Les Paul vs. Es335

gripweed

gripweed

Jolvisologist
If you had experience with LPs and 335 style guitars, I'd like to hear what you perceive as being the tonal differences between the two. I'm certainly aware that all guitars are a little different, even within the same model, so keep that in mind when you make your generaliztions.
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

The 335's are more airy and warm. They almost seem to have a larger tonal perspective to them. The Paul's are more focused tonally and likely a little more "tight" as well.
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

Both guitars can kick butt. I agree with SkareKrough, that 335's are more airy. Both can be warm depending on how you're playing and how your amp is set. Gary Moore gets a more cutting/bitinng sound out of his LP's, where as a lot of other players get a warmer, less biting tone fomr their's (e.g. Slash). I find that LP's can have a more muscular sound to them. Some 335's can be brighter sounding in my experience.

LP Customs are supposed to be a bit brighter than Standards because of the ebony fretboard, but mine is one of the warmest LP's I've ever played. Hope that helps.


Jeff
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

Skarekrough said:
The 335's are more airy and warm. They almost seem to have a larger tonal perspective to them. The Paul's are more focused tonally and likely a little more "tight" as well.
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Couldn't have said it better.

A bit more mellow that the Paulas
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

I own 2 Les Pauls and a dot 335. I always pick the 335 first. Its my favorite HB guitar. What I like about the 335 over a Les Paul............ quite a few things.

1. The weight. 335's are a lot lighter
2. Upper access to the higher frets is considerably easier on a 335.
4. The guitar has better balance (weight) than a Les Paul and it is easier to keep in my playing position.

Tone: 335's are very airy as someone else has already mentioned. IMHO the controls have a much larger affect on tone. even though they are setup the same way the 335 has a much better control. The 2 volume and tone controls have a huge affect on the tone. Much more so than a Les Paul.

The negatives of a semihollw are if you play with a lot of volume and a lot of gain they can feed back or squeal. You need to be careful where you stand or how close you stand to your amp. In some cases I have seen people stuff the guitar with foam to eliminate the feedback issue. In most cases this is a result of a microphonic pickup but in certain situations it can be a problem. That being said I play thru Marshalls and Bogners as well as Fenders fairly loud with no major issues. I use a 20ft cable and that seems to work.

The other negative is if you are planning on doing an electronic work on a 335 or similar type of guitar, you have to work thru the "F" holes or the pickup holes. It can be a problem. if you don't have paitience take it to a tech. I refuse to do any wiring on my 335. I take it to someone whoi is qulified I am not!

Overall I think a 335 has much greater versatility for what I do than a Les Paul does. I love my Les Paul and for certain things there is nothing better, but I can do more with my 335. Its a great guitar and I could never consider not having one.
 
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Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

I agree with both Skare and Bluedave (and most of the +1 people ;))

LPs are better suited for gain and volume, and sound beefier to me...

However, when I want a smoother tone or am going for mostly clean stuff, I grab my '335 with '59s without hesitating.
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

Skarekrough said:
The 335's are more airy and warm. They almost seem to have a larger tonal perspective to them. The Paul's are more focused tonally and likely a little more "tight" as well.
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With a hint of "woodiness" to them....the 335's that is.
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

JOLLY said:
With a hint of "woodiness" to them....the 335's that is.
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I agree....but I think alot of that is in the choice of pickups as well.

My Dot Deluxe has hot pickups in it and I notice it isn't as "woody" as the other hollowbodies like the Epi Dot, the ES-335 and the Sheratons. The element is there, but just nowhere near as pronounced.

.....and most of the reason I need to get new pickups installed into it!
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

I love 'em-love 'em-love 'em both. But if you put a gun to my head and forced me to choose one over the other for the rest of my life, it would have to be the 335. The better high fret access is the main reason, although the difficulty in making electronic mods might drive me to choose the LP.
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

Surgeon said:
I agree with both Skare and Bluedave (and most of the +1 people ;))

LPs are better suited for gain and volume, and sound beefier to me...

However, when I want a smoother tone or am going for mostly clean stuff, I grab my '335 with '59s without hesitating.
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+1

I have always deemed my Pauly's as my best-players until I recently bought my Schecter semi-hollow equipped with the equivalent of 59's (Duncan Designed). I might still be on the honeymoon with this axe but it's sitting in the #1 slot at the moment.
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

Bludave said:
The negatives of a semihollw are if you play with a lot of volume and a lot of gain they can feed back or squeal. You need to be careful where you stand or how close you stand to your amp. In some cases I have seen people stuff the guitar with foam to eliminate the feedback issue. In most cases this is a result of a microphonic pickup but in certain situations it can be a problem. That being said I play thru Marshalls and Bogners as well as Fenders fairly loud with no major issues. I use a 20ft cable and that seems to work.
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Funny thing though....as I get older I'm finding I tend to be turning down the Gain knob a lot more. I'm way more conscious of the tones I'm going for and have found that when I couldn't really nail it would typically just crank up and expect that to do the trick.

I learned this the hard way last weekend with my Dot Deluxe and a patch I made that was a lot heavier than it needed to be and it just squealed like a pig. When I took the time to really get the sound I wanted it had MUCH less gain and the problem was solved.

In a sense I'm amazed I didn't get into them earlier on in life. But I'm just glad I finally did!
 
Re: Les Paul vs. Es335

Skarekrough said:
Funny thing though....as I get older I'm finding I tend to be turning down the Gain knob a lot more. I'm way more conscious of the tones I'm going for and have found that when I couldn't really nail it would typically just crank up and expect that to do the trick.

I learned this the hard way last weekend with my Dot Deluxe and a patch I made that was a lot heavier than it needed to be and it just squealed like a pig. When I took the time to really get the sound I wanted it had MUCH less gain and the problem was solved.

In a sense I'm amazed I didn't get into them earlier on in life. But I'm just glad I finally did!
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Yeah I agree. These guitars don't really need to pushed that hard. Depending on the amp. When I use my dot with the Shiva, I hardly use the gain channel. I have a TS9 with the gain almost all the way down and I use this really more as a volume boost. This pushes the tubes a little harder and I get a nice tube OD this way. When I do use the drive channel I just have to be aware of how close I am to the amp. Its a managable amount of gain.
 
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