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New Epiphone basses

#162
Johnny Crab said:
American Musical has the black/ebony Embassy listed as "IN STOCK".
Their inventory has been adjusted to -1 due to one being shipped to south Texas today so JC can see how it compares to the cherry one that got sold decades ago because the '64 T-Birds sounded better.
Report later(next week).
Click to expand...
I dunno,JC, the ‘67 Embassy i owned sounded and played better than any Tbird i ever played. (Admittedly i never got to play a ‘64.) It was actually one of the best sounding basses i’ve ever owned.
 

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#165
Leiria said:
Well, if Im not mistaken the TBirds from that era were the only ones with the same pickups so that would explain the sound. As for feel that really varies from person to person. The TBird shape is extremely comfortable to me, and there are a few shapes widely considered to be comfortable that I do not like at all
Click to expand...
Same great pickups in both tbirds and embassy basses. The embassy had a thinner body,and a nice thin neck,but was still a bad neck diver with that huge batwing headstock.
 
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#171
Black Embassy & case arrived. More later.

OK, Later got here and I found a Round-Tu-It.

Impression? Epiphone has a winner, actually 6 of them. 3 Embassy basses and 3 T-Birds. These pickups are what Gibson had decades to do but never did, Epiphone NAILED IT and then some. '64 T-bird with a very small touch of additional presence at the upper end. I ran it with the factory rounds and then put on the light gauge sets I use. It gets a hole drilled tomorrow for a StrapLoc button in the heel(ALL my basses have this since 1970), possibly a slight adjustment if the neck shifts due to truss rod change and lighter strings, and gig-tested tomorrow night + more pics.

Pros:
1) Pickups are the real deal.
2) Bass is light compared to most others here. Digital scale later in the week.
3) Case is a snug form-fit instead of a very heavy suitcase.
4) Neck is what the 60's Embassy felt like except it needs playing time
5) After about 10 minutes of fun, it seems this bass is wired V-B-T(Volume, Blend, Tone). The tone cap seems to be the wrong value b/c instead of giving a pleasing mud-punch like the 64 T-Birds, you get a bassy but almost nasally tone. Test rig is a bi-amped setup 18" 0-160Hz, PA top 160-20kHz so it was not the amp.

Cons & Minor gripes...if one can for a bass of this quality at this price point:
1) Masking tape was left on a tuner with a markered "A" on it, for Grade A?
2) Rear pickup screw lose and about to fall out
3) Recessed 1/4" jack may be a headache for some angle connectors, you'll see
4) Factory hands don't care, don't realize, or weren't told that the red line in the controls are supposed to point at the metal arrow(pics below). Had to pull off all 3 knobs and fix the alignment
5) Truss rod was either not tightened, loosened for shipping, or ? Turned it a good bit to get traction. It works fine although the E and A string side of the bridge will need adjusting after you do that.

OK, pics with cheapo gigbag cam in a dim room.
Tape left on the tuner
TapeOnTuner.jpg

Pickup screw that was loose circled in red
PickupScrew.jpg

Pointer issue. Volume control has been re-aligned, the other 2 are on "10" but pointing to Mr. Random.
Pointers.jpg


Bass and case
BodyShot.jpg
 
Last edited:
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#172
Johnny Crab said:
Black Embassy & case arrived. More later.

OK, Later got here and I found a Round-Tu-It.

Impression? Epiphone has a winner, actually 6 of them. 3 Embassy basses and 3 T-Birds. These pickups are what Gibson had decades to do but never did, Epiphone NAILED IT and then some. '64 T-bird with a very small touch of additional presence at the upper end. I ran it with the factory rounds and then put on the light gauge sets I use. It gets a hole drilled tomorrow for a StrapLoc button in the heel(ALL my basses have this since 1970), possibly a slight adjustment if the neck shifts due to truss rod change and lighter strings, and gig-tested tomorrow night + more pics.

