Les Paul Variax A/B comparison

OK I got a bunch of grief from people at HR.com for using a Pod for the Strat comparisons so here is a recording with more tubes (not tube emulators or hybrids) than you can shake a stick at !

OK this is either a Variax set to "Lester" "Neck" or a 1960 Re-issue Gibson LP supporting 490R and 498T pickups.

The guitar was run into a TSL100 head (crunch) with stock tubes and recorded with a Shure KSM44 (set to cardoid) at the edge of the speaker about 6" from the cloth of a 1960A 4x12 stock cab. The amp settings were identical for both.

The mic was fed into a vt737sp (also stock tubes) set with flat EQ and no compression. This went into a MOTU 828mk II and recorded in Logic at 44.1 / 24bit

Sorry I couldn't crank the amp a little more but I was already getting grief from the misses !
For MP3s click

here

FYI I have no shares in Line6 though Im starting to think they maybe a good idea !

That's a very tough call! I'm gonna say that clip B is the real LP and clip A is the Variax.

Clip A had a bit more clarity, and didin't seem like the pickups were quite as hot as clip B. Is it just me, or was the E string out of tune in clip A?

I actually like clip B a little better, because it seemed to have a bit more balls than clip A, but they both sounded very nice.

I had was playing them both to Catherine and had to go look at the Logic files to work it out ! And I played and recorded them. Maybe this is only a testament to my broken brain however I also think it is a tough call !

I happen to like the sound of clip "LP B" better, but I think clip A is the real deal. Real LP that is.

Clip B sounds like a stock mid-eighties Yamaha SG or SBG. Yeah, it's that good. That's why people who own 'em aren't awed by the LP.

LP was clip A

LOL! So you can re-label the Variax "LP" setting as "Yamaha SBG". :D

I must admit I'm impressed by the quality of the sounds you're getting. I'm just not ready to go that route myself. I'm emotionally vested in the organic process of tweaking actual guitars and amps.

They are funny to play as well ! And as for the Danelectrico look of the 3-500s, well even Jimi Page looked odd playing one of them !!

Well, I guess I was wrong on all accounts :rolleyes:

b is lp ...a is variax :cool:

Originally Posted by: Dr_simon Jimi Page

grrrrrr.... :mad:

had me fooled....i thought the lp was b for sure.