Les Paul's first low impedance guitar designs were the 1969 Les Paul Personal and Les Paul Professional models. But these were superseded in 1971 when Gibson introduced Les Paul's recording model. The Les Paul Recording looks very much like a Les Paul Standard model but it has some key differences. The Recording was so called because, by virtue of its low impedance humbucking pickups, it was meant to be plugged straight into a low impedance mixing desk input. These low impedance pickups had a clearer sound with a wider flatter frequency response than high impedance pickups which tend to color the frequency spectrum. This meant that the Recording had a versatile array of tones from Rickenbacker-like, to Telecaster-twang to rounded jazz tones.
To get the full range of tones required mastery of the Les Paul Recordings complicated control panel. Controls included Volume, Treble, Bass, Decade, Microphone Volume, Pickup Selector, Tone Switch and Phase Switch. Also to get the best out of the Recording it needs to be used with amplifiers, cables etc. designed for a low impedance signal. The Recording was not a great commercial success with the average guitarist perhaps because of these issues and was discontinued in 1979. Les Paul himself, however, loved to use his Recording guitars and they remained his firm favorites until the end.
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Vin Noe from Large Hadron
Submitted by Vin Noe (not verified) on
Vin Noe from Large Hadron also uses the LP Recording --