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Tried out the Slash Rosso Corsa Les Paul today


iankinzel

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I've owned a couple Epiphone Les Pauls (black Standard and a white Custom), a couple SG G400s (one '96 MIK, one '10 MIC, both cherry), and a worn Wilshire (with Tremotone!). Avid Epiphone fan.

 

Given the way that Gibson has basically given up on the sub-$1,000 market, and given that the Rosso Corso Les Paul is the most expensive non-US/MIJ Epiphone I've seen (and more expensive than some low-end US-made Fender and Gibson models of the last couple years), I was really intrigued to check it out and see how it stacks up against other Epiphone LPs and their Gibson brethren.

 

It's a very striking guitar on appearance alone, a gorgeous maroon with an understated flame top. I'm normally not a flame top guy (too ostentatious for my tastes), but this works aesthetically and has a classic look that goes well with the open coil zebra humbuckers.

 

Speaking of the pickups, the Alnico II Slash Pro humbuckers give this guitar a nice clear voice. I plugged the Rosso Corsa into a Fender Hot Rod Deville 410 combo, a Blackstar Soloist 60 112, and a Vox AC30 - I found that the solid high and low end made this guitar a terrific match for the Deville on clean and for the Blackstar in its Marshall voicing, but it didn't take too well to the AC30 in my opinion. The Rosso Corso LOVES cleans and crunch, but doesn't want to jangle or do that garage rock "I'm sorta clean but about to break up" sound if that makes sense.

 

As for feel and playability, the finish on this guitar is poly but feels like it was applied sparingly, lending it the feel of a much thinner nitro finish. Very comfortable for moving up and down the neck. The neck contour reminds me a lot of a late 50s LP neck type, kind of chunky but nothing extreme. I compared to an Epiphone '56 Les Paul (black, with P90s - another EXCELLENT guitar), and found that the '56 and the Rosso Corsa felt like they had the same chunky feel, but the '56 was more D shaped with a flattish spot down the middle while the Rosso Corsa was more rounded and C-shaped. I'm mostly a rhythm and chords player, and the Rosso Corsa neck met my needs until getting too thick around the 9th or 10th fret. If you're a lead player who likes a fast but meaty neck, though, this is for you for sure.

 

Unsurprisingly, the Epiphone Rosso Corsa Les Paul strikes me as being an excellent guitar for hard rock and classic rock, and modern crunchy country. I'm more of an indie/alt rock/post punk guitarist, so this wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but from the second I held this guitar in my hands I could tell immediately that this was a quality product put together by a company that cared about making this a good guitar.

 

More importantly (to me at least, and the reason why I tried this guitar out in the first place), I think this confirms some of the speculation I've been hearing about Gibson using Epiphone to fill in the gap left behind with the end of their sub-$1,000 US-made line. We can expect to see some VERY nice Epiphones coming out in the near future. Instead of being a poor man's Gibson, Epiphone is becoming the non-rich man's Gibson.

 

EDIT: And for the record, I wound up buying an Epiphone Crestwood for $70 instead.

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So, where's the $70.00 Crestwood pic ? msp_confused.gifmsp_rolleyes.gif

Interesting review...thanksmsp_thumbup.gif

I had to order the Crestwood from the warehouse; it wasn't in the store. The $70 figure is one that I throw out there for shock value, if anything - the guitar has been going for $299.99, I traded in some pedals I wasn't using anymore ($185 credit), and got 15% off the $299.99 because I was trading in (so $255). Subtract the credit I got for the pedals, and that $255 went down to $70. Pics will show up as soon as the guitar shows up. [thumbup]

 

As far as I'm concerned, I wanted to check out the Rosso Corsa to see what it would show regarding the direction Epiphone is going for 2015; I don't generally like full-size humbuckers except on semi hollows and hollow bodies, and prefer mini humbuckers or P90s. If the Rosso Corsa is any indicator of things to come, though, that can only be a good thing.

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  • 3 months later...

thanks for the review. Even though I'm not a fan of weight-relieved guitars, the specs and appearance of the rosso corsa has intrigued me. I really wonder how that guitar would respond with the new Duncan whole lotta humbucker set.

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Thank You for that, I have been wondering about those guitars. I have the Black '56 you spoke of, love love love the neck on that thing, I still can't believe how long I can play that guitar with no discomfort at all, not even the next day. Sounds like I might want to heft one of the Slash guitars and give it a shot.

 

rct

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