The Epiphone 335, Sire Larry Carlton H7, and Ibanez Artcore Expressionist - Which would we keep?

[@PJandtheBeard]

Thanks, Zzounds, for supporting the channel! Find the gear featured in this Episode at Zzounds: Epiphone ES-335 Figured Semi-Hollowbody - www.zzounds.com/a--3980649/item--EPIEIES335F Ibanez Artcore Expressionist AS93FM Semi-Hollowbody - www.zzounds.com/a--3980649/item--IBAAS93FM Sire Larry Carlton Semi-Hollowbody - www.zzounds.com/a--3980649/item--SIRML4101

[@MrDanalaimo]

Small surprise to me, or maybe not. I liked the Ibanez best. Nice vid, guys

[@PJandtheBeard]

It is a good choice for sure!

[@roycedot]

Great video, we live in magical times to be able to get so much bang for our buck for semi-hollows. I bought an H7. The pickups do it for me, and I've bought pickups that cost the same amount as the entire H7.

[@PJandtheBeard]

How about it! The quality of all of these at $700 is almost unbelievable. We are looking forward to trying some more Sire's. They are killing it.

[@Petri357]

Thank you guys for this comparison!

[@PJandtheBeard]

Absolutely! Glad it was helpful.

[@Terry3Gs]

Great job as always guys !!

[@PJandtheBeard]

Appreciate it!

[@seanmcguire6998]

Artcore all the way. Not just because I own an AS73L - it sounds the best to my ears.

[@PJandtheBeard]

They were so close and it was a really difficult call.

[@Straydogger]

I bought an AS73 in 2010After a year I changed out the pickups to Gibson 57 Classic and Classic+. I didn't change the pots though and I probably won't. It's my 335 guitar without spending $2500 or more. Great guitar IMHO. 👍

[@PJandtheBeard]

@@StraydoggerI’ve often found that there isn’t a correlation between the price of a guitar and its ability to inspire one to play. If you like the pots in it now don’t mess with them. That’s a terrible job!

[@bernardjones5838]

I really wish this would have recorded the clean sounds of the guitars. No reverb, no delay, no distortion. No nothing. Just plain guitar. Effects hide way too much.

[@PJandtheBeard]

We talk about this, but it is just so hard to turn off the amp reverb and DLS echotour. Totally get the comment, but we rarely find ourselves playing without a touch of reverb and delay.

[@RichardPerrymanGuitarist]

Sounds good. All good choices. Ignore the unnecessary negative comments.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Thanks, appreciate it! Don't worry, the trolls don't bring us down. We are having too much fun hanging out and checking out gear.

[@Keaneo]

Great vid guys. Completely agree on your choice....pickups on the epiphone sound too dark to me. You should review the Sire T7 next. Interesting to get your opinion on that model

[@PJandtheBeard]

Thanks, appreciate it! The T7 is definitely a possibility.

[@dukerufus5334]

I like the video. All three are nice guitars. Personally i thought the sires pickups sounded the best. You guys should demo some of the gretsh semi hollowbody guitars that are around this price point

[@57ebartley]

The Sire looks physically bigger and in other video’s the reviewer said the guitar was on the heavy side. I bought a Sheraton 2 pro for a great price used. I loved the look ,fit and finish and I played it sitting down. I got home and stared playing it like I usually do standing up and it felt like a boat anchor around my neck. I swear it weighs over 9 lbs which wouldn’t have bothered me when I was young but Im older now and still playing 4 hour time slots. I put it back on the market and I would have to give it a way to get rid of it so I took it off the Market. Are all of these guitars heavy?

[@PJandtheBeard]

Let’s see… Sire - 9 pounds Ibanez - 7 pounds, 6 ounces Epi - 7 pounds, 15 ounces For fun the 339 is 6 pounds, 12 ounces and my Gibson 335 is 8 pounds, 14 ounces which always feels heavy when I play it live.

[@57ebartley]

@@PJandtheBeard Thanks!

