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New Epiphone Basses

#141
woodyng2 said:
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.
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me! I paid so little for my Dano there's just no good reason to get rid of it...I mainly have to remember to use a very light touch to make it sound right and a light touch still doesn't come baturally to me. there's also a couple things it comes in very handy for, which I use often.

60's style fuzz bass. Dan is are awesome for that!

Put flatwounds on a Dano and run it through a guitar amp. You can nail the Bari, spaghetti western sound very convincingly. I use it for that all the time!
 
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#142
EPI EMBY durability report OR How Lucky Was I?
So we had a show that had a Fender P, Epi Embassy Red, and Epi Embassy Black taken to it. THE STAGE IS ELEVATED.
We do a song where at least 10 random ladies from the audience get to come up and dance around with our spare instruments on. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing went wrong this time.

Later, a STUPID DRUNK B<deleted expletive> comes up to the front of the stage and says "I wanna play bass" to BL so BL invites her up. I give her the red Embassy as I'm using Fender for the next few songs. The black Embassy remained on a 5 bass rack stand. So we make it through the song. Well well well SDB doesn't think that was enough and stays on for another song. It is during this song that I walk back by the drummer to interact and when I turn around, I see a friend from a front table on my side of the stage picking the black Embassy and rack up off of the floor(32" or so below stage level) where it landed after the SDB had knocked them off the stage. BL was oblivious to any of this happening. It took every bit of restraint not to completely stop playing, grab the red Embassy from the SDB, and tell her to Get The F<deleted expletive> Off The Stage. So, I went over to guitarist while we are playing and told him "Tell BL to get that SDB off the stage before I knock her off like she did my bass and rack". BL acted like it was no big deal, I'm thinking of no longer bringing any spare basses on stage and explaining why from this point forward...or simply use nothing but my Rondo basses for SDB's.

Damage Report:
Only examined it at the gig as I work fulltime and am dealing with a critical health issue with a loved one(doctor/hospital/etc). Neck did not snap, headstock did not break off, body has one or more paint dings down to the wood(road worn real quick eh?). Retuned it as it was flat on all strings(didn't like that finding, possible the bridge took a major hit or the neck internals aren't happy). Played it a few songs, seemed to be OK. Pics and further reports later. Work, band, and trips to the hospital are eating all of my "spare" time right now.

PS: In the mid-1970's I had a roadie apologize very hard when he came to tell me(on a break outside a club on Highway 1 in south Louisiana) that "We tried to stop 'em but they got on the stage too fast. Crab you gonna be real mad. They knocked over H's flying V(1967) and it's ok but your bass(1964 Gibson Thunderbird) got broke bra' . FRIDGE(the club's door man) done kicked both their <deleted bad word>es and tossed 'em out plus the ugly girl. They was fighting over some ugly girl at the bar". So I know what broke headstocks are like.
 
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#143
Alright, if you guys say so about the Dano... :D I don't know...I heard characteristics reminiscent of it, but it could just be part of the "shortie with rounds" thing and I could be in for a surprise. Or maybe I can make every bass sound like a Dano.
 
#144
Johnny Crab said:
EPI EMBY durability report OR How Lucky Was I?
So we had a show that had a Fender P, Epi Embassy Red, and Epi Embassy Black taken to it. THE STAGE IS ELEVATED.
We do a song where at least 10 random ladies from the audience get to come up and dance around with our spare instruments on. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing went wrong this time.

Later, a STUPID DRUNK B<deleted expletive> comes up to the front of the stage and says "I wanna play bass" to BL so BL invites her up. I give her the red Embassy as I'm using Fender for the next few songs. The black Embassy remained on a 5 bass rack stand. So we make it through the song. Well well well SDB doesn't think that was enough and stays on for another song. It is during this song that I walk back by the drummer to interact and when I turn around, I see a friend from a front table on my side of the stage picking the black Embassy and rack up off of the floor(32" or so below stage level) where it landed after the SDB had knocked them off the stage. BL was oblivious to any of this happening. It took every bit of restraint not to completely stop playing, grab the red Embassy from the SDB, and tell her to Get The F<deleted expletive> Off The Stage. So, I went over to guitarist while we are playing and told him "Tell BL to get that SDB off the stage before I knock her off like she did my bass and rack". BL acted like it was no big deal, I'm thinking of no longer bringing any spare basses on stage and explaining why from this point forward...or simply use nothing but my Rondo basses for SDB's.

