Gibson PAF Shootout! Which Sounds BEST? | Plugged In Ep. 11

Transcription Summary:

This "Plugged In" episode focuses on PAF guitars. Nathaniel starts with a 1960 Gibson L5-CES Sunburst, discussing its sound and comparing it to an ES-295. Then, they move to the vault, showcasing a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Burst and discussing its clean and overdriven tones, playing some Thin Lizzy riffs. Next, they feature other PAF guitars including a 1957 Gibson Gold Top and a 1960 ES-335, mentioning its history as a house guitar at RCA Studios. Finally, a bonus guitar from Gary Rossington's collection is played. Nathaniel plays a Skynyrd song as a tribute. 

Full Transcription:
"Alright, folks, back with this 'Plugged In.' Uh, thanks for all the love on the last episode. We were doing amps; it was kind of a two-part, uh, which was a lot of fun. Uh, my hearing has just about recovered, sort of, uh, so we are back on the floor. Uh, and today's episode, we're going to be looking at PAF guitars only. Should we find a jazz amp for this one? It's good. I'll go a bit louder, right? I mean, just look at that! How good does that look? I mean, it's so good, jeez. Nice Bronco, by the way. Do a lot of, uh, murderers drive Broncos?""Our first guitar is all the way over here somewhere, right there. Yeah, it's a gorgeous guitar. Look at this. So, we might have somebody with this just here. We—yeah, it was, uh, it just came into the building. That's nice. That is lovely. Now, um, we're going to plug it in, see how it sounds. I'm sure it's going to be lovely. I mean, it looks and feels great, I've got to say, wow. So, let's go over here, put it into a big stack. We're not far off really, right now. Bear with me. You see that, and you see this, and you think, 'What is he doing?' Now, uh, we had this set up before. We actually chose this. We're going to go do, like, a—I won't spoil it. We're going to do some other guitars that would go well with this, but we thought, you know, we'll plug it in. We'll just see what happens. It's not as bad as you think, in all honesty. Low sensitivity, treble at minus 12 if possible. Um, it's not as bad as you think. We, we'll give it a blast.""So, um, got there eventually. Uh, very rough, folks. Um, forgive me. Uh, little bit of Grant Green there. Now, I know I should probably be playing Wes, but I'm not going to embarrass myself even further by attempting that. Um, supposed to be casual. Yeah, supposed to be. I'll, uh, I'll prepare some Wes for the actual proper demo. It's not bad through this.""I mean, it sounds great. I mean, it sounds great.""Yeah, great guitar. Um, again, I'm sure we'll probably do a proper full demo on it at some point. So, for anyone who's actually curious of the bridge, not bad. Sounds great. This or a 290? The 295? Ah, don't do that, man. I don't know. I mean, I'd have either. I mean, folks, what would you have? Would you have this or an ES295? I mean, a 295 is one of my dream guitars. Got quite a lot of those, but this is really wonderful to play, I've got to say.""Um, so that is our first PAF of the day. What year is this again? 1960. 1960, uh, Gibson L5. Keep an eye out for it, and we'll do some more of it soon. So, that was number one out of the way. Uh, a few of the guitars are actually going to be in the vault. So, we're going to head to the vault. Um, in the meantime, look at our Les Paul wall. How good does that look? Looks pretty good. It looks pretty, pretty, doesn't it? The top right pink stands out. Oh, it does, wow. You don't see these too often, or certainly—oh, look, split inlays as well. You digging that, folks? We—I can't stop looking at it. I'm, like, around here. Yes, I'm looking for the thing. We'll head to the vault. Don't trip up on that.""So, we're back in the vault. Got some cool stuff, a lot of cool stuff. There's not a—not a PA. We're off with the bursts, possibly my favorite guitar in the shop. It's between this and another guitar. I won't spoil the surprise, but we're going to plug this in now. Yes, we've done plenty of videos with this, but we are doing a PAF video. So, it would have been a bit silly of us if we didn't comparison—if we didn't—yeah. How good does that look? Lovely, ain't it? Right, we're going to plug it in. Should we find a jazz amp for this one? Uh, so we're plugged in. We're going to go clean first, um, just so you can hear how it sounds. So, we've got, uh, neck pickup.""I mean, it sounds good clean, really nice.""Um, yeah, anyway, you get the idea. Sounds wonderful. Oh, wait, middle! Why not?""That's kind of cool. Really good. Uh, right, so what we're going to do, Lizzy, let's do some Thin Lizzy! Why not? Um, so what do I—just all the way up with that? Uh, let's give it a shot.""It sounds great.""Don't know if you ever—if that riff was ever big of you. It was big in England for, uh, Life. I can't remember." 

