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Epiphone G400: Save up for an upgrade or a new guitar?


TheWorminator

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Before you see about spending any money on having new pups put in your G-400, might I suggest having a setup done? That will probably solve your fret buzz problem also. I picked up one of these a month ago and once I did a setup on it, I was amazed at how well mine stays in tune and at how great the pups sound. I also don't have any fret buzz of any kind. I set the action on mine according to Gibson's standards which is 5/64 Bass side and 3/64 Treble side. You might also want to check the tailpiece to make sure that it's not flush all the way onto the body. It should be raised where it's at the same angle as the headstock is. I use mine with a Crate GTD 120 combo and it sounds great, specially when I kick in the distortion.

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I almost bought a '66 LE G-400 ($400) at Guitar Center before my wife upsold me to a floor model Gibson SG Classic ($800) (I felt a bit sick about the price but the wood and color looked better and I thought the guitar had better tone/sound unplugged, and I wanted to make my wife happy...). Anyway, I think the G-400 is a nice guitar. I had planned on putting GFS pickups on it from all the good reviews I found here (I think some of those folks are over on the wiki now). A lot of people had swapped out their stock G-400 pickups.

 

I don't think anyone has mentioned this: why don't you take your guitar to the GC or local music shop and tell them you're shopping for an amp? That way you can see for yourself if it's the setup/pickups or not.

 

As for your pod, I have a pod XT Live and I'm very happy with it through headphones. I still enjoy playing it with an amp but I think you'll get a "truer" sound of your guitar through headphones since you're hearing the amp models uncolored by your own amp. Of course you could bypass the amp modelling and just use the effects. I'm by no means an audiophile (ampophile) so that's just my opinion there.

 

As I said before, I've heard lots of good things about guitarfetish/GFS, and plan to buy a bridge pickup for a crappy but fun-to-play guitar I have. The one thing I'll say is that they don't have many sound file examples of their pickups, which is a real bummer.

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Like others here have said: "Get a Great Amp!" The "Best" guitar, with all the "Best" electronics, will still sound like $%^&, though a lousy amp!

Determine where you're going to do the bulk of your playing (bedroom, bar or ballroom), and buy appropriate amp(s). No sense getting a

Marsall Stack, for your bedroom, etc. (unless it's the "micro-stack"). ;>)

 

CB

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It's not your guitar. It's your amp.

 

I have this new Epi SG and when I play it through my VOX AC30 or my Fender Princeton it sounds like a million dollar guitar. Really, there is nothing wrong with an Epi G-400's pickups. Your guitar is a winner. Play it in a top amp and you'll hear how fine your Epi G-400 is.

 

SGoutside002.jpg

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Hey guys, a quick check with the local guitar shop mentions that they are dealers for the following brands:

 

* AER Compact Amplification

* Roland Amplifiers

* Valvetrain

 

I'll mostly be playing my guitar in my bedroom. Suggestions? I've heard good things about Roland Cubes, but what about the others? I just want to narrow it down to specific ones I want to try out.

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In that case....A Roland Cube amp, would be great! Cube 30, 60, or even the new 80 watt! You could use the 60 and 80 in a gig situation, too.

But, if you're not gigging...a Cube 30 would be great! They are great little amps, with lots of choices of tones. Good cleans, and you have modeling

options, too...for Fender Blackface, and "British" (Marshall etc.) tones, as well. There are smaller "Cube" amps, as well...but, with at least the Cube

30, you'll have a bit more "headroom" and options, even if you don't need the volume. Check one out, when you have a chance!

 

CB

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I would definitely get a new amp first. There are a lot in the 200-300 dollar range that are very good. I have a Vox AD30VT ($269 now) and I love it. In fact I liked it so much I just ordered a Vox VT50. No' date=' it doesn't sound as good as a tube amp, but it sounds pretty darn good. As far as the muddiness goes, a new amp could make a huge difference. You can always EQ the amp to the guitar and take some bottom end out. And if you still want new pickups, at least you have a descent amp.

 

+1 on the Vox Valvetronix! I put 2 12" Celestion 100 watt speakers into my Vox AD50VT and the CLEAN sound is to die for :-s Any distortion and effects are supplied by my Boss ME-50.

