Don't let the rock stance fool you. This SG is a master of versatility.
Practical features. Upmarket looks. Surprisingly broad palette of stellar tones from flexible pickups.
Heavy for an SG.
$899 street
Epiphone Prophecy SG
epiphone.com
The guitars in Epiphone's new Prophecy Collection, which includes the Prophecy SG reviewed here, perform an impressive balancing act. They streamline the classic Gibson four-knob control array, trade PAF-derived pickups for Fishman Fluence units, and style the guitars in a manner that screams "rock" with an exclamation point. But for all the streamlining, these instruments are enormously flexible, and they retain important cosmetic touchstones that emphasize the family connection to parent company Gibson's most iconic designs. Epiphone also maintained balance when it comes to price. The Prophecy SG is a reasonable $899.
Like the other Prophecy instruments in the collection—which include a Les Paul, Flying V, and Explorer—the China-built SG borrows a few styling moves from Gibson's Custom Shop-level instruments as well as unique cosmetic touches. On the SG, these include a 5-ply bound headstock, a split-diamond headstock overlay, and a bound ebony fretboard with fancy block-and-triangle pearloid/abalone inlays. On our review model, an appropriately menacing aged-gloss black finish conceals the ½" maple cap which Prophecy models wear atop otherwise solid mahogany bodies. But you can also opt for a flashier red- or blue-tiger aged gloss flame-maple veneer.
Custom Touches
The set neck is solid mahogany with 24 jumbo frets. The profile, however, is a contemporary asymmetrical version of the SlimTaper neck profile, which is thicker on the bass side. I prefer it to the SlimTaper of old, which always felt a little flat in my fretting hand. Scale length is a traditional Gibson-style 24 3/4".
Epiphone certainly didn't reach for the bargain bin when it came to hardware. The Prophecy SG features Grover locking Rotomatic tuners, a black Graph Tech NuBone nut, and a LockTone Tune-o-matic-style bridge and stopbar tailpiece—all upgrades from Epiphone's less expensive models.
Even unplugged, the Prophecy sounds and feels lively and rings with sustain.
The Prophecy SG's most significant new features, though, are the Fishman Fluence pickups that effectively make up the guitar's engine room. These active humbuckers offer three voices via the push-pull pots on the master volume and tone knobs: modern high-gain humbuckers with both pots in, vintage-like PAF humbucker tone with the bridge knob up, and a hum-free single-coil tone with the volume knob up. Between that and the 3-way toggle switch, there are a lot of sounds to play and create with.
Prophet Margin
Our review Prophecy SG was set up well and played great right out of the case, though it's a little on the heavy side for a slim-bodied SG, at around 8.5 lbs. Even unplugged, the Prophecy sounds and feels lively and rings with sustain. Those characteristics remain very present when you plug it in, too.
The high-gain humbucker settings pack plenty of power. Played through the lead channel on a Marshall-style Friedman and a high-gain Axe-Fx preset, the pickups seemed to sustain almost endlessly. But I also heard a certain sweetness you don't find in many over-wound or hot ceramic pickups. That said, the PAF setting is probably my favorite of the available voices. It moves from crunchy to full, articulate clean tones with a lot of personality. It also handles high-gain environments with a classy edge. The single-coil sounds are welcoming, too. I sensed a little hum when I mated the single-coils to high-gain amps or presets, but they are impressively quiet otherwise.
The Verdict
The Prophecy SG has tons of tone on tap, and is much more flexible than its rockist stance and 2-knob control array suggest. It's an impressive guitar for the money, and the bundle of upmarket features and high build quality put it over the top when it comes to bang for the buck.
Epiphone Prophecy SG Demo - First Look
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Stompboxtober is finally here! Enter below for your chance to WIN today's featured pedal from Diamond Pedals! Come back each day during the month of October for more chances to win!
Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
Jackson Guitars announces its first female signature artist model, the Pro Series Signature Diamond Rowe guitar.
“I‘m so excited about this new venture with the Jackson family. This is a historic collaboration - as I am the first female in the history of Jackson with a signature guitar and the first female African American signature Jackson artist. I feel so honored to have now joined such an elite group of players that are a part of this club. Many who have inspired me along this journey to get here. It’s truly humbling.” says Diamond.
Diamond Rowe is the co-founder and lead guitarist for the metal/hard rock band Tetrarch. Since co-founding the band in high school, Tetrarch has become one of the most talked about up-and-coming bands in the world - with several press outlets such as Metal Hammer, Kerrang, Revolver, Guitar World and many others boldly naming Diamond Rowe the world’s next guitar hero. Tetrarch has connected with many fans while performing on some of the world's biggest stages garnering spots alongside several of the heavy music world’s biggest names such as Guns N’ Roses, Slipknot, Lamb of God, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Sevendust, Rob Zombie, Trivium, and many many others. The Jackson Pro Series Signature Diamond Rowe DR12MG EVTN6 is based on Jackson’s single-cut Monarkh platform and is a premium guitar designed for progressive metal players seeking precision and accuracy.