Pros:
1) Pickups are the real deal.
2) Bass is light compared to most others here. Digital scale later in the week.
3) Case is a snug form-fit instead of a very heavy suitcase.
4) Neck is what the 60's Embassy felt like except it needs playing time
5) After about 10 minutes of fun, it seems this bass is wired V-B-T(Volume, Blend, Tone). The tone cap seems to be the wrong value b/c instead of giving a pleasing mud-punch like the 64 T-Birds, you get a bassy but almost nasally tone. Test rig is a bi-amped setup 18" 0-160Hz, PA top 160-20kHz so it was not the amp.

Cons & Minor gripes...if one can for a bass of this quality at this price point:
1) Masking tape was left on a tuner with a markered "A" on it, for Grade A?
2) Rear pickup screw lose and about to fall out
3) Recessed 1/4" jack may be a headache for some angle connectors, you'll see
4) Factory hands don't care, don't realize, or weren't told that the red line in the controls are supposed to point at the metal arrow(pics below). Had to pull off all 3 knobs and fix the alignment
5) Truss rod was either not tightened, loosened for shipping, or ? Turned it a good bit to get traction. It works fine although the E and A string side of the bridge will need adjusting after you do that.


OK, pics with cheapo gigbag cam in a dim room.
Tape left on the tuner
View attachment 2768419
Pickup screw that was loose circled in red
View attachment 2768420
Pointer issue. Volume control has been re-aligned, the other 2 are on "10" but pointing to Mr. Random.
View attachment 2768421

Bass and case
View attachment 2768426
Click to expand...
Mine comes today..I have a day gig so I hope fedex gets here before I leave.If not I'll receive on Monday when they re deliver.

Sounds like we will get our money's worth :)
 
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#175
Johnny Crab said:
Black Embassy & case arrived. More later.

OK, Later got here and I found a Round-Tu-It.

Impression? Epiphone has a winner, actually 6 of them. 3 Embassy basses and 3 T-Birds. These pickups are what Gibson had decades to do but never did, Epiphone NAILED IT and then some. '64 T-bird with a very small touch of additional presence at the upper end. I ran it with the factory rounds and then put on the light gauge sets I use. It gets a hole drilled tomorrow for a StrapLoc button in the heel(ALL my basses have this since 1970), possibly a slight adjustment if the neck shifts due to truss rod change and lighter strings, and gig-tested tomorrow night + more pics.

Pros:
1) Pickups are the real deal.
2) Bass is light compared to most others here. Digital scale later in the week.
3) Case is a snug form-fit instead of a very heavy suitcase.
4) Neck is what the 60's Embassy felt like except it needs playing time
5) After about 10 minutes of fun, it seems this bass is wired V-B-T(Volume, Blend, Tone). The tone cap seems to be the wrong value b/c instead of giving a pleasing mud-punch like the 64 T-Birds, you get a bassy but almost nasally tone. Test rig is a bi-amped setup 18" 0-160Hz, PA top 160-20kHz so it was not the amp.

Cons & Minor gripes...if one can for a bass of this quality at this price point:
1) Masking tape was left on a tuner with a markered "A" on it, for Grade A?
2) Rear pickup screw lose and about to fall out
3) Recessed 1/4" jack may be a headache for some angle connectors, you'll see
4) Factory hands don't care, don't realize, or weren't told that the red line in the controls are supposed to point at the metal arrow(pics below). Had to pull off all 3 knobs and fix the alignment
5) Truss rod was either not tightened, loosened for shipping, or ? Turned it a good bit to get traction. It works fine although the E and A string side of the bridge will need adjusting after you do that.

OK, pics with cheapo gigbag cam in a dim room.
Tape left on the tuner
View attachment 2768419
Pickup screw that was loose circled in red
View attachment 2768420
Pointer issue. Volume control has been re-aligned, the other 2 are on "10" but pointing to Mr. Random.
View attachment 2768421

Bass and case
View attachment 2768426
Click to expand...
That bass looks pretty nice!
Since you didn’t mention it,I’m presuming you didn’t find any issue with the fretwork?
That’s usually my picky point of contention.
 

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