Epiphone EB-1 Fretless

Ok. Not alot of "features". It's an electric bass in its simplest form.

This is a great sounding bass. The other reviewers were I guess looking for the bright, overly polished sounds of the boutique basses and ibanezes of the world. The sound is deep and rich. Exactly what sounds good under 90% of the mixes ever produced. If you want the bright tinny sound then you eaither play psuedo metal crap like corn or modern cheese jazz. Take your bright sounding bass into a studio with a real producer and the first thing he will tell you is to turn down the treble and turn up the bass.

This bass playes beautifully. Epiphone doesn't spend any time setting up their guitars like some of the other import bass builders like ibanez, so without proper set up, this may not be true. The satin finish looks really nice and makes a great feeling neck. I'm not a fan of gloss finishes, and they dull the sound of the bass.

The neck isn't made of quarter sawn wood so I have to adjust it more than my Music Man, and Ibanez. However this is greatly exagerated since I live in the South East. Our weather changes frequently and the humidity varies greatly from day to day.

I have been playing for 16+ years and have owned quite a few basses. I also used to be a professional audio engineer, and worked at a guitar shop that sold many boutique basses in the $2000-$5000 price range. This bass' playability with a little set up by a professional rivals anything out on the market, and it's sound is just what the doctor ordered for most forms of music. However in this price range, quality varies wildly when compared to more expensive basses. Therefore, one bass may play great, while another built the same day by the same plant may be unplayable. Definately don't buy any low cost instrument without playing it first, you don't know that it will be decent without testing it first.

This could possibly be the my favorite bass out there. Which is saying alot considering its price and my experience with basses cheap and expensive.

This bass made in Korea in 2001 the last year that it was produced. It's a 32" scale fretless with 20 "frets" (but you can play up to the 20 1/2 fret). It has one volume and one tone control for the Sidewinder HB Pick-up (passive). It is made of mahogany wood for the body and neck and rosewood for the fretboard, with chrome tuners and bridge.

It also came with a cheesy telescoping stand to play as an upright. I haven't used it myself, but if I ever wish to convert it to a stick-like upright I have that option at my disposal, by designing something more sturdier for my needs.

For a fretless this bass screams JAZZ, with or without effects. This bass in NOT good for hard rock-styles, but can cross over to blue grass, blues and some rock styles. I picked up this bass to try to achieve an upright sound without the upright price and bulkiness. I have come fairly close to this by using Rotosound Tru Bass strings ("The original Black Nylon bass guitar string") and a Boss Acoustic Simulator (AC-2) pedal. Both of these things add to the acoustic type sound a great deal. Before I found the Tru Bass strings I was using other flatwound strings that weren't giving me the real sound that I was after. But after one set of Tru Bass... there was no turning back. I try to using a Boss Octave (OC-2) pedal with some mild success, but it wasn't until... I found out about the Boss AC-2 by accident from borrowing one from my guitarist. EUREKA!!! I found the sound that I was looking for. As I said this comes fairly close to an upright sound for well under half the price of an upright!!! I Achived this for under $450.

The factory set was less then par, but with a few tweekings I was able to get the playability that I wanted. The bridge design is simple enough to adjust for intonation and action for anyone that has some knowledge of guitars. The finish is great, the one that I have is a dark crimson color that hides the fake f-hole nicely. I also ripped off Gibson/Epiphone pick guard right when I got it which leaves two marks in the finish that I had to cover up. But after two years the finish has held up, because everytime that I pull it out of it's case it turns heads of people that haven't seen it before. It is a very UNIQUE looking instrument, as well as sounding (jazzy).

The tuners are the standard ones for bass in the lower to middle level category (the same as my Washburn Bantum) so I know that they will hold up. The bridge is chrome and has been solid for two years. But the bottom strap button did fall out after a month of playing and there were a few other screws that were loose when I got it. As for giging without a backup, this is one of my backups due to the fact that it has limited uses for my style. If I played in an all jazz band this might be a front runner but I still think that I would be switching between this and my Ibanez SR405 (w/ Rotosound Jazz Bass strings) due to the fact that the Ibanez has a wider range, 5-strings and 24 frets.