Crafted in partnership with Diamond, this model boasts a 25.5 “ scale, Monarkh-styled nyatoh body draped with a gorgeous poplar burl top, three-piece nyatoh set-neck with graphite reinforcement, and 12˝ radius bound ebony fingerboard with 24 jumbo frets. The black chrome-covered active EMG® 81/85 humbucking bridge and neck pickups, three-way toggle switch, single volume control, and tone control provide a range of tonal options. The Evertune® bridge ensures excellent tuning stability, while the Dark Rose finish with a new custom 3+3 color-matched Jackson headstock and black hardware looks simply stunning.
To showcase the Pro Plus Signature Diamond Rowe DR12MG EVTN6, Diamond shares her journey as a guitarist, delving into the inspiration behind her unique design specifications and the influential artists who shaped her sound within a captivating demo video. This video prominently features powerful performances of Tetrarch’s latest release, “Live Not Fantasize,” and “I’m Not Right” showcasing the DR12MG EVTN6’s unparalleled tonal versatility and performance capabilities.
MSRP $1699.99
For more information, please visit jacksonguitars.com.
Tetrarch's Diamond Rowe Unveils Her New Signature Pro Series DR12MG EVTN6 | Jackson Guitars - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Jackson Pro Series Signature Diamond Rowe Electric Guitar - Dark Rose
Signature Diamond Rowe, Dark RoseCort Guitars introduces the GB-Fusion Bass Series, featuring innovative design and affordable pricing.
Cort Guitars have long been synonymous with creating instruments that are innovative yet affordably priced. Cort has done it again with the GB-Fusion Bass series. The GB-Fusion builds upon Cort’s illustrious GB-Modern series and infuses it with its own distinctive style and sound.
It starts with the J-style bass design. The GB-Fusion features a solid alder body – the most balanced of all the tonewoods – providing a fantastic balance of low, mid, and high frequencies. The visually stunning Spalted maple top extends the dynamic range of the bass. A see-through pickguard allows for its spalted beauty to show through. The four-string version of the GB-Fusion is lacquered in a supreme Blue Burst stained finish to show off its natural wood grain. The five-string version features a classic Antique Brown Burst stained finish. A bolt-on Hard maple neck allows for a punchier mid-range. An Indian rosewood fretboard with white dot inlays adorns the 4-string Blue Burst version of the GB-Fusion with an overall width of 1 ½” (38mm) at the nut, while the GB-Fusion 5 Antique Brown Burst features a Birdseye Maple fretboard with black dot inlays and an overall width of 1 7/8” (47.6mm) at the nut. Both come with glow in the dark side dot position markers to help musicians see their fretboard in the dark. The headstock features Hipshot® Ultralite Tuners in classic 20:1 ratio. They are cast of zinc with aluminum string posts making them 30% lighter than regular tuners providing better balance and tuning accuracy.
Cort’s brand-new Voiced Tone VTB-ST pickups are the perfect J-style single coil with clear and robust bass sounds and classic warmth. The GB-Fusion comes with a 9-volt battery-powered active preamp to dial in the sound. With push/pull volume, blend knob, and 3-band active electronics, players can access a wide array of tones. The MetalCraft M Bridge is a solid, high-mass bridge. It provides better tone transfer and makes string changes easy. Strings can be loaded through the body or from the top giving players their choice of best string tension. The MetalCraft M4 for 4-string has a string spacing of 19mm (0.748”) while the MetalCraft M5 is 18mm (0.708”). Speaking of strings, D’Addario® EXL 165 strings complete the GB-Fusion 4. D’Addario EXL 170-5SL strings complete the GB-Fusion 5.
Cort Guitars prides itself on creating inventive instruments musicians love to play. The GB-Fusion Bass Series is the latest and greatest for musicians looking for a stellar bass guitar that is not only economical, but has the reliable robust sound needed to hold up the back end in any playing situation.
GB-Fusion 4 Street Price: $699.99
GB-Fusion 5 Street Price: $849.99
For more information, please visit cortguitars.com.
Here’s a look under the hood of the funky rhythm-guitar master’s signature 6-string.
Hello and welcome back to Mod Garage. Since we’re still celebrating the 70th birthday of the Stratocaster, this month we will have a look under the hood of the Fender Cory Wong model to see just what’s so special about it. (I can tell you—it’s special!)
