Gibson Les Paul 2010 Standard Limited Review — Gibson is equally known for their traditional guitars which are inextricably linked to song history and for spearheading the way in the high-tech guitar world, as seen by their HD. Robot Series, 6X-Pro, the Dusk Tiger, and Dark Fire guitar models. But what they’ve completed with the Limited Edition Les Paul Standard 2010 (limited to only four hundred instruments) is to bring the best of two worlds together. And lets you see the results are some kind of extraordinary-looking “hybrid” experimentation, you can now relax: the Les Paul Standard 2010 Limited looks and plays just like the classic Les Paul; the guitar effortlessly morphs into a state-of-the-art electronic guitar which delivers the newest in Robot Tuning and Chameleon Tone technology.

Les Paul 2010 is straight up crazy

Considering it first as just a “regular electric guitar,” the Les Paul Standard 2010 Limited features a few distinctive features. The guitar’s top is completed in an elegant three-tone sunburst of stunning reddish-brown hues. The color code is “Fireball,” and has a slightly extra glowing-ember of excellence than the more simplistic colors of the tobacco burst guitar, however it will not be as red as a cherry burst Gibson. Because the top darkens towards the edges, it’s edged with a double-binding of white over black that gives a little extra dimensionality than is often seen on a normal Standard Gibson Les Paul.

The back also has the burst to it, but it’s over the cherry color, not the more typical natural color. All the hardware and pickup covers are covered in chrome-together with the P-90H pickup, which is all-new and distinctive to this electric guitar. These coordinate elegantly with the chrome truss rod plate bearing the stamped Les Paul imprimatur. The electric guitar performs immaculately, with perfectly dressed frets and perfect craftsmanship, together with the nitrocellulose top finish. There is no mistaking that you are performing an musical instrument that is among Gibson’s best.

Magnetic personality of a guitar

The Les Paul 2010 Limited may be housed of a classic and acquainted structure, however it’s got some surprises in store. The pickups consist of a P-90H in the neck position and a BurstBucker Three in the bridge. Tonally, this supplies a large assortment of sound. The Burstbucker, with its old PAF tone and barely overwound coils, is excellent for raw, cutting, and raunchy sounds that, when overdriven, hit your fans in the face like a sonic punch. The rounded, classic-infused tones of the P-90H in the neck position produces a nice complement to the bridge position. The pickups also control extremely nicely together, while neither one dominating the other in terms of sound or output.

In straight magnetic mode, this Les Paul Standard 2010 played as a traditional should: rich and round with thick midrange and a punchy low end coupled with clear, singing highs in a lead setting. When combined with the piezo, I could produce in the clangy, jangly element to taste. One other ingenious aspect: the blend knob for the piezo is a gyratory control attached to the pickup selector.

Hey Mr. Les Paul Standard 2010

If you have not witnessed Robot Tuning in action, it is truly a sight to watch. Even in normal tuning, Robot Tuning improves your life by turning the pegs for you-and turning them quickly. You do not have to pay attention, you do not have to crank, and you do not have to peer at an outboard tuner. Simply watch the pegs spin and see the LED on the Master Control go from red to green, and you’re good to go (whereas the rhythm guitarist is still banging away on his A string).

Needless to say, the fun actually begins once you invoke an alternate tuning. The electric guitar comes preloaded with several of the most typical tuning methods (drop D and double-drop D; E-flat standard; and the open tunings such as D, E, G, A, DADGAD; and more), but it is easy to program and store your own (though you should have to buy the RIP pack and download the Chameleon editor). Merely dial up the specified tuning on the 10-position MCK and play all 6 strings at once. Then the kinetic art show begins as all six tuners begin spinning and whirring like tiny propellers. The guitar tunes all six strings simultaneously-far quicker than you can. And since the tuning sensitivity is within one cent (1/100th in a semitone), it’s even more accurate than your personal ears. As a closing user-friendly procedure, the guitar quickly shifts out in tuning mode into Chameleon mode as quickly as the final string is in tune-ready for any tonal adjustments you would possibly make. Impressive.

Les Paul 2010 Stardard’s Pickup pleasures

The sound-shaping brain of the Les Paul Standard 2010 Limited is known as Chameleon Tone (which additionally appears in the Dusk Tiger guitar), and it’s not only a switching design for combining the magnetics with the piezo pickup. When used with the RIP accessory and editor, it will become a system that essentially taps into the neck and bridge pups, providing single, humbucking, parallel, series, and out-of-phase sequence. When you are done “wiring up” the magnetics, you can still combine them with the piezo pickups, and make detailed sonic changes using three four-band parametric EQs-one for each pickup. You also have a alternative of 2 outputs: a standard 1/4-inch mono guitar-cable input or the guitar’s LP-Z low-impedance XLR connection. Once you’ve crafted a sound you want, you can save it to any one of the 88 user locations. Ten presets come packed in a separate mode which are immediately manageable, and I found these are incredibly assorted and functional.

It’s essential to remember the face of all these tonal options the Les Paul Standard 2010 Limited is working completely in the analog field. That is all wood-and-wire stuff-there is not any digital conversion, no effect or tone modeling, no relevance for the idiom of “latency.” Chameleon Tone offers you a solution to rewire and equalize the pickups to produce sweet guitar sounds.

It is a Les Paul, after all

Gibson’s real achievement of the Les Paul Standard 2010 Limited Edition is that all this versatile tuning methods and sound-shaping technology-over and above the two magnetic pups that are there in the original form-have all been integrated into the existing Les Paul knob layout. Functioning the Master Control Knob (MCK) is simple and intuitive, both visually and in a perceptible sense, whether you’re Robot Tuning, dialing in a Chameleon preset, or combining magnetic and piezo pickup tones. Nothing in the fit and finish, nor the playability and straight-up tone, has been modified one bit-let alone compromised-to accommodate the electronic boasted features. You’ll be able to play this musical instrument as you would a normal electric guitar, and by no means be distracted by-and even notice-its more sonically adventurous functionality. For both methods, electric or electronic, you are gifted with the flawless performing experience Gibson promises with all of its Les Paul guitars. Source: Musicians Friend — Read the story of Les Paul.

Gibson Les Paul Standard