Dot Pro

[Alan189]

Does anyone have any experience of these?

 

I'm looking to get one in cherry but can't see any in the UK at all...

[Alan189]

http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Archtop/ES-335-PRO.aspx

 

335-Pro, same thing

[Bluemans335]

I have a few Dots (regular, Deluxe, and Royale) and am very pleased with them. Well made. I don't have one of the new 335 Pros yet, but they come with better stock PU's and push-pulls for coil cut so you really get your money's worth. I have a Les Paul Royale that came with Alnico Classic Pros, and they sound great.

 

I think you'll really like a 335 Pro.

[crazy old fool]

I was eyeing the 335 Pro up. Seen a few online outfits advertising it and was taken by i) the coil taps and ii) the neck inlays being bars as opposed to dots - made it look a bit more Gibson like (OK so I can't justify buying a Gibson with my standard of playing)

 

Anyway, I found that actually laying hands on a 335 Pro was vastly more difficult. I happened to be in a large dealer in Reading and bumped into the local Gibson bloke who reckoned that the numbers of 335 Pros were limited and that no further ones were likely to come into the UK. So chasing after one was going to be a tough order. I then toddled in to another major dealer in Guildford and picked up the 339 Pro. For some reason it just didn't feel right. Body was too small (and this is coming form a Strat owner !!) OK so coil taps give you a greater variation in sound (twin bucker, neck single/bridge bucker, neck bucker/bridge single, twin single coil, plus any single variation of neck or bridge) but you know what ? I thought about it and asked myself why was I after a 335 in the first place. Answer was I was after the sound of those twin humbuckers and the ability to toggle between neck and bridge or both together. So why was I worrying about coil taps ??? In reality the only reasons for opting for the 335 Pro were

1) the pups were supposed to be a better standard

2) that neck inlay.

 

Now you don't miss what you never had, and if I was that hung up about the quality of the pups I could always change them (albeit it's a bit more fiddly than doing it on a Strat) And I did have a really good blast in a session room with a Dot 335 hooked up to a rather nice Fender Hot Rod Deluxe II. Somehow an hour and a half vanished whilst I ran through a range of tunes ranging from bluesy through jazz to a bit of rock and pop. At then end I was hooked. So I strolled out with a wicked black Dot 335 tucked under the arm and a grin like a Cheshire cat. Hooked up to my dinky practice amp via multifx and loop pedals it sounds great. Even unplugged it can make you smile.

 

Do I miss the fact that it isn't a 335 Pro ? Not a bit

[dporto]

You forgot the neck binding... ;)

[Bluemans335]

I strolled out with a wicked black Dot 335 tucked under the arm and a grin like a Cheshire cat. Hooked up to my dinky practice amp via multifx and loop pedals it sounds great. Even unplugged it can make you smile.

 

Great choice. All of the Epi 335 family I've played are nice guitars; well-made, sound great, and that big body is very comfortable.

[Willsjazz]

I have a 335 Pro sunburst. Snatched it up just before they became scarce. It's a really nice sounding and playing guitar. Let me just say though that the coil taps are useless. The single coil position is weak and thin. Other than that this guitar is great. I swapped out the pickups for Gibson 57 Classics and got rid of the push pull volume pots. Sounds 10 times better and no more coil tap nonsense. Also swapped out the pick guard for a period-correct short guard. Why did they do that?!!!

[mcgruff]

Personally, I'm a big fan of splitting humbuckers. Haven't played a dot pro though - the sound you get will vary a lot depending on the details of the pickup. A low-output humbucker might have only 5,000 turns of wire per coil whereas an "average" single coil pickup might have 7-8,000 turns of wire. That's a very significant difference. A hotter humbucker (more turns of wire) should split better.

 

Unfortunately it's the low-output humbuckers I like in a dot... so I've been experimenting with putting a tap in one coil at about 2,000 turns or so. Now you can wire up the "split" option to give 5,000 + 2,000 turns of wire (or whatever you want). That gives you a fuller sound and even a small amount of hum-cancelling. It's not going to be identical to a single coil because, with two coils side by side, the magnetic aperture is wider but you can definitely get some useful extra sounds. I use my split neck setting a lot (9,800 turns total splits to 7,400).

 

Zhangbucker humbuckers have a "splat" ("split & tap") option but I've never seen anyone else offer this as a standard option. Of course the boutique makers will wind anything to order.

[dporto]

I have a 335 Pro sunburst. Snatched it up just before they became scarce. It's a really nice sounding and playing guitar. Let me just say though that the coil taps are useless. The single coil position is weak and thin. Other than that this guitar is great. I swapped out the pickups for Gibson 57 Classics and got rid of the push pull volume pots. Sounds 10 times better and no more coil tap nonsense. Also swapped out the pick guard for a period-correct short guard. Why did they do that?!!!

 

The coil splits/tasp sound great on my 339 Pro... different pups on the DOT Pro or just a difference in opinion?

[Willsjazz]

Probably a difference of opinion. I can't imagine they'd use different pickups on the 339 Pro and 335 Pro. I really gave the stock pickups a chance but they just didn't do it for me. I prefer the sound of classic humbuckers.

[CheapShoes]

I will chime in that splitting the Classic Pros on my SG Pro is rather awful, except... When you have it in the middle position - either both split or better with just one pickup split. Split singly it sounds like a coffee can guitar, and cannot understand that as a selling point.

[dporto]

" Split singly it sounds like a coffee can guitar, and cannot understand that as a selling point. "

 

I've never seen nor heard a "coffee can guitar"... Do they sound better or worse than cigar box guitars? Seems an extreme example to me

[mgrasso]

1370435296[/url]' post='1384216']

Personally, I'm a big fan of splitting humbuckers. Haven't played a dot pro though - the sound you get will vary a lot depending on the details of the pickup. A low-output humbucker might have only 5,000 turns of wire per coil whereas an "average" single coil pickup might have 7-8,000 turns of wire. That's a very significant difference. A hotter humbucker (more turns of wire) should split better.

 

Unfortunately it's the low-output humbuckers I like in a dot... so I've been experimenting with putting a tap in one coil at about 2,000 turns or so. Now you can wire up the "split" option to give 5,000 + 2,000 turns of wire (or whatever you want). That gives you a fuller sound and even a small amount of hum-cancelling. It's not going to be identical to a single coil because, with two coils side by side, the magnetic aperture is wider but you can definitely get some useful extra sounds. I use my split neck setting a lot (9,800 turns total splits to 7,400).

 

Zhangbucker humbuckers have a "splat" ("split & tap") option but I've never seen anyone else offer this as a standard option. Of course the boutique makers will wind anything to order.

 

Damn, I had no idea splitting coils was this specific.

 

Hats off Mcgruff, great information.

[mcgruff]

Usually it isn't... virtually all 4-wire humbuckers don't do the split and tap thing. It ought to be more common though, at least in low-output humbuckers which often don't have enough turns of wire to split well.

 

Basically, fewer turns of wire means a lower output and higher resonant frequency. Take that too far and the pickup will just sound thin and shrill.

[CheapShoes]

" Split singly it sounds like a coffee can guitar, and cannot understand that as a selling point. "

 

I've never seen nor heard a "coffee can guitar"... Do they sound better or worse than cigar box guitars? Seems an extreme example to me

 

 

AKA trenchtown banjo. Very tinny, little bass or mids. Set your amp accordingly to compensate. Your mileage will vary to your uses. Might be cool cranked up, I'll admit I only tried those settings alone and not in a band setting.