Damage Report:
Only examined it at the gig as I work fulltime and am dealing with a critical health issue with a loved one(doctor/hospital/etc). Neck did not snap, headstock did no break off, body has one or more paint dings down to the wood(road worn real quick eh?). Retuned it as it was flat on all strings(didn't like that finding, possible the bridge took a major hit or the neck internals aren't happy). Played it a few songs, seemed to be OK. Pics and further reports later. Work, band, and trips to the hospital are eating all of my "spare" time right now.

PS: In the mid-1970's I had a roadie apologize very hard when he came to tell me(on a break outside a club on Highway 1 in south Louisiana) that "We tried to stop 'em but they got on the stage too fast. Crab you gonna be real mad. They knocked over H's flying V(1967) and it's ok but your bass(1964 Gibson Thunderbird) got broke bra' . FRIDGE(the club's door man) done kicked both their <deleted bad word>es and tossed 'em out plus the ugly girl. They was fighting over some ugly girl at the bar". So I know what broke headstocks are like.
Click to expand...

Man, I salute your patience and self control. I think that the minute the bass was on the ground, I'd have tossed that SDB of stage and the BL with her for giving permission to mess with other band members gear without asking first. And if he had the nerve of telling me it was no big deal, I honestly don't know how I'd react after seeing my gear tossed on the ground...
 
#145
JimmyM said:
Alright, if you guys say so about the Dano... :D I don't know...I heard characteristics reminiscent of it, but it could just be part of the "shortie with rounds" thing and I could be in for a surprise. Or maybe I can make every bass sound like a Dano.
Click to expand...

Hey, for all I know it sounds a lot like your Dano! One thing I should consider is that prototype sealed 212 cab has three, 3" Faital mid drivers that can get a little spikey. I'll try lowering the mic a bit to get a more natural sound from the 12's themselves. At some point I'm hoping to put a sealed 212 into production, but it won't be that one. It sounds fine at home and at reasonable volumes, but those particular 12's break up a bit too easy in the deeper lows at high volume. I also tried it on a couple 4 hour gigs and without porting, those particular speakers start to sound different after 2-3 hours of constant playing. I'm guessing it's a thermal thing. I built a couple different proto boxes and will be testing different drivers soon.

All that to say, on the clip I made, the 3" mids might be a bit strong and get that similar spike up top that lipstick pickups can get. So that may be what you're hearing, for sure :)
 
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#146
Nunovsky said:
Man, I salute your patience and self control. I think that the minute the bass was on the ground, I'd have tossed that SDB of stage and the BL with her for giving permission to mess with other band members gear without asking first.
Click to expand...
Pretty tough but we had a huge crowd of important folks(i.e. future lucrative gigs booked with them) and fans in the venue so it would've been a bad move to make a big scene. I have too many basses already but it was still a big challenge to remain calm.

The other 2 SDB events, years back, were a drunk wedding bridesmaid flying onto the stage(was at ground level outdoors) and knocking keyboard guitarist's entire setup over. That ended the gig 1/2 hour early with profuse apologies from the wedding folks. The other one happened to the same guy except it was an SDB doing a face dive with his $2500 Gibson SG on. He was VERY lucky that no headstock detachment happened. That SG has never seen another gig.
 
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#147
Played a new Embassy at Sam Ash today. Never has a bass so failed to live up to my hopes and expectations. I can't think of anything positive to say about the example I played. It was a complete turd. A total disappointment which also has caused me to lose interest in the Vintage Pro Thunderbird which I had high hopes for.

A few issues of various importance:

1) The offset pickup routs are just wrong on a bass of any price.

2) The fret ends almost drew blood.

3) Even with higher action than I would ever want there was fret buzz everywhere.

4) Several dead spots on the G and D strings.

5) The tailpiece was crooked.

6) Pickups bore no semblance of T-birdness.

7) Output jack was noisy as heck.

8) No room left to intonate the E string which was noticeably sharp at the 12th fret.

9) Tuners were crooked.

10) The pick guard bowed up between the screws in several spots.

Truly EmbASSY.
 
