1959 ES-355 - Epiphone vs Gibson Murphy Lab!
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- Not every day you’ll get this kind of direct comparison! Epiphone “Inspired By Gibson Custom Shop” vs MURPHY LAB Gibson Custom Shop. Leave a comment with your thoughts, like, and subscribe for more!
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro/Initial thoughts
03:03 - Neck Clean - Epiphone
03:26 - Neck Clean - Gibson
03:56 - Middle Clean - Epiphone
04:24 - Middle Clean - Gibson
04:51 - Bridge Clean - Epiphone
05:34 - Bridge Clean - Gibson
06:21 - Neck Dirty - Epiphone
06:43 - Neck Dirty - Gibson
07:11 - Middle Dirty - Epiphone
07:38 - Middle Dirty - Gibson
08:03 - Bridge Dirty - Epiphone
09:00 - Bridge Dirty - Gibson
10:06 - Final Thoughts - Hudba
Epiphone - There’s a lot of guitar for the money
Murphy’s Lab - There’s a lot of money for the guitar
😂 true
I am going to use that line for just about everything with the exception of overusing it! Thanks for the good old originality
Two things: the Epiphone finish is much brighter in person than on camera. And in almost all situations. Also the neck is not as chunky as everyone is saying. It is slightly thicker than my old 2015 Gibson Memphis 335 and my 2022 Dot 335. But like... barely. Anyway, nice review. Nice to see them side-by-side. I love my new Epi '59 ES-355. Easily as much as I loved my 2015 Memphis
I got one. I like the neck, but come on... This neck would be considered huge by anybody's standards.
The Epiphone gives the Gibson a run for the money.
I preferred the Gibson tone and it does have a finer look to me. I often play a worn-in 345 and I love it. That said, for the money the Epi seems like a great deal. I play a lot of gigs where there's not much room, crowded restaurants with wait staff carrying trays of hot food and drinks mere feet away from you and the occasional customer who's had one too many cocktails. X thousand dollar Gibson V $1300 Epiphone in that, far more common for most players, scenario? No brainer.
Cool comparison both guitars sound great. I dig the Blackberry Smoke riff you played towards the end very cool 🤘
Wait a minute - that's not Darrell Braun! Just kidding. Thank you for this comparison! The Epiphone tone is more my style, while the treble & upper midrange are more pronounced on the Gibson/Murphy. Neck pickup w/ distortion on the Epiphone is awesome - makes me want to get one! And nice playing!
awesome, the epiphone sounds exactly like my made in korea epiphone 335 dot.
I bought the new epiphone 355. It sounds better then my USA Gibsons. It hangs with my customshop 58 lespaul. Considering the price difference sound wise not that far apart. In a band mix the epiphone cuts great. I actually like the satin feel on the neck. I think overall the feel is similar to a Gibson tribute.. but soundwise much better.
Nice job on the “Smoke”! Great review as well.
Love them in high gain amps , the F holes blow wind ...Nice Post up the Ladder push 🔊
Awesome job
Both sounded good! Gibson just a hair more for me sound wise but was close although if factoring in price then epiphone wins lol.
Would be interesting to know if the pickup heights were the same as any difference here could account for some of the tonal difference!
Also the difference was less noticeable when the pots were on 10 and a bit of gain was applied, so possibly some better wiring and pots could reduce the difference?
The only complaint I have with the Epi is the heel carve where the neck attaches to the body (too thick/chunky). Much nicer contour on the Gibson. But, that being said the Epi is well worth the $$$.
Cool videio. Tone wise, I did notice a bit more clarity in the Gibson but marginally. What you DONT see in this video and why people like myself pay big bucks for the Gibson is the FEEL.....that can't be expressed by video, it can only be felt by the player....my two cents. Keep up the good work!
Absolutely correct on the feel thing man, and that’s REALLY what it comes down to. It’s gets to a point where the price can only justify so much of the “sound” or “tone”. The feel is something that you cant always explain, it has to be felt by the player!
Correct - I have both - and the EPI feels like an EPI still - no matter how nice it is. and the Gibson feels like Gibson. is it worth the $? - thats up to the player. but the EPI you can take on stage and not worry - the $8000 gibson you wont want to take out unless you're a paid rock star ;-)
Totally agree, that's why l replaced my Epi. With a Gibson, 7 months ago! Also the "T" style pickups sound better then Burstbuckers, IMO!
