Epiphone Les Paul Standard Flame Top

Just your average flame top Epi. Beautiful flamed trans blue color. I fell in love with it hanging on the rack. All stock p/u's swithces and hardware. Grover Tuners are a nice touch. I bought this one as a factory 2nd with some very minor defects in the finish. They are on the back of the guitar so it can't be seen and does not affect playability in any way shape or form. My rig right now consists of a crate power block head with a Line 6 Pod 2.0 in front of it and 2 Crate single 12" cabs.

Like any Les Paul bodied guitar, the sound is rich, full and thick. Factory electronics are quite noisy. With all the wood that surrounds this guitar it can't help but sound ballsy. Sustain is quite good in its stock form but can easily be improved.

Action out of the box would best be described as "cheese grater" Intonation was not properly set.Fret wire on mine was very smooth with no catches on any of them. If you are reading these reviews and are considering an Epi LP, do yourself a huge favor and take your new piece to a qulified guitar tech for a full set up as I (and it looks like every one else) did. It's well worth the extra cash and will make your new axe way more playable.

I have mine for 2 years now and no problems with it at all. I did add Schaller stap locks to it with a longer and wider screw just because Les Paul style guitars are heavy.

Not had to deal with them

This is a nice guitar but not a great guitar. The nice thing about it is it doesnt cost alot and any modifications you make to it are quite affordable and are numerous to choose from. After I had mine a year I upgraded to an EMG 81/85 active pick up set and added a tone-pros bridge.I've also had the frets polished mirror smooth. I still only have about $800.00 in this guitar and I'd be willing to bet it plays and sounds as nice as any Gibson out there and costs way less.

This is a follow up review to my submission a couple of entries below. If you read that review, then you would find a pretty generic Epiphone Les Paul described. Since the time of the review, I have had everything in the guitar redone, and I mean everything. Here is a complete list of the changes:

* New Lindy Fralin zebra style humbuckers (w/ coil tapping)
* New Grover locking tuners
* New pickup selector switch and end jack
* guitar completely re-wired w/ Jimmy page style wiring scheme (more about that below)
* all frets leveled and set up perfectly
* gloss finish taken off of the back of the neck and replaced w/ a satin finish for faster playing
* 4 push/pull pots added for the wiring scheme

Whew! That was a lot of stuff! Well, the sounds I can get out of this guitar now are limitless! I have the two volume pots push/pull to take advantage of the coil-tapping, and while it doesn't sound exactly like a strat it still sounds great for a single coil pickup, and not much hum either. The two tone pots are push/pull to 1. take the pickups out of phase (or reverse phase) and 2. put the pickups in series (parallel) w/ each other. While I have no idea what this truly means, it gives me more tonal options and that is great! Combine all of the tonal features of a regular Les Paul and you can imagine the possibilities. This guitar is amazing now!

Well, I stated before that I have become more of a blues player, and I still think I use way too many blues scales, but once I started playing this thing through my Blues Jr amp, I didn't care what kind of player I thought I was. This guitar is a brand new guitar now! The Fralin's are no joke either. They really opened up the tonal possibilities of this guitar. This guitar can probably do any style (I say probably b/c there's just too much experimentation left to do). When it comes down to it, a quality sound starts with the clean sound of the guitar and the quality of the amp. Both are incredible, and so add more stuff on top and it only gets better. I can't give it a 10 though just b/c I know that it's not the best sounding guitar ever made, but it's so much better than most of the other stuff I've heard.

I had all of the work done at West Mobile Music in Mobile, AL, and they did a fantastic job setting this thing up. It plays effortlessly. To me, the intonation of a guitar is very important, and for this guitar it is perfect. The neck really feels different b/c of the fret leveling and the satin back. My hand doesn't get stuck on the thick gloss anymore. There weren't any other cosmetic changes to the guitar. It's still the same cherry sunburst flame top minus pickguard, but the zebra style PUps do look nice.

The only nitpicky thing about the guitar is that there is one dead spot in the wiring scheme. With the series/parallel pot engaged and the bridge PUp selected, there is no sound that comes out. I think that the wiring scheme just didn't have enough connections for that position, or that having only the bridge PUp selected is contradicting the purpose of putting the PUps in parallel with each other. I'm not truly sure though. It works with just the neck PUp, but not the bridge. This is only a nitpick b/c you have to be wary of it during live performances. Otherwise, it is a fantastic setup.

