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New Epiphone Basses

#121
Finally took the new Embassy Pro to a rehearsal. Rock trio. I kept going back and forth on whether I liked it or not. Might be some inner snobbery of knowing I'm playing a $400 Chinese bass! Could be the stock strings. Low end was mushing out when I dug in with a pick. I normally play 50-110. Gonna throw that gauge with maybe Lo Riders or Super Brights on a get a proper setup before I draw any conclusions. We were working on new material, so I recorded the practice on my iPhone. The next day, my bandmates both commented on how much they loved the bass sound, so I grabbed earbuds and listened. It really did sound pretty darn good :)
 
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#122
dukeorock said:
Finally took the new Embassy Pro to a rehearsal. Rock trio. I kept going back and forth on whether I liked it or not. Might be some inner snobbery of knowing I'm playing a $400 Chinese bass! Could be the stock strings. Low end was mushing out when I dug in with a pick. I normally play 50-110. Gonna throw that gauge with maybe Lo Riders or Super Brights on a get a proper setup before I draw any conclusions. We were working on new material, so I recorded the practice on my iPhone. The next day, my bandmates both commented on how much they loved the bass sound, so I grabbed earbuds and listened. It really did sound pretty darn good :)
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I've found that any time you can change the strings on those cheapo basses, it does a world of good. I consider them nothing but placeholders to keep tension on the neck.
 
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#123
I'm thinking I got lucky to get the partucular T-Bird that I did. I found an Embassy and another T-Bird at another L + M yesterday, and they were both disappointing. The Embassy felt cheap and had nasty fret sprout. The T-Bird had a comically thick neck.
 
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#124
Morgan Koren said:
I'm thinking I got lucky to get the partucular T-Bird that did. I found an Embassy and another T-Bird at another L + M yesterday, and they were both disappointing. The Embassy felt cheap and had nasty fret sprout. The T-Bird had a comically thick neck.
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QC may be a bit random, I guess. May be a good call to wait until they're in the shops and try em first
 
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#126
leegreenman said:
I think I’m gonna grab one of these, but I will not be purchasing it online for this reason.
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I'm looking forward reports from those who like to jump right in. I have one on my list but not until the holidays are past. Oh and the Ric and The Stingray HH Stealth. And a floor rack to hold 'em. All I can afford is the rack but hey it's a start!
Oh yea, and the Moniker Dixie double "P". Forgot one. Like it matters.
 
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#128
dukeorock said:


Here's a quick clip I did on the Embassy and my thoughts, if anyone is interested :)
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Thank you sooo much for posting a video. I canceled my Embassy because I needed more modern versatility for a guy I was working for, and I already had the Gibson SG for the rock bass, old school sound. I think I made the right call, but I’d still like to get one some day. Anyway, that bass could probably use some La Bella flats with an Ampeg. Yessss, that would sound nice.
 
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#129
Member8675309 said:
Thank you sooo much for posting a video. I canceled my Embassy because I needed more modern versatility for a guy I was working for, and I already had the Gibson SG for the rock bass, old school sound. I think I made the right call, but I’d still like to get one some day. Anyway, that bass could probably use some La Bella flats with an Ampeg. Yessss, that would sound nice.
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A buddy of mine got an Embassy Pro and feels like flats are the secret sauce for it. I already run flats on a couple basses and wanted a more growly rock kinda thing. Never know, though! As for the Ampeg...if we're talking a 60's B18N, for sure! For newer gear, I'm well pleased with what I already have :)
 
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#131
woodyng2 said:
Nice! More playing time,with the different pickup settings,would be appreciated.
The bass sounded really great,was that with all 3 pots full up?
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If you can tolerate the sloppy playing, watch the clip again as I think it covers a few things. The control layout is volume, blend, tone. At first I played it with volume and tone wide open and blend in the center for both pickups. Next I played neck pickup only, then bridge pickup only, then my preferred setting, which is the blend tilted very slightly toward the neck pickup. Hope that helps!
 
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#132
dukeorock said:
If you can tolerate the sloppy playing, watch the clip again as I think it covers a few things. The control layout is volume, blend, tone. At first I played it with volume and tone wide open and blend in the center for both pickups. Next I played neck pickup only, then bridge pickup only, then my preferred setting, which is the blend tilted very slightly toward the neck pickup. Hope that helps!
Click to expand...
I liked it, but now I don't know if I like it enough to buy one, and now that you pointed out the pickup thing, it really bothers me. I'm kind of thinking it could be fun, but I don't really hear it doing anything I don't already get from my Longhorn. Might be a little thicker sounding and the Dano a little more scoopy, but it's not all that far off to my ears.

Sorry...I know this goes against TB rules, but I'm trying to be happy with what I have :D
 
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#136
JimmyM said:
I liked it, but now I don't know if I like it enough to buy one, and now that you pointed out the pickup thing, it really bothers me. I'm kind of thinking it could be fun, but I don't really hear it doing anything I don't already get from my Longhorn. Might be a little thicker sounding and the Dano a little more scoopy, but it's not all that far off to my ears.

Sorry...I know this goes against TB rules, but I'm trying to be happy with what I have :D
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You should get banned for saying such a thing!!!

I think the Embassy is a really neat bass for $399, but I'm still not totally enamoured by it. I have a Dano longhorn and I will say the Embassy is a very different bass in every way. For me, the Dano is almost never the right choice on a recording or gig for me, but when it is right, there's nothing more right, if that makes sense...? The Embassy is more of a 'rock' bass to me and it has that Gibsonish vibe that I can see coming in handy since for reasons I can't explain, I never hung on to any of my old Gibson's. Possibly because my Drake gets me into that ballpark, though I hope to own another Ripper before too long :)

REASONS TO KEEP THE EMBASSY

it's a neat bass and sounds a bit different from anything else I have. It also was dirt cheap

REASONS TO NOT KEEP THE EMBASSY

I bought it because the #760 pickups were claimed to have a vintage T Bird sound and I wanted that sound. While this bass sounds good, it Bears little to no resemblance to an early 60's T Bird, from my point of view. That could be remedied with a set of Lollars or Thunderbucker '63's, but now my $400 bass is an $800 bass :/
 
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#137
woodyng2 said:
You caught me.:oops: I could barely hear your narration,so i was randomly skipping through trying to find the playing parts. The only one i heard was in the last 10 seconds of the video.
I will have another listen,and let the whole video play....:p
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Sorry about that! The mic I used was on the cab, so I should speak louder. I hoped the voice would come out a tad louder since I used my AEA R84 ribbon mic, which is a figure 8 pattern mic. I'll speak up more next time!
 
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#138
woodyng2 said:
Ok,now i’ve Listened to the whole thing.:) I think the bass sounds great.
The humbuckers seem to have the fullness you’d expect,AND the treble clarity you’d hope for.
(Much like the original 60’s TB pickups did)
Qc issues aside,the bass is still on my radar.
The black one looks really cool,i want one of the antique white ones myself.
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That's a cool color! I think all three colors they offer look great, personally. There's nothing wrong with the pickups at all, but I was chasing something a bit different and this doesn't do 'that' sound. If you take it for what it is, it's a great little bass and quite a good value
 
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#140
Dano’s are pretty much totally unique in the sound department. I owned a 3-pickup Hodad for quite a few years,but found myself using it less and less. It was a great bass,but i moved it on.
The Rickenbacker 4004 humbucking pickups reminded me a lot of my old Embassy’s sound.
(I love them,I currently own 5 that are quite different from each other.)
What i like about the Embassy is the placement of those pickups,in a sort of J bass configuration.
 
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