El Toro's Official Guitarded Thread...

[exitflagger]

Follow up: I tracked down and played one of these AIO guitars today. Very nice. The one I played looked kinda gaudy because the photofinish flaming and the abundance of abalone inlay work doesn't look right together. It's a bit much. But the main thing is it plays fantastic and screams LAMF. The sales guy and I both agreed that it does everything a Les Paul should do and does it far better than whatever Gibson is trying to pass off these days. I gotta get one of these things. Totally bad ass.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

Anybody here have any experience with these guitars? I see these AIO Les Pauls around lately. Fancy looking but very reasonably priced (under $500), good reviews on build, playability and sound. Opinions or info wanted. Thnx.

That’s a good looking guitar.

[exitflagger]

These color schemes are good too. They also make a gold top.

[Mojo]

They also make a gold top.

Probably the only Les Paul style guitar I could be persuaded to try. I don't really care for Les Pauls in general, but I admit the gold top Les Paul is drop dead gorgeous.

[cowpins]

Gold top LP has also been one of my dream guitars. I have a 78' LP Deluxe that's been pretty much sitting for 20 years. Damn, by typing that I realized that I bought it in 1996. Fuck time flies.

[exitflagger]

Gold top LP has also been one of my dream guitars. I have a 78' LP Deluxe that's been pretty much sitting for 20 years. Damn, by typing that I realized that I bought it in 1996. Fuck time flies.

The first Les Paul I ever had was a late 70s Deluxe. I hated it. It played okay but it needed a fret job and I never could get the right sound out of those damn mini-hums.

But really Les Pauls are the whole guitar world for me. I have and play other types of guitars but LPs are always my number one, or at least Les Paul type guitars (for years I primarily played an Ibanez Artist). The carve top and the weight of it and the position that the fretboard falls into when strapped on; it all just feels right and natural to me. I hear bitching about them all the time and none of that stuff registers for me. I guess you just like what you like.

Epiphone is getting a little ridiculous with their prices. I figured when they redesigned the headstock to get closer to the Gibson shape that they were doing it for a reason. Now the halfway decent versions (arguably) of Epi Les Pauls have 800 dollar and up MSRPs. Still plays like a fairly cheap guitar. Gibson Studios are now 1500 to 2000. Fuck that shit.

[HueyRamone]

They also make a gold top.

Probably the only Les Paul style guitar I could be persuaded to try. I don't really care for Les Pauls in general, but I admit the gold top Les Paul is drop dead gorgeous.

You would look ridic with one. Les Pauls are for the shorter gentleman.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

Gold top LP has also been one of my dream guitars. I have a 78' LP Deluxe that's been pretty much sitting for 20 years. Damn, by typing that I realized that I bought it in 1996. Fuck time flies.

The first Les Paul I ever had was a late 70s Deluxe. I hated it. It played okay but it needed a fret job and I never could get the right sound out of those damn mini-hums.

But really Les Pauls are the whole guitar world for me. I have and play other types of guitars but LPs are always my number one, or at least Les Paul type guitars (for years I primarily played an Ibanez Artist). The carve top and the weight of it and the position that the fretboard falls into when strapped on; it all just feels right and natural to me. I hear bitching about them all the time and none of that stuff registers for me. I guess you just like what you like.

Epiphone is getting a little ridiculous with their prices. I figured when they redesigned the headstock to get closer to the Gibson shape that they were doing it for a reason. Now the halfway decent versions (arguably) of Epi Les Pauls have 800 dollar and up MSRPs. Still plays like a fairly cheap guitar. Gibson Studios are now 1500 to 2000. Fuck that shit.

LP is the ultimate RNR guitar, but hate the way they play.
Like putting guitar strings on a 2x4

[cowpins]

Scrolling through FB and this randomly pops up in my feed from some blues musician suggested to me. Funny, since I just talked about it hear. lol (sorry for the large pic, Mod)

[exitflagger]

^^^ Old and probably worth a bazillion dollars - check

But:
No binding on the neck
P-90s
Big, ugly old-timey tailpiece
Using a stop bar for a bridge

Nope, nope, nope. Sometimes "vintage" is a downside.

[Mojo]

Scrolling through FB and this randomly pops up in my feed from some blues musician suggested to me.

That looks like Jarrod James Nichols’s.

[cowpins]

Scrolling through FB and this randomly pops up in my feed from some blues musician suggested to me.

