Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

[Segomil]

Hi
Yesterday i received my Epiphone Tribute 60's plus guitar, but because the quality was not there i refused to take it ... here is my complaint in the epiphone forum & i am not gentle http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/125180-i-have-been/ ...
Last year i had some delivery problem with Line 6 who they have tried to pass me and old & used guitar JTV89f ...
So because i lost any confidence for brand new products...i started to buy since 2014 used guitars & i found a great Ibanez Roadstar RG420BK from 1986. The pickups are good but i want the Gibson sounds !

I want the sound of a Gibson 57, 59 i don't know how... i don't play Metal or agressive music but Rock & soft Rock song (70's-80's style) I only play my own music (my own composition) I love made great powerful solo ... so if can have a Humbuckers for soft rythm an the other for solo it will be great ... money is not a problem to have the Gibson sounds !
A luther said to me that even if i put Gibson 57 classic pickups on my Ibanez that the sounds will not be the same because my Ibanez it's not in Mahogany wood, but made in a basswood body & a maple neck !
What Seymour Duncan can do for me to get the Gibson sounds ? Is there any pickups which can reach the Gibson product ?
This is some image of my Ibanez ( my Ibanez is the black one below)

Thanks

 

[EDX]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

you pretty much ask the same as did blues saraceno, a pickup that can make a Super Strat sound like a Les Paul http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/parallel-axis-blue-saraceno-bridge

 

[AlexR]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

The construction of a guitar is crucial to its tone. So you will not be able to get the precise Gibson tone per se. But if you add a humbucker and some distortion then you'll get a fat tone through a good amp regardless......it just might not sound precisely like a LP at those exact same settings.

So you just need to put in a good pickup (Seth Lovers, Whole Lotta Humbucker and the C/59 hybrid are all good choices) and adjust the amp until you hear something you like.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

A luther said to me that even if i put Gibson 57 classic pickups on my Ibanez that the sounds will not be the same because my Ibanez it's not in Mahogany wood, but made in a basswood body & a maple neck !

Your "luther" is correct. Good though those mid Eighties Ibanez Roadster guitars are (I have an RG410), their construction, the materials and hardware preclude any possibility of you extracting the tone or sustain of a good Les Paul type electric guitar.

With American-made pickups and through valve amplification, the Ibanez is capable of producing all manner of professional guitar sounds. A high output humbucker in the bridge/Treble position would allow many sonic possibilities. You govern the degree of amplifier saturation/overdrive with the guitar's volume control.

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

I'd start w/a DiM SuperD/PAF(Pro) combo...

Won't be the same,but certainly better than stock...

.02

Sorry 'bout your Epi exp,but it sounds/reads like the shop fumbled on that one...

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

No basswood axe with a floyd style trem and a bolt on neck will sound like a les paul.
However, you can get some great tones and I think you can get a pickup combination that will get you a sound in the ballpark of what you are after.
APH in the neck and a Custom Custom in the bridge. Warm and fat, plenty of smooth for the neck. Warm and fat with plenty of smooth and extra output in the bridge for screaming leads. These pickups will go some way towards crossing the bridge from bolt on basswood superstrat to meaty gibson like tones.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

Unless you are using ultra distort shred tones (and you apparently are not)

You can't.

Some other things you can't do:
I want my Les Paul to sound like a classic 50's Strat
I want my Fender Twin to sound like a Marshall 800
I want glassy strat tones from my hum bucker
I want a classic trem style, but I want to be alble to dive bomb and stay completely in tune
I want a floyd, but I want to change strings quickly and easily

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

Its like taking your Camry to the shop and asking if they can make it sound like a top fuel dragster.

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

I mean it's not just the woods man, EVERYTHING is different from a typical les paul or any other Gibson. Pickups can only compensate for all the differences in construction so much. The only 3 options I can gather are:

Sell or trade or both for a Gibson (style) guitar.

Get the pickup that Gibson uses in their model you most like.

Or you could get that parallel axis pickup that was mentioned earlier and was Duncan's shot at fufilling a request identical to yours.

A pickup change might get you what you want out if it, but it will not do exactly what you are describing.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

As mentioned earlier, I have an Eighties RG-410. It arrived with a Mighty Mite Motherbucker. I sold this to Left_Hand_Strat and promptly replaced it with an SH-4 JB(J). I have toyed with the idea of a magnet swap to A2 à la SHAH-1 Holdsworth humbucker but I thought better of messing with the MJ mojo.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

Out of the nearly 100 guitars I've owned in my miserable life, only a Les Paul sounded like a Les Paul. Gibson pickups in non-Gibson guitars did not make them sound like Gibson guitars.

Another factor is the individual player's mindset when playing a certain guitar; everyone has a preconceived notion of how a Les Paul sounds, and they play a Les Paul in a completely different manner than a Strat or V. This contributes as much to the tone as the pickups. Unless you're playing your RG as if it were a Les Paul, it doesn't matter what pickup is in it.

