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Epiphone Embassy vs G&L Tribute jb-2

#21
Used 60's Gibson Thunderbirds for over a decade (70's-80's), sold all to move to Texas.
Got the new Epi TB's because they are so close to the 60's sound but, IMO, better. The Embassy is icing on the cake and BETTER than the original Embassy(had one in the 70's, sold it as the TB sounded much better).

@magpiesmoke49 My solution to your situation is to get the preferred one NOW and the other later if you still want it. My band covers(< key word) many styles so I ALWAYS carry at least 2 basses. The choice is ALWAYS a bass that does "bassy bass" well and then one that can do more trebly/slap tone well. Since 2017, it has been either the new Epi TB(or Embassy) and a Fender P(or Geddy Jazz or Peavey Foundation or Ibanez SRXEX2). The Epi Embassy will do slap but, IMO, not as well as the other 4 non-Epi basses mentioned. Since the gold Embassy got here, primarily it and a maroon-colored Fender P have been used for all of 2021's shows.
 
#22
magpiesmoke49 said:
I know it all comes down to personal preference, but if anyone can speak from experience, I'm wondering which way everyone would weigh on this. I'm looking at two basses to decide on my next addition. It's come down to either the Epiphone Embassy, or the G&L Tribute jb-2
Any opinions out there? I've read great things about both, honestly more so, the epiphone.
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Well, one's a jazz bass, and one's a Thunderbird.

They're both low grade models.

What do you want?
 
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#23
Johnny Crab said:
Used 60's Gibson Thunderbirds for over a decade (70's-80's), sold all to move to Texas.
Got the new Epi TB's because they are so close to the 60's sound but, IMO, better. The Embassy is icing on the cake and BETTER than the original Embassy(had one in the 70's, sold it as the TB sounded much better).
.
Click to expand...

Somewhat subjective. I still have a '64 Embassy (and '64 t-bird) and, while I think the new Embassys are really cool (really) and a bargain at the price, I much prefer my original. The pickups on the new ones do have much of the same characteristic though not exactly the same. The main thing is the necks feel very different - much slimmer on the original - mine's thinner at the nut than a Jazz Bass where the new ones are wider - and the nitro finish feels a lot better than the poly to me (again, subjective) - plus it has the batwing headstock! ;) Of course, different examples, particularly on vintage basses, sound and play differently.
 
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#25
Bought a JB 2 Tribute from Sweetwater less than a year ago. The neck is fantastic, the bridge is very solid (allowing sustain in spades), and the pickups... oh, the pickups! It would be hard to find a better bass at that price point. I LOVE mine!
20210623_223823.jpg
 
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#26
I've owned both although I haven't tried one of the new 34" scale Embassy basses. Mine was the short scale version they built a few of years ago. I hated it. Maybe I'm just not a short scale player. It was well made, nice finish. The tuners were absolute junk. I tried to get warranty service done on them. Yeah right. After a half dozen unanswered emails and being hung up on twice calling Epiphone in Nashville I gave up. Anyway, I just never could get it set up to my liking. It played terrible I thought it was so muddy sounding. I didn't even keep it a month and I sold it. I owned a G&L JB-2 Tribute for a couple of years. Nice bass for the money. Well built, nice finish, sounded like a Jazz Bass, and played really well. Both basses concepts are so different comparing them is like apples and oranges. I liked the G&L a lot more though.
 
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#27
I have the original 60s version of the Embassy, and it’s a really great rock/blues bass, very Thunderbird-like, but with massive neck dive as the one big flaw. The re-issue changes the body design just enough to fix that. I agree that the G&L will probably have slightly better fit and finish, but expect the Épi has a more distinctive personality.
 
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#29
IvanBassist said:
The JB-2 I got to test for G&L was pretty light and has a nice tone
Click to expand...

But the JB-2 you got to test from G&L may not be like the ones we get from stores :)
Mine plays well but the neck is far from perfect and the neck pup die as the cavity was cut way too small and the bobbin was distorted when the force fit it in. Amazingly it worked and sounded good for a couple years.

On 7-8-21 Sweetwater had 7 JB2 Tributes in stock.
One was 8lbs. 10 oz., one was 9 lbs 5 oz. and the rest were between 9 lbs 7 oz. and 10 lbs. 8 oz.
G&L Tribute JB-2 Bass Guitar - 3-Tone Sunburst
 
#30
I had the Epiphone. It was a great weight and it balanced really well. I sanded the finish on the neck to make it feel a little less plastic. Soundwise it was great. I loved the neck pickup. The bridge pickup was great but I'm not really into bridge pickups or play with two pickups all that often.

