Gibson L5 CES vs Heritage Eagle Classic

[jzucker]

You know of any available?

[Hammertone]

No, but I'll ask around.

[jzucker]

Thanks!

[2bornot2bop]

It's too bad Jack that I didn't know you were on the hunt for an L5CES. I recently practically gave away an '05 Hutchins model. Good luck on your search.

[goldenwave77]

I don't get it.

I have a LOT of respect for your playing ability.

But why are you constantly switching guitars and/or amps, and/or other doodads in your sound chain? Do you not know your own mind?

A few months ago...you told us "I've found my sound...." (I think that was a particular 175, after you'd gone through a bunch of others, and found them wanting, plus a Fender tube amp, I think.) Last month, it was the digital modeling amp...the mother of all sound replication devices.

Then last week, you found an Aria that sounded better than your Gibson....but 5 days later....it didn't. Now you want OUR advice on what to do, to satisfy yourself?

I won't even go into the numerous other guitars that are demo'ed on your site, and/or youtube (339; Painter; Heritage; etc, etc.)

I have too many guitars to justify (more than one, INOW): I enjoy the differences in tone...and find that playing one after a while just gets stale, to my ear...I think/hope if I pick up a different one (out of the 3 or 4 I use) that I start to listen more intently...and MAYBE that helps my playing. But maybe I'm just inventing a rationalization to keep multiple instruments strung, and tuned, etc, etc. But I know they sound different and don't expect the ultimate....because honestly what is that "ultimate"....Hound Dog Taylor sounded pretty good on a cheapie but Kenny B. sounded great playing bluesy stuff on really expensive instruments. Johnny Smith sounded great playing intricate stuff on uber-instruments, but each of these is their own thing. And Bird sounded great on a goddarn plastic saxophone!

(I also think a less "lush" sounding instrument...can maybe be a good thing....rich overtones can be tiring to listen to....I believe. I sometimes think I can sound out/hear something more easily on an unamplified solid-body which produces, to my ear, a very pure but unadorned tone....than on a big hollow-body archtop. Too much rich ice cream just leaves the palate overworked and jaded....give me a good slightly creamy lemon ice, if I'm going to be eating it, for hrs. on end. And yes, practicing quietly at 10:30 at night, in an apt. with neighbors above and below, makes me appreciate the low volume, and lack of tone on a partscaster strat played NECKED).

I've seen enough of your clips to know you know how to get a great tone, and how to produce great music, so put that focus on that....not on gear. (Let me offer an analogy: I am a true sports fan, i.e. someone who is intelligent enough to appreciate the intricacy and beauty of sport, and someone who is dumb enough to think it really matters...but when the conversation turns to salary caps, and sports contract negotiation/renegotiation, opt outs, revenue sharing, I start thinking about taking up bird watching.)

[jzucker]

Chill out, I never said the aria was better than the 175, lol

[goldenwave77]

No, you said (at first) it was "equally as good" and it had a more focused attack and could be had for $1200 or less...so all in all...that sounds better to me....but now that you've seen your prom date, in the full glare of the ballroom lighting, she no longer looks as good, as when you picked her up at her parent's house. (Fair enough---we've all had an instrument which we thought was the one....and then had it turn out the other way.)

But you had a Heritage big eagle...forget which one.I thought it sounded GREAT...with that Wes Mo L5-ish "Lincoln Continental" kind of sound--saw your demo. (I don't think a 175, or any laminate, gets that sound---the 175 is thinner but more focused----more "horn-like"...right... trumpets don't typically have a thick sound--to my ear, though some sax players have a tone that is really chewy...e.g Boots Randolph, Earl Bostic, Johnny Hodges, Gene Ammons, Scott Hamilton, sometimes Stan Getz, but not Bird or Sonny Stitt or Art Pepper, or even Coltrane, for that matter...)

I think Hank Garland had a really big, lush but defined sound...if you know the "Velvet Sound of Hank Garland" album, it's on the dual CD re-released by Sundazed along with "Jazz Winds from a New Direction" album...and I think he played a Byrdland....and then Howard Roberts had such a big tone...with his weirdo Franken-arch...the black guitar. (As you yourself have pointed out, the L5 sound is not the "typical" jazz sound.)

An L4-CES doesn't get you there?!...Rich Severson has a good tone with one...also the British fellow Joe Dalton.

[jzucker]

Thanks for your concern, lol

No, you said (at first) it was "equally as good" and it had a more focused attack and could be had for $1200 or less...so all in all...that sounds better to me....but now that you've seen your prom date, in the full glare of the ballroom lighting, she no longer looks as good, as when you picked her up at her parent's house. (Fair enough---we've all had an instrument which we thought was the one....and then had it turn out the other way.)

But you had a Heritage big eagle...forget which one.I thought it sounded GREAT...with that Wes Mo L5-ish "Lincoln Continental" kind of sound--saw your demo. (I don't think a 175, or any laminate, gets that sound---the 175 is thinner but more focused----more "horn-like"...right... trumpets don't typically have a thick sound--to my ear, though some sax players have a tone that is really chewy...e.g Boots Randolph, Earl Bostic, Johnny Hodges, Gene Ammons, Scott Hamilton, sometimes Stan Getz, but not Bird or Sonny Stitt or Art Pepper, or even Coltrane, for that matter...)

I think Hank Garland had a really big, lush but defined sound...if you know the "Velvet Sound of Hank Garland" album, it's on the dual CD re-released by Sundazed along with "Jazz Winds from a New Direction" album...and I think he played a Byrdland....and then Howard Roberts had such a big tone...with his weirdo Franken-arch...the black guitar. (As you yourself have pointed out, the L5 sound is not the "typical" jazz sound.)

An L4-CES doesn't get you there?!...Rich Severson has a good tone with one...also the British fellow Joe Dalton.