(ALMOST) EVERY EPIPHONE TIER LIST!!

all right here's the deal the last few years especially Epiphone has been stepping up if somebody's been playing Epiphone for well I got my g400 custom back in 2006 with all my summer job money we've checked a lot of them out on the channel talked about a lot more I've been pretty positive about most of them not all of them definitely not all of them but there's been a ton of questions from you guys is whoever's signature better than whatever signature should I get that signature or a prophecy or a 1959 standard the answer by the way is yes the 1959 standard is probably the best buy from Epiphone right now anyways so today I thought we'd try and tackle the gargantuan task of putting together a definitive Epiphone tier list well definitive I use that word lightly obviously you can't cover every Epiphone ever that's an impossible ask so I'm mainly going to focus on the ones I personally tried the ones that come up a lot and mostly from the last five years but I'll highlight a couple of extra ones that definitely deserve your attention the initial concept was a quick fun little video and I've somehow ended up with about 80 guitars to rank so strap the we're going for a ride all right here we go I got the tier list up there's so many epiphones on here this video is such a mistake already well yeah gravity in my situation just set in let's start with Bureau signature because that was the first Epiphone signature that I tried and made a video on and I think I'm gonna put this in a tier it's super cool because it's a Metalized 50 style Les Paul Custom Black Beauty all mahogany body with a carved mahogany top with a big chunky neck gold emgs and the hunter Diamond headstock inlay very different from your standard metal guitar it's literally like someone took a 70 year old Les ball custom and made it metal awesome all right one down many more to go next Brent Hines Flying V I did not give this enough credit when it launched a custom styled V and silver burst even the back of the neck and body are silver burst as well for the full silver burst Les Paul Custom look then Brent Hines signature lace Hammer claw pickups and it's an epiphone exclusive it's never been a part of the custom shops Normal lineup yeah I'm gonna put this in s tier I forgot how cool this one was and I don't even like flying these which one next uh mkh Les Paul Custom probably eight here as well on the surface it's a normal Les Paul Custom with blacked out Hardware which is already pretty cool and then on the back Les Paul access joint which I rate higher than the modern joint on his new Origins and what I love is these are such simple changes but they make a big difference in modernizing a regular black beauty so yeah a tier and don't worry I'm not going to rate everything so highly in this video we've just started out really strong and then the seven string version of the mkh Les Paul Custom I'm not gonna lie to you I loved it when I tried it it was the first seven string I'd ever played it's basically exactly the same as the six string version unless Paul but with seven strings down to the 24 and three quarter inch scale length now really didn't have a problem with that at the time it felt okay to me probably because the one I played was set up incredibly well I played another one that was not though and Pitch Griffin intonation were all over the place on that seventh string so on one hand it's the only 24 and three quarter inch scaling seven string guitar that I know of so that's special on the other hand it can be amazing your pain in the ass without never tune so I'm gonna go ahead and put this in beat here what next uh the Les Paul SL the Les Paul SL it's a pretty bad guitar it was epiphone's attempt to make a sub 100 guitar and they made one with really shitty pickups and awful Hardware the one I tried didn't feel good to play at all really bad experience bad specs insta D tier we move another stinker the Les Paul Studio LT it's a bolt-on which I don't really mind but the cheap ceramic pickups sound like absolute dog playability was awful too it just was not fun or inspiring to play whatsoever and just as an extra cherry on top the tuning stability sucked too I would not waste your time or your money on this one yeah D tier this guitar Brendan Smalls snow Falcon Gibson pickups white phenolic fingerboard looked awesome felt awesome and it was only like 800 new at the time as well super unique easiest here again despite it being a Flying V just a sick guitar Dave rood's Flying V followed a similar Vibe almost like they used the leftover snow Falcons they didn't though for the record wasn't as big a fan of this one on the phenolic fingerboard was still great the red pick guard though controversial and then the pro buckers probably a tier because it's like a slightly less good version of the snow Falcon limalia's already Artisan man this was a really cool one too as far as I know this is the only time Epiphone is ever made in Rd super underrated shape so already this is at least an a tier for me but then the electronics are so cool Gibson USA pickups and the 84 tlm bridge is one of