Epiphone Zenith

[Michael Vee]

Remcomm. this is as close to an official thread on the Zenith as there is on Talkbass, so is a fine place to inquire. Good luck on finding one here. The Zenith is an excellent bass, but it is a unique design, and not every player who picks one up will like it.

 

[rgordon]

Also because this is as close to an official thread on the Zenith as there is on Talkbass, I'll resurrect the thread for a post regarding a case for the Zenith. I recently acquired a factory refurb Zenith bass & love it. Mine is a fretted, in Antique Natural & in seemingly perfect condition. Factory refurbs do seem to pop up from time to time, but always just sold in the ubiquitous triangular plain cardboard box, without any case (just like when they were first sold, new, without any case). The problem is that just as the Zenith itself was discontinued, so was the optional Epiphone case for it (Epi case No. 940-TRBCS). Those cases are virtually impossible to find for sale - and, given the Zenith's somewhat unique form factor, finding an aftermarket case to fit from another manufacturer can be a problem. My search for a case that would at least fit "well enough" finally led me to the local Guitar Center (generally not my favorite place, but hey...). There, they showed me a "Road Runner RRMBA17" ABS Molded Acoustic Bass case. Overall, it's quite a nice case. It's not a perfect fit for the Zenith - the case is about 2 inches too deep and the case's neck is a few inches too long. But the case's contoured body fits the Zenith's body nicely. I can cut some foam to fill the bottom of the case and support the Zenith's body from underneath, and some more foam to keep the headstock in place - and then it should be just fine. (In the meantime, I'm temporarily simply using some of the paper & plastic packing material that came inside the Zenith's cardboard box, to support the body & keep the neck in place with my Zenith in the Road Runner case.) Not sure I'd ever want to ship the Zenith in the Road Runner, but for general storage and occasional carrying about town, it should be good enough for me to be able to say, "Zenith case problem solved".

 

[cultrvultr]

@rgordon where did you find your factory refurb? I would like to buy a zenith, but can't find one anywhere.

 

[Jeff Havens]

Hello Everyone! Got my '09 transblack Zenith Bass recently, had a question -- My Zenith is missing the battery flap, and am looking for a replacement cover. Any clues as to where to find one, given that Epi stopped making these in '11. I'm thinking three options -- 1) Find a factory replacement part, 2) Make a custom plate, or 3) Live with the gaffer's tape keeping the battery in. I'm asking for option 1 for now. I did have the seller ask Epi, and they responded with "We don't make dat anymorz." LOL

 

[kimgee]

Hello Everyone! Got my '09 transblack Zenith Bass recently, had a question -- My Zenith is missing the battery flap, and am looking for a replacement cover. Any clues as to where to find one, given that Epi stopped making these in '11. I'm thinking three options -- 1) Find a factory replacement part, 2) Make a custom plate, or 3) Live with the gaffer's tape keeping the battery in. I'm asking for option 1 for now. I did have the seller ask Epi, and they responded with "We don't make dat anymorz." LOL

It is very unlikely that Epiphone made the battery holder. I would think that if you go to one of the online bass parts suppliers,ebay, etc. you can find an identical battery holder and either install the whole part or just the door maybe.....depending on what actually broke.

 

[Twocan]

OK, it's about time that this bass gets its own "official" thread.

I owned a fretless Zenith for several years, recently selling it to a fellow TB'er to fund another purchase. I quickly realized how foolish that was, just in time to snatch up another that came up for sale:

Having owned a couple of these now, there are some subtle differences that I've noticed in the models floating around, including:
-Outer edge binding (some have a white lines, others don't).
-Fretless inlay material, and whether or not it goes to the edge of the fretboard or not.
-Bridge placement (whether it overhangs the edge of the bass).
-Weight (seems to vary widely).

One thing that has remained consistent is the tone. I've not encountered another bass that sounds like this. It's deep, woody and (for me anyway) just nails a classic upright tone.

Here's that "one" video review of the bass that everyone always links, so I will too:


Another key piece of info from an older thread - There are switches inside the bass. I was told by Gibson:

"Hello,

If looking at the bass from the back in the normal playing position the switch on the top is a phase switch for the nanomag and nanoflex.
The switch on the bottom is a boost for the nanomag. It was included to provide a better output level balance between the nanomag and nanoflex depending on what strings are used.
As you know the fretless uses tapewound strings which require a bit more gain from the nanomag preamp to provide an even response with the under-saddle piezo."

So enough from me - let's see your Zeniths!

 

[MrBassman17]

This one popped up on Reverb several months ago, so I pulled the trigger! Would ave preferred the natural color, but the trans black is great, too! Plays like a dream; all I had to do when I got it was restore the strings back to the OEM tape wounds!

 

[tellheryousawme]

Hello Zenith lovers!

On my beloved Zenith bass, after a few years the potentiometers knobs, that are covered of a rubbery material, have become sticky. I tried to clean them with soap, with alcohol, unsuccesfully. They remains sticky, so much that after touching them, fingers gets sticky as well, and it is annoying to pluck the strings.

I looked around for some replacement, but I never found something matching.

Did someone face the same problem, and maybe found a solution?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jebberz]

Mine were sticky but I cleaned them with dish soap and it worked.

 

[tellheryousawme]

Mine were sticky but I cleaned them with dish soap and it worked.

Thanks, I’ll try.

