Epiphone Gothic Thunderbird IV

i do not acually own this bass; but i have had my eye on it for some time and finally got to play one, and id just like to give an opinion from this basses biggest fans, stupid teenagers. so here we go, over all this is a great bass, but here are some details, first of all, it sounds like a monster, i hooked this thing up through a markbass 4x10 and it felt like i got kicked in the chest, it has a dark, deep tone that could add plenty of low end rumble to any band in standard tuning so that was a good point, as for the famous neck dive, i was at guitar center so i didnt have a strap, now, i have heard people say this thing has a skinny neck, and that i should consider that as a factor(i like a little thicker necks than most people)however, this thing has a neck as big as its sound, a plus for me but for others im not sure, i have a squire p-bass and the neck on the t-bird at least felt physicly much bigger. now i thought that the action was kind of high but like i said i played it at guitar center, and i dont know if anyone else noticed this, but ive never played a bass at guitar center that didnt have really high action regardless of price or quality, so youll have to check on this yourself, but it still played pretty well. the finish on this bass was pretty good if you like flat black. now some things i didnt like or wasnt used to, the strings came up very far of the BODY of the bass, so i geuss the neck was set on high or some thing, and that messed with the way i play; the tone control was completely useless and both the pickups sounded the same; also i cannot imagine that this bass would be very useful, so, metal guys only. so overall a pretty good bass, but i would seriously reccomend you play it before you buy it cause i think alot of people wont like this bass just because of what it is, and its a love it or hate it kind of thing, so test it out and be open with your descisions. and for gods sake, please read a review from someone who played it for more than five minutes!

My goth tbird is from 2004 or 2005, I really cant remember when I bought it! Its a four string monster of doom, rosewood board, 21 frets(?) matte black finish, passive, two huge pups, two volume, one tone, Gibson/Epio three point bridge, all black hardware throughout full scale bolt on neck... mine came with a little itty bitty cable haha. I give it a ten cause it has just what you need, no frills, no bells just a good bass.

If I had to choose one word to describe this bass it would be "Growly" This thing has some serious grunt to it. I play thru a BBE BMax preamp, Crown CE1000 power amp and SWR Goliath III cab... I have some serious power and this thing just KILLS through my rig. It has ALOT of midrange, now depending on how you feel about midrange that can equate to growl or an overwhelming sense that you have left your bass wah engaged hahaha... but really the tone is pure and simple, growly and deep. Theres a good bit of high end with the bridge pickup, but it can get a bit muddy when the neck pickup is thrown on. My band tunes down pretty low and this bass LOVES to be tuned down. It gets more evil the lower it gets. I play with my fingers and havent felt at all like its not cutting through... this bass can cut through the mix! Give it some eq love and it will punch through like zombies thru a door after fresh brains... I play with two guitarists and a hyper drummer and I never get washed away with this bass... Ive not had a problem with noise from the pups at all... you can get some good sounds from this beast... I wouldnt say its a blank canvas, as it defineately leans more toward aggressive sounds... thats just what its good at! its not as punchy as say a jazz bass, but it has alot more guts, or balls if you will. I would say its more on the Warwick spectrum of growliness (without the hugemongous neck!)with a bit less "bite". Im using alot of words that remind me of a pit bull or something here, because this bass is an aggressive beast. Im giving it a 9 because it does lean so much in the midrange direction it might be seen as a one trick doggy, and it has the tendancy to muddy up if you arent careful with the eq.

when I got this thing a few years ago, I immediately tuned it down, so right off the bat I had to raise the action. I have said it before and I will say it again, I am not a fan of the three point bridge, but it gets the job done. I would like more adjustibility with the action but you just cant get it with that bridge... they are either all high or all low, you cant adjust a string individually... the finish is well done, and I must say has held up rather well these last few years... it does tend to attract fingerprints and sweat marks, but they are easily wiped away... the overall look is pure evil, black on black everything, its really an awesome looking bass... it makes you want to pick fights when you put it on cause you feel like a bada$$. The only thing I didnt like was the Celtic Cross on the pickguard... just seemed out of place to me so I gently sanded it off... there thats better! The routing on the pickup slots were messy here and there, but you cant tell unless you get all up in there and take a look, some of the corners are a bit harsh... the neck is great... nice and slim and the matte finish makes me feel like im playing faster somehow... after playing a while it has smoothed out alot! haha... Ive never had to adjust the pickups, they are fine where they are! The nut looks good, the board looks good, nice clean XII inlay at the 12th fret, speaking of frets they have never given me a problem, nice and level, ends smooth and no buzziness anywhere... Does the famous "Neck Dive" so I moved the strap button to behind the neck, and its waaaaaaaaay better now... Epi/Gibson should just move the strap button there and call it good... but yes it is unbalance, you either get used to it or you dont hahaha... I give it a 8 out of 10 cause the routing was a bit out of control around the pickup and I really didnt like the celtic cross, thought it was kind of cheesy hahah... maybe thats not a good reason to drop it a point but oh well. I dont like the bridge at all, but hey its functional... Also the neck dive, I mean it cant be that hard to change the strap button position at the factory now can it? Besides that it looks and plays great.

