Question:
I bought one of these for my eleven year old (not very big) daughter to learn on, and also partly because I used to play Hofner and Fender Mustang short-scales. Yes, it does one sound – low, low viscous – and does it rather well. Two criticisms – tone pot is useless, you can have all bass or nothing. Low-mid and treble are just not there and turning the tone down just makes the sound thin and quiet. A half decent EQ on your amp will PARTIALLY overcome this, but it’s not an EB-3. Fret buzz on the E string is, to some extent, an endemic characteristic of flabby strings on a short-scale, but you can never really lose it with the standard (presumably cheap) strings. As a cheap short-scale it’s the best, compared to Encore, Stagg, Squier etc. If you specifically want a short-scale and can spend a bit more, the MIJ Mustang re-issue is really gorgeous and the Epi "Elite" EB-3, yet to make it to UK, looks like it should be the real business. I’m trying to buy a whizz-bang active 34 incher at the moment, but I’m sure I shall still play the Epi sometimes just for that easy going richness. Ian
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone have any expirience with these? I’m thinking of getting one. I’m in search of psyhedelic rock tone voodoo. I know lots of guys (Cream, Big Brother, Gov’t Mule) used Gibson basses, and this bass seems to be pretty much the thing, and it’s pretty darn cheap to boot. ($229 most places) Reviews on harmony central are generally pretty positive (and, most importanly, few playability/quality problems). Most of them were along the lines of ‘it does this one sound really well’. Any thoughts? (For reference, my current are a Warwick Streamer Std 5, and an Alembic Epic 6 fretless. Both killer basses, but both are about as modern as you can get tone wise.
Response:
As a cheap short-scale it’s the best, compared to Encore, Stagg, Squier etc. If you specifically want a short-scale and can spend a bit more, the MIJ Mustang re-issue is really gorgeous and the Epi "Elite" EB-3, yet to make it to UK, looks like it should be the real business. I’m trying to buy a whizz-bang active 34 incher at the moment, but I’m sure I shall still play the Epi sometimes just for that easy going richness. Ian
if you can find a Squire Musicmaster reissue it’s a nice cheap shortscale too, unlike the original it has intonation for all 4 strings, a bass pickup (with big 1/4"ish polepieces)instead of a strat pickup, and through body stringing. I’ve got a fretless one (it was nice with frets too:) sitting beside my aforementioned EB3. Just added a musicman style pickup at the bridge WOOOHOOO! what do ya’ll think….music-man-master, musicmaster-man or master-man? Radapaw
Response:
I guess it’s just a Mmmmmm…. I don’t know the Musicmaster. Does it have the Bratwurst-finger tree trunk neck like the Musicman? Shame about the Sens. With the Leafs out (as usual) I’d be rootin’ for any Canadian team left, even the Sens! Ian
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – As a cheap short-scale it’s the best, compared to Encore, Stagg, Squier etc. If you specifically want a short-scale and can spend a bit more, the MIJ Mustang re-issue is really gorgeous and the Epi "Elite" EB-3, yet to make it to UK, looks like it should be the real business. I’m trying to buy a whizz-bang active 34 incher at the moment, but I’m sure I shall still play the Epi sometimes just for that easy going richness. Ian if you can find a Squire Musicmaster reissue it’s a nice cheap shortscale too, unlike the original it has intonation for all 4 strings, a bass pickup (with big 1/4"ish polepieces)instead of a strat pickup, and through body stringing. I’ve got a fretless one (it was nice with frets too:) sitting beside my aforementioned EB3. Just added a musicman style pickup at the bridge WOOOHOOO! what do ya’ll think….music-man-master, musicmaster-man or master-man? Radapaw
Response:
just search musicmaster at ebay and you’ll find a bunch, Fender and Squier alike. They’re not naturally MusicMan’ish at all. More like a cross between a Tele/singlecoil Pbass and a Mustang(same or similar body shape/neck, and bridge [on the Squier version]). Yeah I was hoping for some stanley cup fever around here. regular season hockey gets pretty drab with 64 teams or how ever many there are now, but toss a big chunk o’stanley in there and it get’s pretty exciting again! radapaw gui.server.ntli.net… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I guess it’s just a Mmmmmm…. I don’t know the Musicmaster. Does it have the Bratwurst-finger tree trunk neck like the Musicman? Shame about the Sens. With the Leafs out (as usual) I’d be rootin’ for any Canadian team left, even the Sens! Ian As a cheap short-scale it’s the best, compared to Encore, Stagg, Squier etc. If you specifically want a short-scale and can spend a bit more, the MIJ Mustang re-issue is really gorgeous and the Epi "Elite" EB-3, yet to make it to UK, looks like it should be the real business. I’m trying to buy a whizz-bang active 34 incher at the moment, but I’m sure I shall still play the Epi sometimes just for that easy going richness. Ian if you can find a Squire Musicmaster reissue it’s a nice cheap shortscale too, unlike the original it has intonation for all 4 strings, a bass pickup (with big 1/4"ish polepieces)instead of a strat pickup, and through body stringing. I’ve got a fretless one (it was nice with frets too:) sitting beside my aforementioned EB3. Just added a musicman style pickup at the bridge WOOOHOOO! what do ya’ll think….music-man-master, musicmaster-man or master-man? Radapaw
Response:
If I do get it, I plan on upgrading the electronics pretty quickly, to ‘true’ Gibson spec.
