Gibson SG or DC Junior?

[Jonesy]

Is there anyone out there that's owned both and can shed some light on the differences in neck/feel/overall quality etc? Or even if you've owned one of them I'd be keen to hear your opinions on them please.

Essentially, I've sold a few bits and pieces over the last couple of weeks and made some room for another bass, so would like some help deciding where the money goes 😁. I'll end up whacking some flats on it and using it for a blues band in rotation with a P.

At the minute I'm leaning toward the SG, mostly because its got that humbucker right up under the bridge (even though I hear the modern SG's aren't quite as thumpy and muddy as the old EB3's) and I'm a sucker for their looks. Has anyone cured their neck dive? I used to have an Epiphone EB3 and moving the strap pin helped the dive on that a bit, but not loads, so I'm guessing a new bridge and tuners could be the complete cure?

Thanks!

 

[3below]

Can only comment about the SG bass.  Cured neck dive with wide strap and Hipshots. Fretwork (and hence action) on mine is really good.  It is one of the most comfortable basses I own, dimensions, contours and weight.  I also fitted a supertone bridge on mine, get the right year SG bass and it will have the Babicz bridge fitted as standard.  The worn satin/matt finish wears off with use, looks OK on my brown one, not so sure what the black or cherry ones will look like with wear.  Great with TI flats

[Paul S]

Can only comment about the DC.  No neck dive, already has lightweight tuners.  Fit and finish fantastic.  Lightweight, nice and comfy.  I also fitted a Supertone bridge.  The 3 point works ok but I didn't find it comfortable when palm muting.  Pickup up a little further down gives perhaps a bit more bite.

Here is a clip of mine in action, through the pa via a fab Ampeg rig, to give an idea of what it sounds like  

 

[Jonesy]

5 hours ago, 3below said:

 I also fitted a supertone bridge on mine, get the right year SG bass and it will have the Babicz bridge fitted as standard.  

I saw the 2014 & 15 came with the Babicz as standard and wondered why they stopped doing that. It seems the bridge is one of the first things people change, so you would have thought the upgrade would've stuck around. 

 

4 hours ago, Paul S said:

Can only comment about the DC.  No neck dive, already has lightweight tuners.  Fit and finish fantastic.  Lightweight, nice and comfy.  I also fitted a Supertone bridge.  The 3 point works ok but I didn't find it comfortable when palm muting.  Pickup up a little further down gives perhaps a bit more bite.

Here is a clip of mine in action, through the pa via a fab Ampeg rig, to give an idea of what it sounds like  

 

Thanks for that clip, lovely playing and the bass sounds great! 

Is there any reason you both went for the hipshot bridge over the babicz? 

The neck measurements on both look pretty similar, but I can find anything that mentions the depth. Are either of them chunky in the hand? 

 

[3below]

Supertone allows lateral string alignment, saddles do not drop out when the string is removed. The Supertone is not perfect, the lateral locking grub screws protrude. This might not be a problem for some, for me it was. Contact points on bridges should not have sticky out bits Imo. They can be inserted from underneath with some faffing and the problem goes away. The big gain is that the bridge is longer and the E string ball end windings and silk sit correctly behind the saddle. There are DIY or bought solutions to this for the three point bridge.

 

[Paul S]

11 hours ago, Jonesy said:

I saw the 2014 & 15 came with the Babicz as standard and wondered why they stopped doing that. It seems the bridge is one of the first things people change, so you would have thought the upgrade would've stuck around. 

 

Thanks for that clip, lovely playing and the bass sounds great! 

Is there any reason you both went for the hipshot bridge over the babicz? 

The neck measurements on both look pretty similar, but I can find anything that mentions the depth. Are either of them chunky in the hand? 

 

Thank you!  I went for the Supertone because I'd had one before and thought it was a decent bit of kit.  Also it was cheaper than the Babicz   AFAIA the necks are very similar on the SG/DC.

[Jonesy]

I guess it comes down to looks and if I want the warm round mush of the SG, or the option of added bite in the DC..... 

I may have an update for you over the weekend 😏

[3below]

Stating the obvious, it is a shame you can't try both in these odd times.  I find the neck really comfortable (I have small hands), it is not slim like a jazz bass, nor is it 'big' like a P bass. 

Edited January 21, 2021 by 3below

[Jonesy]

Yeah, it is! It's hard finding a shop that has both available to buy anywhere near me anyway, so even if places were open I'd be hard push to A/B them. 

There is an SG for sale not a million miles away though so I may go pick it up try it out over the weekend 😁

[Dosi Y'Anarchy]

I owned the DC and played the SG. I found the SG more comfortable due to the body shape and contours, whereas I had to fit an arm rest to the DC.

I find alot Gibson basses to be quite dark, which isn't my style but loved the woodyness of the DC, it gave me something I just couldn't get out of my other basses and although I had to fit an arm rest, I loved the size of the body, it was otherwise a breeze to play, I'm a small guy and this felt proportioned to me. 

