Who loves playing their Les Paul mellow and clean?

[Luboy]

mostly clean, regardless of guitar. or just slightly dirty clean, then it's even better.

 

[keys88]

My '74 Custom with t-tops sounds like the cats pajamas in the neck or middle position though an amp just on the edge of breakup. Mostly clean but with a touch of grit when you pick hard. Gorgeous blues tone.

 

[dancsgrv]

Fantastic clean sound on the neck pickup. Good distorted too, but so good clean with a little chorus!

 

[Sharp]

I have an old mxr distortion + that I throw in sometimes, but usually I play “clean”. Like others here, I set my amp at breakpoint and dial it in on the guitar. This may sound twee, but I find effects get in the way of my expression.
Suffice to say that there are a ton of good sounds one can coaxe from a Les Paul and an amp.

 

[dro]

My Standards 05's and 06 are normally played in middle position. Like to use a minimum vol. Morley for boost. Will kick it to the bridge for more bite. Rarely use neck by itself. The Classic on the other hand. Gets either neck or bridge. With middle pos. not getting used much. Neck on the Classic sounds allot like middle on the Standards.

 

[jdiego]

Neck humbucker on a Marshall at edge of breakup plus some reverb, sometimes with a tube screamer as a booster (drive rolled off)

I love it for blues, sounds like Gary Clark Jr.

 

[gypsyseven]

Also always prefer a clean amp as the foundation my tones are build on...
I always did and will...
At home I use a fabulous Blackstar Studio 10 6L6 and with the band a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe...
I‘m a pedal junky too I guess...

 

[Caretaker]

I've been playing my Les Pauls clean with no apology for a long time now . . .

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The different pickup configurations make for different variations on my sound. I run both pickups together on each of them with nothing in between them and a Fender amp but a volume pedal, with reverb set to 4. I've loved the sound ever since.

Love that Pallo.
My dream guitar.

 

[lpfan1980]

Ive decided My LP is my #1 its just sounds too good and is too much fun playing it clean playing it every day now.

 

[Lhdr]

Neck pick up, clean blues or major (Dickey Betts style) or minor anything, all night long. Never use pedals. Rarely use treble pickup, but damn it sounds good too! When that treble pickup kicks in, it demands attention. It’s the ONLY reason I bought the damn thing! Nothing does clean better. Nothing. Thick and creamy, Fender amp, slight break up...oh yea!

Why would you want to ruin perfection with distortion? Tell me why?

 

[morelespauls]

Just love it. The Vibro King on about 2 1/2 with neck pup on the R8

 

[Uncle Vinnie]

I'm more into jazz than rock and blues, so 99.9% of the time I'm using the bridge pup with the tone rolled back and clean as a whistle and lots of midrange on the amp. Playing P90s and mini humbuckers like that is a sweet sound.

 

[bungle]

But of course. Les Paul’s have many voices. Usually start mellow (backing track) then go from there.

 

[ayakush]

I personally think the magic happens when your amp is just beginning to break up if your guitars volume knob is all the way up. And you back it off until clean. Between adjusting your picking and the guitars volume knob I can get MOST of the guitar tones i like.

That’s true, I would even add that I came to conclusion that probably overdriven sound of the guitar suits Blues music a lot. Maybe it’s because of the nature of the Blues music - it sounds good clean and overdriven no matter what one might personally prefer. At least to my own taste I accept overdriven sounds in Blues music, the rest I like clean nowadays.

 

[moreles]

I like low or moderate output humbuckers so that I can get a really articulate clean sound. As for "mellow," if that means thick and pseudo-jazzy, then, well, no. What I love about good PAF-type HBs is that they are open, airy, and full of overtones on top of a strong fundamental.

 

[MiniB]

Robben Ford does......

 

[TorzJohnson]

Clean for me too. An LP through a Princeton Reverb is my favorite sound. It gives you the whole spectrum of the guitar's sound, whereas effects seem to strip a lot of that out.

 

[MiniB]

 

[FunkmastaL]

I'm more into jazz than rock and blues, so 99.9% of the time I'm using the bridge pup with the tone rolled back and clean as a whistle and lots of midrange on the amp. Playing P90s and mini humbuckers like that is a sweet sound.

Same here. I grew up listening to a ton of rock but got into jazz/funk/hiphop as an adult, but still always wanted a Les Paul. I was always under the assumption that Les Pauls had a much deeper/thicker sound than say a Strat or Tele. I also always wanted to get one because of my upbringing of worshiping guys who played Les Pauls. When I finally got one I played the neck pickup like 85% of the time, but was surprised to see a majority of Les Paul players using the bridge pickup like 85% of the time. Totally shook my world and understanding of how a lot of my idols likely used the instrument.