PART 2

"Uh, the music. They were called The Music, yeah. But, uh, what was that? Yeah, anyway, folks, um, I'm sorry I messed around there. I got kind of carried away. Uh, it sounds great. This—this is a dream to play, this thing. It just sounds great clean. It sounds great with a little bit of overdrive. Sounds great with a lot of overdrive. We're going to keep using it, and we will keep using it. So, if you get sick of it, I apologize, you know. I don't—I don't apologize 'cause I get to play a Les Paul Burst, uh, for fun. You know, it's—if—if you mad—listen, I mean, it's—it's just a great guitar. It's—it's just a lot of fun. It's good, or whatever it is. Uh, yeah, so that's number two, folks. Number two done. Um, I could play this all day. So, that was number two. Uh, number three, we're going to go back into the vault. Um, there's a few different ones that we could choose. Again, we're always looking for suggestions of what we should do episodes on. Uh, we do look at the comments, so please let us know. We are going to do—are we trying to keep it a secret, Drew, to the next idea that we had? Right, yeah, so we're going to—we're going to do 'budget' again. So, you might already have seen it. You might already have seen it by the time this comes out. We're gonna go with this one. We're gonna do that as well, but we're gonna go with this. I mean, how good does that look? This one does. That is gorgeous, isn't it? Right, uh, let's go plug it in. I mean, it looks gorgeous. So, um, so, bridge pickup.""Middle, nasally, honky sound. That's funny, whatever it is. Uh, terrible version of some Tommy Emanuel's version of a version of a version of whatever the hell it is. Um, uh, three times in a row, I've had to think, 'What is the name of this again?' Neck pickup.""Sounds good. Uh, some butchered Chick Corea there. I can't even remember the name of that. Uh, 'Got No Light, Got a Match.' I was going to say 'Strike a Match' or 'Light a Match.' 'Got a Match.' Frank Zappa would do it as well. Um, but anyway, so that is this guitar clean. Can I go a bit louder? Do you mind? Uh, right, so we are plugged in. It's loud. It's buzzing a little bit. That's okay. Uh, we're going to go from Chick Corea into Oasis, why not? It kind of reminds me of Oasis. Forgive me.""So, great looking guitar. Uh, feels great. Plays great. Come check it out. So, uh, we've had a lot of great guitars. We're going back into the vault. Uh, six PAFs so far. Technically, six PAFs so far. So, we're going to do—how many more we got? Two?I mean the middle does sound good, I've got to say.Um, anyway, uh, let's try it cranked a little bit, or...Well, that sounds great to be honest.Oh, that sounds really good, please.I mean, that sounds really good. Uh, anyway, this is a great guitar, as you'd expect. Um, feels great, plays great. Would I have this or the Burst? What would you have? Would you have the Burst, or would you have this? I know what I'd have, yeah. It's up to you. I mean, listen, I'd have either of these in a second. Um, maybe one day, you know. So, that was '57 Gold Top, another great guitar. So, we've had quite a lineup of guitars so far. It's been pretty crazy. So, we're going to check out a guitar that came in. It's really pretty incredible, the uh, 1960 ES... oh, loves it, loves it! Right? This one, I mean, just look at that! How good does that look? So, 1960 ES, um, 335, 335, 335. Um, wonderful looking guitar. This was the house guitar at RCA Studios. So, uh, we're plugged in. We're going clean. We're on a neck pickup, but again, just how good does this look? Um, there is going to be a full video on this, so keep an eye out for it. Uh, so clean here we go...Come... on, anyway...Uh, middle.Bridge.That's—Apologies, that's... That's awful. Um, it's just, honestly, folks, this guitar feels so good to play. Uh, the neck, um, the frets are great. Just the whole thing...I mean, it's so good, jeez. I mean, what are you doing?Let's get it plugged in with some overdrive.Sorry, I messed up there, so it's fine. We'll carry on. Um, so, some butchered Jimmy Herring there for you.Yeah, it's just so good.I give... meat...Oops, there we go.Little valve action there for you.Come on! Hey, hey! Hey, hey! Hey!Anyway, you get the idea. It sounds great. That's why I keep playing and noodling and making mistakes and, you know, but I'm having fun, so forgive me. This is a special guitar, folks. We changed the plug. We having a bit of problems with the plug here, or the outlet, whatever you want