Sebber wrote:
The amp you use has a HUGE influence on your overall tone, more so in my view than any other single factor in your rig.
My guess, and I stress the GUESS bit here, given that I've not played with either of your Les Pauls or amps, is that your Slash signature Seymour Duncans in the Studio, being classified as "hot" pickups, probably have a bit of a mid "hump"... perhaps the AFD amp, being a Slash signature model, also has a bit of a mid "hump" in order to attain that Slash signature tone, and the two together perhaps don't quite do it for you because it's too strong in the mids? Similarly, your Plexi (if you're talking an old Marshall Plexi model, a reissue or clone like Ceriatone do) is probably a fair bit more transparent in the mids, allowing the Seymour Duncans in your Studio to work their magic without being compromised by the tone stack as per the AFD?
It could even be something as simple as what speakers you're running each amp through, but I think the AFD only comes as a head, so are you running both amps (both heads?) through the same cab?
Also, how do the two Les Pauls compare acoustically, when you play them unplugged?
Thanks for your response. The Alnico II SL's, whilst slightly hotter than the regular Alnico II's are not hot pickups, but are considered to be Moderate output by Seymour Duncan. If my understanding of the BurstBuckers the Reissue guitars come with is correct, these are also moderate output pickups, but possibly a bit lower output than the Seymours (but that's just a guess).
Let me try to be a bit more descriptive as to what differences I'm picking up.
'59 into AFD vs Studio into AFD, whilst the overall tone balance is very similar, the Studio has a harsher, grittier sound to it, whilst the '59 is a lot smoother, more refined.
Studio into Plexi vs '59 into Plexi, again overall tone balance is similar, but the '59 seems to be softer and even a bit muffled compared to the Studio that has more sparkle and life. There is no harshness or grittiness playing the Studio through the Plexi.
Accoustically the '59 was initially clearly the louder, more resonant guitar, but top wrapping the strings over the tailpiece on the Studio has significantly increased the resonance of the guitar, although the '59 is still the more resonant/accoustically louder guitar, but the difference is a lot smaller than before.
Does that make sense?
