A Deep Dive into the Epiphone Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess Standard
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Epiphone has released the Alex Lifeson signature Les Paul Axcess and I have to say it is fantastic!
Epiphone
www.epiphone.c...
Alex Lifeson
alexlifeson.com/
Axcess heel, belly carve, piezo, floyd rose, great pick ups and endless tonal options.
just got mine yesterday and need to clear some material around the tremolo bar, and a few other things, but it's still a screaming deal and will be a keeper when I'm done.
Is your Piezo working?
@@geraldyafchak4365 Everything works as it should....so far
@@yourmomsdildodrawer wonder what I'm doing wrong...not much to this pickup. Put in a new battery and still no sound
@@geraldyafchak4365 You need to have the regular jack plugged in for the Piezo one to work. Otherwise it can be used on the main jack. just turn down the volumes on humbuckers and use the piezo knob.
Great overview of this guitar, particularly the explanation of the controls and input jack configuration (since no descriptive paperwork is included with the instrument). I received mine a few days ago and the tonal possibilities seem endless. I also appreciate your using some Rush songs in your review. 😀 overall, a great review! Thanks.
Finally practical and well thought review of this guitar.
Thank You for watching
Good work buddy! It takes a lot more Hardwork than people realize to make a demo video and I can tell you have a lot of passion and love for Rush, Alex Lifeson and that guitar! I’m also happy to hear already a few people saying how good the quality is for an Epi! That’s Great!
Thank you
I agree about the quality of the new Epiphones especially the inspired by range and masterbilt Excellente and Frontier acoustic re-issues
I could never figure out why Gibson/Epiphone did not make the carved heel and belly cut a standard issue thing. I realize that some Gibson fans may not like it, but it makes such a great difference in the way a LP plays. Thanks for the review.
Thanks for checking it out!
Just a couple of things to point out: that Graph Tech Ghost trem is not cheap as Floyds go...it costs around $250 new not even intalled, and that doesn't include what electronics the piezo's in the trem is plugged into. This guitar is extremely unique in regard to value in features...PLUS (this is what I have planned for mine), you can add a Graph Tech hexpander circuit board to it, and a 13 pin Jack then the guitar could be used with the new BOSS SY 1000, which has virtual guitars that you can program alternate tunings to use on the fly in any preset you create, and virtual amp modeling in it based on the BOSS GT 1000...a guitar that has this potential for under a grand? Crazy awesome IMO. Thanks for the review, and hope you and yours are doing well!
I would really love to follow your progress on the Hexpander installation. I have a Boss GP-10 that I think could work the same way...this guitar would be insanely versatile then!!
mine's coming tomorrow can't wait!!!!
That's awesome! Congratulations
Thank you for demo-ing the piezo pickup. That's really the biggest thing that sets this guitar apart from the crowd. Wish I could have heard more.
Wishing I could get some sound out of my Piezo pickup 😒:(
@@geraldyafchak4365 The thing everyone has to learn about this guitar (since it comes without any documentation) is that you need to plug into the regular jack in order to activate the dedicated Piezo output. It can even be a dummy plug without even being connected to amp!
It’s an interesting design, but it less you do that you will not get anything out of the “piezo out”.
The other option is to use the regular (magnetic pickup) output, engage the piezo, and turn down the magnetic volumes.
Let me know if this fixes the problem for you! 💪
@@geraldhartley sir, thank you for sharing 🙏 such killer insight and intelligence. Thank you
@@geraldyafchak4365 You’re very welcome. It was incredibly frustrating for me when I thought I had purchased a lemon. I was relieved when I learned it was user error. Documentation would have been a nice inclusion with this guitar.
I hope to get one of these in the near future - the tone possibilities are endless! Years ago I had a Hamer DuoTone - it had 2 humbuckers and a piezo bridge, and two output jacks. I ran the piezo "acoustic" output to one amp, and the humbuckers through another amp - it was very satisfying and sounded like two guitar players in perfect sync. you should try that - see if you don't love it! :)
That’s awesome.
Nice job brother, one word of advice, back off on the overdrive, listen again to fly by Night and the earlier Rush stuff, Alex was pretty light on the overdrive actually and it sounds much cleaner and nicer.
I don't know the truth of this, but I heard that during the early days he would split his signal between a clean and an overdriven amp.
@@beornthebear.8220 Yes, but too much overdrive just sounds like NASTY BUZZING. Listen to the FLY BY NIGHT album.
I saw on RUclips a lot of people having problems with these guitars. Trem bar rubbing on the cavity underside. Should not have to fix a $900 guitar. Gibson/Epiphone came out and said they had screwed up and that the factory tooling had to adjusted. Really? Nobody checked to see if it would was working right. Some people got lucky and got a good one.
great review bro...
Thank you
Nice job , great review , that Alex axe is smokin hot
I ordered one 2 weeks ago ... I am curious about the WEIGHT!!!! I've seen video of it being 11 lbs!!!!!! Great video .... thanks!