N/A

I have been playing bass for eight years now, and Guitar for a little bit longer. I own a Jackson V 5-string (Hard Rockin' Bass), an Ibanez SR405 (Rock/Jazz/All Around Bass), Epiphone EB-1 Fretless (JAZZ BASS), Washburn XB-100 (First Bass), Dean Exotica FM (Acoustic/Eletric Guitar), an old Takamine electric-only guitar, and a Franiscan classical guitar, with a bunch of effects. I got this as my second bass two and a half years ago. For under $400 this was one of the only fretless basses out there. I got this bass to work on my jazz chops which it has done well for. I have no regrets about getting this bass as a JAZZ bass but it is limited in that respect. I do wish that Gibson/Epiphone made this a 34/35 inch scale with the "frets" going down to a LEAST to the 21 fret or even all the way to the 24. But I have done some tuning experimenting with a DADA tuning. (i.e. drop the E to D and raise the G to A) Which is vary interesting for the fretless. The short scale takes some getting use to for the fretless but is manageable with the dots on the bookmarking of the fretboard. If this bass got damaged or something I would look into a used Carvin fretless or something in the class range ($500) before trying to pick one of these up used for $150-$200. But for my second bass and only fretless this still has a place in my bass playing. In my rating of this bass I have concider it as a $350 bass. Most fretless out there do start at $500 and up. I think that some of the other people that have reviewed this bass were not looking into the jazz realm where this fits into nicely, they maybe viewing there opinions on this as a rock bass which it clearly is not.

i just my eb1 from guitarbage.com and it is awesome. i cant belive no one likes these things. just outof the box it rocks. if you are a air guitarist. no hardware no tuners nothing but the strap holders the finish is beautful seriously not a flaw. these must not be worth a flip. i got it for 80 bucks stipped down. for some reason they had 7 or 8 of these they bought from the manufacture. as 2nd or blems. im going to install all new everything on this fretless bass. i will let you know the outcome. if anyone would like to do the same with one of these. please do this could be a really nice bass with a little work.

silent

beautiful mahogony finish

fretless piece of crap

the sound is superb......if youre f"cking tone deaf.

i love the action on the neck but the pickup is the absoulte frenchest thing i've ever heard. it reminds me of what the first pickup prototype must have sounded like. im giving this a 3 because the finish on the neck was exellent.

the "telescoping stand" was an absoulte piece of french crap. the firt time i used it it folded and fell over. i was so pissed i almost sent a hate letter to musicians friend for making it look so pretty in the magazine.

i wish i knew the guy who made this bass so i could give him a swift kick in the balls.

ive been playing for 2 years and own 4 basses. this is an absolute embarrassment. if it were ever stolen id track down the guy who did it and give him a firm handshake. the thing i like most is how nice the finish is going to catch fire.

Cheap cheap construction
Noisy ass Electronics
Horryble tone
The Pickup is a joke
Fake F hole.
You can use it as a stand up bass, (so epiphone claims)
very sad product.

Noisy, and dark
no tone
I play Salsa Music (the bass in salsa music is very Thick and
punchy)
this bass lacks balls.

Cheap Cheap Cheap
Sucks

When I first played it standing up
The Cheap Ass Telescopic Stand
Broke on my first gig .

They gave me the Runaround

I been playing for a long time
and this is the bigest crock of #$%^ I ever seen or heard.

Don't ever get anything from a Mail Order Store with out trying the damm thing first.

Fretless voilin style Bass, with stick up pole which Epi tells you you can play "upright "style bass. Single Humbucker pickup, one volume, and one tone control. Black plastic pick gaurd, cheap painted on black F "hole" which is not a hole as this is NOT a hollow body. 32" scale neck. Mahogany wood body, chrome hardware.

Weak, thin, Noise bitchy sound. Not much tone. Controls don't seam to do much. Tone control is useless junk. Doesn't matter what amp you play thru you will be disapointed.

Glue sticking out of all the joints makes this the worst piece I have ever seen. Even new the neck has wobbly. Tunners always loosen up when you play, will not stay in tune. Bridge is weak strings tend to slip to the side messing up everything.

The crapy strings on this bass when new were the poorest flatwounds broke one the first time out. The Stick up (your ass) did not hold the bass up well. Don't think this will last the rest of this year before I get so pissed I smash it on the floor.

What support? Can't get anyone on the phone or by mail, no way to contact via email. When I finaly got to talk to someone on the phone they had no idea what this bass was.

Boy am I every sorry I bought this hunk of shit. It just pisses me off every time I play it. Only redeming value is the Bass looks kind of cool. Can't believe they would build this thing in a simi-short scale 32" makes the neck possitions stupid. You have to paly it all by ear. If I could I would burn this in the fireplace then drive a stake through the heart of the guys who sold it to me. Never again will I get screwed over like this.