Good luck. Just buying one of those EB humbucking pickups will cost you as much as the Epi bass. If you want real Gibson spec pickups, look for a used Kalamazoo bass. These were bolt-on neck basses made by Gibson around 1967-8, they have the same electronics and bridge as a real EB-0. Some (like mine) have the "SG" body shape while others look more like a Fender Mustang (and cost less). They are real cheap…not much more than an Epi EB-0. — Brian Rost Stargen, Inc.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The EBO is a 3/4 scale neck where as the EB3 is a full scale neck Todd that may be true with epiphone’s regular series, but the new epiphone elitist eb-3 is short scale… Anyone try/seen one? With Gibson, the eb0 and eb3 were both short scale, if you want longscale gibson look for a EB0-L or EB3-L or EB4-L(me thinks…) I’ve heard the mudbucker in the epiphone "just wasn’t the same". I’ve got a gibson my self, yup it’s pretty much a one trick pony, but It’s a very cool trick! I mostly use the "mud" and the "wall of mud" setting. I’ve heard good things about splitting coils for more diversity as well. I definatlty don’t think it’ll sound too modern for ya
Hehe. If I do get it, I plan on upgrading the electronics pretty quickly, to ‘true’ Gibson spec.
Response:
The EBO is a 3/4 scale neck where as the EB3 is a full scale neck Todd
that may be true with epiphone’s regular series, but the new epiphone elitist eb-3 is short scale… Anyone try/seen one? With Gibson, the eb0 and eb3 were both short scale, if you want longscale gibson look for a EB0-L or EB3-L or EB4-L(me thinks…) I’ve heard the mudbucker in the epiphone "just wasn’t the same". I’ve got a gibson my self, yup it’s pretty much a one trick pony, but It’s a very cool trick! I mostly use the "mud" and the "wall of mud" setting. I’ve heard good things about splitting coils for more diversity as well. I definatlty don’t think it’ll sound too modern for ya — ## # # Radapaw # ## The Imaginary Bass Players Union # http://www.bassunion.org # # JOIN TODAY! #
Response:
I have to echo Todd’s comments. This is really a one sound bass, although, I managed a LOT of bottom from it rather than just middle. Oh and it was an EB-3, full scale length, not the shorter EB-0. The bass I had was spot on for the thuddy 60’s sound with virtually no variations available. You mention Jack Bruce, he played an EB-3 and has his modified with the additions of a diodes in the electrics (I think) to give his unique distorted sound, this was also carried through to Andy Frazer’s (Free) bass. Felix Papallardi used the EB-1(?) Violin bass, the discontinued Gibson fore-runner to the Hofner ‘beatle’ bass, again, with a very similar sound. The Epiphone will not match your Alembic or Warwick as it is a budget bass, but as such, it is a very good budget bass. I fell in love with the EB-3 for that reason, simple and rugged. — Alun www.bassics.org
Response:
I used to have a Gibson EBO bass from the late 60’s and it had a great midrange sound but that was about it. The EBO is a 3/4 scale neck where as the EB3 is a full scale neck which is also what Jack Bruce from Cream used, not the EBO. It was my second bass I ever had and I did a lot of work to it to try and get a better sound out of it but no go. No matter what I did, it was all midrange very little bottom and top end. Todd
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone have any expirience with these? I’m thinking of getting one. I’m in search of psyhedelic rock tone voodoo. I know lots of guys (Cream, Big Brother, Gov’t Mule) used Gibson basses, and this bass seems to be pretty much the thing, and it’s pretty darn cheap to boot. ($229 most places) Reviews on harmony central are generally pretty positive (and, most importanly, few playability/quality problems). Most of them were along the lines of ‘it does this one sound really well’. Any thoughts? (For reference, my current are a Warwick Streamer Std 5, and an Alembic Epic 6 fretless. Both killer basses, but both are about as modern as you can get tone wise.
Response:
Anyone have any expirience with these? I’m thinking of getting one. I’m in search of psyhedelic rock tone voodoo. I know lots of guys (Cream, Big Brother, Gov’t Mule) used Gibson basses, and this bass seems to be pretty much the thing, and it’s pretty darn cheap to boot. ($229 most places) Reviews on harmony central are generally pretty positive (and, most importanly, few playability/quality problems). Most of them were along the lines of ‘it does this one sound really well’. Any thoughts? (For reference, my current are a Warwick Streamer Std 5, and an Alembic Epic 6 fretless. Both killer basses, but both are about as modern as you can get tone wise.
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