 

The best recommendation I could make for ANY guitar/amp rig would be to get an EQ pedal (Boss, Behringer, Dano...). It's like "lifting a blanket off your amp". :(

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A new amp would definately improve your tone. I would stay away from the Marshall MG series. I made the mistake of buying the MG50DFX around 3 years ago and shortly after I got it, the fan in the back would start making a grinding noise every time I turned it on. Needless to say, after 1 week I returned it and got myself a used Crate GX-65 which I used until last X-mas, which I updated to a Crate GTD120. Crates are IMO, very underrated amps and are very durable and not at all expensive.

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I honestly think your money would be much better spent on an amp before pickups/new guitar.

 

I don't think you should spend another dime fooling around with the G-400...an already fine guitar. Put your effort into a decent amp. Then you'll see how good a guitar you already have in the G-400.

 

 

 

Excellent advice, right there ..... I was surprised at how much better my LP sounded when I upgraded to a tube amp ... volume and tone controls on the guitar actually seem to work - they seemed to have little effect through my crappy 15w ss amp

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I bought my G-400 not long ago from ebay it was made september 2003 in korea i got it for 124 Pounds bargain price considering it had 0 problems i fought it had 1 but it was just some dust in the input to the guitar :D

 

Anyway i really like it , and the more i play it the more i seem to love it i just learned since i've been loving you "live" and it showed its true power :-k

Btw i use Guitar rig 3 LE or an epi valve jr mostly the valve jr tho.

 

My advice is if you know someone with guitar rig 3 test it through that i think its a good way to test a guitars power

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Speaking of amps to improve your tone, I had a chance to play my buddy's brand-new Fender Super Champ XD last night. All-tube 15-watt amp with modern modeling and DSP effects - best of both worlds. I was very impressed. And only $300! Worth looking into. There's also a 5-watt Vibro Champ XD with the same features - only $200. I'm seriously thinking about buying one of them. Check out this demo:

 

http://www.gearwire.com/fender-superchampxd-demo.html

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The Eppy G400 is a great guitar but even an actual '59Les Paul's sound would suffer through a poor amp.I have a 3 pup G400 Custom and put it through a Vox ad120vth with a 412bn cab and it sounds deadly.You can pick up many used Vox modelling amps pretty cheap,my ad120 head was only $300 Cdn. used and the VT series are usually much cheaper and their amp models and effects are superb.You should really bring your guitar when you try out an amp so then you have a clear idea what it will sound like.Happy hunting.

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Take a look on E-Bay or Craig's List and see what you can find in case money is a issue as far as getting a amp is concerned. I've seen, at least in my area, a Fender Frontman 65 going for $175.00, which is a pretty good deal. Also you could check out www.daddys.com . They're a chain which services all of New England and upstate New York, but they also do mail order. They sell both new and used gear at very low prices!

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Hi guys, I'm back to ask your advice again.

 

I brought the G400 to a local luthier to do some setup and maintenance work. They're the Roland dealer I was speaking about earlier. They offer both the Cube 20X for $225CAN and the Cube 30X for $295CAN. Is the 30X worth that extra 70 dollars in price when compared to the 20X? I'll be using it mostly for playing at home/bedroom so a huge amount of power isn't really important, but if there's a decent difference in sound, is that worth the extra price?

 

Thanks!

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Thanks guys. I'll take a look at the GFS pickups again too.

 

One more thing' date=' should I be staying away from Marshall's MG series? As far as I can tell, they're the low end line, are they decent/worth it?[/quote']

 

There's plenty of lower-priced low-wattage tube amps out there that will blow your head off - and probably for the same price as those MG's. Just a thought.

 

Oh, and GFS pickups are worth twice as much as what you pay for them, trust me.

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Hi Worminator,I just noticed you're from Canada too,I bought a Vox Pathfinder 15R from L.A. Music in ON. for $135Cdn. it's a great little amp with decent reverb and a funky tremelo and it sounds a lot louder than 15W it's plenty lound for in house and a couple of my buddies use them for jazz gigs in smaller rooms.

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