[@pbgoncalves4]

I understand you, and I have the same problem as well. Maybe the age .... I bought one Ibanez AS 93 in black , I thought it was lighter but it has 7,91 lbs or around 3,6 kilos. Mine Epiphone has the same weight, but I fell different with the strap (better), maybe because of the balance or the wider neck or the maple of the neck on the Ibanez, (that you fell on the shoulder), by the way has one excellent neck and fell playing.

[@GermanPichinao]

Ty guys for the video. Ibanez for me, and the battle is with Sire at similar price, but in my country Sire’s cost $300 even more, so it’s a no brained the choice here

[@PJandtheBeard]

In that situation I’d definitely go with the Ibanez.

[@pbgoncalves4]

and the Sire is also much heavier guitar in weight

[@lprb302]

Thanks guys… I’ve always based my choice on feel and playability of the instrument and not the sound. Pickups and speakers more so impact the sound. Playability & feel is what inspires me to play then I tweak the tone accordingly… Thanks for the comparison guys 👍🏻

[@PJandtheBeard]

You’re welcome. Thanks for the comment. Appreciate it.

[@Paul_Lenard_Ewing]

I 110% agree with your choice. One guy owns the company, even the building. He does not work in the office but on the floor. He 'is' quality control. He treats the workers well and has a very small turn over rate. If a guitar take a bit more time to get it right the guys can take that time. It makes the workers feel proud of what they do.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Sire is definitely doing something right over there. The value to price is incredible too.

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

It's not possible to tell which is best from this side of the computer screen, but I do know that when I try a few guitars in a store, there's always one that comes out on top. I've not played a Sire yet, so I'm looking forward to trying one.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Definitely worth trying to get your hands on a Sire. The 335 was great. I really liked the roasted maple neck on the S7 FM we had in too.

[@magooinlalouisian]

All sound similar through my headphones. What about the necks? Does the Ibanez have a deal ending valute? Hate the one on my Ibanez SZ320. The Epi Dot I bought used for $180 US good enough for now.

[@PJandtheBeard]

I finally read this comment when I was at my desk and could walk across the room and put my hands on the ibanez. No valute on this one.

[@rodrigo666godoy]

Wow, I loved the ibanez sound

[@PJandtheBeard]

The ibanez is a great guitar!

[@dananthony6258]

I seem to lean more on the semi hollow thing for some reason the last few years. I wish more people appreciated them. I guess young kids want strats and les Paul’s or EVH style guitars.

[@PJandtheBeard]

What is your favorite hollowbody?

[@Petri357]

The sire model shown here is h7 not s7. There is a mistake in the title.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Thanks for pointing that out. Fixed! I'll dock the editors pay.

[@Patrick-k8o6s]

The title definitely says Larry Carlton H7. Maybe they corrected it.

[@Petri357]

@@Patrick-k8o6s They did

[@EKomar-z6h]

I used to have a pretty dark red Artcore semi-hollow body and it was really nice, played very smoothly and could put out tones very jazzy or very rocky. Should've kept it in hindsight but it was a time I needed moolah and someone was offering to pay me reasonably for it.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Unfortunately that story is all too common!

[@KozmykJ]

I like Sire guitars. I have a Sire V7 bass and an A3 'Larry Carlton' acoustic. They are Very Nice instruments. Those prompted me to try the 'Larry Carlton' H7 335 style semi in 2022. It was a MESS !! The frets were sharp, skin breakingly, and neck binding was cracked and split. It would have need a fret levelling straight away, even with a raised action there was unacceptable buzzing. Despite the neck being thinner than I had expected, the guitar 'felt' nice; but the pickups were disappointing. I had expected lower than average output but I didn't like their tone. I returned it for a refund, the sellers couldn't guarantee that a replacement would not have such problems. Epiphone 2024 - don't get me started... sent 3 back in 2024 I tried a nice enough Ibanez AS113 but it was ex-demo and well worn. In the end I went for the Gibson ES335, though I had never intended spending so much.