the best pickups Gibson's ever made the P94 in the neck is a nice touch and then accessible from the back is a dummy coil that kicks in and cancels the hum if you're using the neck or splitting the bridge such a good idea why is that not more guitars here while we're at it may as well rank the other limalia models that's tug twister Lee Malia models Lima Lia models Lima Lea models the Explorer gets a tier because it's got the same Electronics the same Artisan theme but it's not as cool a shape as the Rd plus regular size tuning keys they use to make the headstock pretty cramped for tuning and nonetheless Paul this also gets a tier love the pickups the ornate Artisan theme and Love Les Paul's but it doesn't have the dummy coil so it can't go s tier either not gonna lie this tier list is looking pretty top heavy at the moment so let's check out the regular inspired by Gibson production guitars you've got the Les Paul Standard 50s and 60s the big deal with these was Epiphone tried to get their guitars closer to Gibson's back with CTS pots and graphtec nuts that was huge before when you bought an epiphone you basically had to count on replacing the nut right after you got it home that being said that was a couple years ago graphtec is pretty much industry standard these days and the muddy Pro buckers still let the guitars down in my opinion I'm gonna go with seeds here because they're acceptable they pass C's get degrees they don't really have anything that really stands out they're kind of the Baseline they're the standard then the inspired by Gibson Les Paul Custom that beat here the big thing with this version is they finally added an ebony board they had Rosewood before and that just looks bizarre on a Les Paul Custom ah it still is the weird Epiphone d-shaped neck though so C tier that's kind of harsh it's better than the standards but it just doesn't feel quite right with that d-shaped neck but the Blackjack version looks especially good so maybe that one is beat here then the Les Paul modern asymmetric neck shape all the crazy tone options ebony fingerboard metallic tops it's better than the Les Paul Custom it goes B tier it's a really enjoyable guitar despite the dumb modern neck heal and the pro blockers inspired by Gibson Firebird B tier genuinely I wasn't expecting them to do a proper neck through Firebird in fact when it was first announced the website had them listed as set neck before it was corrected it's just impressive that Epiphone does a neck through at that affordable price SG standard 61 maestro C tier loved Maestro vibrola even though it's a death sentence for tuning stability but Epiphone tries to hide the multi-piece body with weird mahogany veneers on the front and back it's just yeah it's just weird seat here then the inspired by Gibson SG custom yeah it has Epiphone pickups but they're alniko classic Pros which actually don't sound too bad I love how this is a standard part of the lineup now SG with the bound ebony fingerboard oh it's such a Vibe and it's not too pricey either so B tier then the slash collection Les Paul Standard I'm tempted to rank this one pretty high because the one that I have has a great figured top and the man himself signed and Drew Rock and roll on it but it's basically a Les Paul Standard 50s except more expensive and unlike the previous plus top Pro it doesn't even have a signature to see more Duncan's kind of underwhelming it's basically a Les Paul Standard 50s so C tier but slashes plus top Pro that's a Sig signature classic Epiphone the top is way over saturated compared to the Gibson version but it actually worked really well here it gave a nice contrast to the Dark Avenue board and that Avenue board is something even the Gibson Anaconda burst didn't have and for pickups it had slashes Seymour Duncans so for those Reasons I'm gonna have to say a tier that ebony board on a standard and in green really sets it apart way better than the current slash standards now slash is Firebird I'm kind of torn on this one on one hand the concept is awesome Firebird with a flame Maple top slashes pickups banjo tuners on the other hand the the one I played was kind of a lemon and had weird bubbly finish issues and a set neck Firebird instead of neck through is kind of wrong I'm gonna put this one in beats here probably would have been a tier if my experience wasn't a sour one and slashes afd special too these have been around forever you see these in every Guitar Center every Sam Ash now I've only played one of these but it was kind of hot garbage listen I understand what they're trying to do here invite new players inspired by slash to pick up a guitar at a good price the one I played was just a bad guitar though would have probably done more to put someone off guitar than to stick with it and come on only one volume in One Tone doesn't even make it an attractive mod platform not a fan d-tier for me then the DC Pro carve top double cut we'll go ahead and put this in seat here interesting ideas same specs as the inspired by Gibson standards solid cool headstock inlay but nothing super special what next the inspired by 1955 Les Paul Custom dude I