This thing is a solid BEAST. I will tell you, I beat my instruments to hell when I play live. And something about this bass says "I will look cooler if Im just a little beat up" hahahah... Ive whacked its huge boat paddle headstock here and there by accident and have only noticed minor scratches... I did put a pretty good dent in it, but thats to be expected when you drop it like that... I also put a serious industrial staple in it (its a long story I didnt think there were any staples in that thing) Ive seriously layed into the strings while playing and have not gotten it to really go out of tune... the hardware has put up with me so far, the finish has done a phenomenal job of putting up with my destructive playing habits, theres really no scratches on the body anywhere! Unbeleivable... Never worried about the strap buttons since I immediately put strap locks on it when I bought it... now im not saying that this thing will stop bullets (of course I havent tried...yet) but it is pretty damn tough. I can seriously depend on this bass, it has never let me down not once in the 2-3 years Ive had it. Ive gigged with it without a backup and had not thought twice. I give it a 10 cause it is in it for the long haul. I think even if I managed to hit it with an axe or an aluminum bat or something it would still sound and play great hahah.

The whole time Ive had this baby Ive never had a problem... so no customer support for me!

Ive been playing for about 15 years, I have 6 other basses, a pair of P basses (MIA and MIM) a Warmoth build, an Ibanez, a Carvin, and an Epi EB3... Overall, this is a great instrument. Now granted I do have a pretty sweet rig, but I think this bass would do well in any setup. It excels at downtuned madness. It can take the fingers or a pick and when eq'd right it will cut through. It has a deep growly tone that I really really love. Its a solid beast of fury that cant seem to be damaged by a mere mortal such as myself hahah. It does have LOTS of midrange, so watch out for that... it does the neck dive so be ready for some forearm cramps on your fretting hand... I would like to have seen more attention to the routing but this is just a minor quibble (your talking to a guy who put a staple thru this poor bass after all). I still cant get down with the bridge, but it works and at this point its just another thing I keep saying I will replace but probably never will... If it was stolen or lost I would definately buy another one, I just wouldnt feel right without it hahah... compared to my other basses it is a much more aggresive instrument... the look, the sound, everything about it means business. It doesnt have that pristine sparkly sound that some of my higher end basses have and thats what I like about it. The sound is dirty and to the point. I wish it had less knobs, so I actually replaced the volumes and tones with on/off switches... Im not really into knobs because for me, they are always all the way up or down, so switches is how I roll. For the money this is a great bass. Im giving it a 9 for general awesomeness, minus a point for messy routing... ok so maybe that does bother me after all haha.

chinese 2007 epiphone goth thunderbird. it's got a solid mahogany body and the neck is bolt-on, pretty sure it's maple. Not sure about the fingerboard wood, but I think it's a particularly dark rosewood. The thunderbird has 2 passive ceramic humbuckers (TB-plus?) in the mid and bridge positions, with individual volumes and master tone. It's got the 3-point bridge that you usually find on Gibson basses (which is not a great bridge and if I wasn't worried about cosmetics I might end up getting a Badass bridge to replace it). It has a beautiful matte black finish, the one drawback is that oil and sweat rub off really easily on it. but it's a pretty resilient finish, i haven't made any dings in it yet. tuners are wilkinsons which are pretty good at holding tune but sometimes feel a little clumsy. the bass is a 34" scale with a relatively thin neck (not j-bass thin, more like an ibanez soundgear). frets are big and somewhat flat, and they REFUSE to buzz. accessories don't come free with it but i suggest getting a really good padded strap and some straplocks--it's very neck-heavy. that doesn't bother me much but some people have to relocate the strap button (i wouldn't suggest doing that yourself). i suggest getting a specially-designed gig bag, getting it into a standard roadrunner case is difficult.

i play a kind of surfish rock that has lots of chorused mid-heavy guitars, and this bass suits that well. most people with regular thunderbirds play rock and use a pick, but this one's mahogany and has a darker tone that (i think) is more suited to fingerstyle. i play it through a flat-eq'd hartke kickback 15w most of the time, with only the bridge pickup on and the tone around 4, which gets a lot of growl but also some warmth. it's a little noisier than i'd like a humbucker to be, but it's not really invasive and rolling off the treble gets rid of most of that anyway. the tone knob makes a big difference in sound. the two pickups sound almost the same, but the bridge pickup has more bite. the bass as a whole has a very high output--it was louder than an active j-bass that i also tried at the store.