[@PJandtheBeard]

It is weird how different the quality can be from one guitar to the next. The Sire's frets were wonderful on the one we had. We have had a bunch of epiphone stuff in lately and our experience has been different on that too. That's crazy you had so many problems.

[@KozmykJ]

​ @PJandtheBeard Hopefully, for them, Sire have sorted their QC problems on that production line by now. My trouble was in 2022. With Epiphone I reckon those longer headstocks make them more vulnerable to transit damage. The boxes seemed designed for shorter guitars, both tfrom the sellers And from Epiphone. Not enough clearance or 'crumple zone' space. That Sheraton Frequensator needed a rethink on the fretting. Because of the fancy purfling on the fretboard they just cut short slots and trimmed the fret tangs back. That left too much unachored fret and they lifted waay up. Bad engineering. Quite some tales of woe sending that lot back ... one got lost and took months to sort out !!! Happy ending though - a real ES335 👍

[@stockholm1752]

And the winner is… … … 💌 … … The 339 ! 👏🎊🤝✨

[@PJandtheBeard]

lol! That 339 is a killer guitar!

[@MrDanalaimo]

Agreed!

[@NorthSeaWisdom]

Have to check out Sire guitars…thanks

[@PJandtheBeard]

Yeah, we plan on checking out some other models as well.

[@daveduffy2823]

You should have added the Eastman T59v to the shootout. It’s equivalent to these guitars and sounds very Gibson like.

[@PJandtheBeard]

They look great, but a bit pricey for this comparison. Might be a great fit if we ever do a series on some higher end 335 style guitars. The biggest problem would be getting our hands on one.

[@tomcaron9113]

Sire’s are great but, IYV guitars are cleaning up the field at cheap, cheap prices on Amazon. Asian guitars are killing it with their quality, amazing pickups and finish work, especially the fret and neck work.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Just checked them out. You can’t argue with the price! Might be hard for us to get our hands on one but I’ll keep an eye out.

[@mknewlan67]

I loved a mishmash, Epi neck for me, Sire bridge with the beard, with PJ it was epi neck and Ibanez bridge. For my old ears the Sire with PJ was to bright in the bridge.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Good stuff, thanks for the input! Appreciate your thoughts.

[@Wingman52]

I wonder how they compare to a Gibson es-335. I have an old one (67) I bought back in 1970, so I've had it for for almost 55 years. I have had Les Pauls, Strats, Teles, that have all come and gone, and through all of that I always kept the old 335. It was what I compared all of the others to, and for some reason all those other guitars just didn't seem to stack up so I sold them. Today I have quite a few guitars, mostly Fenders and Gibsons, but if I had to get rid of all them but one, it would be a very easy decision. This is the one I would keep. As I said I wonder how these guitars would compare to a real Gibson 335? How would they compare to my old 67?

[@PJandtheBeard]

Some guitars just have the special mojo and some sentimental inspiration to them. I suspect your 67 is one of those guitars. If that’s the case I’m guessing there isn’t much of a comparison to that one.

[@eoinjennings519]

Have two Ibanez the JSM 10 which is the upgraded 93 and it’s been a great guitar, played well out of the box. Got the 12 string more recently and it also was well made. Play more rock so the extra top in the pickups suits. Don’t think you can go wrong with Ibanez - never tried the Sire !

[@PJandtheBeard]

I think it really came down to Ibanez or Sire for me. It was a really hard call. I would be happy playing either for sure.

[@pbgoncalves4]

agree

[@gsmeeuwsen]

All very similar in tone, but the Sire has a bit lower output. Still sounds great... I think I prefer the Sire distorted... I don't think you guys are being biased. The Sire sounded the best...

[@PJandtheBeard]

Thanks, appreciate it!

[@billleith7110]

I love the epiphone 335 the best but cant manage the large size so its SG standard cherry red & LES PAUL heritage cherry with Duncan Seth lover pickups for me.

