To be honest, the guitar in front of me is anything but ordinary. Whichever way you look at it, it has loads of features to talk about, even though at first glance it simply looks like a Les Paul from the future. I'll come back to this point in my conclusion, since I think it's where I found the greatest disagreement among the users on the forums I visited. With the new Dusk Tiger, Gibson has taken another step beyond the innovation represented by the Robot series and, in particular, the Dark Fire, its predecessor.
Some elements of the guitar are improvements on existing ones, such as the tuning and tone system (MCK II), while others are completely new (the LP-Z circuit). The Dusk Tiger's main purpose is to give guitarists a range of tonal and tuning possibilities, both live and in the studio, that go beyond what a “conventional” guitar can offer. All with maximum ease of use.
Imagine a guitar that lets you change tuning with a single hand movement in the middle of a song, access banks of different pickup sounds just as easily, offers a high-quality piezo system for acoustic sounds, and lets you redesign all those tuning and sound banks with dedicated software on your computer.
That is sure to pique our curiosity... It's certainly piquing mine right now.
From the outside...
The Dusk Tiger undoubtedly grabs your attention. Standouts include the top finish (with marblewood and exposed ebony figuring), the metal volume knobs with abalone tops, the mirror pickguard with an unusual shape, two pairs of pearloid fangs inlaid at the 5th and 12th frets, and the tiger-style nitrocellulose finish on the back. All these elements give it a glam vibe that doesn't go unnoticed, even though it keeps the proportions of a Les Paul.
The typical three-way pickup selector hides a little secret: it can be rotated from left to right to select the blend of the pickups with the bridge piezo, for more or less acoustic or electric sound. On the back, under the plastic cover that gives access to the pickup circuit, we find a rechargeable battery that powers the guitar's entire electronic system. A charger and a spare battery are included, so we shouldn't have to worry about this at first.
One last element to highlight in this exterior look at the Dusk Tiger is the so-called LP-Z circuit, through which we connect the cable. There are three ways of connecting the guitar to the amplifier: with a classic mono jack cable, with a stereo one or with an XLR. The LP-Z system lets you choose between passive or active mode with a switch. There is a big difference in signal when you engage active mode, so it can be very useful with very long cable runs. You can hear a slight boost in the midrange frequencies with this option, so bear that in mind if you're very picky about these things.
The MCK (Master Control Knob) system
This is undoubtedly the element that makes the Dusk Tiger completely different in terms of tonal possibilities. The system is an update of the one fitted to the Dark Fire, with notable improvements in preset response and ease of use.
The MCK is activated by a push/pull system: we pull the knob and the little lights immediately come on to tell us it's “working.” At that point we enter tuning mode (blue), and the letter “S” appears to indicate standard tuning. With a simple strum of the strings, the tuners on the headstock start to move until they find the tension corresponding to the tuning we have selected. To be honest, this is a little scary at first... So many years of turning them by hand doesn't disappear overnight. The guitar comes with 11 tuning presets to suit all tastes: open tunings, drop D, half a step below standard tuning... and any we can come up with ourselves. Changing tuning within the same song takes a bit of practice, but it can certainly be done.
If we press the MCK down slightly, we access the tone bank (pickup sounds). In the same way, turning the knob from left to right steps through the ten factory-programmed sounds. As a reference, they are named to give us an idea of what they sound like: Les Paul '58, '55, '60, ES-335... and in position “A,” the acoustic piezo sound. I've never been a fan of naming presets after “what they emulate,” because it creates a sort of preemptive rejection of what we're about to hear. How many times have we heard: “That doesn't sound anything like a '58 Les Paul”... Sure, but do you like the sound or not? In fact, I tried the presets without looking at the names; I only realized there was a table of preset names when I was writing the article. My favorites were 2 and 5, both with the neck pickup. Very defined lows, somewhat thicker on 5, but very present.
Option A (acoustic) deserves a few lines. I liked the sound; it doesn't sound plasticky, as usually happens with piezos on electric guitars (and on many acoustics); the sound is rich and pleasing to the ear. I say this because, just as with what I said about preset names, I'm not very fond of the word “acoustic” here either. Perhaps someone should invent one for an electric guitar that sounds through a piezo... “electro-piezo”? “elec-oustic”?... oh well.
There are two more options if we press the MCK: yellow and red. With the yellow option we can have the previous two at once, and with red we can tune strings individually and access the sound editing software.
Chameleon sound editing software
With the Chameleon editing software we can create tunings and sounds using a four-band parametric equalizer and then store them in the Dusk Tiger's presets. All of this is controlled through an interface (Robot Interface Pack) to which we connect the guitar, and which in turn connects to our computer with a FireWire cable. The software is really easy to use and very intuitive, especially if you're already familiar with the world of home recording.
On that last point, recording, the Dusk Tiger also comes well equipped, as it includes Ableton Live Lite 8 and the famous Guitar Rig Pro 4.
What really matters: how does it sound?
We now come to the most important aspect of the instrument. We all know that however much the packaging and accessories appeal to us, in the end it's our ears that rule.
In this respect, the Dusk Tiger meets the expectations you might have, especially if you've previously had the chance to play its predecessor, the Dark Fire. The two are very similar in terms of basic sound, except that the Dusk Tiger has more possibilities.
The guitar comes fitted with a P90H in the neck position. As we all know, the P90, despite being a single-coil, has a very characteristic output level, although it keeps the typical “hum” of single-coil pickups. In theory, this “H” version of the P90 has reduced that hum. However, I didn't notice this on the guitar in my hands. I tried different cables and electrical setups, and nothing. In any case, I admit I'm a fan of P90s, with their very present, defined sound and just the right amount of brightness, and this P90H keeps those characteristics.
In the bridge position, the guitar is fitted with a Burstbucker 3. This is a humbucker from the Burstbucker family, based on the '59 Les Paul sound. The 3 model fitted to the Dusk Tiger is the one with the highest output and presence of the three, and the most modern sound. My impressions with this pickup weren't the same as with the P90: less defined, a bit more distant and matte. Blended with the P90, however, it produced interesting sounds, with the amp's gain at medium-low levels for dirty rhythm sounds.
Conclusion
As I said at the beginning of the article, the Dusk Tiger is a guitar that doesn't go unnoticed. It's a limited edition of 1,000 units, so apart from the value of the guitar itself and its features, you get a high-quality instrument. It's true that it isn't a cheap guitar, but where do we find a cheap Gibson? And if we suddenly did, we'd think... hmm... how strange, what's the catch?
The issue I saw raised most often on the forums I visited is the eternal debate of evolution vs. tradition. On the one hand, knowing what guitarists are like, wouldn't we criticize a lack of new ideas? And on the other, we throw up our hands in horror at daring proposals. I understand both sides, as long as people speak from real knowledge, which almost never happens. We judge things just by looking at a photo, and we all know that in the world of instruments that counts for nothing. How many times have we said that, only for fate to later put that much-criticized guitar in our hands, making us eat our negative words as it becomes one of our favorite instruments? It has happened to me and, ever since, I try to judge things by trying them. I also understand that its looks aren't as “neutral” as those of any Les Paul, which we can see hanging from Peter Green just as easily as from Ace Frehley. But that comes down to personal taste.
Anyone considering buying a guitar like this knows exactly what they're looking for, what they need and what they expect from it. That's why it's important to take your time exploring all the possibilities the Dusk Tiger offers, as there are many.
Regardless of all these thorny issues, the Gibson Dusk Tiger is a very high-quality guitar, quite comfortable to play, with interesting features that more than cover the needs of the 21st-century rock guitarist.