to call it. Um, so that's why the noises come on. But don't let that, you know, sway you in any way. It didn't affect the sound. No, no. Didn't really, did it? No. I think I also just... I like the sound.That's so good. If you get the chance to try this, um, I think you'll know what I'm talking about. It is incredible. So, that is our last guitar of the episode. So, we actually have a bonus guitar. Um, you'll know if you've been to our vault or if you've seen a lot of our videos. We do have a very special collection of guitars, and within that collection, there's quite a few PAFs. So, we thought, you know what? Why not plug it in, see what happens? Uh, right now, uh, we do have some kind of crime—real life crime drama on the telly at the moment \[ \\ \]. It that looks like Nile Quinn! Keep it. Honestly, get—I swear to God, did you get the camera on that? I'll put a Pa side by side, yeah. He was a footballer back home and for Ireland as well. Hang on, please. Nice Bronco, by the way. It's a nice Bronco. Do a lot of uh, murderers drive Bronco? I guess so. I mean, there's two that I can think of. This guy, where is it? Hang on. We got to wait. How tall is he? 5'9? No, he's about 6'4. That's not going to work. No, that's not him, folks. Nile Quinn, Man City, Sunderland, Ireland legend. He's on a crime documentary here in America. We don't know Nile Quinn. But anyway, um, is it just me that thinks it looks like him? Anyway, you boys don't know who he is. You have a clue who we... Sorry, we got sidetracked there. Uh, this guitar, obviously, is incredible. Part of our wonderful Gary Rossington collection. There's a lot going on here. We do have a video uh, featuring a lot of his stuff. We'll put that in the description. But we're going to take this out, and we're going to plug in another wonderful PAF guitar. I mean, it's crazy that I'm just casually walking around with a Gary Rossington, you know. So, us—now, Joe's played it. On—Joe's played it. Charlie Star... I mean, and here's me. Uh, so, we are plugged in to Gary Rossington's '61 SG with PAFs. So, uh, obviously very privileged to do it. Um, now this has been played also by Charlie Star."This next song we've never done it before, ever, because it's sacred and Job Bonamasa..."I certainly don't belong on that list, but anyway, I get to play it. We're plugged in now. We are—we're cranked up, but we're going to start off—uh, we'll light that. Here's me butchering a Skynyrd song on Gary Rossington's guitar, so apologies. Uh, go easy on me, folks.Oh, it sounds pretty good, uh, to say the least.Um, that sounds so good, doesn't it?Now, over pickup. That's wonderful.Um, I'm not going to butcher any more Skynyrd songs. This—Yeah, uh, well, you know, I'll—I'll do a proper video on this, I'm sure, at some point. Um, I want to get my—my Skynyrd up to scratch, as you know, so let's not embarrass myself. Um, wonderful guitar, sounds great, looks great. A huge honor to play it. We have it here at CME. Um, we have a lot of the Rossington collection, and a shout out to Mary and all the family. Uh, thank you. Uh, yeah, so that was our bonus guitar in this episode. Uh, so let us know what you think. Uh, so folks, that is the end of this episode of 'Plugged In.' I don't even know what number episode this is—10, 12? Don't be 10 or 11? Let me ask... Um, a special one. Uh, all the PAFs you could imagine that you could ask for. Um, I'm very lucky that I get to play these incredible guitars, but please let us know what was your favorite. Um, if you were to rank them as well, let us know your ranking order of all these guitars. For me, do you know what? I'll go and look. There's not a bad guitar here, you know. So, don't think when I put someone at the bottom, don't think, "Oh, he thinks that one's shit." No, I don't. The bar is extremely high. This unreal guitar—they're all dream guitars. Oh, the—the red one's what? A 345? So, the 355 there. I put that—this is what the—Oh, we forgot about the W five! The L5! See, that's completely different. That's—I'm not even going to include that in this 'cause that's completely different. I'll put the red one five—well, yeah—well, four—well, four, sorry. Gold Top 'cause I love the Burst so much. I put the Gold Top three. Let's put this in a Burst—you know, I've got Burst two. This one, but tomorrow it could be Burst one, this two. You know what I mean? So, let us know your order, folks, and uh, again, thanks for watching. Let us know your thoughts, and we'll see you next time!