[@PJandtheBeard]

335 style guitars are definitely like playing with a boat anchor over your shoulder.

[@moosemuseum1853]

Ibanez sound great!

[@PJandtheBeard]

No arguments here!

[@pbgoncalves4]

and it is GREAT!!

[@markpell8979]

I'd be happy with any of these three but prefer the Sire. Btw Epiphone's base model 335 is $549 as of 1/4/25 at GC/MF and Sweetwater.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Agreed, all three are nice! The ES-335 we had was not the base model and was the Figured Semi-Hollowbody. Still listed at $699 on zZounds. That said, I might save the money and go for the base model without the figured top and back if I was going for one.

[@markpell8979]

@PJandtheBeard Yeah I just mentioned that price because I'd checked recently. $549 for a new basic 335 is very reasonable. But the $700 range for the guitars you featured is still great value and the Sire is hands down the best of the three, although as I said I'd take any of 'em. Btw a friend offered to sell me his Epi 339 tobacco burst like Beard's, w/case in excellent condition, for $300! Catch is he won't ship it so I'd have to go 1,000mi for a visit to get it. Looks like I might be taking a road trip.

[@PJandtheBeard]

@ that’s a series road trip! The 339 is a great guitar and that’s a great deal.

[@markpell8979]

@@PJandtheBeard It's a steal if I work it into the trip right. Thanks guys. New subscriber!

[@PJandtheBeard]

Thanks for the sub. I would that’s a great deal. Kept everything original on mine except for upgrading the electronics to USA pots. I really love that guitar. Wouldn’t trade it for a Gibson 339.

[@mikehoehn1475]

I have no skin in the game. The epiphone wins. Ibanez is just ok. I was disappointed with the sire. I thought it would be the one to win ,it does sound good though. Thx

[@PJandtheBeard]

Honestly, these were really closely matched. On another night we may have picked differently. I was surprised when we both picked the Sire to be honest. It was a touch and go decision.

[@endoalley680]

For a great sound, replace the Ibanez S58 alnico 3 magnets with alnico 5 magnets.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Can I just say how much I hate messing with wiring in a semi-hollow body guitar! :)

[@endoalley680]

@@PJandtheBeard When it comes to working on the selector switch and the potentiometers, yes no kidding. Changing magnets can be done fairly easy with pickups still soldered in. Main thing then is to protect the body from chipping when pickups are loose and dangling. great video!

[@PJandtheBeard]

@@endoalley680​​⁠that makes sense and makes it a more viable option. I changed the pots in my 339… that’s no joke at all. I’ll pay someone next time!

[@andreasfetzer7559]

I think you cant go wromg with a gibson es 335😊

[@PJandtheBeard]

It's weird. I wasn't a fan of mine when I first got it. Once is switched out the pots from 250k to 500k pots it came alive. Love it now. Not sure why it had 250k pots with humbuckers to start with.

[@gavriloprincip11]

Ibanez! ....if it's good enough for Scho it's good enough for anyone

[@PJandtheBeard]

Can’t argue with that perspective. Saw him live a few years ago. What a monster!

[@shanewalton8888]

Ibanez won. That Epiphone kinda ugly.

[@PJandtheBeard]

I respect that call!

[@DonaldButler-u2k]

Way Too much reverb and bass.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Lots of opinions too! :)

[@1Rockstok]

You guys suck at this.

[@PJandtheBeard]

Well the goal was to hang out and try a bunch of gear so we are in fact, very good at meeting the goal. If you don’t like it move on. We are though, happy to bring some joy to your life by giving you someone to dump on. Must be a miserable existence. Now, I believe I hear your mother calling. Time for the keyboard warrior to go upstairs for dinner.

[@fb8966]

at what time do they comment on the neck.... all the rest can be changed... the feel of the neck is THE most important part of a guitar's feel...

[@PJandtheBeard]

We probably talk about it more in the individual episodes on each guitar. Although, we probably could spend some more time on it..