Guitarist, songwriter, and producer Cory Wong is renowned for his solo work, his band Fearless Flyers (with Mark Lettieri, Joe Dart, and Nate Smith), and collaborations with artists such as Vulfpeck, Jon Batiste, and Dave Koz. His playing style is deeply rooted in funk rhythm guitar, with a heavy dose of rock and jazz. Well-known for playing a Stratocaster, his signature model was released in 2021, and it’s a unique offering. If you want to build your personal Cory Wong Strat, here is your shopping list, starting with the primary structure:
• Alder body, scaled down to slightly smaller than a regular Stratocaster, with Fender American Ultra body contours
• Maple neck with a rosewood fretboard with rolled edges, modern Fender American Ultra D neck profile, slightly larger headstock, 25.5" scale, 10" to 14" compound radius, 22 medium jumbo frets
• Locking tuners with all short posts, a bone nut, and two roller string trees
• Vintage-style 6-screw synchronized tremolo
• Hair tie around the tremolo springs (which mutes them to enhance the rhythm tone)
• .010–.046 strings (nickel-plated steel)
“While these are all interesting features, resulting in a very comfortable guitar, you don’t need to copy every detail to transform one of your Stratocasters into a Cory Wong-style Strat.”
For the physical build, as you can see, Wong and Fender created a real signature instrument to his specs and wishes. While these are all interesting features, resulting in a very comfortable guitar, you don’t need to copy every detail to transform one of your Stratocasters into a Cory Wong-style Strat. My personal favorite of these is the hair tie for muting the tremolo springs. A lot of my funk-playing customers are doing similar things on their Strats to get a dry sound, and they’re using all kinds of funny things in there, like foam, rubber bands, and pieces of cotton, as well as hair ties.
Now, let’s have a look at the electronics:
• Seymour Duncan Cory Wong Clean Machine SSS pickup set
• Standard 5-way pickup-selector switch with classic Strat switching matrix
• 250k master volume pot with a 90/10 audio taper and Fender treble-bleed circuit PCB
• 250k tone pot with a 90/10 audio taper and Fender Greasebucket tone control PCB for only the neck pickup
• 250k audio push-push tone pot with Fender Greasebucket tone control PCB for only the bridge pickup; the push-push switch overrides the 5-way switch and defaults to middle + neck pickup (in parallel) as a preset
• Middle pickup is without tone control
Let’s break this down piece-by-piece to decode it:
Pickups
The pickup set is a custom SSS set from the Seymour Duncan company with the following specs:
• Overwound hum-canceling stacked bridge pickup with a 3-conductor wire and shield in permanent hum-canceling mode (red wire taped off), bevelled alnico 5 magnets, approximately 14.5k-ohm DCR
• Overwound middle single-coil, RWRP, beveled alnico 4 magnets, approximately 7.1k-ohm DCR
• Overwound neck single-coil, bevelled alnico 4 magnets, approx. 7.0k-ohm DCR
The pickups are voiced for clear highs, which perfectly suits Wong’s funky playing style and tone. While a lot of pickup companies will have pickups in that ballpark, it will be difficult to put together a full set that really works as intended. The Duncans in the Cory Wong Strat are available as a balanced set, so if you want to get as close as possible, I think this is your best bet.
5-Way Pickup Selector Switch
Nothing special here, just the standard 5-way switch with two switching stages that is wired like a classic Stratocaster:
bridge
bridge + middle in parallel
middle
middle + neck in parallel
neck
The upper tone pot is assigned to the neck pickup, while the lower tone pot is connected to the bridge pickup, leaving the middle pickup without tone control.
Master volume pot and treble-bleed circuit.
The 250k master volume pot is a standard CTS pot with a 90/10 audio taper found in all U.S.-made Fender guitars. The volume pot has the treble-bleed circuit from the Fender American Pro series, but uses a ready-to-solder PCB from Fender instead of individual electronic parts. The PCB is available from Fender individually (part #7711092000), but I have some thoughts about it. While using a PCB makes a lot of sense for mass production, it has some downsides for us mortal human beings:
• Soldering on PCBs requires some training and also special soldering tools.
• The PCB is quite expensive, while the individual electronic parts are only a few cents.
• The PCB uses ultra-tiny surface-mount parts, so it’s very difficult to repair or mod it to your personal taste.
I don’t think we need a PCB for adding a treble-bleed circuit, so let’s do this project using conventional electronic parts. The treble-bleed PCB contains a 1200 pF capacitor with a 150k-ohm resistor in parallel, plus another 20k-ohm resistor in series. Using individual parts, it looks like this:
Courtesy of single-coil.com
In general, a treble-bleed circuit will help you to combat the “volume vs. tone problem” when using passive single-coil pickups. When you turn down the volume (even just a bit), the high end or treble loss is not proportionate. In other words, a small cut in volume creates a far greater loss in your guitar’s treble response. Using a treble-bleed circuit is an easy way to get rid of this problem, as long as it is calculated carefully.
ONLINE ONLY: If you want to find out more about treble bleed circuits please have a look here: https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage/treble-bleed-mod
Next month, we will continue with part two of the Cory Wong Stratocaster wiring, bringing it all together, so stay tuned!
Until then ... keep on modding!