I've already used this guitar in a live setting, and it held up nicely. The locking tuners make all of the difference. The stock tuners were not the grovers on epiphones now (this guitar is about 6 yrs old), they were complete junk. They couldn't keep it in tune. Now, I haven't had any trouble with tuning except on the biggest bends, and then it's just slightly out of tune. So, I think it is a dependable guitar now. I still would one day like a backup though, and it won't be a Fender Custom Shop. It will be a G&L Comanche.

Since I don't think the factory warranty applies anymore, I can't really say much about this.

I've been playing for about 7 years now. I'm still fairly new to electric playing, but I'm getting better. I play this through my Fender Blues Jr. and I soar up to heaven. I love this guitar! I can't imagine if I lost it or if it was stolen. I've had too much work done and I think I would be heartbroken if something like that happened. I used to not really care about this guitar, but it has transformed into a truly great instrument and now I pay attention to all of the details. If you are reading this and you just have a simple set up like I used to, it might be worth it to check this setup out. It gives you so much tonal possibilities that normal Les Pauls simply cannot do. I now have a great guitar, and I'm proud!

I justed picked up an Epi LP Standard ,tobacco flametop. I played nice out of the box, but not nice enough.....The finish is great on this one, and the appointment is tight. It came with Grover tuners, and was stock.

The tone is exactly what I was looking for....The sound is me. I use a Musicman 65 2x12, and a cord. No effects, except verb and tremolo....I play alittle blues, jazz, surf and old R&B(swing) and am getting that "Big Box" sound for the swing stuff, The neck PU sounds great for blues with the tone rolled off alittle, and I max the bridge PU and it cuts great. I like this guitar.I played a couple of Gibsons the same day I got this, and I could feel the difference. But I'm no pup to this game, if that neck looks straight, and it sounds good unplugged,it can be tuned up, and become a girlfriend.
My guitar tech took this guitar and wailed on it. Weak links....replace the plastic jack mount...You will break it. He also put a switchcraft jack in, changed the bridge to a Gotoh, direct replacement,He had to open up the nut alittle, A string buzzed, crowned and polished those frets.....they were like sandpaper. He metered the electronics and didn't have to resolder anything. He put it up to his Les Paul(Gibson) through a plexi marshall, and said it measured up.The rest is up to me...

I had to send this thing to the chiropractor........I am a player for a living,it was OK, but had alot of potential.....PUs high E was weak, tech fixed.....The pegs were really loose out of the box. This is probably why people complain about tuning....Throw 50.00 at a tech, and make a 500.00 guitar play like a 1000.00 one...as I said before, the action NEEDS to be adjusted.......

I play in clubs.....3-4 nights a week......bought this so I didn't have worry about one of my babys up there......I have a month of working on it, and it's fine......ask me next year.....The tech said it was sound....I carry one guitar.

n/a

Give it a facelift and you have a great axe!

I got this guitar sometime around 2000 I believe. I don't know much about electric guitars, but I can tell quality when I see them. To me, it seems some of the features could have been improved without raising the price too much. The cherry burst with the flame maple top and transparent finish looks fantastic. I took the cream colored pick-guard off because I would rather show more of the flame top. My guitar actually has a bone nut instead of the stock one (details on that later). Two humbuckers (not sure what kind) round out the package. Other features are solid mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, 3-way pickup selector, and some kind of pearloid fretboard inlays, which are okay. Hardshell case was a plus.

Well, after the bone nut was put on the guitar, it sounds great. I don't have many effects, but I use it on a Fender Blues Junior all tube amp. The humbuckers really shine with the distortion pedals. However, for my musical style, I have become more of a blues player, and so I want a Fender Custom Shop strat for what I do. As I am mostly an acoustic player (worship leader/songwriter), this electric is getting me into the electic style well enough. And for the price, the sound is pretty fantastic!

Well, as I have learned more about electrics, I have been left wanting more out of the factory set-up. The tuning pegs are loose, and the plastic nut that came with the guitar was a joke (see below for details). Also, the pickup selector definitely has a short in it somewhere, b/c I sometimes get the mix of the middle position, and a lot of times the middle position is simply the neck pickup. The action was okay, but I think I might have had it lowered.

About that plastic nut....be warned! I have heard many people over the years say the same thing that happened to mine. After a couple of months, the top of the nut on the outside of the 6th string decided to break off, leaving me without a 6th string to play. Instead of replacing it with another plastic nut that probably would have broken as well, I decided to get a bone nut put on there. This did cost me $60 to get done, but has been worth it as it improved the tone. I wish that Epiphone would have paid for it though.