Usually when you’re in Gibson Epiphone territory, you’re likely gonna see the price skyrocket when you’re looking for comfort and the brand.
Listened without looking. Twice. I listened “in-air” using speaker on my phone. Busy day doing chores. They sounded very much the same. Would there be a more discernible difference listening earbuds? Probably. But not enough to say they sound significantly different.
Buy the Epiphone.
I don’t think my opinion will change later. I’ll listen again tonight with earbuds.
They sound very different, but I think the 355 is the best deal out of this new Epiphone line of guitars…
Wow Epiphone is doing a great job
Great comparison! Do you own both of those guitars?
Cheers! No, just the Epi!
One thing that stood out to me is that the Gibson sounded a bit brighter. Not saying that that is better. Just a sound observation. I know they are both suppose to have the CustonBucker pickups......sooooo is there a difference between the pickups or is it the construction of the guitar itself. I have one of the Epiphone inspired by Gibson Custom Shop Les Pauls....and I think it is amazing. I'm sure I would think the same of the 355.....for the money!
The epiphone has the old potted custom bucker pickups the older custom shop Gibson came stock with. Since 2019, Gibson custom now uses an unpotted custom bucker with different magnets. Therefore it will noticeably sound brighter/more open since they are not wax potted and more accurate to the originals
Still waiting for this epi to show up at my local music store. For me it’s going to be all about the feel of the neck
Big neck on the epi! Something I’m a fan of, I find it comfortable but it’s purely subjective. I tried two, the white model and this red one, white one had an even thicker neck.
@@RockToneRevelry I have the IBG 335 with Epi’s alnico specials..don’t love the pickups, but I like the beefy neck on it
I think a more fairer shot for the epiphone would be against a Gibson USA ES model. Custom shop blows the epiphone away but the price also clearly reflects that. Having owned them and currently I own a ML 59 ES-355. The feel of the ML is just amazing, no poly gunk or over the top sprays of nitro. Mine is also 7lbs 5oz while the epiphone I tried in store was 9lbs. I know not everyone can spend 9K on the Gibson. Epiphone is still solid and will get your there. Still, for $1200 I’d look at other brands that are built better than Epiphone for that semi hollow tone. Epi is great at that $400-$600 price point, these are built no different than their regular epi models minus the USA pickups.
What other brands are there in that price range????
@@srh361 I also had a look and could not find one in that price range, it was either much cheaper (the rest of epi range for example) or around 2k.
I am curious to see where you find an ES type guitar around 1200 new.
What is a ML?
@@srh361 Murphy Lab
@@dobiqwolf OH yeah, I'm looking at a Murphy Lab, I believe it's a 61 light aged but it's a little pricey so I'm also looking at a VOS 59 but I don't like the way the burst is on the 59. These types of guitars are really expensive. I've got a Gibson satin cherry red 335 and it's a great guitar but now I want a custom shop 335.
Its posible that the epiphone bridge pickup have a minor output that gibson...its posible make a mesure of two guitars outputs pickups?
Don’t have the Gibson anymore unfortunately, was just borrowing it for a short time! But the Epiphone pickups are 7.7-7.8k if I remember right.
Gibson sounds more break in to me and more hotter pickups? Or just setup slightly different
For me I totally preferred the Gibby across the board... but the difference isn't big enough that most people would notice, ESPECIALLY with a band at the same time, and especially live. I agree the Epiphone is a little bit sharper tone. One way to adjust that is by switching to a longer cable: 20' sounds definitely mellower than 10' and 10' mellower than 6'. (True with all passive pickups, but with a preamp it doesn't matter.)
I also found by turning down the tone/volume a notch or so it matched the Gibson closer.
I use a 30' Fender vintage style curly lead, al la Alvin Lee. It definitely has an effect on the sound. My tone is virtually identical to what Alvin's was . . so much so that when I had Alvin's Pure Blues album playing during my breaks when playing my well over 3000 gigs, plenty of people would ask me if that was MY album playing! Alvin was practically unknown in Australia. As I was preparing to go back on after a break, I'd let the song on the break music album finish, and I'd do my best to play along. From where I stood, listening through the foldbacks Alvin's tone and mine were practically identical. As soon as I found out Alvin used a curly lead, I ordered mine! The thing weighs a couple of pounds, so it must have plenty of copper in there!
