El-Cheapo Epi G-400 SG and Line 6 Spider 15w amp review!!

[jgcable]

From yours truly.. the amp snob, the amp whore, the self proclaimed great guitar player... blah blah blah....
1st let me start off by saying I am not very picky when it comes to guitars. I can play and tear up shit on most any guitar. Regarding modeling amps.. I have never met one I didn't like for home practicing.
I just scored a brand new vintage red Epiphone SG. Its the model G-400. It sells online for between $350.00 and $400.00 new. Set neck, alnico pickups, its modeled after a 1962 I believe.
In the deal I also scored a brand new Line 6 Spider 3 15w combo. It has an 8" speaker and the usual modeling stuff.
I won't bore you guys with details because you can look up the specs of both online. Now.. here goes the review.
Guitar....
Fit and finish is an 8. Frets are done very well, neck is nice and straight, nice super low action with no buzzing at all, guitar stays in tune great.
Finish is nice, its mohagony but I think its not American mohagony. Its too light to be the same wood as a USA SG. Neck has block inlays that are done very well.
Electronics are average. They work fine for me. Will the last forever? Maybe. Maybe not. They are cheap enough to replace. Pick ups sound fine to me too. They sound great clean and they can take a bunch of overdrive with no problems.
The guitar is headstock heavy so be prepared for a headstock dive. I have a strap to correct that problem so its not a problem for me. You could also move the strap button to the top horn like the Tony Iommi model and that will take care of most of the balance issues. Guitar will do anything from jazz to metal with no problem at all. As long as you can hang.. the guitar can. I would recommend it to anybody looking for a budget SG. I have read reviews from many newbie players who either love it or hate it. Don't believe what you read by a newbie player. Believe me. I have been playing for 33 years. I have owned several REAL SG's. Customs, vintage models etc...
Lots of newbies bash the pickups and the electronic and are instantly looking to rip everything out so they can get great tone. The reason they can't get great tone out of this guitar is because they are beginner players. Beginner players have a tough time getting a great tone out of anything and instead of practicing they go on the tone search tour!
I would and probably will.. play this guitar live. 75% of our songs require me to have a double locking trem but that leaves at least 3 or 4 songs that I could play a fixed bridge guitar. I will certainly play this one.

Now on to the amp. Typical Line 6 modeling amp. 4 channels. Clean, Crunch, Metal and Insane. All channels are tweakable and totally useable. It has all the effects you would need. It has an 8" modeling speaker and I gotta tell you that this sucker is LOUD for a 15w SS combo with an 8" speaker. Its open back and it actually thumps!! Great for home practice. Stick a mic in front of it and as long as you only need one sound (there is no footswitch option) it would work at a small gig no sweat. Fit and finish is really nice. Its light, portable and packed with only the features you need. No tuner but heck.. I don't care. I have at least 5 tuners laying around. I don't tune much anyway. My guitars stay in tune. Amp also has a recording/headphone output jack and a 1/8" CD or IPOD input so you could jam along with music.
The clean channel is outstanding.
The crunch channel actually sounds a little like a Marshall Plexi!!
The metal channel sounds slike a Marshall JCM800 with a stomp box in front of it.
The insane channel is complete over the top distortion for soloing. To my ears.. it sounds very much like George Lynch's tone in Under Lock and Key.
I see these amps selling for practically nothing. Actually, the Spider IV is out now. Great home noodling amp.
I give both the amp and the guitar the 2 thumbs up for severe bang for the buck.

[markD]

good to know on the SG. i have been curious about thise for some time. update us after a gig. i'd like to know if the pickups squeal at higher volumes.

[jgcable]

I'll let you know when I plug it into my live rig. My guess though is that it won't squeal. These are pretty decent pickups actually. If they do end up squealing I will just pot them.
Epiphone makes several versions of the G400 SG. They have a real nice custom model in cream with 3 pickups and all gold hardware. That looks like a really nice guitar. Mine is just the standard vintage red model. I was beating the crap out of it last night and it held up great.

[jgcable]

Let me preface this by saying I wasn't in the market for an SG. Actually, I was looking for another Ibanez RG because I really need a locking trem but this was a deal I couldn't refuse. Its 100% flawless mint condition. Only played a few times by a kid who decided he didn't like guitar.

[jgcable]

Been playing this G-400 SG for almost a month now. Still plays great and stays in tune.
Great value for the money.

[straycat]

You know what? I love cheap guitars some are shit and some are pretty damn sweet.I had a MIC set neck Jr with P-90's and it was a killer guitar.
Sold it at a guitar show for 10 bucks more than I paid for it.Buy it, play it, then sell it and still make a bit of money its all good.

[Grandturk]

I can't get past the headstock and the name on Epiphones... but that's just me. I really want a 335 - and I can't see paying $2K for a 5% guitar (as in I would play it 5% of the time) - so I've been looking at the Epiphone Dots for years. I actually like the Ibanez Artcore semi-hollows a bit better than the Epi's I've played.

[bucketbrian45]

I can't get past the headstock and the name on Epiphones... but that's just me. I really want a 335 - and I can't see paying $2K for a 5% guitar (as in I would play it 5% of the time) - so I've been looking at the Epiphone Dots for years. I actually like the Ibanez Artcore semi-hollows a bit better than the Epi's I've played.

Yeah I hate the epiphone headstock with a passion.

[Flatpicker]

Just to add in, I think the Line 6 stuff is really underrated.
I'm still getting plenty of fun and tones from a POD XT and a pair of headphones.

Such great practice tools out there nowadays.

[jgcable]

I can't get past the headstock and the name on Epiphones... but that's just me. I really want a 335 - and I can't see paying $2K for a 5% guitar (as in I would play it 5% of the time) - so I've been looking at the Epiphone Dots for years. I actually like the Ibanez Artcore semi-hollows a bit better than the Epi's I've played.

Not for nothing but.... John Lennon played an Epiphone Casino.

[jgcable]

Just to add in, I think the Line 6 stuff is really underrated.
I'm still getting plenty of fun and tones from a POD XT and a pair of headphones.

Such great practice tools out there nowadays.

For practice at home they really can't be beat. This stupid little Spider 15W combo really sounds great and has the perfect amount of effects and features. Stupid cheap too!

[jgcable]

You know what? I love cheap guitars some are shit and some are pretty damn sweet.I had a MIC set neck Jr with P-90's and it was a killer guitar.
Sold it at a guitar show for 10 bucks more than I paid for it.Buy it, play it, then sell it and still make a bit of money its all good.

You know.. I have made more money on selling cheap guitars than the expensive ones. I really don't think I have ever lost money on an Epiphone guitar. I have had plenty of high end Gibsons and I will tell you from experience, the high end Epiphone copies are just about as good as the real thing and used ones can be bought and sold for just about the same amount of money you paid for them. This ES-333 Tom Delonge Signature model I just picked up is an outstanding guitar.