Also, the strap button on the tail end of the guitar was installed loosely, and over time as I had to tighten it, it completely wallered out the screw hole. I had to get this repaired also, and haven't had problems since.

I wouldn't want to use this without a backup simply b/c of the loose tuners. The guitar seems to get out of tune a little to easily.

I have never dealt with them. Not sure about the warranty, but I guarantee it wasn't a lifetime deal either.

I have been playing for 7 years now. I just bought a Breedlove custom SJ20/R acoustic/electric, and I also own a Larrivee OM-03E acoustic/electric and a Cordoba classical. At the time, I wasn't a seasoned enough player to really know what I wanted. I wish I would have asked to play some strats. If it were stolen, I would not replace it as I want to get a Custom shop strat in the near future. My favorite feature would have to be the flame top. Overall, this guitar is serving its purpose of introducing me to world of electric playing.

Cherry burst on a beautiful bookmatched 2-piece curly maple top, the rest of the body is mahogany, with the exception of the fretboard, which appears to be rosewood. It's a typical single cutaway Les Paul, with a stop tailpiece, adjustable bridge, Grover tuners, medium fat neck, plastic nut, 2 volume/2 tone, twin humbuckers, cream over chromed metal. I've dumped the stock Epi electronics in favor of EMG active electonics (I put 60s in both the bridge and the neck). The original electronics were nothing to write home about. Clean, the guitar sounded decent. However, the pickups sounded muddy as hell when I put it through the overdriven channel of my amp, and the stock pots acted more like off/on switches than pots. Now this thing can really scream--whether it's clean or overdriven, it sounds incredible, the pots work like they are supposed to, and the overall effect was to transform this guitar from a very good intermediate level one into a serious professional-grade axe. This one was far and away the heaviest one in the shop, it weighs a ton, but it just felt the best out of the 20 or so Epi Les Pauls I tried at various shops, and it felt better than the 20 or so Les Paul Studios I tried out as well. It sustains out the ying-yang....

I bought it as a second, there's a tiny little speck of dust deep in the clearcoat up near the selector switch, but it was enough to warrant Epiphone calling it a second.

MIK, 2006 model, paid $380 for it in a package deal--hardshell case, new strings, handful of picks, and electronic tuner...

Before swapping out electronics, I'd have rated it a 7, now I rate it as a 10.

After swapping to EMG 60s (bridge and neck), it does everything I could want in terms of sounding great clean or overdriven. I use a Digitech GNX3 on it when I want some sound other than running it through my little Marshall MG30 DFX or through my old Peavey Classic VTX.

Before, the electronics were fairly quite for passives, and the pots acted more like off/on switches than pots, but now, it's dead silent when plugged in, and the pots do what they are supposed to do.

Before the swap, the stock setup was rather muddy sounding when overdriven. It was OK clean, but crank up the gain, and it just went downhill fast. After the swap, running it clean, you can get everything from a that midrange-y jazz sound to a bright, clear tonally balanced sound, to that dark mahogany-body sound. Overdriven, it you canstill get all the above, but pushed way over the top... It just wails/screams, and the sustain is absolutely awesom... Before the swap, I'd have rated it about a 7, now I'd rate it's sound as a 10.

Factory setup was decent. It needs a little minor fret sanding in one spot on the neck to get it prefect if I want to drop the action down a whole bunch, but it plays fine with the action dropped a little from the stock factory setting--no buzzing frets, easy bends, and smooth. Intonation was perfect from the factory. The top is perfectly bookmatched, and aside from the speck of dust in the clearcoat up by the selector switch that got it rated a "factory second", it was as good as a Gibson LP costing three times as much. My only real complaint was the electronics, which I covered previously. The pots really were junk. The pickups would be OK if all you ever wanted to do was play it clean... I wanted more versatility, so I changed that out, and I could not be happier with that switch. I'd rate it as a 7 before swapping out the electronics, now it rates a 9, mostly because the frets were not absolutely perfectly level from the factory.

It would definitely withstand live playing, the hardware is very solid and the finish seems to be strong. With a set of Schaller Straplocks on it, and active electronics in it, I think you could depend on this guitar to do whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want, with no questions asked and no worries.

