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tjon901 « Heavy metal Epiphone SG »
Published on 06/23/11 at 12:57Epiphone is Gibsons budget guitar line. Recently Epiphone has been putting out their own unique guitar models. One of these lines is the Prophecy guitar line. The Prophecy line has a few guitars of different shapes but they all pretty much have the same basic features.The Epiphone Prophecy series is a really nice line of guitars from Epiphone. These guitars have a real metal attitude to them. All the guitars in the Prophecy series feature 24 fret ebony fretboards on special satin finished necks with EMG or super hot passive pickups. The necks are nicely bound like on custom models They all have cool quilt maple tops and special inlays. This guitar is the SG of the Prophecy line. The SG shape fits with the series more than the Les Paul shape does. The upper fret access is much much better than the 24 fret Les Paul model. This guitar has active EMG pickups with an 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. The controls are simple with master volume and master tone knobs and a 3 way switch.
UTILIZATION
The upper fret access is much better than on the Les Paul guitar in this series. There are other 24 fret SG guitars out there so the design isnt anything new. The speedtaper neck that is on all the Prophecy guitar is really nice and it is a good alternative to a raw neck like you would get on an Ibanez of Zakk Wylde guitar. The ebony fretboard is something you do not see much on Epiphone guitars. The 24 jumbo frets let you get a nice low action. The tune-o-matic bridge is locking so it will not fall off when you are changing strings. This is something that many Gibsons do not have.
SOUNDS
The EMG set in this guitar is benchmark in the metal industry. The guitar sounds great with any high gain setup. 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. Since the neck pickup is pushed farther back it will get more bite than a normal neck pickup. 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. This tone produces better cleans than stock EMG's and clean tones are usually the weakest part of the EMG sound. With the SG double cut body and the 24 frets you can really wail on the frets and make your solos sing.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar fits the Prophecy line better than the Les Paul version does. The 24 fret neck on the SG body fits well. The SG body lets you reach the upper frets better. And the SG shape just looks metal. If you are looking for a metal SG and dont mine it being an Epiphone this is a good choice.
UTILIZATION
The upper fret access is much better than on the Les Paul guitar in this series. There are other 24 fret SG guitars out there so the design isnt anything new. The speedtaper neck that is on all the Prophecy guitar is really nice and it is a good alternative to a raw neck like you would get on an Ibanez of Zakk Wylde guitar. The ebony fretboard is something you do not see much on Epiphone guitars. The 24 jumbo frets let you get a nice low action. The tune-o-matic bridge is locking so it will not fall off when you are changing strings. This is something that many Gibsons do not have.
SOUNDS
The EMG set in this guitar is benchmark in the metal industry. The guitar sounds great with any high gain setup. 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. Since the neck pickup is pushed farther back it will get more bite than a normal neck pickup. 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. This tone produces better cleans than stock EMG's and clean tones are usually the weakest part of the EMG sound. With the SG double cut body and the 24 frets you can really wail on the frets and make your solos sing.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar fits the Prophecy line better than the Les Paul version does. The 24 fret neck on the SG body fits well. The SG body lets you reach the upper frets better. And the SG shape just looks metal. If you are looking for a metal SG and dont mine it being an Epiphone this is a good choice.