Thank you for watching, if I had to guess mine is probably around 9.5 to 10
Great video! Thank you so much for posting.
Thank you for watching the video
Thanks for the video! I received mine this week and it's beautiful. The fit and finish are great! The frets could use some polishing but the fret ends are nice and smooth. When I opened mine in the store it only had the guitar in the case. They had shipped it from another store and said it was probably a demo model. What was included in your case, other than the tremolo arm and allen wrenches?
On the dedicated piezo output, when I plug it straight into my amp the volume is very low. In fact it's so low at first I thought it wasn't working. I think I may have a wiring issue there, but it has full volume through the standard pickup jack when the piezo is on. Any thoughts on the low volume are much appreciated.
@Alan Sams Music I figured out the piezo output jack from another video. It looks like cables need to be in both jacks for the piezo jack output to work. Also the other video only had the tremolo arm, allen wrenches and an Epiphone bumper sticker. No case candy or certificate. I don't care about the bumper sticker but it would have been nice to have a certificate for the signature guitar.
Great job some of your playing was not quite up to par but when you played fly by night I could’ve closed my eyes and thought that was Alex Lifeson playing bravo great job on the video it is hard playing Rush songs without a backing track or something don’t mean to be a nitpicker but you really nailed the fly by night with perfection and you made a great video I’m going to find one of these at a local store and pick one up
@Alan Sams Music When the switch is in the middle position, can you control the volume independently or is it jus one of the volume knobs(bridge) that works?
great video - thank you
When you 100% Piezo, the 3 way switch is not functional right?
Any additional thoughts five months later? Still a daily player? Thanks for your review.
Thanks for watching. Yeah 5 months later it's still an impressive guitar. I'm playing a lot of Fender here lately but I go back and forth.
Great demonstration and overview; mine is on order and cannot wait to get my hands on it. How was your setup upon purchasing it? Did you have to do any additional setup aftermarket? Happy playing!
Thank you! Strings were a little high off the fretboard so I just made a trust adjustment. Only other thing I did was undo the locking nut and tune it then locked everything back down and its been great. Thank you for watching and I hope you don'y have to wait too long
I’m interested a lot in this guitar and I’ve watching many reviews, I’ve seen a few mentions issues with clearance for the bridge. Have you noticed anything like this?
Btw great vid!
No I hadn’t noticed any issues with the clearance on bridge at least not on mine. It’s a floating trem and it seems to move up and down pretty easily. Thank you for watching the video
I have heard the same and that a part of the bridge underneath is hitting the body. I am glad to hear it isn’t an issue in this case.
Mines on back order....gonna be along wait. Thanks for the video
Hi - quick question, don't know if you'd be able to help or not. I received my Epi Axcess a couple of weeks back. I love the guitar, but I've noticed an issue with the traditional magnetic pickups. Basically, their output from the guitar is significantly diminished depending on the state of the onboard 9V battery. This doesn't seem to make any sense, as this is not an active PUP system. I confirmed this by removing the battery. I'm guessing, but the output level dropped at least 12db, could be a bit more or less, but it was enough to render the guitar pretty much useless. Any idea why this might be? FYI, I can confirm that the piezo bridge was shut off with the respective tone knob in the up position when testing. I also want to be clear that the guitar functions normally with a properly charged battery.
As I was reading your question I was thinking it could be the piezo system causing the problem. However, it sounds like you know your way around the guitar and that’s not the issue. really wish I had some kind of suggestion to offer but unfortunately I can’t. I hope you can get it worked out because they are really cool guitars.
@@alansamsmusic It seems like the mags are caught up in the piezo signal path somehow, almost like they are wired in series rather than parallel. The wiring is crazy, so it's really hard to tell without disconnecting things. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this.
FYI there's some sort of micropot on the piezo board that I was trying to suss out. Can't really figure out what it does, but I assume it was a pre-gain for the piezos. Didn't resolve the situation with it either rolled back or throttled, but definitely affected the "acoustic" timbre if moved to the extremes, not necessarily in a good way.
what are the knob settings for Piezo???? skipped right over that after case info..??
Should I hear anything from just the Piezo jack into my amp? Just got mine and don't really know anything about the piezo.
The Piezo jack only works if you're running in a stereo rig. If you're having issues hearing the Piezo through the mono jack like I did at first try if you haven't already using a boost pedal or a EQ pedal. That will help boost that clean signal. The Piezo are pretty low output. Thanks for checking out the video and I hope you enjoy your guitar.
I'm not a huge fan of LP shapes or tremolos but damn I want this! Huge Alex Lifeson fan, of course.
I saw a chibson of this a couple years ago and was soooooo close to buying it. Just can't do a chibson.
It’s a fun guitar once you get use to all of the extras. Thanks checking out the video
Buying these is the same thing as buying a chibson. Just a bit more expensive.
cool video! love the guitar
Thank you for checking it out
pretty impressive but the choice of cream color plastic cavity covers is odd
Great video! Live my guitar too however having trouble getting any sound out of the piezo. Is there an on button?