As I said, the DC felt a bit too dark but the coil split/tap thing did help with that (at the cost of that woody midrange), I also got it modded to bypass the electronics altogether which increased the brightness a little too. 

The SG bass was fine, love the look but didn't sound as "unique" as the DC, the DC reminding me a bit of the Grabber II I had and made me feel a bit like Jack Bruce (ironically) and John Entwistle when playing it.

The SG just sounded like I expected it to: big fat neck pickup that didn't seem super special, a better defined bridge pickup that I wouldn't use on its own and a blended tone that was fine. 

I mainly play rock music and the DC can cut through a heavy mix no problem. I feel it excels at "vintage' rock tones and, if I ever rolled the tone down, would be great for other styles too, like motown.

I feel that the SG isn't there to cut through, it's there to provide some background warmth and depth to the low end of the mix. Having said that, put it though a dirty amp or overdrive and I'm sure you could get some Jack  Bruce or Trevor Boulder out of it, both of whom I love. 

l think the SG looks great and prefer the ergonomics more but tonally, it didn't give me anything I felt special and that I couldn't really have gotten out of a cheaper bass (an epi EB-0 has the neck pickup and even better the Rumblekat has two pickups). The DC is the closest I'm going to get to a short scale, single pickup Thunderbird and to me, lives in that weird 70s era of Grabbers and Rippers tonally. 

Now, having said all that, id still like to spend more time with the SG, but at the price I'd probably be better off buying the DC and an Epiphone Eb-0 and saving some money! 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Dosi Y'Anarchy

[Dosi Y'Anarchy]

Oh here's a shot of my DC (which I sold) 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFmQNZInzF8/?igshid=wq220bzs0o0b

Here's what I did to it

*chrome thunderbird pickup cover

*babicz Bridge

*cheap self adhesive thumbrest from eBay. 

* tone control modded to a push /push pot to wire pickup straight to output. 

*thumbrest - which I ended up hardly using

Edited January 26, 2021 by Dosi Y'Anarchy

[3below]

2 hours ago, Dosi Y'Anarchy said:

.....The SG just sounded like I expected it to: big fat neck pickup that didn't seem super special, a better defined bridge pickup that I wouldn't use on its own and a blended tone that was fine.

A concise summary and I fully concur.  I also find the SG bass records well, need to do very little post processing to the DI recording to get a good/reasonable/rubbish (select as appropriate) sound. 

[Fil1ip]

Did you buy the SG, I feel the temptations too. 

I like neck pickups,

Do the SGs feel more normal scale because of the body or do the feel short.

 

[Jonesy]

 

On 16/03/2021 at 18:51, Fil1ip said:

Did you buy the SG, I feel the temptations too. 

I like neck pickups,

Do the SGs feel more normal scale because of the body or do the feel short.

 

I certainly did! Been meaning to report back on it for a while, but wanted to to bed it in first.

It was in desperate need of a setup and clean when I got it, but now that all that has been sorted, it's an absolute dream boat! It's the first short scale I have owned/played and I have to say it's very easy to pick up and get around the neck. It kind of felt a bit like a toy bass at first, but in a good way.

Compared to my Ric and P it's light as a feather, the body is pretty thin too and it's comfy to play both sitting and standing. Neck dive has never bothered me on any bass, but a decent suede backed strap keeps it fairly minimal.

I use it to play in my blues band and if you're after a fat, warm, round tone then you can't go too wrong with it. I just can't wait to play it with a band or actually at a gig (hopefully they're a thing that will still happen!!).

 

[Fil1ip]

5 hours ago, Jonesy said:

 

I certainly did! Been meaning to report back on it for a while, but wanted to to bed it in first.

It was in desperate need of a setup and clean when I got it, but now that all that has been sorted, it's an absolute dream boat! It's the first short scale I have owned/played and I have to say it's very easy to pick up and get around the neck. It kind of felt a bit like a toy bass at first, but in a good way.

Compared to my Ric and P it's light as a feather, the body is pretty thin too and it's comfy to play both sitting and standing. Neck dive has never bothered me on any bass, but a decent suede backed strap keeps it fairly minimal.

I use it to play in my blues band and if you're after a fat, warm, round tone then you can't go too wrong with it. I just can't wait to play it with a band or actually at a gig (hopefully they're a thing that will still happen!!).

 

Looks ace, thank you for the review 

So tempting

[Jonesy]

Turns out the answer to this age old question is.........

Get both!

After playing and falling in love with the SG, I've decided I'm going to sell my P and have replaced it with the DC. The P feels like a boat in comparison now and the shorties are so much easier to noodle around the neck, I'm really loving them both!

