Gibson Sound Comparison

[bkharmony]

I happen to have four Gibsons right now (soon to be three), so I thought this would be a good time to do a little comparison. What follows is just a little 20-second strumming selection on each guitar, using the same mic in the same placement, etc. I recorded them in Garageband, using a Blue Bluebird into a PreSonus Firebox. File is in 320kbps, so there is very little compression. All are strung with D'Addario EJ17 mediums, except the J-200 which i strung with Gibson Mediums. All are strummed with a Dunlop .60mm Nylon pick. The guitars are:

 

1. 2008 J-200 Standard - Sitka/Maple, bone saddle, bone pins

2. 2007 L4-A - Sitka/Rosewood, micarta saddle, plastic pins

3. 2002 J-185 - Sitka/Maple, bone saddle, bone pins

4. 2004(?) J-45 - Adi/Mahogany, FWI saddle, bone pins

5. 2004 Eggle Saluda (16" jumbo) - European Spruce/Koa, bone saddle, ebony pins

6. 2008 Goodall Standard - Sitka/Bubinga, bone saddle, bone pins

 

I threw in the last two just out of curiosity. Also, the J-45 has been Tonerited, for what that's worth.

 

DivShare File - Gibson Comparison.mp3

 

I'll let you decide for yourself, but my here are my thoughts:

 

1. For as much as we obsess over differences in guitars, the end recorded result is very little difference. In a band mix, I'd struggle to tell the four Gibsons apart.

2. Of the Gibsons, the two guitars that have been played the most 9the L4-A and J-45) sound the best.

3. For a guitar that gets little respect, the L4-A more than holds its own, tone-wise. It may sound the best of the four, IMO. (I guess that's the rosewood)

4. James Goodall makes an amazing guitar. Every time I pull out the Standard I'm blown away by it.

 

I know this is only strumming, but I think this is interesting still. I did record a little flatpicked passage with each, but it's so sloppy I didn't want anyone to hear it. Believe me when I say, the result is very similar - it's hard to tell the guitars apart.

 

 

 

[zombywoof]

That was fun so thanks. I know this is a Gibson Forum and this may border on heresy but when it came to at least strumming overall I liked Goodall. It just seemed to have more oomph to it than the others (if that makes any sense). Of the Gibsons though, I am with ya Hoss - the L4-A took the day because it seemed to have more pronounced mids and was a bit warmer sounding than the others. The J-45 came in second.

[EuroAussie]

Thanks for sharing, these comparisement samples are always fun.

I agree with Zombywoof that the Goodall sounded great, very full tone.

J45 wsa the most distinct, but to my ears the J45 has one of the most distinct tones period.

 

Was also somewhat suprised how much brighter the L4 sonded than the J200 given it was a rosewood guitar.

 

cheers.

[E-minor7]

Thank you, appreciate the test a lot. Must say though, that we sure get a rather hard strumming - on what seem to be new strings. To me the acoustic guitar is a relationship between wood and steel. Here the steel is very much favored. To nuance my thought a little, I'd say the steel has to serve the wood (not the other way around), if the instrument have to serve it's player the best. Would have liked to hear a similar experiment with a palette of different dynamics, done on slightly older strings. But, , , first impression : The J 200 had richest most 'fountainious' expression. Down the same path came the L4-A and J185, not quite so loud. The J-45 went on in comparable style, but clearly had the woody hog-trademark hidden behind the splash. The Eggle and the Goodall sounded to me another degree less volumed.

Will now listen one more time and see what happens. . . . . . . Well, the 3 first are much alike. 200 might have the most 'meat' inside. 45 still stands out, as if with some grams of earth in it, especially on the 5'th and 6'th chord. Mister Eggle is thinner and Mister Goodall rises pretty close to J-200.

 

That's the best I can do – Now all I need is you to come tellin' it was all the same guitar (smile)

[bkharmony]

Yeah, I strum pretty hard.

[zombywoof]

Yeah, I strum pretty hard.

 

 

I have heard guys play the same guitar but with such a different touch each time you would swear they had picked up a different instrument. I am usually not real good at picking out this guitar or that from a bunch other than my own which I know so well I can identify their cry in a crowd.

[Guth]

As far as the strumming goes, I think I actually preferred the J-200 above the others. I could certainly tell differences between the various guitars when played back solo, but agree that in a mix it would be much harder to notice. I think your results also points back to the "Guitar makes the man/Man makes the guitar thought. Your playing signature is as much of what we hear as the guitars themselves.

 

It would definitely be interesting to hear the same guitars with the flatpicking clip you put together, sloppy or not.

 

Thanks for doing this,

Guth

[62burst]

Thanks for posting the comparison. I know it's a chore to assemble 4 or more guitars all with the same strings, same

string age, and same gauge. Let alone record all of this. With the exception of the recording, that's what I also did to find my "keeper". Now the hard part: saying good-bye to one or more!

 

As you've shown, for good comparo's, 20 sec. is about right. When JT did his Banner SJ comparison recently, I opened 2 windows of YouTube and found 3 to 5 second clips of his video that best showed the differences (it was a up-from-the-low-strings run) and a/b'ed those.

