New Guitar and Amp Day!!!!

[ZoSoRose]

I have been going through some tough shit so I decided to become retarded, seemingly overnight, and order my dream guitar and a new amplifier.

My dream guitar? Just a fucking kick ass Les Paul. I got that Special a few months ago, and I love it, but it wasn't enough. I needed a flame top, binding, '57 pickups or burst buckers, all that crap that equates the quintessential Les Paul. So fuck it, I ordered a 2013 Signature T with Min Etune in Vintage Sunburst. I had to order from Zzounds since they have their great financing plan and I decided I wanted to keep it under $2,000 for the guitar. I narrowed it down to the Signature T, a Studio Pro, or a Custom Lite. I am really happy I went with the Signature T...

HOLY FUCK. I know people bitch about Gibson's inconsistency and how stupid it is to order without playing. But sweet jesus christ and all that is holy, this thing just screams. It is amazing in so many ways. The playability, the look and finish, the features, the SOUND. I knew I'd like it but I didn't expect to fall in love like I did! There is no doubt in my mind that this will be my #1 guitar.

The only thing I don't like is the ugly truss rod cover so I got a custom engraved one that says "Heartbreaker" (cheesy name, I know) and slapped it on. Now, it is perfect.

I also finally got myself a tube amp, a Fender Blues Deluxe! Next up I need to get a good OD pedal and some recording stuff and I am almost done with my dream rig.

A fuckin' good day!

Here is "Heartbreaker"-

[Klay]

Congrats mate, take good care of her and she'll take good care of you, looks gorgeous.

Never tried the Min Etune but watched several reviews - does it worth it?

As for the amp, you seem to be a Fender guy so it's not important to mention that at the same price range you also had the Marshall DSL 40C which sounds very good. The Fender I never tried but on the reviews seems to sound cool.

Now put it all to use and give us some music!

[ZoSoRose]

Congrats mate, take good care of her and she'll take good care of you, looks gorgeous.

Never tried the Min Etune but watched several reviews - does it worth it?

As for the amp, you seem to be a Fender guy so it's not important to mention that at the same price range you also had the Marshall DSL 40C which sounds very good. The Fender I never tried but on the reviews seems to sound cool.

Now put it all to use and give us some music!

Thanks, man! I still am not totally versed in Min Etune, but I have been playing it all day. I think because its so new it still goes out of tune more often, but the system seems to work quite well. Haven't played with alternate tunings and haven't tried programming it to custom ones yet. Overall, it seems like a great system and if someone really hates it, it can apparently be removed without a trace.

As for amps, I love a good Fender and I fell in love with the cleans on the Blues Deluxe so I am happy. I am nuts for Marshall, and one day I want a JCM or JVM. I like the DSL, but it isn't what I was looking for right now. Besides, you really need to crank em and I live in an apartment!

Hopefully I'll get some good music recorded in the next few months to share. I have written some cool songs lately and just need to get the gear and people to record them with

[Chewbacca]

Happy NGD!

[Bumble's Bridge Pickup]

That's so nice. Sometimes it's just great to splurge on a new sweet ass guitar without even seeing it first in real life, I know exactly what that feels like. HNGD

[AxlisOld]

I used to get that feeling, now it's like an addict chasing the dragon with me. Though when I got my Jackson DK2M a while back I was fucking stoked. Actuqply who am I kidding, I love every new guitar I get.

[OmarBradley]

A new Les Paul is always cool ZoSo. What is the Min Etune? I haven't heard of that. While we're at it, what's the Signature T's deal? I hadn't heard of that one either. I stopped following the new models circa 2008 when the binned the Classic (though I think they redid a run?). The main factory makes used to just be Standard, Classic, Studio, Custom, Supreme. Now there's the Traditional, the Trad +, Custom Lite? Signature T? To be honest though, I played a Trad + in GC a few weeks ago, sounded great.

Blues Deluxe is a cool amp. You mentioned JCM and JVM, I actually played a JVM 100 watter, and remember not liking it that much; could have just been circumstantial though, as almost everyone loves it (and actually the YJM gets even better reviews). My next amp will hopefully be an early 80's vert. input 800, but we'll see. Been thinking about boutique as well, Soldano or Wizard maybe.

[Klay]

Min Etune is an automatic tunning system, battery powered with automated tunners. Here's a video:

There's just to many Les Paul models around, it gets confusing.

The Signature T is a model series made as a tribute to Les Paul himself.

The current Traditional is equivalent to the old Standard: the body is solid (and heavy!), has no weight relief holes.

The current Standard is different than what a Les Paul Standard used to be: the current Standard has holes inside the body (under the top) to remove weight. Some people like it because it's more confortable to play, a solid body Les Paul is heavy! Others claim that the tone and sustain ain't the same.

Weight relief holes are kinda like this:

Edited August 30, 2014 by Klay

[OmarBradley]

Min Etune is an automatic tunning system, battery powered with automated tunners. Here's a video:

There's just to many Les Paul models around, it gets confusing.

