Review of: Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro Guitar
by Brian Lamacraft
30
%
Overall
- Solid build with lots of features
- Looks as close to a real Les Paul as you can get
- Superior pickups to other “Les Paul style” guitars
- Huge range of finishes
- Priced a bit high for some
- The many options on the guitar might confuse beginners
- Lacks the full “Les Paul” details
The Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro is the very top line of the Epiphone Les Paul style guitars.
This instrument is a tone machine and capable of producing amazing Les Paul sounds that you’ll think it’s a real Les Paul but it’s not.
The guitar is moderately priced but you will get more than your money’s worth with this guitar so let’s dive in and have a look at this beauty.
Full Detailed Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro Review
Epiphone is a top guitar brand as it’s the lower cost Gibson brand. They make many guitars at various price points for today’s player. They even make the traditional Les Paul which is one of the most iconic guitars ever produced. Everyone wants a real Les Paul but they cost so much money. Epiphone makes some very nice guitars and we will look at one of Epiphone’s best guitars with my Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro review.
I looked at this guitar in several different categories including tones, playability hardware, and overall value.
Tones
This guitar is set to deliver you massive Les Paul style tones that will have you sounding great.
Players like Zakk Wylde, Alex Lifeson, Neal Schon, Ace Frehley, Mark Knopfler and many more have picked the Les Paul as their guitar and the Top pro gets very close to those classic Les Paul tones you desire.
This instrument is perfect for blues, rock, country, metal, jazz, and just about every other style you can throw at it.
This is a solid guitar that is fun to make music on and it’s loaded with some extras as well. The guitar will sound best with fresh strings so be sure that you install those.
Playability
If you want a guitar that is very easy to play, the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro is the way to go.
The neck is very fast thanks to a 1960s, Slim Taper D profile so you can play chords with easy as well as solo all day long without a lot of hand fatigue.
The pickguard is at an angle so you can rest your hand on it which is the standard pickguard style for the Les Paul and it helps a lot with your control of the pick when playing.
It has the standard cutaway so you can hit the higher notes in comfort as you blaze up and down the neck.
You won’t have any trouble with this guitar in terms of how it plays as it’s ready to rock. I’ve played many of these and they are all very nice to play.
Hardware
In terms of hardware, the Top Pro shines. It features the standard two-tone, two volume and toggle switch. These are all standard knobs and control the individual sounds of your pickups.
The toggle switch changes you form the bridge to the neck pickup and back again.
This guitar also features a big extra that enhances the sound.
This guitar has a “coil tap” so you can access the sounds that single coils make in addition to the full humbucker sounds. This means that you can also play “Strat-style” sounds on this guitar as well with the coil tap feature.
This instrument also has “Pro Bucker” humbucking pickups which have more output than standard humbuckers do even the one son a regular Epiphone Les Paul.
You also get Grover machine heads which keeps the guitar tuning stable and there is a Tune-O-Matic bridge which further enhances the tuning of this guitar.
It also comes with two strap lock buttons for your guitar strap.
Value
This guitar has good value but it’s rated a bit lower for a reason.
The “coil tap” feature is great but you don’t get the real sound of a single coil and it would be better to just buy a Strat style guitar or similar for the full sound of the single coils.
This guitar does shine with the Probucker pickups but the coil tap really isn’t necessary because people play the Les Paul for that “Paul” sound, not a single coil sound.
This is why the value is a bit lower but it’s still a very good guitar at this price.
Who is the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro Guitar Suited For?
Anyone will enjoy this guitar. It’s well suited for beginners to professionals.
If you want to create both single coil and humbucker sounds you will love this guitar for the coil tap feature.
If you have always wanted a professional sounding guitar without breaking your bank account, the Top Prop by Epiphone is a good choice.
If you are a first-time beginner you may want something else as it probably has more features than you need.
Build and Finish
The Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro is a well-designed guitar and it looks amazing at this price.