 

It always amazes me how closely guitars sound a first blush. It takes a while to sensitize the ear, & by then one gets into that scary "cork sniffing" territory.

 

 

ps- liked the '45 (duh : )!, and the Goodall.

[Triumph1050]

Thanks for the clip.

 

I like the J-200 best. I thought it was clearly the winner. Not surprising as to me they are the best sounding guitars...period.

 

The L4-A was very close and the J-45 not far behind.

 

Goodell had great volume but lacked some highs, it seemed.

 

Woulda loved to hear a SWD mixed in. I'm guessing it'd fall between the L4-A and J-45...to me.

[bkharmony]

The most interesting thing to me was, when I played them, they all sounded very different. I had no trouble hearing the subtleties of each instrument. But recorded, they seem to lose a lot of their character. I don't have the best setup, but a Bluebird is a pretty good mic.

[MissouriPicker]

I think the J200 sounded best. Not impressed that much with the J45 if that's what Tonerite does for it. Maybe I was expecting more with the Tonerite treatment. And Goodall makes great instruments, but I really couldn't pickup much med-highs and I don't think the tone was as clear and even as any of the Gibsons...Just my view.....And thanks a lot for doing this. For me, this was far more informative than many of the guitar sound comparisons done on the internet.

[Guth]

MissouriPicker,

 

Even though I didn't go into as much detail, your thoughts run very closely to my own. What is interesting about this thread to me is the impact that we as players have on the overall equation. 99% of the time I'm solely a fingerpicker, and I'm guessing that my results would vary quite a bit from bkharmony's as a result. I've played a number of J-200s and most of the time they simply don't work for me, way too much bass in the overall mix, very unbalanced sounding. However, I thought the J-200 in the recording sounded very balanced when strummed, simply the most full and balanced of the group. I also thought the J-45 sounded the least appealing of the bunch, yet I myself have a J-45 that works out wonderfully for me. Some of this can certainly be chalked up to the sonic variation between guitars. However another big part of this is how we each tend to use these instruments. Goodalls are interesting guitars. I used to own one and it appealed to me when I was experimenting with a lot of open tunings/"new age" type stuff. In the end as my playing style took on it's own character, I just didn't care for so many overtones, preferring a cleaner more straightforward sound. Now I tend to agree the "the man makes the guitar", but in my case I just didn't enjoy playing the Goodall as much because of this which was a shame because it truly was a beautiful looking/playing guitar. I wouldn't have even thought about using that guitar as a strummer. To each their own as they say, and I'm sure that someone else is enjoying that guitar tremendously right now.

 

The other thing I would point out is that I listened to these clips through a decent set of headphones (Grado SR-60) and while I could detect the similarities between the examples, I could certainly hear the differences as well. However, I doubt that I heard as much difference as bkharmony could detect when he was actually playing them. I tend to like guitars that I can really feel vibrating when played. I don't know how much impact this has on the recorded sound, but it sure makes the overall playing experience that much more enjoyable for me. The other thing this thread is revealing is that we all have a different ideal of what a great guitar sounds like.

 

Again, thanks to bkharmony for putting this together, and inspiring a really interesting thread.

 

All the best,

Guth

[BigKahune]

First off, BK - you've got a really nice collection there. Congrats.

 

And second, great idea of a special way to share your collection. To my ears, the first 3 were very similar with the J-200 sounding best. The J-45 was a noticable shift from the first 3 - not as much low end, more mids and highs. #4, the Eggle, sounded a bit under the quality of the others. And surprising, the thought the Goodall held it's own with the first 3.

 

Thanks very much for taking the time to do a nice job - evening strumming and even recording across the samples. B)

[bkharmony]

Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone. I'm glad this has been helpful for y'all. I'll tell you, after doing this, I'm more convinced than ever "The Man Makes The Guitar." I think I can p[lay almost any guitar and I'll still make it sound bright and snappy (searching for a positive euphemism). In addition, even more than before I believe that beyond the guitar and the player, the pick makes more difference than anything else. I think a big part of "my sound" is the fact that I use thin picks. I'm not a particular fan of the sound, but the super fast strumming my band requires just makes using anything else impossible. I've been experimenting with thicker picks for slower and picked parts in an effort to improve and vary my tone.

 

Anyhow, since you're all such a forgiving audience, here's the picked experiment I did. Same four Gibsons (didn't do the Eggle and Goodall) in the same order. Same pick (.60mm Dunlop Nylon). I usually use a Red Bear when I practice these picking pieces, but I wanted to hear difference in strumming and picking with the exact setup. (BTW, it's hard to flatpick with a pick that thin!) The only audio editing I did was to bump up the level of the J-185 3.0db. After looking at the waveform, I'm convinced I was a bit further from the mic when recording that one.

 

DivShare File - Gibson Comparison Picking.mp3

[E-minor7]

Okaiiiyee, , , , The Dunlop .60mm is my favorit pick so I'm gettin' closer here. The J-200 is still the champ, no doubt -