D‘Angelico Premier DC XT Electric Guitar Review

I'm used to Mahogany electric guitars, so the all Maple semi-hollow body is a bit new to me. But, I spent quite a few hours with this guitar for my review, and I didn't find the tone too far from the Mahogany bodies I'm used to. It's still warm and full with some thud on the low end.

In this case, I suspect some of the warmth comes from the natural resonance of the semi-hollowbody design. But a lot of it stems from the two Seymour Duncan pickups, especially the SH-2 at the neck position. Having these included significantly increases the tonal flexibility of this guitar.

There's a lot of sustain, even on clean tones, while leads have a very pleasing and sweet ring. 

To test gain levels, I tried everything from low and slow breakup to heavily saturated distortion. It's not a metal guitar, but nothing sounded bad.

To test, I used a simple setup with a Boss Katana 50 combo amp, to make sure the Premier Mini was doing the bulk of the work.

Read the full review: Boss Katana 50

For distortion, I used the Katana's amp models and an Amptweaker TightMetal pedal.

Compare to Other Electric Guitars

We've listed the DC XT alongside some other similar electric guitars to give you some context and the ability to do basic comparison. You can add more guitars to the table if you'd like (see below the table).

D'Angelico Premier Mini DC XT Price Guide

This section gives you some pricing resources that update automatically. Though it does not include used, demos, or b-stock items.

Prices updated on Wed, June 07th, 2023.

Pricing from Sweetwater

Price Alert Tool

Price History

IDEAL FOR: Clean tones, open chords, versatile list of genres, intermediate players, worship, blues, and rock.

Cover song with the Premier Mini DC XT

Yes, I know this obscures some of the guitar's natural tone and sound, and that it's not a pure/proper demo, but listen with headphones and take it for what it's worth. If nothing else, you can actually see me playing the thing.

I probably overdid the distortion on the chorus, but you can at least hear the capability of this guitar to handle the saturation. I thought the tone of the clean sound was extremely similar to the "I Alone", which is what got me playing this song to begin with.

You get some cleans, distortion, and delay (in the bridge), all in this video. Enjoy.

Tone profile and natural sound

As I mentioned, this guitar comes standard with two Seymour Duncan humbuckers.

• Neck Pickup: Seymour Duncan SH-2n Jazz Humbucker
• Bridge Pickup: Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB Humbucker

I'll admit that this surprised me, given the price, because we usually don't see third party humbuckers until slightly higher price ranges.

At any rate, they're in, and it explains the quality of tone we're getting. The SH-4, in particular, is one of Seymour Duncan's most popular and versatile pickups, able to handle a little bit of everything.

The presence of these two humbuckers dramatically ups the value of the DC XT.

Combined with the resonant and wide response of the semi-hollowbody design, everything is just smooth. That's the best way I know to describe it.

Cleans

Cleans are tube-esque, even without a tube amp, and not very brisk. Open chords, simple soloing patterns, and ambient delay tones are right in this guitar's wheelhouse. 

Light gain/distortion

Most semi-hollows do great with subtle overdrive. This one sounded a little more like a fuzz tone than I would have liked, but you can pretty much EQ in or out whatever you want with small amounts of overdrive.

Heavy gain/distortion

I almost liked the heavier gain and distortion more than the bluesy overdrive. It's a matter of taste, but it seemed to handle a little better, like it was actually more comfortable with the intensity. I suppose it's a matter of preference. Maybe I'm just a metal head.

How does it play?

The playability of this guitar is its best selling point.

First, it was set up extremely well, with minimal space between the strings and fretboard, yet with zero buzzing. The space between the strings and pickups also looked good.

I noticed that bends and slides were very easy. Now, this could be partially due to the fact that I'm used to heavier gauge strings. The set that ships with this guitar is .046 and I'm used to .050 or higher.

But I don't want to overcomplicate a guitar that played really well for me. Power chords and open chords went down easy, and even barring was a breeze.

It's going to give you a good feel on the lead or rhythm side.

So no complaints concerning playability.

Controls

The controls are a standard 2x volume and 2x tone, one for each humbucker with the selector switch. All four work fine, as one would expect.

But I did notice that the knobs were loose, meaning I could wind them past zero or 10 without them stopping fully. 

It just felt like they needed tightened.

This surprised me, given that the rest of the guitar was set up incredibly well. My guess is this is the exception and not the rule, so I didn't take any points off for it, and it didn't negatively impact my experience with the guitar at all.

Best fit for the D'Angelico Premier Mini DC XT

This guitar is particularly good for Christian worship groups because of how well it handles clean tones and ambient effects.

My plan is to try it in church a few times.

But really, any musical style can work with this guitar. The Seymour Duncan pickups are a big part of that, which make for a very happy combination of aggression and mellow simplicity. 

The price range puts it at an upper-intermediate level guitar, but it's great for just about any skill level.

Review Conclusion

D'Angelico is a brand that has flown under my radar, but getting to play this guitar has been an entirely positive experience for me. 

I probably should have known better, given they've been around since 1932.

Particularly if you're looking for a semi-hollowbody, they've got a ton to pick from. 

If you have questions about my D'Angelico Premier Mini DC XT review or our review process/policies, feel free to reach out via the comments section below and I'll help out as much as I can.

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