The Signature T is a model series made as a tribute to Les Paul himself.

The current Traditional is equivalent to the old Standard: the body is solid (and heavy!), has no weight relief holes.

The current Standard is different than what a Les Paul Standard used to be: the current Standard has holes inside the body (under the top) to remove weight. Some people like it because it's more confortable to play, a solid body Les Paul is heavy! Others claim that the tone and sustain ain't the same.

Weight relief holes are kinda like this:

Thanks, I used to actively post on MyLesPaulForum.com, so terms like weight relief/chamber I definitely know. And the general attitude on that forum is pretty anti-weight relief/chamber, at least it was that way in 2010/2011 when I posted there. I'm not totally into the idea behind the Min Etune system, it reminds me too much of the Robot. I don't want anything on my guitar other than pick ups, pots, tuning pegs, vol/tone knobs, capacitors, and wires. Not to say the added stuff is bad, but I'd rather go with the regular bare bones approach. Maybe a coil split too. Guitars made to be that way, like the Variax, I'm okay with, but don't mess with my Les Pauls.

Most everyone hates Henry, the Gibson CEO, and he gets blamed for a lot of these unpopular ideas.... and his treatment of local music stores too, but that's a different story.

The new Standard is preferred because it's more comfortable to play? So go get a Fender or and throw humbuckers in it, or a PRS. Les Paul's are (generally) heavy. My understanding of the chambering/weight relief is that it saves wood. Unless you're like Mick Mars, who would prefer Gibson's but they're too heavy for him due to his illness, I don't think the "too heavy" factor should play a major part in selecting your guitar.

Edited August 30, 2014 by OmarBradley

[ZoSoRose]

I dont like chambering or modern weight relief, buy traditional weight relief is fine. My guitar is still heavy as fuck and sounds fat and deep. I do think chambering affects tone though

[AxlisOld]

I'm one of those nancy boys with a small enough frame that a 12 pound Les Paul is actually painful for me to play after about 10 minutes or so.

[ZoSoRose]

I'm one of those nancy boys with a small enough frame that a 12 pound Les Paul is actually painful for me to play after about 10 minutes or so.

Sissy, go play an SG then!

Just kidding, i have played chambered les pauls that are amazing, i just like the weight

[moreblack]

I own a Signature T and a Classic Plus, the weight on both is reasonable. But the Custom 3 pickup Epiphone Black Beauty I have feels a good few pounds heavier.

[AxlisOld]

I'm one of those nancy boys with a small enough frame that a 12 pound Les Paul is actually painful for me to play after about 10 minutes or so.

Sissy, go play an SG then!

Just kidding, i have played chambered les pauls that are amazing, i just like the weight

I have a huge boner for my Jackson right now. Was a strat guy before that, built a superstrat that I still love. I have a PRS Torero that, though a bit heavy, and Korean, plays better than my Gibsons.

[OmarBradley]

I own a Signature T and a Classic Plus, the weight on both is reasonable. But the Custom 3 pickup Epiphone Black Beauty I have feels a good few pounds heavier.

I should know why, and maybe I used to, but the customs are generally heavier than other Gibsons. My 68RI comes in at 11.1 lbs.

[AxlisOld]

I believe the customs have a carved top and carved back, whereas standard have the carved cap on the top and a flat back from the slab body. Extra piece of wood stuck on.

[ZoSoRose]

The Bogner Ecstasy Blue is a bit out of my price range right now so I picked up a used Ibanez Tube Screamer (the TS9) on ebay and a new mic for recording!

[OmarBradley]

On financing, I've seen this option before... and I could certainly handle it for now. But something in the back of my mind tells be either a) I'm going to lose all of my money and become unable to pay, or b) I'm going to start financing so much gear that it's the equivalent of buying a new expensive piece of gear every month...... probably the latter, any thoughts ZoSo on how to combat this?

[ZoSoRose]

On financing, I've seen this option before... and I could certainly handle it for now. But something in the back of my mind tells be either a) I'm going to lose all of my money and become unable to pay, or b) I'm going to start financing so much gear that it's the equivalent of buying a new expensive piece of gear every month...... probably the latter, any thoughts ZoSo on how to combat this?

Lol, I just got a new job, moved to a new city alone, and am having personal problems. My salary sucks too. So I said, fuck it! And treated myself to this insanely awesome rig and guitar. It was very stupid. Honestly, a huge chunk of my earnings will be going towards this every month but it will make me insanely happy.

My advice (which is probably horrible) is to not think too much. I was just on the site the other night and said "you know, I want that amp." Then I thought, "say, a Les Paul Studio wouldn't be too bad to pay for every month!" And then from there I said fuck it to the extreme and gave myself a $2000 MAX to spend on a guitar I would love forever.

So yeah, if you think you can do it give yourself a maximum total price on a piece of equipment and go for it. We all may be fucked but at least ya get something awesome out of it!

Edited September 4, 2014 by ZoSoRose