PRS S2 - PROG RIFF - BRIDGE
7:37 - EPIPHONE LP - PROG RIFF - BRIDGE
7:40 - PRS SE - PROG RIFF - BRIDGE
7:43 - GIBSON LP - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
7:46 - PRS S2 - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
7:49 - GIBSON LP - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
7:53 - PRS S2 - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
7:56 - EPIPHONE LP - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
7:59 - PRS SE - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
8:02 - EPIPHONE LP - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
8:05 - PRS SE - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE
8:09 - GIBSON LP - CLEAN 2 - BRIDGE
8:15 - PRS S2 - CLEAN 2 - BRIDGE
8:21 - EPIPHONE LP - CLEAN 2 - BRIDGE
8:28 - PRS SE - CLEAN 2 - BRIDGE
8:34 - GIBSON LP - LEAD 3 - BRIDGE
8:40 - PRS S2 - LEAD 3 - BRIDGE
8:47 - EPIPHONE LP - LEAD 3 - BRIDGE
8:53 - PRS SE - LEAD 3 - BRIDGE
9:00 - GIBSON LP - LEAD 4 - BRIDGE
9:06 - PRS S2 - LEAD 4 - BRIDGE
9:13 - EPIPHONE LP - LEAD 4 - BRIDGE
9:19 - PRS SE - LEAD 4 - BRIDGE
9:25 - GIBSON LP - CLEAN 3 - MIDDLE
9:32 - PRS S2 - CLEAN 3 - MIDDLE
9:38 - EPIPHONE LP - CLEAN 3 - MIDDLE
9:45 - PRS SE - CLEAN 3 - MIDDLE
Review & Opinion:
9:58 - What did you think?
10:24 - Thoughts on the Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s
13:26 - Thoughts on the PRS S2 McCarty 594 Singlecut
15:36 - Thoughts on the Epiphone 59 Les Paul
19:29 - Thoughts on the PRS SE 245
23:25 - Fretboard Radius & Scale Length
23:56 - Gig bag vs Hardcase
24:07 - Final Thoughts
I have an S2 594, SE 594, and a 2012 Les Paul Studio. The one I play the most is the SE 594. I prefer the thicker neck compared to the Les Paul and the feel of the top carve over the S2. Sound-wise, I can get all three sounding pretty similar with some amp tweaks and they all sound great.
Nice one mate, very curious about the SE 594, they sound fantastic on all the demos I've heard, and just like you mentioned they can all sound pretty identical with a few minor amp tweaks.
Well like some had said they sound fairly similar, and your video does a great service by pointing that out. For the people that say the PRS has no soul or vibe... and the LP is packed full tone.... well this vid pretty much proves that in a mix, hard to tell the difference and a lot of the vibe all comes down to the player.
Now I will say the US , vs SE CE 24 there is a noticeable differnce, but the SE is no slouch. I can say from my own personal experience there is a noticable difference between the CE, CU and SECU 24. The cool thing is this hopefully shows people that you can still get great sounding guitar for less than 1000USD and make great music!
I do think the difference in feel and play ability is something and thats probably the thing people should pay attantion to the most when buying. Ofcourse how a guitar is setup from the factory vs how well if could be setup is something a new player may not know, and so for me PRS gets the win. The action (for me) is normally a little high, but I know PRS does quality work so there shouldnt even be a problem getting their guitars where I want them.
Anyway great video and thanks for all the hard work that went into it. Thats a lot of recording, editing, sound synching, ect... ect. You do great jobs and withing the scope of guitars you're able to feature, you are quickly becoming one of my fav comparison channels. Plus did I mention your playing and arrangements are awesome ! Keep up the excellent work !!!
Thank you so much my friend, really appreciate it, very cool of you! It does take quite a bit work indeed :).
Nice one, pleased you got the point of the video. I mean it wasn't intentional, I started working on the video by thinking there would be some very obvious sonic differences between all guitars, but was surprised that wasn't the case, specially in a mix context they did indeed sound quite similar.
And totally agree, in terms of factory setup PRS takes the cake, it really is what sets them apart, even when it comes to the SE line, they just come ready to played. 🍻
Where's the ESP Eclipse at?
Ha, no longer have it, I could have included an LTD EC1000 but decided to keep it in the Gibson/PRS family, next time :)!
I have a EC-1000, probably got it within the first few years of them being produced. It's a great guitar no doubt. We also have a PRS ZM (so basically a 245). To me the difference is the neck profile on the EC-1000 feels better for me to play faster runs on. The ZM inspires more string bends and vibrato in my playing with its fatter neck and shorter scale length. Tone wise I like both, but they are fairly different. My EC has EMG's in it, vs the more vintage lower output tones of the 245.