Since then I have put together a precision bass with a single Thunderbird pickup. It was either build a pbass with it or get the Epiphone refinished with nitro.

The weight and balance of the Epiphone was the closet to a Fender precision that I have played that was set neck.

I've owned a jazz bass three different times and haver bonded with the shape or sound compared to a pbass.

If you buy used either way you will do ok. Just watch your weights for a G&L.
 
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#31
Joecooch said:
I've owned both although I haven't tried one of the new 34" scale Embassy basses. Mine was the short scale version they built a few of years ago. I hated it. Maybe I'm just not a short scale player. It was well made, nice finish. The tuners were absolute junk..
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I had never seen a short scale Embassy re-issue, so after reading Joecooch’s report I searched around and with more difficulty than expected, I found some photos. Amusing. Epiphone management had clearly got what killed the original Embassies - the neck dive - but had completely misunderstood what made them cult basses. Folks used to call them “bat wing Epiphones” (nobody who didn’t own one called ‘em Embassies), so I guess the Epiphone marketoids thought that was the key, and figured “bring back the bat wing, lose the neck dive, and we’ve got a winner”. So we got that horrible strange re-issue where the upper horn got hyperextended, the bridge moved too close to the tail, the scale reduced, and maybe sharty cheap lightweight tuners used, all to get the balance right while keeping the batwing head stock. But those of us who appreciated the old Embassies did so, not so much because if the headstock (which *is* cool) but because of the sound of the T-bird ‘buckers on a full-scale set-neck all-mahogany bass. To their credit, they seem to have figured that out this time. By going to a lighter and shorter 2+2 headstock, they could restore the full scale and take the upper horn back to something less cartoonish while keeping/restoring most of what made the original Embassies distinctive and appreciated. I say “most”, because none of the reissues have had the original neck profile, which was very slender, nicely so for some folks’s left hands, but legendarily fragile. Mine is one of the rare ‘64s I’ve seen that don’t have a repaired neck break.
 
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#32
I played an Embassy today but haven't gotten to play a JB-2. Honestly I think this is a pretty apples:apples comparison. They're both essentially P basses with 2 pickups. Actually I was really disappointed that the Embassy neck felt so much like a gloss painted P neck.
  • Embassy has a fatter bottom end
  • Embassy is real thin and will likely be lighter
  • Embassy has the better colours (IMO)
  • G&L has the better bridge
  • G&L seems to have better balance
  • G&L sounds better (I tend to prefer Fender sounds to Gibson sounds though.)
 
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#36
I thought these were priced like Fenders. It then becomes a choice of single coil Fender style tone versus humbuckers. Functional solid design and appearance versus gorgeous and dazzling but often a bit dysfunctional and with quality issues. This about repeats what you said I think.
 
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#39
Sid Fang said:
If they're both essentially P basses with 2 pickups, do you consider a Jazz to also be essentially a P-bass with 2 pickups, and a Stingray to be essentially a P bass?
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Nope. I was mostly oversimplifying. The G&L has a P bass-like body, and the Embassy has a P bass like neck. Both balance like a P bass, generally and my hands felt and sat the same they would on the Embassy as they would a P.

A Jazz has an offset body that gives it a distinct feel and a different neck. A Stingray has a different neck and my playing positioning is different compared to a P bass. That said I'd be fine saying a Stingray, Embassy, JB-2, and P Bass feel broadly similar while each brings different characteristics and all of them sound vastly different.

I feel like if you can compare something to a P bass pretty much every bassist is going to get an idea of what you're getting into. But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of basses that are wildly different. Like a Ric, SR, Spectra, Thunderbird, etc.
 
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#40
Well at my age I finally got a first jazz bass (Fender Player) last month. The sound is very similar to my Embassy.

All knobs open, I find the jazz has a more luxurious tone, the Embassy has more low end. I can sort of eq low end with the jazz, but harder to eq luxury into the Embassy. (Traynor amplifiers have a Low Expander dial which does both somewhat.)

What the Embassy has that Fenders (precision and jazz) can’t match is punch. It is almost percussive like a drum. And it is the loudest and clearest bass I ever played. But the tone lacks the woodiness and richness of Fenders. A little cold and plastic-y by itself, but this becomes irrelevant playing with a band.
 

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