I could usethis guitar as a battering ram and it'd be fine afterwards!

Never needed it...

Playing for 30 years, I've got a 1995 MIM Strat, a EPI Gothic Explorer, early 80's vintage BC Rich Warlock, Peavey Classic VTX/Marshall MG30DFX amps, and a Digitech GNX3 setup.

If somebody stole this guitar as it sits now, I'd hunt them down and beat them with it, they play a tune (some Slayer would be appropriate,I think) with it all the way home... I just love the guitar as it sits. Compared to the lower end Gibson LPs, this one stands out like a sore thumb, but in a good way. For the price I paid with the electronics swap thrown in, it's a 10.... The basic guitar right off the rack would rate about a 7. Stock, they are a very good intermediate guitar, but not quite professional level.

I got mine second hand but in near mint state. The previous owner had it probably used only as wall decoration. The LP is made in Korea; don't know what year. The colour is tobacco burst and the flame pattern is really awesome. Tuners are from the green vintage type. For the rest it's your usual Les Paul.

6 Strings, tuners, two humbuckers, 4 pots and a mahogany body/neck. What more features do you need?

I play mainly (old school) punk and classic heavy metal and the Epi fits very well to my needs. I don't know if the previous owner had changed the pups but the Epi sounds mean, fat and dirty, plugged straight into my 30 watt Marshall practise amp. Even on overdrive the sound stays well balanced and detailed, just how I like it. Listen to the Sex Pistols 'Never mind the Bollocks' and you get the picture. Clean it sounds chrystal clear at the bridge and jazzy at the neck humbucker but it lacks the Fender 'bite'.My only gripe is quite an amount of noise if I switch to the overdrive channel but you only hear it if you are not playing and not touching the strings.

When I got home the first thing I did was change strings for a heavy set (11-52), fine tuning the intonation and lowering the action a notch. Action is a personal preference anyway. And despite the heavy strings I can have a real low action without strings ratteling all over the frets.
For the rest I didn't found a single flaw! The wood used, the flame top (book matched) and the finish are impeccable. This guitar is a pleasure even only to look at. It looks like a Les Paul, it feels like a Les Paul and it sounds like a Les Paul. What more can you wish for a fraction of the price?

For now I do not intend to gig (lol! I don't even have a band!) but if there will be an opportunity I won't hesitate to do so. It's a Les Paul remember.

Not needed.

I have been playing for 35 years and I have owned a Gibson Les Paul Standard, a LP Special and a SG.
During the time with the band I played through a Marshall 100W half stack and I used a whole bunch of Boss stomp boxes. Both the L.P's were OK after some setup changes, but the SG was a piece of junk. Probably Gibson had some serious quality control issues at that time.
But believe me, I really can't hear/see and feel the difference between the Gibson LP Standard and this Epi.

The Epi is almost too good to be true. It is just like somebody at the Gibson plant has accidently put an Epiphone decal on a 'real 'Les Paul. If it would be stolen or lethally damaged I would buy another one right away. Superb value for money!

It is a Les Paul...if you are here and you don't know, why are you here??? Classic, functional, beautiful!

I play rock, nothing too heavy, blues,and whatever drops into my head, through a Marshall AVT50 Valavestate 2000 (and incredible amp) or a 66 Fender Super Reverb.

Like a lot of us, I did some mods on the guitar, new roller bridge (do a lot of string bending) and right now I have a Bill Lawrence L-450 L2.4 in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck, it is SOOOO sweet. It can do pretty much any kind of music as it is set up right now. I will give it a 7 as it came from the store, but a 9 or 10 as it is now!!!!

I have a set of new Bill Lawrence PUP's coming for it, can't wait. I can't say enough about them, not too often you can get pick-ups from a legend for this price, and the sound they have!!!!

This guitar is BEAUTIFUL!!! I catch myself just staring at it from time to time. It is 1/4 or 1/5th the price of its Gibson big brother, but if you can handle riding a Yamaha insted of a Harley, you can deal with this.

It has and it will "withstand" live play (whatever that means, I probably are harder on my guitars jamming than live).

As for hardware, and stuff...I changed most of it...it came with Grover tuners which is a VERY nice standard feature.

Don't know...I get a free set up with it from the store...as for Epiphone????

This thing is AWSOME for the price. My brother has Gibson Les Paul Special, and he is truely afraid to play the Epiphone. There is little if NO difference, but the price and name.