loved this guitar Saturn or age gloss all over felt great big chunky neck Gibson P90 soap bars and a case with an obnoxious Pepto-Bismol pink interior I still maintain this is one of the best if not the best guitar Epiphone has ever made and I have a soft spot for the older headstock shape so easy as here I should have kept that one another one I should have kept the 1959 Les Paul Standard epi's first collaboration with the Gibson Custom Shop satin or H gloss finish Gibson USA humbuckers best value for money Epiphone currently makes and another pink plush case it doesn't feel like an actual 59 right it doesn't have the Nitro finish but those specs that case nailed on S here and then I guess we gotta put Joe bonamassa's Lazarus right next to it because it's essentially the exact same guitar same price same pickups just in a different color and with Joe bonamassa's name on it then we have to talk about the 1961 Les Paul SG standard guitar is an SEO nightmare but man I had such high hopes for this guitar it's the second collaboration between Epiphone and the Gibson custom shop and the 59 standard was so good and I like it it's got a slim taper C instead of the normal Epiphone D gives him burst buckers the age gloss finish and it doesn't have the weird mahogany veneer that the SG standards you but how is this the same price as the Les Paul SGS are always more affordable the SG standards is 150 bucks less than the Les Paul Standard and I haven't been consistent with this tier list and taking pricing into account but come on the comparison is right there I have to ding at some points it's a tier instead of s here and because we've already ranked to the Lazarus I think we have to take on the Epic side quest of ranking all of Joe bonamassa's signatures now God damn he's got a lot okay here we go Joe bonamassa's Firebird one honestly I think it's his coolest one neck through Firebird with a single Firebird pickup which is not the same as a mini humbucker such a rare spec combo cool color but it's so Bare Bones so I'm gonna put it in a tier controversial because I said it was his coolest one and then I ranked it below Lazarus to be fair Lazarus only gotten to S here because his grandfathered in with the regular 1959 Les Paul Standard so whatever we moved then he's got a bunch of Les Paul standards a gold top a pellem blue one in green with the Bixby borderline b c tier because there's nothing really super special about them but they've got the mismatched knobs Gibson USA burst buckers which Elevate them above the guitars in C tier okay you know what Gibson USA pickups I'm gonna put them in B tier especially the green one with the Bixby that's a solid B tier and then he's got semi Hollows the es335 and his most recent es335 honestly not a huge fan of semi-hollows but for those of you that are it's great Joe Bonamassa generally puts Gibson USA pickups in his signatures I guess I'll go beats here for both of these there's nothing that really stands out on either and that could be my complete semi-hollow ignorance talking although In fairness the 335 does have a micro vibrola which is pretty rare on that model and yeah the Gibson USA burst bucker is a solid that being said one Joe Bonham lost a signature that did not come with Gibson pickups is his black beauty that's such a shame because a three pickup Black Beauty Les Paul is awesome and Epiphone used to make one but again it came with the Rosewood board this one is with Ebony and so you know what as well as Paul fanatic I'm still gonna put it in B tier the yellowed faux aged look to the binding in the big headstock Diamond was really cool and finally his Amos Flying V something that always pops into my head when I think about the Amos Flying V is that in the comments someone was like what I don't want to buy Joe bonam on his anus I mean he's got a point I guess I don't want to buy Joe Bonham on his anus either anyways Karina cool but Pro buckers boo I mean it's kind of just a reskinned Epiphone Karina Flying V so yeah seat here moving on from JB to someone he inspired Jared James Nichols Old Glory is awesome it's a Les Paul junior in 50s Les Paul Custom form big chunky neck satin finish Seymour Duncan P90 pickup I love the Simplicity and I'm gonna go with a tier kind of because I have to put his other signature the gold Glory above it in s tier started off as a factory accident but a full gold Les Paul Custom with the single exclusive Seymour Duncan P90 dog ear is genius and speaking of Genius Bjorn galatzi yotun same specs as his previous signature except gold pickup rings and on the back of the guitar is a perfectly positioned built-in bottle opener instant s tier I will hear no arguments about this one the next one is instant s tier 2 Matt hayfees six string snowfall I'm still very mad at myself for not picking this one up when it was available access neck heal all white white phenolic fingerboard it's the only time they've ever done that on a Les Paul I love this one one so much and they're so expensive now and just like the Black Version the seven string gets ding to tear for the shorter scale length but again the visual theme the white