That looks like Jarrod James Nichols’s.

Exactly who it was. Good eye.

[Mojo]

Exactly who it was. Good eye.

That thing was in a tornado. It was just a fucked up body until he had it restored. I can’t remember exactly, but I think it was either owned by Les, or someone else famous, or it’s a famous serial number or something. Interesting story, but obviously not interesting enough for me to remember the details.
Anyway, Nichols is a fucking beast. Absolutely monster player.

[SchenkerFan]

Gold top LP has also been one of my dream guitars. I have a 78' LP Deluxe that's been pretty much sitting for 20 years. Damn, by typing that I realized that I bought it in 1996. Fuck time flies.

But really Les Pauls are the whole guitar world for me. I have and play other types of guitars but LPs are always my number one, or at least Les Paul type guitars (for years I primarily played an Ibanez Artist).

What's your experience with the Ibanez Artist? I have one, really like the feel of the fretboard. It has a slight neck dive problem though. It's also really hard to get a decent F chord, but I suppose I could try to have the nut adjusted to fix the problem.

[exitflagger]

Gold top LP has also been one of my dream guitars. I have a 78' LP Deluxe that's been pretty much sitting for 20 years. Damn, by typing that I realized that I bought it in 1996. Fuck time flies.

But really Les Pauls are the whole guitar world for me. I have and play other types of guitars but LPs are always my number one, or at least Les Paul type guitars (for years I primarily played an Ibanez Artist).

What's your experience with the Ibanez Artist? I have one, really like the feel of the fretboard. It has a slight neck dive problem though. It's also really hard to get a decent F chord, but I suppose I could try to have the nut adjusted to fix the problem.

I've had mine for decades. It gets a brassier sound than most Les Pauls but I put a filtertron in the bridge position pickup spot and I mostly use it for punkish stuff. Plays fast and squanky (if that's a thing). Look up the Paul Gilbert video he did explaining how much he loves the playing on Zeppelin's Heartbreaker and you'll hear what they're capable of with a little tech tweaking.

Never mind, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxcFBOXUogE

Yeah I love mine. I got a little too used to the tone of it and had to get some more variety (re: other guitars) but it kicks ass.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

Well, I quit buying guitars…but…

I did order this today.



Ripping a page from the supercharged high-gain distortion and spacious reverb of the popular Bassbreaker 15, the Fender 30-watt Bassbreaker 30R adds full channel switching capability to allow for precise, individual control over your clean and distorted tones--while the built-in effects loop offers yet another dose of custom-tailored personality to your sound.

Boasting a single 12" Celestion V-Type speaker, this easily portable combo amp packs quite the punch of distinctively crunchy Bassbreaker tone. Let the EL84 tubes sparkle with nuanced clean tone, incinerate a path of destruction with fiery midrange distortion--or anything in between--with uncanny responsiveness to pick attack and control settings from mid- to high-gain.

On stage or in the studio, the raw power is in your hands.

Features:
- 30-watt tube combo amplifier
- Single 12" 8-ohm Celestion V-Type speaker
- Two separate channels based on the Bassbreaker 15 and 18/30
- Four EL84 power tubes
- Three 12AX7 preamp tubes
- Includes 2-button footswitch (for channel switching and gain boost on Channel 2)


I haven’t owned a tube amp since the early 90’s.
This one looks legit.

[Sleek]

Ooooh...gotta watch out for those, they are sort of known for breaking down. Don't think I'd buy one...

[VinnieVincentsVag]

Ooooh...gotta watch out for those, they are sort of known for breaking down. Don't think I'd buy one...

Really?
Too late…

[VinnieVincentsVag]

Ooooh...gotta watch out for those, they are sort of known for breaking down. Don't think I'd buy one...

What particular issues have you heard about?

[Demons Eye]

i had one years back (the 15) and i really liked it, but sold it when i needed some cash, wish i still had it. my buddy sold me his fender mustang gtx100 for cheap last year and the bassbreaker is one of my top amp models used on it. i don’t use it for metal, but lots of other music. enjoy man!

i had no problems with mine, but sleek may have more info on them than i do.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

i had one years back (the 15) and i really liked it, but sold it when i needed some cash, wish i still had it. my buddy sold me his fender mustang gtx100 for cheap last year and the bassbreaker is one of my top amp models used on it. i don’t use it for metal, but lots of other music. enjoy man!

i had no problems with mine, but sleek may have more info on them than i do.