Sorry not nearly as cool as hearing Gabriel play, but that's my break down owning both. Between the 245 or my freshly refreted Epiphone LP with Gibson Bursbuckers... well the PRS still plays better, tone is subjective. Clean and low gain the PRS wins, mid to higher gain probably the LP. The PRS is a semi-hollow and has a better shaped neck joint so for playing comfort it wins for me. Again though it also depends on my mood and what I'm playing. Above all( and slightly off topic) my US Custom 24 ot US Semi-hollow CE24-08 are my most played guitars. If I had to get rid of my entire collection save but one guitar... one of those two would be the keeper.
It sounds good but your demo has made everything sound identical. It may behoove you to stick away from doing instrumentals and to just showcase the guitar. With whatever little tracking you have in there it becomes impossible to differentiate a single guitar from one another. Maybe that's the point?
Hi mate, thanks for chiming in and appreciate you checking the video out. In reality these guitars sound very close to one another, specially in a mix context, I do play back the isolated tracks to highlight the differences in tone, even though they’re subtle, I can hear them - at the end of the day these are just tools to make music with, and I do feel it’s important they’re shown in that context.
From all the videos I’ve recorded, there’s one thing I’ve learned, the speakers or IRs used, plus the amp or amp sim make up more than 80% of the tone, specially in a high gain setting, that’s why if you play the same parts as close as possible and make the pickup height the same, the guitars come out sounding so close. Just like you mentioned that’s part of the point of these videos, to show that in terms of tone they can indeed sound nearly identical :)
@gabriel_guitar I agree, the more I do demos myself (take a peak at my channel) the more I realize that the most decent sounding electric guitars sound very close to one another and it's really the amps, speakers, modelers, and YOU that make it sound different. I can hear subtle things sitting in front of my amps but when you play it back it's much less than you may feel sitting right there initially. Thanks for taking the time dude! Good stuff and great playing 🤘🤘 all very good points
Absolutely mate, that's been my experience as well, it actually can be a bit disappointing, I'm always anticipating guitar X or guitar Z to to come out on top or to show some very obvious differences, but that's never the case when listening back - that's not to say the playing experience isn't as important, how a guitar feels to play is huge in terms of being inspired to pick up the instrument. Again, thank for checking the video out - I just realised that I've seen quite a few of your videos before but wasn't subscribed to the channel, just fixed that. Super entertaining content and what an absolutely insane guitar collection you have there, thanks for sharing all those awesome instruments with the rest of us 🍻
@gabriel_guitar we are both doing that. It's my pleasure. It is disparaging in some ways, but also eye opening about what really causes tone. If you think the difference between a fender squire is really that crazy, it doesn't seem to be. It's really the end user.
Thanks for watching brother and thanks for subscribing. I appreciate you and I very much appreciated this video. I went back and watched it again (all the way through). Again, great playing. Killer vibrato
Thank you so much my friend, very cool of you! 🤘🏻🍻
Wish you had a Collings CL and/or Tremonti in here but get that’s always not possible
Those 2 would have been awesome, but unfortunately don't have either of them, maybe next time :)
I've owned them all. The PRS guitars are the most consistent from a quality perspective. The guitar I reach for the most is my S2 McCarty 594. I prefer the Gibson/Epiphone pickups more than the S2 and SE guitars but that's an easy fix. I think the Epiphone Probuckers are a legit pickup that is superior to what is in the PRS offerings. For my money the PRS guitars are amazing considering the quality and playability.
Nice one mate. Yeah, the quality of PRS guitars across their different lines is undeniable, my mind is blown by what they’re offering in the SE line at the moment. Interesting that you mentioned the stock Epi probuckers being nice pickups, I really quite liked the custom probucker Alnico II pickups that came stock on an Epi slash I had a while back, defo the highlight of that guitar. 🍻
@@gabriel_guitar I don't usually play Epi's but wound up with a Custom with Probuckers after a trade. The guitar is really solid but the Probucker pickups floored me. They worked really well on full humbucker as well as split mode. I swapped out the stock humbuckers on my S2 McCarty for some Bare Knuckle Old Guards. The Old Guards are a really great PAF replacement. Incidentaly the Core 594's do not come with locking tuners. My S2 has the same tuners as the Core. I've never felt the need to swap them out for locking tuners.
Nice! I've been on the lookout for one of the newer Epi LP Customs, they just look so classy with the ebony board and block inlays, great to know that the pickups match the looks. Also been meaning to try the BKP Boot Camp series for a while, big fan of their pickups, I'd be curious to hear how the Old Guards compare to the mules for instance. Yeah mate, I believe the S2 594s have all the same hardware and electronics as the core series except for the pickups, all high quality stuff for sure.
I currently have the 245 and the 594 (except i went double cut on the 594). These guitars have made me a loyal prs guy. I own others, but these prs guitars are just too good for the money. Im still debating on the dgt next. I love the thicker necks that all of these have.
Absolutely mate, best value guitars hands down. I highly recommend the DGT, there’s something quite special about that guitar, neck profile and pickups are fantastic.
everything sounds the same throughout all the stages...
100%
Yup so much for the LP is a tone machine and the PRS is a sterile soulless guitar argument... 🤷♂️