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Originally Posted by m_d
I also have an Epiphone Zephyr Regent Re-Issue that has the Seymour Duncan Seth Lover in it and I'm also delighted with that guitar. Build quality is fine, finish is without drama, just a nice sunburst but not eye-popping. Neck is typical Epiphone "slightly slimmer" but fretwork is excellent. I imagine upgraded pots and caps would help, but I like it as is with just the pickup change.
BTW I also noted someone referring to solid-body guitars as "slab" which is the prejudicial way of referring to a solid-body, like "plywood" for laminates. We all assume that our preferences are normative. Among jazz players, the carved-top acoustic archtop for many operates as a kind of unquestioned gold-standard for tone, but for many players, it isn't. I love that sound, but you put a magnetic pickup on that guitar, it's a different instrument. There is a good reason many say that a floating pickup on a nice acoustic archtop "ruins" it or sounds thin. Producing an instrument with a sophisticated, complex, rich electric tone that fully exploits what the pickup can do on that body often results in an instrument who's acoustic sound is less than ideal.
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03-12-2019 06:06 AM
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Carved versus laminate? There is no "better." Only "different."
Personally, I go for the classic ES sound. But that's no secret here.
DB
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Originally Posted by jzucker
I'm out of here.
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
John
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Although I greatly respect J. Zucker's experience and expertise, I disagree with his opinion. Having upgraded the pickups on two $1,000 instruments, my experience is that new pickups changed the SOUND of the instruments.
I was an avid audiophile for several decades and took the hobby quite seriously. In the audiophile community, one way to realize the greatest "bang for the buck" was to invest your money at the "points of transduction". That is, the points where mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy (phono cartridge) or electrical energy is converted to mechanical energy (loudspeakers). The point of transduction on the guitar are the pickups.
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Originally Posted by FredC
Good performance, meaning fidelity in electronics such as an amp or a DAC is good performance regardless of price. It is a constant. Some cheap Chinese DACs measure just as well or better than some overpriced audiophile units and there will be no audible difference. With devices made of wood we have a different situation, although I see what you mean as long as we're talking electric guitars; a guitar might turn into a different animal once amplified.
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A receiver? Heaven forbid!!!
Those afflicted with severe audiophilia ONLY consider a separate power amplifier and preamplifier as appropriate equipment for the playback of music sources. As a matter of fact, solid state electronics are viewed with suspicion. Two channels through tube electronics are met with approval.
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Bought a used Epiphone Dot in great condition for $300 and installed Fralin P-92s for around another $300. It plays the same and sounds better than my ES-335 for ~$2,000 less... may even be as good as an ES-330.
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I put a $250 Angel-sonic gold foil pup in a $35 Silvertone and it sounded like heaven.
Neural DSP plugin 50% sale... Tone King Imperial...
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