Like I said, its like Harley's and Yamaha's. Which is the better made more reliable bike. Those V-stars a beautiful, but there is still something about a Harley Davidson!!!

The Epi is EVERY bit as good as any Gibson I have ever played, for 1/4 the price...only you can be the judge. Can you get past the name....

You know the features.... 2 vol, 2 tone, 2 beautiful humbuckers etc... everything you need!

Absolutely phat! Unreal! So warm and full, great clean sound, even greater crunchy dirty sound! Even through my mid-priced amp, it sounds unbelievable. Best sounding guitar I've ever played.

Was set up pretty well (but not perfect) from the factory. Perfect finish. I have set it up with fatter strings (11-49s).

I keep breaking strings right on the bridge. I have filed and fiddled around, had it serviced many times by various people, changed the saddle ... I have nearly sorted it out!

other than that... input jack cames loose & strap screw pulled out of the guitar in the 1st week.. nothing that wasn't easily fixed. No problems since then.

No need as yet.

GREAT sounding guitar! AMAZING actually! Annoyed that I keep breaking strings. If it was stolen, I'd buy another in a heartbeat. Best sounding and best feel of all the guitars I currently have.

I bought it used (barely used -an employ of the store owned it for 2 monthes and replaced the pickups with dimazio's, then sold it back) It was made in korea.

It has the standard les paul features, no need to repeat them. I must say that the flame finish is just stunning to look at, absolutely beautiful guitar, don't care that it isn't a gibson. How do you give a rating for features that are considered a classic instrument set up. However it features high quality parts and finish that in my opinion make it well worth the dough.

This guitar sounds absolutely phenominal. I don't understand why there are so many people willing to shell out over 2 grand for a gibson standard, when a 500-600 dollar ephiphone sounds, looks, and plays so well. This guitar has a rich wonderfully warm sound, which sounds great clean and distorted. I forget that I'm not playing a gibson.
Any one can hear a difference between a epiphone and a gibson, but they could also here a similar difference between and ephiphone and another epiphone and a gibson and another gibson if you know what I mean . no two guitars sound exactly alike. If you blind folded them they probably couldn't tell you which one was which, and they might prefer the sound of the epiphone. I am giving this a 9, not a 10 only because i do not have the original pickups in it, although I have tried the stock pickups on the guitar when trying amps out at music stores and have loved the sound too, but therefore did not get to play my guitar with stock pickups. Even if you shelled out $150-$200 to replace them with premium pickups, (if you thought the stock epiphone don't sound just like a gibson) you d still have a great price compared to a gibson.

the guitar was perfectly set up, in fact in the 6 years that I have owned it I have never needed to adjust the bridge, or neck, can you imagine that? and I've put this guitar through a lot and I am always very picky about any ammount of buzzing, action ect...

The finish, top, the entire cosmetics of the guitar are absolutely flawless.

I prefer the neck on the epiphone to a standard gibson neck. It is substantially faster and more comfortable, of course thats just me, everyone has different hands, and what feels great to one is not to another.

Neck is very stable, the guitar maintains its tuning very well. It is also a little lighter on the back than a gibson, which is nothing to complain about.

I would say that this guitar has been very reliable especially considering all the abuse that I put it through, from constant stage theatrics, being left in a hot trailer, even spilling crazy glue on it. ( which i couldn't get all off ) One of the strap buttons gave out after installing schaller strap locks but that was entirerly my fault because the screw on the schallers was thinner than the originals, so naturally after rocking out for a couple of years the thinner screw in the larger screw hole eventually stripped the wood a bit, Thats when i used the glue to fill the hole back in.

I also had one of the tuners get bent, again my fault. I decided to replace them all with quality gibson tuners,

After all these years the tone knobs finally need to either be cleaned or replaced, I imagine I'll replace them with gibson ones when I get around to it. They work fine but crackle when turned, not that I use them very much.

Perhaps genuine gibson parts would have lasted longer, but then again maybe not. After years and years of hard playing and constant use, sometimes abuse I have had very few minor problems. those minute problems were not worth paying 3 or 4 times as much for a gibson-that may have had problems too at some point.

Never needed to never tried, bought it usedl, have no recollection about the prescence or abscence of a warranty.

