Firebird V?

[rattleheadxvi]

The Firebird V is the only guitar I have ever really, really liked. I want one but i'm not sure if the sound is going to be right. I have an Orange half stack which is a lovely warm amp but i'm slightly worried that the classic "warm" gibson sound is going to leave me with a mid range muddy fuzzy mess. I've also read that the firebird is brighter and has more bite than an average gibson like the LP or SG so if this is true I might be able to keep the clarity and bite that I like. I have a more classic rock sound so I don't use a lot of distortion or effects so I need it to sound fairly bright naturally. If it doesn't work out I'm thinking maybe i'll look into an original '72 Tele deluxe. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Rattleheadxvi

[ladyscaglyc]

If that "bird" has got the miniHBs, then you will be dialing ever so slightly (IMO) your treble, but it will be great.

 

s/Vin

[Shaker]

I have a 95 FB V in addition to a couple of full HB Gibson guitars (two SGs, a Les Paul studio and an ES335). The FB bridge pickup is really really bright (but not as much so as my Mexican Strat bridge pickup). I like the FB V neck pickup much better than the bridge pickup; the neck pickup is relatively full but retains clarity.

[Oringo]

I agree with the two previous posts, Firebirds with mini-humbuckers are brighter sounding than Les Pauls or SG's, and the bridge pickup can sound quite a bit like a Telecaster. I've never played an Orange amp, but I've used lots of old Fender tube amps (especially liked an old Bassman head with a 1x15 ported cab). I've owned 3 Firebirds from 1964-1968 plus a '90 Orville by Gibson and have never found them to have a muddy mid range problem. Note that older Firebirds had 500k pots and Gibson switched to 300k pots at some point (in the 70's? any Bicentennial owners care to share info?) to make them less bright. My '90 Orville has 500k pots, but I think real Gibsons from the 90's have 300k volume pots.