Epiphone G-400 Custom Review
Contents |
Information
Original author: Kevin-riff-after-riff
Weapon: Electric Guitar
Make: Epiphone
Model: G-400, the SG with 3 humbuckers
Price: £195 GBP not that expensive Petercook's Guitar World UK
Playing Style: Rock, Funk, Metal, Tranquel Jamming and attempts of Shred!
Introduction
I've not been playing for that long, just about 1 1/2 years, I only played on about 5 guitars (i mean like more than 5 hours in total) and they are - Fender TC-90 (worth around £400), Jackson RX10D (wa £340), Tokai Goldstar Studio (my dads, worth like £500 now probs), Epiphone Les Paul something (worth nothing coz it played boringly!) , PRS something (worth around £200) Fender Mexican Strat (wa £300?) and maybe some acoustics and some cheap strat copies at school oh and some yamaha pacificas etc.
And this Epiphone SG plays a hell alot nicer than the Les Paul, it is probs just my personal preference, and it is alot cheaper as well i assume, as it is alot less wood and all. The frets dont feel as smooth as my TC-90 but i think its just coz it needs some lemon oil or whatnot and it is not glossy But the general playability is great, more details in a sec. although the pickups arent as immediately different like the TC-90, the money i saved from getting this would pay for the replacements So generally, I think if you got £300, get this thin instead of something like the lowER end of some big companies and just slap some new pickups on it
Sound
I plugged it in my amp just now, it sounds nice, quite rockin soundin. The pickups all sound exactly the same when i flick the RED pickup switch (red like a danger do not press button) I twiddled around with the 3 volume knobs and the one tone knob for a bit and not much happened, I can see why it was only £195, they spent all the money on the body, neck and pots and just glued some magnets together to make the same pickups. So this guitar has one sound at the moment, although the sound is pretty good actually, it is like um when Joe Satriani plays something on a clean channal. But the pinched harmonics arent picked up much, the 5th fret harmonics and stuff are fine, but the pinched ones are just non existant. Although it seems to pick up the legato playing of mee pretty clearly . I think I am gonna go order some new pickups and replace these except the middle one so i can keep the original sound as well (clever me! lol) Today I plugged it in to my Marshall AVT275 with DF-7 with Pavels settings (sounds great btw, thanks Pavel) and i was playing all sorts and it was pretty great soundin, the only thing was the pinched harmonics werent soundin but besides from that, i was playing all black sabbath stuff and it was pritty sweet, power chords was not mudding up etc. and the hammer ons etc shined out nicely
Feel
The first thing I felt was that it was as heavy as a single brick (in other words, light!!) maybe because the body is reall thinnnn! following UNPLUGGED! Then I put my hands on the neck, and went allll the way up to the 22nd fret with no problem what so ever (unlike silly les pauls ) And the back of the neck is pritty slidey Great upper fret acceessss!!! wooh! shame no 23/24 frets Then I started fretting, now every time I land a finger on any fret below 12th, the notes ringg out like a bell, but as i expected there was hardly anything above 12th coz it wasnt plugged in. So it is generaly quite fast (is fast the word?) But when i bend the strings the first time, the fret seems quite scratchy, think it needs oiling or whatnot? but i got to ignor it after a bit and now I dont feel it unless i remember it does that. Oh and the factory/shop setup was silly, the lower strings were too low, so there was buzzing, but i have now expertly lowered the set And the headstock seems to be forever falling towards the ground when i stand up? wierdly balanced SGs
Value
For paying £195 I think its pretty good, the general built quality is great only the pickups need replacing coz they all sound the same (any suggestions?) And maybe they should label the volume knobs, it dont even say which one its connected to! (could say neck, middle, bridge instead of volume, volume......volume instead!) anyhow, the guitar itself is great, no dangerous flaws besides from the red pickup switch and the 3 pickups that all sound the same. Its a shame it dont have a ibanez edge pro on, but then again its an SG, but i sure do miss the floating trems, but then i will spend too much time playing with it and not working on my picking! Anyhow, the guitar is worth more than it is in quality, but it is cheaperfied by the smal need of lots of wood and the way how things are cheaper if they are mass produced (talkin buot the same pickup)
Overall Impression
I think this guitar is pretty great for its price, it just needs pickups swapping out and that would make it a perfectly fine high end guitar (with fixed bridge) I would bet alot of money that it plays just as well as the £100000 Gibson SGs... It would be a 8/10 because of two things - 1. Those pickups!! 2. Floating Trem Acquisition Syndrome
Alternative Weapon
I dont know, I wouldnt get anything else in this price range unless i knew to start with what im gonna do with it, for example i knew the pickups aint gonna be so good, so i had forseen a repllacement already (any suggestions?)