Ive been playing for about 11 years, ,have owned more amps other guitars and gear than I care to mention.
If it was lost or stolen I would definetely buy another. This guitar has been my main electric axe, and I have always been more than happy with the tone, playability, and the way it looks. I love gibson les paul, but I have never felt that I have sacrificed anything owing this guitar. In my opinion it is well worth the 550 price tag it currently sells at.
You know how a strat copy ( even a higher quality guitar) just never looks as cool? -particularly in the headstock. (only because we associate the fender headstock as being what it should look like-including the fender logo) The same thing can be said for other les paul copies except the epiphone, Maybe it's just me, but it just doesn't have that copied look to it, and at times I honestly forget that its a les paul copy, and simply think of it as my les paul.
I would reccommend this to anyone who wants a les paul-even touring pro's.

Epiphone Les Paul Standard Honeyburst 2002 model. Made in Korea. This came with a flame maple top and was still called a LP Standard. I think later on, the non maple flame tops were called 'standard' and the flame tops had a 'plus' added to the designation. Standard Les Paul features. 2 chrome covered 'Gibson designed' pickups. I shall not repeat myself here as the other reviewers have it covered.

Music styles would be rock, no metal. Generally nowadays, mainly play Praise & Worship in my church band - so sounds range from distorted on fast songs, to fills and clean sounds on slower songs. Use it if someone is playing acoustic guitar, so the fatter tone of the LP can fill in another tone in the musical palette. I run this guitar through a Boss ME-50 multi efx and a Marshall AVT20 (home) and Peavey 65Watt amp(church - dunno which model). Most of the time , I use the bridge pickup for clearer definition. The neck pickup sounds ok when I am playing in my room but tends to get lost and muddy in the whole mix when playing it live in church. However, I can live with the sound, I'm not a pro and it serves it's purpose. Since the pickups are humbuckers, they are relatively quiet without 'hum'. Sustain (due to the body) is good, especially when playing lead. However, can lead to feedback if you play near your amp/monitor add too much sustain to the effects pedal, so I generally turn off my sustainer with this guitar as it carries itself.

Setup from factory was nice and low. Even the guy who sold me the guitar said it was setup nicely. However, like some other users have discovered, there is some buzzing on some of the higher frets on these batches of Korean Epi LPs, so I did some truss rod adjustment and bridge adjustments to get it out- but the action is slightly higher but relatively acceptable. In fact, all my electrics are setup low enough without buzzing that when I go to a shop and pick up a badly setup guitar, I can barely play it on the higher frets.
Finish and colour is beautiful. Flame top in a honeyburst finish. Often get comments on how nice the guitar looks. The guitar feels well constucted.

Yes, it will withstand live playing. Been using it without backup in church. No complaints about the finish. Due to the weight of the Les Paul, I don't do anything funny with it though , like jumping up and down as I have a phobia about the strap buttons coming loose. These may be unfounded, but when you have a guitar this heavy, better not take chances. With regards to the electronics on it, the pickup selector seems to be lowest quality item on the guitar. Like other owners, I have experienced cases in which the volume is low or off on a pickup selector position. This doesn't happen in the middle of playing though, it happens sometimes at the beginning of new session of playing (I mean , taking it out and plugging it in) I find that toggling the switch up and down once or twice brings it back to normal. Not a major issue though. Think the new China made Epis do not have this issue, so don't let it detract you from considering an Epi LP.

I e-mailed them once to verify what woods were used in the body. They got back pretty fast and were friendly. Otherwise, service support would have to be through the distributor here in Singapore- but haven't had to deal with them yet- but it's probably beyond warranty already.

Been playing around 5 yrs but must admit I am not very good, or at least nowhere I should be at 5 yrs. However, I love guitars and own 2 Yamaha acoustics, Fender Japanese '57 Reissue Strat, 1 Samick Strat Copy, this Epi LP (had it for 2 1/2 years already), and a Yamaha Bass. Have some DOD/Ibanez pedals and a Crate amp but my main setup is a Marshall AVT20 with the Boss ME-50 multi effects. No regrets about buying this Les Paul. Seeing Slash play a Les Paul was probably influence in this area. The value for money is incredible, at a fraction of the cost of a Gibson. If stolen, I would definitely get another Epiphone Les Paul (after all , they are owned by Gibson) and in the same colour. In fact, Epiphone is one of my favourite electric guitar manufacturers as they provide good quality instruments, a decent brand, at a great price. (No, I do not work for them, and I am not being paid to say this- feel the same way about Yamaha too) Of course I would love to get US made guitars, but the reality of life, and finances, dictate otherwise.