The DC only arrived the other day, but I'm really impressed with it so far. The back of the neck is a lot rounder in your hand, but its by no means a baseball bat and is still very comfy. I've just spent the last hour or so trying different playing positions with my right hand and have found what works for me, so colour me impressed! I think I'll play around with it for the next month or so and then chuck some TI flats on it 😊

 

[Jonesy]

On 26/01/2021 at 08:18, Dosi Y'Anarchy said:

I owned the DC and played the SG. I found the SG more comfortable due to the body shape and contours, whereas I had to fit an arm rest to the DC.

I find alot Gibson basses to be quite dark, which isn't my style but loved the woodyness of the DC, it gave me something I just couldn't get out of my other basses and although I had to fit an arm rest, I loved the size of the body, it was otherwise a breeze to play, I'm a small guy and this felt proportioned to me. 

As I said, the DC felt a bit too dark but the coil split/tap thing did help with that (at the cost of that woody midrange), I also got it modded to bypass the electronics altogether which increased the brightness a little too. 

The SG bass was fine, love the look but didn't sound as "unique" as the DC, the DC reminding me a bit of the Grabber II I had and made me feel a bit like Jack Bruce (ironically) and John Entwistle when playing it.

The SG just sounded like I expected it to: big fat neck pickup that didn't seem super special, a better defined bridge pickup that I wouldn't use on its own and a blended tone that was fine. 

I mainly play rock music and the DC can cut through a heavy mix no problem. I feel it excels at "vintage' rock tones and, if I ever rolled the tone down, would be great for other styles too, like motown.

I feel that the SG isn't there to cut through, it's there to provide some background warmth and depth to the low end of the mix. Having said that, put it though a dirty amp or overdrive and I'm sure you could get some Jack  Bruce or Trevor Boulder out of it, both of whom I love. 

l think the SG looks great and prefer the ergonomics more but tonally, it didn't give me anything I felt special and that I couldn't really have gotten out of a cheaper bass (an epi EB-0 has the neck pickup and even better the Rumblekat has two pickups). The DC is the closest I'm going to get to a short scale, single pickup Thunderbird and to me, lives in that weird 70s era of Grabbers and Rippers tonally. 

Now, having said all that, id still like to spend more time with the SG, but at the price I'd probably be better off buying the DC and an Epiphone Eb-0 and saving some money! 

Sorry, I completely missed this! I think it was after I had already picked up the SG, so was in a hazey honeymoon period and didn't catch the reply.

I know what you mean about the ergonomics of the DC, the slab takes some getting used to, but i think I've cracked it and am used to sharp corners with my Ric 😃

Really like the mods you've made to yours - especially the chrome pup cover. Did you pick that up from a UK shop?

[Dosi Y'Anarchy]

No the pickup cover was from a US seller on ebay, its just a thunderbird pickup cover. It fit really well but because the plastic of the stock pickup cover is thicker/larger, the thunderbird replacement was a little loose. 

[Jonesy]

Ah, was it loose enough that it was a problem, or do you reckon its still worth doing?

[Dosi Y'Anarchy]

It wasn't a problem per se, but as I used the pickup as a thumbrest as with the additional space between the pickup cover and the pickguard, the pickup could be a bit wobbly. 

[Paul S]

On 20/05/2021 at 18:53, Jonesy said:

Turns out the answer to this age old question is.........

Get both!

Question.  Did you get the SG with a hard case?  If so, which one and does the DC fit in it?

I can tell you that a Gator Gator GW-LPS Deluxe Guitar Case is an 'exact' fit for a DC, despite beig for a Les Paul single cut guitar.  When I say exact, I mean it could have been tailor made for it.  But my Antoria SG is a squeeze into this same case - the upper body width is a little more and it distorts the case a bit.  

[Jonesy]

29 minutes ago, Paul S said:

Question.  Did you get the SG with a hard case?  If so, which one and does the DC fit in it?

I did, it came with the original one it was sold with. I've tried putting the DC in it and it doesn't fit. The curve for the horns on the DC are nearer the neck and it doesn't even squeeze in. I'd guess a SG guitar case might fit your Antoria?

Thanks for the heads up about the gator case, I'll add that to the shopping list! The soft case it comes with is pretty decent, but I don't like that you can see the neck break angle and wouldn't really want to take it out of the house as is. I do love that the case candy includes a photo of the guitar in the factory being checked. I suppose it could be any blue DC, but it's a nice touch!

[Jonesy]

On 20/05/2021 at 22:04, Dosi Y'Anarchy said:

It wasn't a problem per se, but as I used the pickup as a thumbrest as with the additional space between the pickup cover and the pickguard, the pickup could be a bit wobbly. 

Brill, thanks very much. I generally don't use pup covers as rests, so could get away with it. Or I'm thinking of looking into how much it'd cost to chrome the current cover.

[Adee]

Couple of interesting mods on this DC ...

 

[Jonesy]

I really like the Low End Lobster vids and spent quite a while watching this and his original review. Both pups sound good to me, I think I prefer the stock Gibsons as they're a bit darker/woodier sounding and suit what I'm using it for though. I just need to pick up that chrome cover as the Serek looks amazing!