Affordable Single Cut Shootout | Epiphone Les Paul, LTD, Harley Benton, Sire | Thomann

This time Kris is comparing an Epiphone Les Paul with its competitors. 4 beautiful affordable single-cuts in a face-to-face shootout. Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Introduction
0:48 The guitars
1:31 Comparison 1 | Clean neck pickup
2:35 Comparison 1 | Clean both pickups
3:24 Comparison 1 | Clean bridge pickup
4:03 The rig
4:50 Comparison 1 | Dirty neck pickup
5:35 Comparison 1 | Dirty bridge pickup
6:16 My impressions and thoughts

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[vince]

The LTD has so much a lovely thin neck with extra jumbo frets, it's the modern take on a LP and has a lot of different finishes. Definitively my favorite.

[bassworship]

The Epipy and Sire has that chime, while the HB sounds good, it's the warmth of the LTD for me.

[johndcoffee]

I own one of the LTD models for the past year or so, i own several much more expensive guitars but it's the guitar i play every day, it's amazing for the price. In fact, i'ma go play now :D

[kloudtunes]

Very balanced final thoughts. I liked the HB‘s and the LTD‘s clean tones best. If I was in the market for buying a single cut with two humbuckers I would clearly choose the Harley Benton. Best value for money.

[dannycia]

I was a Fender player for years. Wanted to try a LP style guitar on a budget. In 2015 i bought the LTD 256.

Now i own a ltd ec-1000 and a gibson les paul standard. The ltd ec-256 still has his place in my collection. The thin-u neck profile with a 14 fretboard radius and big frets is absolutly a dream to play.

[gioacme]

Sire l7 is the winner.
I buyed dozen of guitars, even gibson, fender and prs, but all have needed a professional set up. The Sire not.
I played and feel perfect out of the box.
I was very impressed by tha q. c.
Even the strings were perfect.
The ernie ball 10/46 are my favourites for every guitars.
Satin neck, (the feeling is incredible) locking tuners, frets worked in perfect way, triple flame painting, all mahogany, i had the blue ocean color model and is a dream...

[PendelSteven]

Well... I like Les Pauis with Seymour Duncan JB &59's and to my ear the Epiphjone and Sire come closest to that sort of rock standard setup.
Then again, the other pickup combo that is classicly Les Paul is the Gibson PAF's, but both the JB and 59 are based on that.

Having said that, you can put those on every single one of those and if I'm not mistaken let Thomann do that for you!

[compucorder]

If you can afford it, probably worth stumping for the Sire. Because it's the best to play. And I think the nicest looking, and finished. So, would be a keeper, and something you could grow with. Spend a couple of hundred upgrading the pickups to Lollars, upgrade the wiring/pots etc.. and this would absolutely be able get competitive with entry level Gibsons. I did like the ESP drive tones the most. Personally, I'd be looking for pickups for the Sire that send it further down the route. Not interested in Les Paul's for clean tones. 330s, 335s, or even SGs do those tones better.

[Brutalmetal]

My favorite clean was actually the Harley Benton, and unlike you I don't have skin in the game, but the esp blew it out of the water when the gain kicked in. Epiphone was 3rd though I didn't like it's cleans, and the last I didn't like at all for either sound

[mattgibson]

Great little showcase of these guitars. The best thing to come out of this video though, is that the demos show there are affordable options that are quality choices for those wanting to take up the guitar. Of course you will find cheaper options than these out there, but for longevity (or resale value if you decide guitar's not your thing) you are much better off to stretch your budget that little bit more for instruments like these. Trusted names that have been around for ages and have reputations to uphold when it comes to backing up their product. Honestly you can't go wrong with any choice on this list but if you are just starting out, get someone in the store to demo the options for you who CAN play! Don't be embarrassed as any quality music store will be happy to help, and you'll walk out with an instrument you like the sound of - that will help with the inspiration to pick it up each day & practice ✌

[SomeKindOfMadman]

Awesome upload Kris, I’ve been impressed with the Sire stuff too, the 335 Type Guitar does seem pretty sweet if you’re able to get your hands on it.

[Steven_SK]

Hey Kris. Yea bang for the buck the HB but just because is is the least expensive isn't saying it doesn't sound good either and I own several. Epiphones are in most cases damn good as well . That said, I really want to get my hands on an L7. I've heard many good things about it as well as the T7 and H7. Probably my next try. Cheers!

[adamantiuscloudcat]

Esp ltd are good the eclipse is perfect for beginners and it could easily be improved with better pickups and would become a top guitar.

[materedai]

I've heard very little differences in the cleans and tbh the most different comes out in the dirty tone on the neck pickup in terms of the Epiphone and the Sire. So I'd go with those two. Doesn't mean that the other two has bad sounds, no, they are both great, just don't have that plus character to me. Guess i'm wrong anyways but who cares.

[collectingtengu]

thank you for having featured an LTD guitar in one of your videos. I was also impressed from the Sire, but also from the Harley Benton.

[cb]

I’m very surprised by my own opinion on these. I own a guitar from each of these brands and was subconsciously “rooting” for the sire because I live my U5 bass. The rolled fretboard is amazing. I expected the Epiphone to sound better because my SG400 is pretty impressive at the price point. The esp is exactly as I expected. No disappointment there. But, to my ears, price not withstanding, the HB sounded the best overall. I don’t mind doing deep setups so the tone is what sells me, with looks being a close second. I love the ESP sound but the two I own(ed) are pretty narrow in their versatility. Great at what they do though. I might see another HB in my future! Any idea about what the sc weighs?

[ivan]

I bought one from Thomann last summer and it's fantastic for the price I paid. Indeed fretboard was dry and tunning pegs are not a good looker in this shade of green, but neck and frets are more than fine. I kind of dislike the pickups, not that something is particularly wrong with them and they are good for the cost of the instruments. I am considering buying a pair of burstbuckers since I bought this as a modding platform and they will let me see how close or far this can get from the real deal.

[fredbolger]

I bought the epi and the ltd used but in great condition and wanted to keep just one. It took me a while to decide, the epi was better with clean sound but I finally decided for the ltd which is much better with distortion. I also liked the big frets after I got used to them.

[BrandonOutside]

All really nice, and the differences are subtle. I liked the sound of the Sire neck pickup and LTD bridge pickup best! Having said that, I own a couple Epiphones and have always been happy with them 🤘 And I do like the visual aesthetic of the Harley Benton as well. Is that an actual veneer top or just paint? It’s nice that they can make them look so good at such a low price point.

[gesaman]

Would have liked to have a description of the necks