 

[brossmac]

It's been on my short list of basses that I wanted to try.

I wasn't necessarily in the market, but one popped up on Craigslist in Portland and, well...

 

[mtdkingstonheir]

I've been intrigued by these basses since they first came out. Thanks for the pics, folks.

 

[knuppe]

Hello!
I have recently acquired an Epiphone Zenith, the fretless version. And I really love it, but I have some questions.
1. The electronics apartment is almost impossible to open. I have removed the four screws, but I can't get it open. Has anyone else experienced that? What can I do?
2. The Nanomag pickup sounds really "fuzzy", especially when I play on the lower notes that has a lot of bass. The battery is not depleted. Any idea what that can be?
3. Has anybody tried to swap out the electronics for a more regular preamp, say a 4-band pre, instead of 2 x 2-band eqs.

Looking forward to hear back from you!

 

[Michael Vee]

On my beloved Zenith bass, after a few years the potentiometers knobs, that are covered of a rubbery material, have become sticky. I tried to clean them with soap, with alcohol, unsuccesfully. They remains sticky, so much that after touching them, fingers gets sticky as well, and it is annoying to pluck the strings.

The knobs on my fretted were okay up until this year and then became sticky. Case lint was sticking to them. I took them off and washed thoroughly with hot soapy water, which removed most of the stickiness but not all. I then rubbed them with rubbing alcohol and that finished the cleanup. However, the blend knob faded and is now more of a dark gray than black. Sigh. Well, the bass IS seven years old now.

 

[Michael Vee]

I had not been back to this thread in a couple years, so missed the most recent posts. It's good to see that people are still enjoying their Zenith basses.

The Ed Friedland "Bass Whisperer" video review is still available online. I watched it this morning and got some ideas on achieving more of an upright tone.

I am currently using the natural fretted Zenith for a music theatre production and it's great as always. I am having to play NanoFlex (piezo) only, as the NanoMag (magnetic) pickup is picking up a lot of hum. I'm in a separate room from the stage, so it's not light dimmer packs that are the cause, but most likely my playing under overhead commercial light fixtures. I wish there was a way to decrease the hum level, as I do like the tone of the NanoMag. The problem is that I'm running a DI line to the console in the auditorium, and the hum would send as well. Anyone have any ideas that I could try?

Edit: I just now opened up the bass and have reset both switches to the left position (normal phase, no NanoMag boost) and will try that on Thursday night when the show resumes performances. I'll report back on whether it helped. No way to know here at the house.

 

[scuzzy]

there is one available in st. louis. I am not associated with the sale, other than wishing I could buy it myself.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Michael Vee]

Hello!
I have recently acquired an Epiphone Zenith, the fretless version. And I really love it, but I have some questions.
1. The electronics apartment is almost impossible to open. I have removed the four screws, but I can't get it open. Has anyone else experienced that? What can I do?
2. The Nanomag pickup sounds really "fuzzy", especially when I play on the lower notes that has a lot of bass. The battery is not depleted. Any idea what that can be?
3. Has anybody tried to swap out the electronics for a more regular preamp, say a 4-band pre, instead of 2 x 2-band eqs.

Looking forward to hear back from you!

Knuppe, have you solved your two issues? If not, you can insert a small screwdriver shaft (or any other metal rod that will fit) through a cavity cover screw hole and pry the cover off. Also you can use a credit card or other thin piece of plastic and pry the cover off. Just a little bit of sanding with sandpaper around the edge of the cover will make it come out more easily in the future. I had the same problem with the fit.

Regarding the NanoMag sounding fuzzy- if you have a good battery installed, you will want to pop the NanoMag wire lead off the circuit board (it's the upper one of the two lead connections on the left side of the board, marked "NMG") and clean the connections with DeOxit or a similar electronic contact cleaner. See the picture below, which was originally posted by GHolland in 2014 in this thread. The Zeniths were built long ago enough now that you could be getting oxidation on the contacts. Also clean the output connectors (the large white modular jacks on the right side of the board) and the output jacks themselves with DeOxit. That may or may not get rid of the NanoMag fuzziness, but it needs to be done anyway.

Regarding the electronics swap, the only person here who's done that is Wolftone; however he didn't reply a few years back when I asked him if the new electronics were an improvement. He was going to try the Arctec MB-1 master blender board. Perhaps he will see this and reply at last, if he's still active on Talkbass. I've PMed him as well.

 

[stacystarkweath]

Played one of these at the Berkeley branch of "Starving Musician"...passed (stupidly) but one showed up a month later at the Concord Guitar Center- pulled the trigger- and it came in a "Starving Musician" gig bag. Guess it was the same one. Phenomenal instrument for $500! Read a fair amount of discussion elsewhere about people being disappointed that it didn't sound enough like an upright- and that was my first impression too. However- with some tweaking (treble full on, bass full off- slightly toward neck or bridge pickup) and rethinking how I play it- I have gotten remarkably close- band mates love it! My rethinking was simple- you have to play it like an upright- different right hand finger angles- and most important- different vocabulary!

 

[B-Mac]

Been on my wish list for a while now along with the Epiphone Masterbuilt, but not seeing used for sale. Brand new retail, to me, are overpriced. I guess these are so good that people are holding on to them

 

[stacystarkweath]

Not many of the olds show up but when they do- grab it. I haven't read great reviews of the new Mostertone Zenith bass- but then again- I haven't played one!