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tjon901 « Budget SG with high end pickups »
Published on 06/23/11 at 20:04The Epiphone G-400 is a budget priced version of the Gibson SG produced in Asia by Epiphone. The design is based off the early 60s version of the Gibson SG with the small batwing style pickguard. The G-400 has been produced for over 20 years and has been a standout of the Epiphone line. It is less than half the price of a Gibson SG but it is more than half the guitar. The G-400 comes with Grover tuners on the headstock of a 22 fret neck with a rosewood fretboard. The fretboard is bound with rosewood instead of plastic. It is made from mahogany and has a classy white finish. It has the classic Les Paul electronics setup with dual humbuckers and dual tone and volume controls with a 3 way toggle pickup selector. The pickups in this special model are fully active EMG pickups. It has the EMG 81 in the bridge and the 85 in the neck, the classic metal combination.
UTILIZATION
With the dual cutaways of the SG design the upper frets are very easy to reach. It has the Gibson 60s profile neck which is the preferred profile for guitar players. In the 50s Gibson necks were very large and referred to as baseball bat necks. In the 60s Gibson switched to a slimmer neck design. This slimmer design is what the G-400 has. One problem SG's is that the neck is mounted far out on the body and with the body being thinner than a Les Paul the guitar is slightly neck heavy. When you are standing up and playing the neck may want to drop down and you may find yourself holding the neck up.
SOUNDS
The guitar has the classic SG sound. With the mahogany body you get a full sound and since it is slightly thinner than a Les Paul you get more high end bite on your sound. The heavy metal EMG pickups provide a sweet heavy metal tone. The 81 in the bridge has been an iconic metal pickup for decades. It has a high end crunch and distortion that gives it clarity no matter how much gain you are using or how low you tune. The 85 in the neck is a great pickup too. It has a more fuller sound than the 81 so in the neck position you can get fat lead tones. The 85 is also good too in the bridge. With EMG's quick connect system you can easily swap these pickups position without soldering anything. The 85 in the bridge produces a super thick tone and cleans up better than the 81. Speaking of cleans if you do the 18v mod on the EMG's. With the 18v mod you run the pickups on two batteries instead of one. This provides a more organic tone with more headroom.
OVERALL OPINION
The Epiphone G-400 has all the same pieces that a Gibson SG has. The only difference is that it was made in another part of the world. This guitar with the EMG pickups will give you better metal tones than any Gibson SG with Gibson pickups. It is nice for Epiphone to put out moderately priced guitars that come with high end pickups. You could not make the guitar this cheap by yourself if you got a normal G-400 and a set of EMG's for it. They are doing it for you from the factory. If you are looking for an SG and dont have much money to spend this is your best bet.
UTILIZATION
With the dual cutaways of the SG design the upper frets are very easy to reach. It has the Gibson 60s profile neck which is the preferred profile for guitar players. In the 50s Gibson necks were very large and referred to as baseball bat necks. In the 60s Gibson switched to a slimmer neck design. This slimmer design is what the G-400 has. One problem SG's is that the neck is mounted far out on the body and with the body being thinner than a Les Paul the guitar is slightly neck heavy. When you are standing up and playing the neck may want to drop down and you may find yourself holding the neck up.
SOUNDS
The guitar has the classic SG sound. With the mahogany body you get a full sound and since it is slightly thinner than a Les Paul you get more high end bite on your sound. The heavy metal EMG pickups provide a sweet heavy metal tone. The 81 in the bridge has been an iconic metal pickup for decades. It has a high end crunch and distortion that gives it clarity no matter how much gain you are using or how low you tune. The 85 in the neck is a great pickup too. It has a more fuller sound than the 81 so in the neck position you can get fat lead tones. The 85 is also good too in the bridge. With EMG's quick connect system you can easily swap these pickups position without soldering anything. The 85 in the bridge produces a super thick tone and cleans up better than the 81. Speaking of cleans if you do the 18v mod on the EMG's. With the 18v mod you run the pickups on two batteries instead of one. This provides a more organic tone with more headroom.
OVERALL OPINION
The Epiphone G-400 has all the same pieces that a Gibson SG has. The only difference is that it was made in another part of the world. This guitar with the EMG pickups will give you better metal tones than any Gibson SG with Gibson pickups. It is nice for Epiphone to put out moderately priced guitars that come with high end pickups. You could not make the guitar this cheap by yourself if you got a normal G-400 and a set of EMG's for it. They are doing it for you from the factory. If you are looking for an SG and dont have much money to spend this is your best bet.