phenolic fingerboard still a really cool guitar I guess that means we should talk about the current Origins signatures then and I'll put both the six and seven string in eight here I really like the new custom Fishman pickups the locking tuners M7 has a 25 and a half inch scale length now but the modern neck heel and super slim flat necks don't do it as much for me as the specs on the previous versions really classy looking metal guitars though I really like the seven that I have in white all right we're starting to look a bit top heavy again so let's talk some Epi Originals the Crestwood the Wilshire and the Coronet I'm just gonna group them all together in seat here I like how Epiphone is revisiting their Heritage reissuing original designs from when they're an independent company using what they call the Bikini Bottom logo and they're really affordable they're just kind of really ugly and uh yeah that's about it on to another original Epiphone series the muses these are part of the inspired by Gibson Modern Collection even though this is a series Gibson has never made I'm not gonna lie I kind of really love these metallic colors lifted from the Cosmetic industry and next based on the ones found on 70s Gibsons so that's a thin C shape with the narrower nut with none of that d-shaped nonsense the Les Paul even has a thinner body with a belly cut a lot and ESP Eclipse crazy colors 70s next and they're less than 500 new too yeah I'm putting both the SG and the Les Paul in B tier another modern original series we have to talk about is the Epiphone prophecy series it's their stab at a really modern take on classic shapes and we'll start with the latest iteration these are real fun guitars satin high lead saturated black burst finishes with color matched Abalone in the inlays exclusive fish influences with multiple voices based on Gibson USA pickups the locking tuners the ebony fingerboards the 24 jumbo Frets and asymmetric d-shaped necks are also great really really likes these guitars and pricing is pretty good for how much spec you're getting so I'm gonna put the V and the SG into a tier and then the Les Paul into s tier not just because it's a Les Paul but because it's got the full four knob control layout so you can set each pickup voice individually that's really cool and the extra into s tier as well because it's got the coolest color purple and since the shape is like an extra Sleek modern take on the Explorer I'm also going to rank previous versions of the prophecy because they were cool in their own ways each is a different modern take on the classic shapes and there are a lot of deals to be had on reverb for these and I have fond memories of the first prophecy they had Dirty Fingers some of Gibson's best ever pickups ebony fingerboards also had the 24 jumbo Frets the body meets the neck at the 18th fret for better upper fret access gloss tops to show off the finishes and then the back of the neck with satin for playability simplified control schemes no locking tuners but those dirty fingers ah they're so good cheesy lightning inlays as well but like you know I'm putting these in eight here and then the last generation prophecy had two less balls there's the EX version with active EMG pickups and the GX version with Gibson USA pickups unique to this version is it had a flatter 14-inch fingerboard radius I think that's the only time epiphone's done that they retains the gloss tops with the satinx and they were supposed to have ebony boards even epiphone's launch video said so but I've only ever seen them in the wild with Rosewood and that's a bummer another bummer is that for the GX the Dirty Fingers were dropped for a standard 490 498 humbuckers and it was given a terrible clown burst they had the cool inlays though and the Blue Quilt looks really good I'm gonna put them both in B tier they're not bad at all if you can get one for a good price but I consider them a tier lower than the other versions and now they're even doing signature prophecies as well uh Jerry Cantrell has a signature prophecy Les Paul and this is s tier I guess because there's nothing really new spec wise is essentially the Les Paul prophecy which I've already put in s here it looks very cool in white with custom inlays Let's ignore the fact that epiphones just slapped Jerry Cantrell's name on a prophecy he will never play and he's also got an epiphone version of his wino Les Paul Custom honestly look a wine red Les Paul Custom is cool uncovered humbucker for that hot rodded look kind of disappointing though they put Pro buckers in there not Gibson pickups and a big feature of the custom shop wino is the Piezo and that's missing from the Epiphone version as well this is borderline C tier b-tier because it's kind of just a reskin of the regular Epi Les Paul Custom but it's a cool reskin yeah now I'll see you here I feel bad because I really do like wine red Les Paul Customs it's just missing too much of what made the higher end version special it's not like they couldn't put a Piezo in there either they've done it with the Alex life's unless Paul which also has an access neck heel belly cut Floyd Rose 1000 you