Epiphone ET-285

After owning this bass for 34 years (purchased in 1975), I've finally found out what it is and can offer some comments (wonderful thing Internet).

The previous poster covered the majority of details and I'll let them stand. Aside from the monster tone (big, fat, almost thunderous), I fell in love with the neck. Its dimensions match the tone; big and fat, very clean with no fret over hang.

This bass is fairly heavy overall and a bit 'neck-heavy' such that I have to support the neck to keep it from diving.

As a guitar player new to playing bass, I've yet to explore all the tones that this instrument can provide. I understand many tones are the result of playing style, of which I'm learning. Right now I'm primarially using the neck p/u as it suits the current venue. In the early days of owning the bass, I installed a 'phase reverse' switch on the lower bout close to the p/u selector in an effort to obtain more tones. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have done that...

The p/u's are relatively quiet given that they are single coil.

I frankly don't remember the condition when I bought the instrument.

Action? I have to take it in for a tune up specifically to have the action addressed. The strings are pretty far off the fretboard even for a bass. It's probably been that way from day one.

It's held up under lite-play, but I believe it would have held up under rougher play also.

After 34 years of not-so-good care the finish has taken some hits down to the wood, but the lacquer has not checked at all. The chrome is still in pretty good shape; a little wear on the normal places where the hand would rest.

No dealings with Epiphone.

Been playing guitar for 43(?) years, have both electric and acoustic, a couple custom units, many brand units, and of course, myriad stomp boxes.

I play on my church's music team and the current style of music would be labeled "contemporary Christian".

The bass runs through a Sans Amp DI straight to the sound board, no other effects used.

Made in Japan circa 1973-76. Four string bass with a solid (basswood?) body, maple neck with a 20-fret rosewood board. Two chrome covered single coil pickups, plus tone, volume and three way toggle make up the electronics. Hardware includes Shaller-style keys and a Fender-like chrome bridge. Oddly, it has a full 34" scale (most I've seen in the past were short scale). Precision Bass players will find the bolt-on neck like an old friend. The finish is a three-tone nitro sunburst which has held up well.

I usually play rock, blues and some country. My main amp is a Nemesis 112P combo, though I occasionally play through a blackface Bassman w/ 1 2x12 cabinet. The pick up placement contributes to a very interesting range of useful tones. The bridge pick up is spaced like a Jazz Bass bridge pick up, and sounds, well, very Jazz Bass-like: bright, articulate, but not quite as prone to hum. The neck pick up is right at the neck pocket, and is much, much darker and midrangy. Run together, the bass sounds like a Tbird with both pick ups and tone wide open. I very occasionally run effects, including a Blue Tube overdrive, EH BLack Finger compressor, EH Deluxe Electic Mistress, and the inevitable DOD noise suppressor, but the bass really doesn't need much in the way of stomp boxes to make it sound good.

Factory setup---who knows, in 1973? It came from the vendor well-adjusted, with medium action. Tuned it up, plugged it in, twiddled the knobs a bit, and hey presto! decent tones. Overall workmanship is quite good. The Japanese Epiphones are really well-made, and indicative of the great Japanese basses that Ibanez, Aria, et.al. made through the mid-80s.

It's lasted 30 years, so with any luck I can get another 30 out of it. I think it would hold up to live playing as well or better than any bass of the same era, and it certainly is better quality than much of the absolute cr@p churned out overseas and foisted off on players by the Walmart megastores like "MF". I'd consider it as a main bass, with the caveat of "Always Carry A Spare."

I think it's out of warranty by now.....

I've been playing since 1977, and the Epiphone is now rubbing elbows with a '62 Jazz reissue,a much-modified '78 Precision, a '60s Harmony H22 hollowbody, a 90s Tbird, and a Hagstrom 8 string. It's a nice match for my eclectic/mildly schizophrenic collection. Yes, I would buy another if this one were lost or stolen, but frankly it might be hard to find a replacement at a decent price. I've seen two of these sell on Ebay recently for $400+ I think it is a great choice for a new player looking for something other than the new Asian MacBasses, or a nice alternative for anyone seeking something a little off the beaten path.