BETTER THAN GIBSON? | Boutique Les Paul Shootout (PRS, Huber, Gustavsson, Bartlett, B3)

Is the Gibson Les Paul still king? Here is the best Les Paul I’ve ever played compared to several high end Les Paul style alternatives. Which is your favorite? Let me know in the comments! I love Les Paul style guitars, but I sold all of my Gibson Les Pauls a few years back because I was getting more joy from high end alternatives like my Nik Huber Orca 59. When Gibson came out with the 2019 60th anniversary models, my interest was piqued. The new specs brought more touch sensitivity, dynamics, and playability to the table - all things I appreciated in other high end LP type guitars in my collection. So now I have a proper Gibson back in the fleet and love it! Even though I love my Gibson Les Paul, I’m open to other takes on the formula - I'm not a purist. As such, I was curious to make a video to more closely compare several LP style guitars. For simplicity I focused on bridge pickup lead tone. In reality the tonal range and variance amongst these guitars is more pronounced than this scenario, but it was still interesting to hear the similar yet distinct voice of each guitar. I was surprised by a few of the outcomes, but I still can’t choose a favorite! All of the guitars have Brazilian rosewood fingerboards and mahogany bodies & necks except for: Gibson and B3 have Indian rosewood fingerboards and the B3 has a Korina body and neck. The guitar tone is a B.K. Butler Tube Driver into a Vemuram Jan Ray into a Friedman BE-100. Check out my “How to get Eric Johnson LEAD TONE” video for how I use this pedal chain. Please subscribe if you would dig more vids like this. Happy to answer any questions in the comments! For more cool guitars, tones, and licks, follow me at on Instagram @ratherberiffing. Thanks and rock on! -Johnny Z Guitar Gear: Gibson Les Paul 1959 reissue with Wildwood spec'd humbuckers Paul Reed Smith 594 Private Stock Nik Huber Orca 59 Johan Gustavsson Bluesmaster 59 Bartlett Retrospec B3 Sl Friedman BE-100 amplifier Suhr Reactive Load with OwnHammer IR of Friedman 4x12 cab B.K. Butler Tube Driver with Bias mod Vemuram Jan Ray overdrive Chasetone Secret Preamp (recreation of Echoplex preamp circuit) Ibanez Echo Machine Delay (in the amp's fx loop) Recording chain: Neve style mic preamp Apogee Symphony converter Cubase