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#148
KB5 said:
Played a new Embassy at Sam Ash today. Never has a bass so failed to live up to my hopes and expectations. I can't think of anything positive to say about the example I played. It was a complete turd. A total disappointment which also has caused me to lose interest in the Vintage Pro Thunderbird which I had high hopes for.

A few issues of various importance:

1) The offset pickup routs are just wrong on a bass of any price.

2) The fret ends almost drew blood.

3) Even with higher action than I would ever want there was fret buzz everywhere.

4) Several dead spots on the G and D strings.

5) The tailpiece was crooked.

6) Pickups bore no semblance of T-birdness.

7) Output jack was noisy as heck.

8) No room left to intonate the E string which was noticeably sharp at the 12th fret.

9) Tuners were crooked.

10) The pick guard bowed up between the screws in several spots.

Truly EmbASSY.
Click to expand...

That's way worse than my experience, though mine wasn't really glowing either. Ordered it online from Zzounds.

Pickup routes don't line up...maybe quite a few folks who wouldn't notice, but to me it's pretty shoddy.
Frets on mine seem 'fine.'
Setup was almost comically bad, but seems like it could be dialed in just fine.
Didn't notice any dead spots at home or rehearsal, but with the obvious lack of QC going on, it wouldn't shock me.
Pickups, to me sound nothing like a T Bird...good to know I wasn't crazy for thinking so!
My output jack is fine.
Intonated fine.
Didn't notice crooked tuners on mine.
Yep, pickguard is a bit wonky
 
#149
KB5 said:
Played a new Embassy at Sam Ash today. Never has a bass so failed to live up to my hopes and expectations. I can't think of anything positive to say about the example I played. It was a complete turd. A total disappointment which also has caused me to lose interest in the Vintage Pro Thunderbird which I had high hopes for.

A few issues of various importance:

1) The offset pickup routs are just wrong on a bass of any price.

2) The fret ends almost drew blood.

3) Even with higher action than I would ever want there was fret buzz everywhere.

4) Several dead spots on the G and D strings.

5) The tailpiece was crooked.

6) Pickups bore no semblance of T-birdness.

7) Output jack was noisy as heck.

8) No room left to intonate the E string which was noticeably sharp at the 12th fret.

9) Tuners were crooked.

10) The pick guard bowed up between the screws in several spots.

Truly EmbASSY.
Click to expand...
Well,that is disappointing! :crying:
 
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#150
KB5 said:
Played a new Embassy at Sam Ash today. Never has a bass so failed to live up to my hopes and expectations. I can't think of anything positive to say about the example I played. It was a complete turd. A total disappointment which also has caused me to lose interest in the Vintage Pro Thunderbird which I had high hopes for.

A few issues of various importance:

1) The offset pickup routs are just wrong on a bass of any price.

2) The fret ends almost drew blood.

3) Even with higher action than I would ever want there was fret buzz everywhere.

4) Several dead spots on the G and D strings.

5) The tailpiece was crooked.

6) Pickups bore no semblance of T-birdness.

7) Output jack was noisy as heck.

8) No room left to intonate the E string which was noticeably sharp at the 12th fret.

9) Tuners were crooked.

10) The pick guard bowed up between the screws in several spots.

Truly EmbASSY.
Click to expand...
That’s all just character brah.
 
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#154
dukeorock said:
I just called Zzounds and arranged to send back the Embassy. What I was really looking for was a TBird sound, so I'm just gonna poke around until I find the right TBird instead of 'close enough'
Click to expand...
Yeah,i had high hopes for this. It seemed like they got a lot of things right.
(Mahogony body,set neck,and pickups supposedly based on the 60’s model tbird pickups.)
I did really like the sounds you were getting on your video,too.
 
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#158
JimmyM said:
Finally got to play an Embassy. White one at our local Sam Ash. Action was a tad high for my tastes but it sounded pretty terrific to me and it was pretty light. Alas, I liked it but not enough to drop coin on it.
Click to expand...
That was pretty much my exact feeling when I finally got to play one. Still, I think it's pretty cool that Epi is making instruments like this that -while not revolutionary- go a bit against the flow of what most other major makers are doing.
 
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#159
dukeorock said:
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 :)
Click to expand...
I have flats on mine. Big improvement from the stock strings.
 
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