Anyone played the cheapo Epiphone basses?

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I'm looking into changing my LTD B-155 away, since I only need a simple bass for recording and to be honest, the fifth string is just in way. I'm not a bass player by any means. Anyway, I could probably get about 300€ from selling the LTD, and I thought I'd spend around 200-300€ in the new one. This one caught my eye:

http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=114&CollectionID=12

I tried out a Tokai TB-48 today, which has pretty much the same specs, and it played pretty nice considering it isn't expensive either. Has anyone tried one of the Epiphones out? Again, I really don't need anything fancy, just something to record my own stuff with

Thanks!

 

[muckypup1]

I wish I had one with 5 strings

 

[ex-250]

honestly, i like the epi thunderbirds better than the gibsons as far as feel & playability goes. the gibsons have really thin and narrow necks, which is just not for me. the epis are more comfortable to me, not quite so tiny-feeling. i have zero experience recording with them or using them in a live mix or anything though.



and as for this....

I wish I had one with 5 strings

goddamn do i want one of those...

 

[muckypup1]

honestly, i like the epi thunderbirds better than the gibsons as far as feel & playability goes. the gibsons have really thin and narrow necks, which is just not for me. the epis are more comfortable to me, not quite so tiny-feeling. i have zero experience recording with them or using them in a live mix or anything though.



and as for this....




goddamn do i want one of those...

Holy shit I want one so bad

 

[slashvanyoung]

They are great basses if you're looking for a growling monster. If you want a pristine, clear tone - go look somewhere else.

Also, if you ever intend to play this thing standing up, you'll have to move the strap button to the neck joint, because they are super neck-heavy.

I think they're great budget rock/metal basses. Not very versatile, but what they do, they do great. It's also my favourite bass design along with the classic P- and J-basses.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

They are great basses if you're looking for a growling monster. If you want a pristine, clear tone - go look somewhere else.

Also, if you ever intend to play this thing standing up, you'll have to move the strap button to the neck joint, because they are super neck-heavy.

I think they're great budget rock/metal basses. Not very versatile, but what they do, they do great. It's also my favourite bass design along with the classic P- and J-basses.

That's pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear, thanks! I won't be playing it live, and I'm only looking for gritty, growling tones for metal and probably some stoner stuff, so no problem there.

 

[jrt12]

let me first qualify my response: i'm not a bass player, but a songwriter, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

However, over the last 5 years i've owned/played about 4 different basses. Two epi's and two ESP's LTDs. I ended up sticking with the Epiphone Thunderbird Goth bass, and getting rid of the others over time. my limited experience found that the Epi Thunderbird had a full, fat tone compared to the ones i got from the ESPs, even though the Epiphone pickups were passive adn the ESPs active.

i went with the fat, dark tone from the Thunderbird. but like someone said above, if youre looking for clarity, i wouldnt recommend it.

 

[TheDude]

Yeah. Good bass, but the pickups have a really low output, so they work really well into a rectifier or similar.

 

[Trevoire520]

Recorded one of these ages ago. Got a nice thick low mid that sits very well in a mix. Doesn't pop out on the way that a P bass will but it sits under the guitars beefing things up very well imo.