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Epiphone Ripper. Good or Bad?

#21
Johnny Alien said:
I could not disagree more. I have owned a Ripper and two Grabbers and the Grabbers were far better. Much lighter (the Ripper weighed a ton) and much more articulate. The Ripper never could get out of mud phase for me. Basically the Ripper was a typical Gibson bass and the Grabber was not.
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um. i think you misunderstood what i said..cause i said the the ripper is better than the grabber.not the grabber is better than ripper...
 
#25
As my log in name states I'm a drummer that simply like's to play bass. I don't have alot of experience doing so. I had an old 5 string yamaha and just hated it, so I kept my eyes open for a cheap 4 string. Hanging in a music store I saw an Epi Ripper ( single pick up version) played it and bought on the spot. I paid $125.00 cdn. A super cool bass easy to play and sounds great. The bass player in one of my bands has a choice between a musicman, Fender P bass he begs me to bring mine. Don't know if I agree but he like mine the best.
 
#26
Its true that there are two very different version. One from the mid-late 90s with a single soapbarish pickup, and the more recent version with the P/J setup (***??).

I have a black 90s version (black was apparently pretty rare) that I paid around $300 for. Its big and heavy but generates a surprising amount of tone and decent range. Being a KISS tribute Gene, I have it as my 3rd or 4th backup. Having said that, its really not a bad bass at all. I like it quite a bit better than a 70s Ripper I had.

I'd really like a Grabber or G3 and welcome any comments on those.

Cheers
 
#28
i bought a epiphone ripper for $125.00 it is the version with only one pick up. This Bass sounds awsome i was trying to find some info on it and can't find anything. there is a ton of stuff on the 2 p/u version nothing on the 1. Can someone direct me to a good web site where I could find out the year and stuff like that and yes as the name suggests I'm a drummer dabling with the bass.
 
#29
I own a 2002 ripper, Mine was a little abused so i had to get it up to scratch but honestly the pick ups are good and its very diverse captureing the sound of both the jazz bass and p bass see if you can pick up their worth the money. Bit heavy though so if you dont like heavy basses maybe its not for you.
 
#31
These were made in the 90s, I never owned one but played a few. Not a bad bass by any means, well built but heavy as I recall. I think they had a P/J pickup layout, not a bad thing makes it easy to mod with lots of replacement choices. $300 if it is in excellent shape is a good but not great price.
 
#32
Epi had two Ripper reissues. The first was sometime around 1998-2002 or something. It had a single pickup, similar to those found on the Epi T-birds.

The second Epi Ripper reissue was (IMO) a killer bass. (I never played one of the earlier ones.) Not much like the old Gibby Rippers (I used to have a '76 Gibson Ripper I still miss a lot) in that they had a P/J pickup configuration and bolt-on neck, but they were great little machines I thought. I had one in natural and one in black at two different times. Sadly had to part with them both.

BIG bodies. In fact, I never could find a case that would fit one. And I tried a dozen different things.
 
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#33
I had one of the single pickup Rippers and a coffin case that housed it (barely.) Nice, interesting bass, but it was far too Precision-like for my tastes. Bought and sold it earlier this year for around $300 with case IIRC.
 
#34
Din Of Win said:
Hey gang.

A friend is offering me an Epiphone Ripper for $300.

I can't, for the life of me, find out much of anything on them.

Does anyone here have experience with them? If so, is $300 reasonable?

Thanks!
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I only have with the Gibson Ripper.
See if you can get a serial # from your friend and get a year, so you can figure out which reissue you are looking at maybe that can help you and others determine a fair price
 
#35
So many opinions in one post...

I remember the two Epi versions of the Ripper. They do not sound like the OG Gibson model, but that's really immaterial. As for tone on Rippers vs Grabbers, I think Brian Cook (Botch/TAAS/Russian Circles) put it best:

Bass-wise, I’ve been a long-time fan of Gibson Grabbers and Rippers, which I used towards the end of Botch and through the entirety of These Arms Are Snakes’ run. But for the past few years I’ve used a First Act Delgada bass quite a bit. It’s weighted more evenly than the Gibsons. I currently have two Rippers and Grabbers and they all sound radically different, but the First Act is a good sonic middle ground between all of them. (Link Removed)

Which is to say, I have played a few Grabbers and a Ripper and the Grabbers all sounded different from each other. Whether this was due to time or some variance in Gibson QC during the Norlin era, I don't know (of course they also made the RD Artist, which is a killer bass). I do remember the Epi Ripper sounding more like a deluxe P bass (with the second reissues' pickup configuration, that makes sense). For $300 it's worth trying. No one ever complained about the sound of a P bass... (well a good one).
 
#38
I saw the bass player for DEVO playing a Ripper through an Acoustic Control Corp head and an Ampeg 810 cab. It was one of the most awesome sounding rigs that I remember from loud rock concert days.

I recommend you buy it and try it out. You might like it. I've wanted a Ripper ever since they came out. This comes from the same makers of the orginal.
 
#39
bh2 said:
I had a Ripper... might have been a Grabber... for a while... it was a pile of crap... this looks like an improvement, with the p/j pup arrangement.

I did try Gibsons but they just were not up to Fenders for the vibe... mind you we're talking 70's here!
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Well the couple Grabbers I've had experience with left a lot to be desired. The whole 1 pickup that could be in 2 positions via plastic slider might have been something when they were brand new, but after 20 or so years and admittedly less than adequate care and cleaning left then wonky. 1 was completely frozen in the rear position, 1 took both hands to get to slide and not have a side get off track (imagine playing live going to switch positions and getting stuck).

Cool idea but probably not meant for durability.
 
#40
jaybones said:
Well the couple Grabbers I've had experience with left a lot to be desired. The whole 1 pickup that could be in 2 positions via plastic slider might have been something when they were brand new, but after 20 or so years and admittedly less than adequate care and cleaning left then wonky. 1 was completely frozen in the rear position, 1 took both hands to get to slide and not have a side get off track (imagine playing live going to switch positions and getting stuck).

Cool idea but probably not meant for durability.
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Either that or it had a lot of sweat, skin, and beer in it... freezing the rails.... :bored:
 

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