can split the pickups they've loaded this guitar up with unique features I'll forgive the pro buckers in this for the price Floyd Rose Piezo access neck heal and it's not outrageously priced that's an SD or Epiphone I know I've been fairly generous with the ratings especially when it comes to signature guitars like Billy Joe Armstrong's Les Paul Jr is a solid C tier nothing special no ebony fingerboard like his Gibson version had it's got an epiphone P90 they could have put a Gibson pickup in there because it's essentially just a reskinned Abby Les Paul Jr so yeah there's not really too much to talk about with this one moving on I'm kind of in the same vein Tony iomi's monkey there were such high hopes for this it looks the part it's got the right Plastics the adjustable tail piece Chrome covered P90s but spec wise no Gibson pickups again it's just another reskin this time of the SG special and it's almost double the price Big C tier guitar and it's a real shame because Tony iomi's previous SG custom was really cool ebony fingerboard with custom cross inlays Gibson USA pickups with no exposed pole pieces I mean for me this is an a tier SG Customs are already awesome and one with chrome hardware and and Gibson USA pickups even better another custom styled one Lizzy Hales Explorer this is an easy eight here look at it that is a classy classy Explorer love the bound ebony fingerboard with block inlays the Gold Everywhere super unique is an a tier and while we're on the topic of explorers again Brandon Small's ghost horse sick galacticon burst top satin back with the nice proxy cutaway Gibson USA pickups non-recessed Floyd bound ebony fingerboard Brandon small doesn't miss with his signatures another s here Richie Faulkner's Flying V another custom styled signature ebony board Floyd rose and a Flying V and EMG pickups it's another fun one for sure and it looks awesome custom headstock inlay and everything Floyd Rose and brush Chrome emgs it has to go a tier Joan jett's Olympic now man this is an ugly unapologetically punk guitar specs aren't great outline looks like a shovel but it's Joan Jett I'm putting it beat here Nancy Wilson's fanatic this is a wild one what a strange looking guitar uh with the melted single cut outline the angled Bridge pickup with a chrome slanted pickup ring but it's got an ebony board on like a 500 Epiphone and it's got a damn Firebird pickup in the neck Wilds at your guitar Noel Gallagher's Riviera this unfortunately follows epiphone's current worrying trend of making high price signatures with no real spec upgrades over the base models yeah I don't know what's up with this one or why it's so expensive that's a seat here Emily Wolfe's Sheridan stealth is probably my favorite Epiphone semi-hollow aged gloss finish all over awesome and it's the only Epiphone I know of that has lightly aged Hardware out of the factory too it's even got little Abalone lightning bolts in the inlays a lot of cool stuff going on with the Aesthetics but the rest of the specs aren't too outrageous so I'm gonna put this in B tier and you can't talk semi-hollows without talking about BB Kings Lucille whenever I see a Gibson or an epiphone es immediately I think BB King and specifically Lucille the guitar and the album cover of Riding with the King it looks so classy it's got the tp6 tail piece the sixth position baritone switch and no F holes in the body iconic guitar unique specs I'm sticking this guy in a tier we're getting into the final stretch now the last current in production guitar on the list I believe is Tommy Thayer's electric blue or it could be discontinued already I don't know I haven't seen it in a while but man this guitar crazy bright blue finish with massive sparkles on the entire Guitar weaker-minded Man may have chickened out and only done the top that's not what they've done here and it's so much better for it then it's got Chrome pickup Rings dual Seymour Duncan JB's the bridge even has custom blue bobbins this is an epic head turner easiest here and his previous signatures are cool too the white lightning and Spaceman Les Paul's they're basically specked exactly the same just in different colors neither of them are as cool as the full bodied blue sparkle White Lightning even came in Explorer form which I definitely forgot about when I was putting this tier list together but yeah Eight's here for the rest of them because they're just not as cool as the blue sparkle now Tom delonge's signature apparently these have now absolutely spiked in price now that blinks back together don't like how it looks at all his Strat will always be my favorite but it's got a Dirty Fingers bridge in a semi-hollow and it's blink I kind of hate myself for it but I'm putting an S here then Johnny A's custom is one of the more interesting signatures it's an epiphone semi-hollow that looks more like a Schecter and it's got a big speed Gibson pickups and an ebony fingerboard man this is another ATM Vivian Campbell's Holy Diver Les Paul is another sick one DiMarzio x2n humbuckers you almost never see dimarzio's stock and epiphone's Brass nut brass knurled control knobs it's getting pretty