Any differences can most likely be chalked up to the slight variances between individual guitars. If you had 2 Gibsons side by side, or 2 Epiphones. You'd notice the same miniscule inconsistencies.
I'd be more concerned with the overall QC of the specific example I received, than how it compares to another brands version. The reason Epiphones are 10 times less expensive, is you have little to no control over how good of an example you ultimately receive. Generally when you buy a Gibson, there's specific documentation for the exact serial number guitar your receiving. When you buy an Epiphone, you get what you get. Unless you have connections, and someone who's in a position to cherry pick one for you.
Well said!! Exactly right. The epi in this example is quite excellent out of the box 👍
There are so many well made lower priced guitars on the market nowadays there's really no reason to spend extra just to have a GiB, Epi, or fender logo on your headstock
Awesome epiphone is included with those two iconic brands.
The very fact that theirs so many videos on Gibson comparison to Epiphone shows how far Epiphone have come.... never been a better time to buy a guitar 👍
And the best part is, one can easily steer right past both Gibson and Epiphone and spend far less money yet get an amazing instrument. If your thing is resale value, then it matters what you buy. If you don't care, then there's literally a sea of choices out there. It's a great time to be a guitar player, especially if you're still buying guitars. I'm long past the buying stage, but it's still cool to see so many great guitars out there for "sane" prices.
Epiphone sounds awesome, but I preferred the Gibson. More clarity to my ears even though they're allegedly the same pickups. TBH, I still prefer a set of Seth Lover's over these way over priced Gibson made buckers, but it's all subjective.
No hay comparacion alguna. Una es fabricada por Samick o equivalented en Asia con estandares de alta calidad. La otra es la original.
Any great issues on the Epiphone out of the box?
Issues? Practically none. Didn’t even need a setup when I unboxed it, which is really something within itself because I’ve unboxed hundreds of epis over the years and every single one of them played terribly out of the box.. but not this one. No uneven/loose frets either, which I tend to see a lot as well in other Epiphones. The only thing I’ve done now is a personal fret polish and cleaned up the fret ends a tiny bit (more of a personal preference thing at that point).
@@RockToneRevelry thank you
Sire Larry Carlton series guitar. $ , and just as good .
only watched the beginning Gobson sounds 10000000xs better
That's total bullshit and everyone who watched the videos thinks so too!
Sounds like Epi has Gibson pickups
The Gibson sounds much nicer.
I have the Epi 355.. I can afford it..the other..well...no
you might wanna fix your title
HAHA omg thank you!
My guitar heroes played quality guitars. I want a quality guitar too. I can understand having an epiphone or a Mexican Strat on the side for outdoor summer gigs or whatever but I got to have the custom shop and or some cool vintage. I just can't see how anyone would spend $1,000 on a new Epiphone they have always been around for $300 and most are Chinese junk
I totally understand your sentiment here man, I am one that will usually reach for the higher end personally as well and would never give Epiphone the time of day. I haven’t owned an Epiphone for near 20 years until now. So trust me when I say these new Epiphones are NOT the $300 guitars they once were. They aren’t even comparable, not even close. These are the highest quality guitars they’ve ever produced to date, unquestionably. Now, that doesn’t mean that you NEED to buy one, and it doesn’t mean everyone will buy one over the Gibson counterpart, but it does mean that people can obtain something that can stand up to the big brand without spending $10,000. And that is huge. There will always be people who will prefer one over the other and that likely won’t change, but what needs to change is the mindset of “Chinese Junk” when talking about Epiphone, especially with these newer guitars.
@@RockToneRevelry I agree with your final comment here, China has some of the worlds best craftspeople, they send rockets into space, build fantastic skyscrapers and bridges, they can reverse engineer top level technology and create some of the worlds most fantastic fakes that fool experts and owners alike; making a decent guitar is not beyond their capable hands. I've heard they can even make a decent cup of tea.... Whilst their politics and treatment of people can leave a lot to be desired they can unquestionably create very good musical instruments and the tools to mass produce them, just like every other country can. pressing a button on a cnc or other automated system is just as easy in China as it is everywhere else. My Chinese guitars are pretty damn awesome, just as good as my G's from other countries.
@@RockToneRevelry I also own one and I couldn’t agree more. This is not even remotely the IBG es-335. I’ve owned one and I’ve owned a Gibson.
Hundreds of the same damn videos all over CZcams... Compare a Firefly against the Gibson
Epiphone all day long no cares about Gibson anymore