madarnell's Full Review: Epiphone Dot Electric Guitar
I’ve been wanting a 335 for some time. I have a friend who has two vintage 65’s and I love how his sound. So when running across a used Epiphone Dot on the web at a great price I figured I’d give it a try.
Now I had tried several new Gibson 335’s a year ago at my local dealer and didn’t like them at all. The problem to me was, they just sounded too muddy. Not enough detail for my liking. I like full sounding tone with a nice bell-tone chime on the top end. Think of B.B. Kings tone or at least in that neighbor hood. And with those $2500.00 Gibson’s I tried they just sounded dull & muddy. I had ended up getting a DeArmond X155 for almost x3’s less and I love that guitar. Click/paste this link if you’d like to hear it in action. The rhythm guitar parts are my 1970 Less Paul Black Beauty, and the lead Jazzy parts are the De-Armond X-155 plugged into a black face Fender 65 Twin Verb.
http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamM3U.m3u?ID=29479&q=Hi
*So why would you want the Epiphone Dot 335 if you tried the expensive Gibson models and hated them?*
I’m glad you asked, here’s why…..
I have stated before that I only write reviews on guitars that I actually have owned & gotten to try for a while. I don’t just fiddle on one at the dealer and think I know how it is. Most times a guitar can only be truly appreciated when played through your own amp, settings, environment, studio, effects or live gig’s. In my e-pinion.
So with that in mind and granted it was a good deal, I thought maybe I would like it played through my gear, at my studio, in a more controlled atmosphere that I’m comfortable in.
Everything I do sounds great through that amp, so I figured if a guitar can’t sound good through that amp, the guitar isn’t worth squat to me! Also that was the same amp at the store I tested the new Gibson through and didn’t like them.
So sure enough, the Dot sounded exactly the same as the others. Dull; muddy, to bassy, no clarity or definition. I had to roll all the lows down on the amp and boost all the mids & highs to get any kind of definition to the tone. Plus the pickups are hotter than I like so it was hard to keep the bluesy little tube amp from crunchn’ up. Even with the pre-gain almost all the way down. So I hated it right off the bat. If you have to tweak your amp too much like that to get a decent tone that’s bad.
Now I’m liking it better. The Twin can stay clean without crunchin’ up with beefier guitars. I was getting nice full Jazzy sounds like Wes Montgomery or Larry Carlton. So I’m thinking to my “self-maybe it’s ok after all.”
*3rd test*
Next I ran it through my Mesa Boogie V-Twin tube pre-amp plugged into the Twin again. This I was able to get some great hard/heavy rock crunchy rhythm sounds. Think AC/DC meets Ted Nugent. Also some good high gain leads too. The bridge pick-up sounded best with this combination. The neck & in-between setting were to muddy, again.
*Construction*
I started to catch my finger on the first fret. I noticed it was rough & sticking out a bit. Definitely needed sanding down. The rest seemed ok, finish looked ok. Had a cheap plastic fret nut, that I’m sure in time would need to be replaced. In-put jack seemed a little loose & wobbly. I had to tighten it.
Neck felt too fat for my liking, I like the slimmer tapered early 60’ necks.
*Does the Epiphone 335 Dot compare to the Gibson 335 overpriced Dot?*
Well for most practical purposes yes. They both sounded the same to me….Muddy.
The Gibson 335’s are put together better and it does seem like the workman ship is a lot better but I’m not sure $2000.00 better.
*Who would want a guitar like this?*
If you’re a straight ahead Jazz player who can’t afford the Gibson 335, this would work for you.
If you’re a hard rock player who wants the extra beef, who can’t afford the Gibson 335, it probably would work for that too.
But if you need a versatile guitar forget it, this guitar really can only do one or two things (maybe more with a lot of extra tweaking) and that’s about it. I also wouldn’t recommend it for beginners because of the size & the neck seems kind of fat.
In closing, I feel the older models from the 50’s & 60’s blows away anything Gibson/Epiphone are making right now, and just cause it say’s Gibson on it doesn’t mean it’s gonna sound and play like the classic ones.
I packed mine up after 1 week of owning it & traded for a Classic 2-track reel-to –reel-mastering deck. So all’s well here.
Mamma always said, “Quit tracking in all that mud!”
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