No on/off for the Piezo.
You need to have the regular jack plugged in, for the Piezo only one to work. Otherwise it can be used on the main jack, just turn down the volumes on the humbuckers and use the Piezo knob
Of the few videos available on this guitar, no one ever mentions the neck profile or what it's like compared to XYZ model Gibson. The specs say it's a Lifeson profile, but that doesn't tell anyone anything. Flat D, 60's slim taper, baseball bat 50's style, rounded D, what is it?
I'm sorry about that... the neck profile is a little thinner than the 60's Gibson Les Paul Standard
Hey Ron, The neck is really comfortable. Not quite as thin as the 60's slim taper on my 1960 les paul classic, but slimmer than a 50's bat type neck. I'd call it flat D close to 60's slim taper.Those who like the slim taper will probably dig this. It's quite good
@@Brooksnation1 Good to know. My wrist and carpal tunnel don't generally get along well with the flatter D 60's style slim taper for whatever reason, but I'm a huge Lifeson fan so I'll have to give it a try. It sounds like it might have just enough girth to it to be just about right. Fingers crossed.
@@alansamsmusic Excellent news. That sounds like a neck profile that I might be able to get along with. Thicker necks don't bother my carpal tunnel too much, but the thin flat slim taper can really aggravate it at times. There seems to be a sweet spot in between the two that really agrees with me and my playing that I can play for hours every day without problems. Fingers crossed that this is one of those.
@The Automaton Collective Well...if it's anything close to the Asymmetrical SlimTaper then I'm definitely good with that. I've not heard it described that way, but if the overall thickness and feel is close then that's definitely a winner for me.
As for the Probucker 3. I heard an interview in which Lifeson states that he left the choice of pickups purely in the hands of Epiphone, so you may very well be correct; he may not play the guitar with either of those pickups at all. But then, I can swap those out for the Gibson versions or some other brand if need be.
Cash grab? Not really. Want to talk about a cash grab? How about the Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom (Aged & Signed) for $9,999. Now that's a cash grab. Or.....any of the Murphy Lab Collection of Gibson guitars.
Crown inlays, not trapezoid. “Trapezoid” inlays refer to the two side by side parallel slanted (actual) trapezoid inlays that are found on many of Gibson’s hollow body guitars.
What quality issues did yours came with?
I must’ve been one of the few who got lucky. Mine is really good.
@@alansamsmusic The first reviews were everyone saying the trem was not working, the piezo part could not be connected etc.... with my friend we changed the idea and we will be getting the Gibson USA Tribute les Paul
@@nicksonthevet nothing wrong with that choice. I’m a big fan of the Tribute series.
@@alansamsmusic cool
Dude, you didn’t use the Floyd.
The Floyds are stuck ..they're just for looks. lmao
How much does it weigh?
Mine weighs a little more than 9 lbs.
Nice Job Alan! It's a brilliant guitar!! I also did a review of the Epiphone Alex Lifeson with some other tone options. If anyone wants to check it out just click my head to the left or search RUclips for Daboo's Reviews.
I just checked it out. Really enjoyed your review
The nut on Pauls is inherently a weak spot with mahogany necks, breaking on that spot is one of the most common repair jobs for shops. So drilling two holes to mount locking nut on that very weak point is just asking for it. I wished they had gone with maple necks on this guitar.
There are no drill holes through the neck for the tremolo on this guitar...
The scarf joints on this neck make it stronger than most LPs.
No one is going to hit you if you are wrong. Relax
blend that Piezo, man!!!!
Still have not seen a press release from Gibson/Epiphone about stopping production of this guitar less than a week after it's official release. Tens of thousands of people are expecting to get these on back order. I found out through the people I ordered it from that the order had not been back ordered it had been canceled and the guitar was no longer available.WTH??? They're having problems with the electronics and major problems with the routing of the tremolo cavity. THEY'RE BASICALLY TRYING TO RUIN ALEX LIFESONS GOOD NAME AND NOBODY WILL SAY ANYTHING OFFICIAL. GIBSON WAS A ONCE-GREAT COMPANY THAT HAS TURNED INTO A JOKE UNDER ITS NEW LEADERSHIP OR SHOULD I SAY LACK OF LEADERSHIP. SHAME ON GIBSON / EPIPHONE FOR THE BIG LIE.
Sometimes it takes a little time to decide on the right approach to take in a situation like this. Take a deep breath. As for "Alex Lifeson's good name being ruined"...come on man...this doesn't reflect on him one bit...seriously!
ALEX already has his and says they are available to buy............... I think he would know
I can confirm the tremolo cavity issue. I sent my first one back because of it. The second one (I just received yesterday) is perfect.
The deal breaker for me is the baseball bat neck 👎
It's not a baseball bat neck.