Expert: Kevin Chisholm - American Guitarist - 11/21/2009

Question
Hello,
Im looking at buying a new guitar, I currently own an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I love the Dean Z Series,the braziliaburst of course, but I was wondering how different can it sound to my current Les Paul?
Thanks
Angus

Answer
Hi Angus,

Thanks for your question. The Dean Z will not sound drastically different than your Epiphone Les Paul. For the most part, both of these guitars use Mahogany bodeies, and two humbuckers. Not muchy variation there. If you were to buy a vintage-style Telecaster, you would see a drastic and dramatic difference in sound as that guitar is different in just about every way possible.

But, the Dean Z will certainly "Feel" a bit different. The main reason is of course the shape of the body. The Dean's shape is sure to make the guitar hang a bit differently on your body.

What might sound a bit different are the pickups. I cannot tell you exactly how different they will sound as I have not used either of the proprietary pickups that each guitar comes with (i.e. the pickups are made by the guitar maker, not a third party company such as Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio). The difference will not be drastic because again, they are all humbuckers, but there will very likely be subtle or maybe glaringly obvious differences in tone between the two.

I would recommend that you try the Dean out before you buy it. Try to at least bring your pedals with you so that you can hear how the Dean will sound through your "Rig". If you can bring your own amp, even better. Many stores not only allow you to do this (within reason), but they encourage it as it will result in you not only buying a guitar, but being happy with it and less likely to return it.

In the end, you have to decide if the Dean sounds more to your liking than the Epiphone. The best way to do this is to try the guitar out at the store.


I hope this was helpful. Please feel free to follow-up if there are any other questions you may  have. Good Luck!

Best Wishes,

Kevin Chisholm

http://www.humbuckersoup.com

http://www.myspace.com/kevinchisholmguitar

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