Epiphone EB-0?

I've got one. My experiences:

- It's a neck-diver.
- The massive single humbucker at the neck gives it a big, fat tone without much in the way of treble. Depending on your point of view, it's either a classic bass tone or a horrible muddy mess.
- I had to spend a bit of time and effort setting it up so that it had a decent action without fret-buzz. It's still a bit high for my liking.
- There was a wierd buzzing from the bridge which I eventually solved by padding the saddles with small bits of paper.

It's not for everyone, but if you want a short-scale which does big fat thump for cheap, then there's not a lot else out there.

I've got two other short-scale basses - a Squier Bronco which is fun to play with a pick, and a Tanglewood Scorpio, which does the same job as the EB0, but a bit better. It is a weird mongrel which borrows bits from various other instruments.

http://www.belfastmusic.com/Design/Assets/Images/Guitars/Tanglewood/tbs1art-mah.jpg

Warwick headstock, Godin SD body, Gibson EB-3 pickups, Telecaster controls!

 

I have one and gig with it often. I have never had a neck-dive problem with it, I had an Epi EB-3 that had serious neck-dive tho', but the EB-O being short-scale it doesn't have that problem. Very little treble.

 

The bridge was designed 40 years ago so...but it's fine really. Same with the pickup, it is what it is, it's what makes an EB-style Gibson/Epi bass what it is. I use cheap rounds on it, haven't changed anything except to make it "flashy", it's my encore bass.

 

What exactly are those things, Bassman?

 

They're blind-spot mirrors you stick onto your side mirrors on your car. I know it looks kinda silly but they look way cool under the stage lights. I was inspired by Dennis Dunaway's EB-O.

 

You might try the SX short scale Jazz bass. You'll have to set it up to your liking, but once done it's a very nice playing bass, and it won't bust the bank. The bronco bass is a piece of crap IMO. I'm not a huge fan of short scale basses (Ashbory excepted) because they just are not capable producing the rich tones of a 34 incher. For a bit more money, there's the Epiphone Allen Woody, which might give a better sound due to its hollow body, but I've never played one - just speculating.

 

Bull...stuff. You just gotta find the right ones, and set em up properly.

 

I agree with P Dread, I have several short-scale basses, and while I do have them set-up to recreate the various bass tones of the 60's, they are certainly not incapable of producing a very full, modern tone.
I think you will find that a majority of people who play short-scales are going for a certain sound/look/vibe and thus have a less-modern tone when they play. That reflects more on the owner than the bass itself IMO.
Ronn

 

Opinions are what make a forum a forum. If we all had all of the facts, there would be nothing to discuss. So, I'll correct my assertion in this way: In my experience, I have not been able to produce the kind of tone that I personnally prefer on a bass with a scale length much shorter than 34".

 

There ya go.

As Bassman said, though, most folks (myself included) playing short scales are probably going for a more vintage tone anyway.