Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy EX Guitar Review

Epiphone's Prophecy line of guitars does something not often seen in the instrument industry. Like other brands, it takes legendary models like the Les Paul and SG, and bases designs from them. But, instead of going for a vintage look, feel, and sound, harder edged details are added to set the instrument apart for the hard rock and metal genres. One of these such guitars is the Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy EX. Let's take a look to see just what makes it different.

Features: The Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy EX's body is made of solid mahogany. Additionally, it has a quilt maple top with a dark, sharp looking ebony finish. At first glance it's easy to see that this instrument is designed to make ears bleed. The neck of the Prophecy EX is set into the body, and is mahogany with a tapered design. The fretboard is made of Ebony, and has 24 jumbo frets with unique blade shaped pearl inlays. As an added feature, the headstock of the guitar has its own blade style inlay. All of the hardware on the Prophecy EX, including the tuning heads, the pickup covers, and the Tune-O-Matic bridge, are midnight black. Electronically, the guitar has one volume and one control pearl colored knobs with a three way selector switch. At the neck position is an EMG-85 active pickup, and at the bridge position is an EMG-81 pickup.

Playability: The Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy EX has a few features not commonly found on a stock Les Paul that make it a little easier to play, especially for metal. The SpeedTaper neck makes it nice and fast, which is a great quality for shredders. Also, the steep cutaway and set neck of the Prophecy EX allow for excellent high fret access when busting out shrieking solos.

Sound: When you plug in the Epiphone Prophecy EX, it is immediately that this guitar is made for hard edged music. The EMG's activate, and you don't even have to start playing to know it sounds mean. At the neck position, the EMG 85 delivers chunky rhythm tones, and at the bridge position, the EMG-81 delivers screaming, sharp tones for lead.

Overall: For the serious metal musician, the Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy EX is an excellent choice. It has all the features, playability, and sonic capability to allow for studio quality music to be made. You can find the Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy EX in music stores for about $850.