The neck is nice and smooth and the finish is free from blemishes. The D profile neck makes it easy to play.
The body is mahogany as well as the top of the neck.
The top uses AAA flame maple veneer which helps to stabilize the guitar.
It comes in many different colors like Blueberry Burst, Honey Burst, Heritage Cherry Sunburst, Mojave Fade, Blood Orange Trans Blue, and Green Burst.
It has a nice “Les Paul” logo on the headstock as well as the name on the cover for the truss rod.
It’s this attention to detail that helps this instrument stand out as one of the best that Epiphone offers you.
Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro Review: Feel and Action
This guitar won’t need much of a setup as it offers superior comfort for your hands.
The neck is very easy to play and it’s good to go right out of the box.
The action can be easily adjusted via the truss rod and the bridge which will lower and raise your action to where you like it. See a professional if you don’t know how to do this on your own.
Most people will find that the guitar plays well right out of the box.
Overall Sound
This Epiphone sounds very nice for a mid-priced guitar and it’s perfect for basically whatever you want to play.
This guitar comes about as close to a real Les Paul as you can get so it’s going to be a guitar that you’ll love to play.
There is a wide range of different tones you can get out of it and it has all the basic hardware that a Les Paul Standard has so you can produce a lot of nice music with this instrument.
I was able to create many classes sounds with this guitar as it’s very close to a real Les Paul style sound.
It works great with a decent amplifier and you can use pedals with it easily.
Epiphone has created a very good sounding Les Paul style guitar and this one meets that high standard with ease without the big budget price tag that many simply can’t afford.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aWQQtebAEg
Conclusion
This concludes our Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro review. This is probably the best Epiphone Les Paul guitar in their lineup and it has a lot of extras like the coil tap feature so you can get even more great tones out of this guitar than similar Les Paul style guitars.
There are no real downsides to this instrument. It may be a bit more expensive for some and you might want a more traditional Les Paul without the coil ta feature but it has everything else that you’ll need to produce nice sounds.
This is an Epiphone guitar that you’ll want to own whether you’re a beginner or have been playing guitar for some time.
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The Epiphone’s “Les Paul” line of guitars aren’t “Les Paul copies” ,otherwise the name wouldn’t be on the headstock. They’re a great alternative to the costlier Gibson line for who are on a budget. I’ve owned 2 of them. The last one I had ,I ended up selling, sadly, but I now own a gorgeous Trans Blue Standard PlusTop Pro,so happy days are here again! I wish I still had my other one. I bought it back in 2001 ,it was an Epiphone Les Paul Standard model; Black with creme color binding and pick guard, and the plastic green tulip tuning machines on it. It was a beautiful guitar, but the pickups were pretty bland. I’d love to get another one and throw some P90’s in it. I love my Blue Plus Top Pro though! It was a real bargain! There’s a Bigsby and Vibromate setup in “her” future.
agree with the other comment posted. the epiphone les paul is a les paul. gibson and epiphone only brands authorized to use that name on their brands. i have a vintage sunburst and it is great looking and plays great as well. there were so quality control issues with gibson recently while epiphone quality has really come up.
Love this axe. Plays like a more expensive model. Fit and finish were to perfection, and a little adjustment of the bridge brought the action right to where I wanted it. Be sure to change the strings when you get it; you will hear the difference right away. It’s bright, gritty when it has to be, and sweet. Quality is top notch and for the price you won’t be disappointed.
I agree with the previous comments. I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Pro top Honey burst and I love it. I can get those Gary Rossington sounds out of it and it feels great in your hands! Not heavy like the old Gibsons where your neck and shoulders feel sore after playing for a while. You are just paying for the name! Epi’s have always made great guitars.
Coil Splitting is NOT the same as Coil Tapping!!! These pickups are Coil Split. This means exactly what it implies.
Coil Tapping reduces the amount of windings the pickup is using. This reduces the DC resistance and thins out the sound. You go from Metal to Jazz with the flip of a switch, or pull of the pot, depending on your guitar.