crowded but I have to put it in a tier two and the only other Epiphone I know of that came with dimarzio's is Ace Frehley's badokin Les Paul triple super distortions lightning bolt inlays oh but that terrible clown burst man uh lets it down it's Gotta Go beats here and a quick PSA by the way a lot of people are convinced there's a blue sparkle version there isn't at least not Epiphone they were rumored to be making an epiphone version of his Gibson blue sparkle they never did and there were scammers on eBay that have been trying to pass off blue Sparkle chipsens as epiphones don't buy them Peter Frampton's Phoenix Les Paul also had three pickups it had an ebony fingerboard those three uncovered pickups are pro buckers though that puts it in beat here arguably the king of discontinued Epiphone signatures is Zack Wilds Bullseye Les Paul Custom I know he's got his own company now but the bullseye Les Paul is so iconic I remember it being front and center of so many Epiphone campaigns Guitar Center campaigns it's got the look for sure gold trust Rod cover emg's raw Maple neck there was also an orange blood saw version that's my favorite and the camo version with a maple fingerboard but the bullseye has always been the most recognizable just for how iconic it is it'd be a shoe-in for S tier if not for the Rosewood fingerboard on a custom ah we have another eight here all right you know what though Zack wild zv man it is an ugly guitar but it's so freaking metal but it's so ugly but it's got that raw Maple neck ah Beach here okay I don't know and Zack Wild's most infamous signature the graveyard disciple I am genuinely unsure whether to put this thing into s tier or D tier on one hand it's so out there it is a bold metal guitar on the other hand it's pretty damn cheesy but if we take out the looks the specs are really good EMG pickups ebony fingerboard and a Floyd Rose original on this Epiphone as many of you pointed out even the Jackson American series doesn't come with the German Floyd Rose it's so out there and it's got the specs I'm putting this in Sierra we're down to the final two now and this is where I'm gonna go way out of scope that I set for the video but I had to include my 2006 g400 custom this was my main guitar for a while it's all beat up oh it's a guitar that got me into Epiphone it'd be wrong not to include it and the sentimental bias is really strong with this one but I think it's a b-tier guitar as much as I give the current generation Pro bucket they're so much better than the stock pickups that this thing came with the nut was the pig Iron Bridge was but it did have Grover tuners and the Maestro vibrola the main thing about it though it was made in Korea so the neck is nice and round none of that d-shaped nonsense and the build quality feels better noticeably better than the current epiphones in my opinion and the last guitar on the list that I had to include is the 1986 Les Paul one that I've got what a weird weird guitar it's a result of Gibson's Unholy experiments in the 80s to try and gain grounds on the super strats honestly I want to put this in C tier so badly because the neck is great it's that skinny Norland neck that I love on my 70s Les Paul's and there are some interesting ideas like a longer 25 inch scale length but the build quality is not great it is not great at all and the Steinberger tremolo has an inherent Factory design flaw that causes them to Bend forward permanently over time it is definitely not a good guitar it's a solid detier for all its flaws though it is a good representation of how far Epiphone has come since then to where they are now that's a nice polite way to put it and that will do it for my definitive Epiphone tier list as of November 1st 2022. definitely some controversial calls in there and I can't wait to be destroyed for him in the comments but what do you think do you agree with my picks why why not what changes would you make we'll definitely have to update this list as time goes on even maybe before the end of the year don't know when they're launching but new episodes are on the horizon Adam Jones has a silver burst custom with Seymour Duncans Dave Mustaine has a prophecy coming out but for now that is my tier list this is the end of the video this was supposed to be a super quick video and then 80 episodes later it was definitely fun though so let me know what other tier lists you'd like to see import Brands single cut tier lists and thanks to my wonderful patrons and YouTube members for supporting the channel whose names are on the screen right now if you like what I do want to support the channel as well link to the patreon community will be in the description and then below the video you can join the channel YouTube members also get custom emoticons like high integrity and justice for Pringle but in the meantime social media merch and Discord server links are in the description as always thank you so much for watching you've been awesome and I will see you for the next video

Channel: Agufish

Views: 154,787

Keywords:

Id: zNJmUp6jeqk

Length: 29min 15sec (1755 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 05 2022