Thanks!
I thought I did my homework, and didn’t see many negative reviews..

[Mojo]

The only tube amp I’ve ever had was a tweed Bassman, ala Brian Setzer. Major pain in the ass for a bedroom guitarist like myself. Unless it’s cranked, I couldn’t get any decent tone and fucking with attenuators and things is a pain in the ass. Cranked with a Tube Screamer, it sounded great, but I’m a puss and it was too loud.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

The only tube amp I’ve ever had was a tweed Bassman, ala Brian Setzer. Major pain in the ass for a bedroom guitarist like myself. Unless it’s cranked, I couldn’t get any decent tone and fucking with attenuators and things is a pain in the ass. Cranked with a Tube Screamer, it sounded great, but I’m a puss and it was too loud.

I have read this as far as playing at low volume

[exitflagger]

I'm not aware of Fender amps having fuckup issues. That's usually a strong suit for them.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

I'm not aware of Fender amps having fuckup issues.

I wasn’t either.

[Sleek]

That might have been true 40 years ago, but they've been getting shoddier and shoddier with each generation of amps as they went from grommet board to PCBs and from California to Mexico to China to...wherever they are being made now...the Hot Rod series have been keeping repairmen in business since the nineties, and the Bassbreaker ones are a step down from that.

Buddy of mine got one for free. I think it ran for about a week, and then it went down.

Search for something like Bassbreaker reliability or repairs to get the whole story. I know they are a complete bitch to repair as well, with a bunch of circuit boards crammed together and connected by plug-in ribbon connectors...just like any cheap consumer electronics you get nowadays.

[Turner Coates]

That might have been true 40 years ago, but they've been getting shoddier and shoddier with each generation of amps as they went from grommet board to PCBs and from California to Mexico to China to...wherever they are being made now...the Hot Rod series have been keeping repairmen in business since the nineties, and the Bassbreaker ones are a step down from that.

Buddy of mine got one for free. I think it ran for about a week, and then it went down.

Search for something like Bassbreaker reliability or repairs to get the whole story. I know they are a complete bitch to repair as well, with a bunch of circuit boards crammed together and connected by plug-in ribbon connectors...just like any cheap consumer electronics you get nowadays.

It's very nice to hear shop talk from someone who knows shit from Shinola.
.......................................................................................................

The Beatles and Epiphone guitars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_FF834WJ58

[exitflagger]

Man it is a total minefield shopping foreign made guitars online. There are listings of guitars where it looks like a legit classic piece (LP, strat, tele, whatever) and the pictures will conveniently leave out any image of the headstock. Or they might only show the front side of the headstock and not the back where the serial number is or something that might indicate the country of manufacture. There are certain brands where if you fuck up and buy one made in China or Vietnam as opposed to THE SAME guitar made in Japan or Korea, you've just bought several hundred dollars worth of garbage. And the listings will do anything they can to conceal the origin country if it is undesirable.

There's a listing on ebay for a type of guitar that I'm currently shopping and they say over and over in the description that it is "from Japan". No indication that it is MADE IN Japan. Yes, the seller is based in Japan. And since there are no pics of the back of the headstock it is almost certainly a Chinese piece being sold out of Japan. As they say "That's how they getcha".

I had to call one seller on the phone and sift through his double-talk for several minutes to finally come to the answer that a guitar I was considering was made in Vietnam. It was like trying to get a criminal to confess.

At least when you buy a Gibson, you know you're getting a piece of shit no matter where it was built.

[poisonheart]

I just bought the little lady an el cheapo Chinese made Hofner Ignition series violin bass. Took a while to source a sunburst one after the post-Get Back nostalgia boom in a pandemic shipping context, but was worth the wait.

Per expectations, it was unplayable out of the box and I'm not even sure the stock strings were made of actual metal.

That said, threw some La Bella tape wound flats on there and did the usual set up work, and it's actually fucking lovely to play. Stock pickups are perfectly usable. Fretwork was better out of the box than my American Tele. Go figure.

[exitflagger]

China-built guitars are hit and miss. I have a Chinese Firebird knockoff that's pretty great but I wouldn't have even considered it if I hadn't played it first.

One thing I've noticed is these days if it clearly says "MIJ" or otherwise indicates Jap-built, it's basically the same as Gibson as far as an immediate upcharge just for that association. Only difference is it's justified.