 

[Fusion1]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

Not necessarily Gibson LEs Paul sounding, but I bought a RG410 from a member here and it had a Dimarzio Norton and it is a very underrated pickup. It sort of has a thicker tone in the vein of say a PAF or comparable to a Seymour Duncan maybe a Custom 5.

 

[omg81]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

I think if you want true Gibson sound, you have to get a Gibson. Maybe a good Epiphone with Gibson pups, haven't tried that though.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

you pretty much ask the same as did blues saraceno, a pickup that can make a Super Strat sound like a Les Paul http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/parallel-axis-blue-saraceno-bridge

Now im sitting here trying to think of a time when his tone didnt sound like a super strat. Its got a mellower vibe to it but vintage gibson sounding it is not.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

I think if you want true Gibson sound, you have to get a Gibson. Maybe a good Epiphone with Gibson pups, haven't tried that though.

Gibson pickups are not required for Les paul sounds. Slash sounds like a les paul using A2 pros. As do many other people. A Les paul is a single cut african mahogany body and neck with a maple cap and a tune o matic on a 24 3/4in scale with a nitro finish. Any deviations from this forumula moves you away from that sound. The sound doesnt care whats on the headstock, but it does care about things like thick plastic finishes and substitute mahogany woods.

That being said a 24 3/4 scale single cut is "close enough" for many people.

 

[omg81]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

Gibson pickups are not required for Les paul sounds. Slash sounds like a les paul using A2 pros. As do many other people. A Les paul is a single cut african mahogany body and neck with a maple cap and a tune o matic on a 24 3/4in scale with a nitro finish. Any deviations from this forumula moves you away from that sound. The sound doesnt care whats on the headstock, but it does care about things like thick plastic finishes and substitute mahogany woods.

That being said a 24 3/4 scale single cut is "close enough" for many people.

I agree, and I think a close enough Gibson clone might be able to sound like that too (and not all original LP's sound good btw). But few follow that formula, and that Slash's or other people's LPs still sound like LPs just reaffirms how important the body is and that there's little you can do to get characteristic LP sound with a differently built guitar. Mahogany isn't really popular among guitar producers, which is probably a major reason why Gibson sound tends to be so recognisable.

I said that in the case of having an Epiphone LP, which should come closest with Gibson pups since it's the same design, same woods, same pickups then. It should still be recognisable as an LP with different pickups, I'm just biased against Epiphone pups from the old days.

But it doesn't end there. An SG sounds very distinct from a Les Paul even with the exact same hardware and pickups. So in theory, why would putting Gibson pickups into your guitar make it sound like a Les Paul and not like an SG? Except maybe for outright clones, I just don't know any other guitar with the characteristic SG sound, maybe with reason, because it's still a pretty radical design. I don't think there's much you can do if you want SG sound than to buy an SG.

I've had a few drinks, so sorry if I'm just babbling.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

If Epiphone were using the exact same tonewoods as its parent company, one of them would soon cease trading.

Back on topic, the Ibanez RG can be turned into a fine all-rounder with a couple of USA pickups and some clever switching circuitry. Enjoy it for what it is rather than condemn it for failing to be something that it never can be.

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

I agree, and I think a close enough Gibson clone might be able to sound like that too (and not all original LP's sound good btw). But few follow that formula, and that Slash's or other people's LPs still sound like LPs just reaffirms how important the body is and that there's little you can do to get characteristic LP sound with a differently built guitar. Mahogany isn't really popular among guitar producers, which is probably a major reason why Gibson sound tends to be so recognisable.

I said that in the case of having an Epiphone LP, which should come closest with Gibson pups since it's the same design, same woods, same pickups then. It should still be recognisable as an LP with different pickups, I'm just biased against Epiphone pups from the old days.

But it doesn't end there. An SG sounds very distinct from a Les Paul even with the exact same hardware and pickups. So in theory, why would putting Gibson pickups into your guitar make it sound like a Les Paul and not like an SG? Except maybe for outright clones, I just don't know any other guitar with the characteristic SG sound, maybe with reason, because it's still a pretty radical design. I don't think there's much you can do if you want SG sound than to buy an SG.

I've had a few drinks, so sorry if I'm just babbling.

SG pickups are spaced differently, both neck and bridge when compared to les pauls. Also they usually will come equipped with different pickups than their les paul equivalent models anyway, let alone minus the body thickness and maple cap.

 

[omg81]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

I think that's mostly what I was trying to say, although it seems I'm not very good anymore at saying what I'm trying to say. Apologies, I'm going to be back tomorrow.

 

[EDX]

Re: Need Gibson sounds on my old Ibanez Roadstar 1986

Now im sitting here trying to think of a time when his tone didnt sound like a super strat. Its got a mellower vibe to it but vintage gibson sounding it is not.

well, a super strat will ever sound like a super strat, only a les paul can sound like a les paul, not even a floyded les paul would sound so les paul anymore, but you can get some of the character of a les paul, mellow, thick, crunchy, singing smooth highs, you can make a super strat sound that way, but not exactly like a '59 les paul, as not even a LP sounds exactly like a LP, unless it's made to sound like a specific one