I had a regular G400, black, MIK. It was a decent guitar, fit and finish and action were all good. I wasn't fond of the pickups, which I found somewhat muddy. Taking the covers off might've opened them up, but I never got around to it. The current models may have upgraded pickups, I don't know. Otoh, I think production is now in China rather than Korea, which could affect quality as well.
I did gig mine unmodded on several occasions. Mine had the small pickguard, which I much prefer to the large guard featured on the special edition. I picked my G400 used up in a pawn for $175, obviously several years ago.
Basically, like Strats, I'm just not an SG guy. The light body and neck-heavy tendencies of the SG are not my thing. Like Strats, I don't dislike them enough to
not own one, either, since they're one of the iconic designs that everyone should have at least some kind of example of (in a perfect world).
My current "SG," which I am very happy with, is an Agile Valkyrie II. I bought mine new on closeout for $99 + shipping when they killed the model in favor of a new design that was less SG-looking. The quality is just as good as that on the G400, but I much prefer the P-90's on the Agile (sfaik, Epi has never made a P-90 SG):
After buying the Agile, the G400 was redundant so I sold it. By coincidence, although the Epi special edition claims a '66 SG as it's heritage, I'd posit that my Agile, with P-90's and a small guard, is a lot closer to a '66 SG than the Epi, despite the body shape tweaks and Agile name on the headstock on mine.