the action on the bass is relatively low but well-set-up. the factory intonation is good enough for recording (except way up past the 14th fret), but i really went in with a peterson strobe tuner and fixed it up better. the one problem is that as you adjust the string length the action can become a little inconsistent. the g-string, for some reason, took a long time to intonate.

there are a few flaws that are worth mentioning though. the nut is a little feeble-looking, as is the washer on the output jack. also, some of the screws are brittle. nothing really glaring though.

i haven't owned it enough to really see how well-constructed it is, but most of the hardware is sturdy and the finish looks like it'll last almost forever. the neck also won't need much adjustment.

i haven't had to deal with the epiphone people yet, but i've heard a lot of different things about them.

i've been playing on my own demos for around a year, and just recently got serious about playing bass. this is the only bass i've had so far. no big problems so far. if it were stolen or lost, god forbid, i might get it again but i'd also consider a squier vm jazz or an ibanez soundgear. i love almost everything--looks great, plays great, sounds great. some people would object to the neck dive, but i don't care much. the bridge isn't great, but for 300 dollars it's a steal.

i got it new in the sense that there weren't any previous owners, but it was a floor model for at least three months at guitar center and it still has its stock strings on it. and it STILL sounds good. (i think they're medium-gauge rotosounds, which are exactly the right kind of strings to have on it.) if you play rock it's perfect, but if that was the only bass you could find for a jazz or latin gig it'd get you through it alright.

All the features are pretty well covered below. The key features for me are the Mahogany body and the humbucking pickups. The tuners are nice and tight, and the satin finished neck is incredibly smooth (much better then the sunburst thunderbird which almost feels sticky on the neck). The only thing that is lacking on the features is the bridge which feels flimsy and not reliable.

I play originals in a hard rock band (www.myspace.com/ataraxia1). I use this as my primary bass through a few effects pedals into an ampeg b2r into a peavey tour 1x15" cab. The bass sounds huge, with a little tweaking it can get a great dark bass heavy sound (thanks to the mahogany body). It definately sounds bigger, bassier, and warmer then its alder bodied counterpart. Theres not a ton of variety of sounds that the bass would be suited for, but anything where you want a thumpy deep warm bass sound (rock, metal, hard rock) it's perfect.
It's usually clean with no noise, unless I'm using my boss bass overdrive in which case you can get some hiss and feedback when not playing.

The only major problem with the bass is the huge neckdive on it. If you let go of the neck while standing with an inferior strap the bass imediatley falls towards the floor.

The bass was well set up when I bought it, and there were no flaws in the bass at all. The action is nice and low without any fret buzz, and the satin finish on the neck makes it incredibly comfortable to play. The small notch on the pickups makes it very easy to play fingerstyle.

Everything on the bass seems pretty solid. The satin finish is much better at keeping fingerprints off than the majority of gloss black basses and guitars.

The strap buttons seemed pretty solid, but I still had them replaced with dunlop straplocks for safety.

I would never gig without a backup, but I have a lot of faith in this bass and its ability to last without breaking down.

Chris Chiandusse at guitar center is an incredible pleasure to deal with. He made sure that I had everything I needed to test out the bass with gear similiar to mine and is incredible to deal with whenever I have a problem. I had picked up a metal muff nano for distortion when I bought this bass, and then found out at band practice that the pedal just didnt work out for me. Chris exchanged the pedal with no questions asked and helped me to find a great solution for bass distortion.

I have been playing guitar for the past 6 years, I've been playing bass for 2. I've played peavey, OLP, Schecter, ESP, Ibanez, Spector through galien kruger, peavey, crate, mesa, and ampeg amplifiers. I currently own a peavey milenium 5 string, a spector performer, this bass, boss bass limiter enhancer, tu-2, ph-3, and bass overdrive a digitech digidelay, and a mxr phase 90. I usually play through either an ampeg ba-115, or an ampeg b2r through a peavey 1x15" cab.
If it were stolen I would definately buy it again, this has quickly become my favorite bass and I have yet to find another bass even at the $1000 price point that compares to it. When I first bought it I compared it to every single bass they had in the department (the store was empty and I had about 5 hours to spare) soundwise this bass easily took the cake. I wish that the bridge was a bit heavier and well built, and that it was a little less neck heavy but I am willing to deal with those 2 problems for the great tone tthat this monster produces.

Pretty basic Thunderbird features....you've read the spex already. Mahogany body instead of alder like on the regular Epi TBirds. TB Plus pickups give a very dark, un-trebly sound. Love the body design and matte black finish. No fret markings except a big XII at the 12th. 2 volume, 1 tone. Nice thin neck, rosewood fingerboard. Nothing spectacular in the features department.

Using a newly traded in for ampeg SVT6PRO 1100 watt head with an ampeg 4x10 and a 1x15, this bass produces a very deep, dark, untrebly (as I said before) sound. Nu metal dorks would probably hate this bass other than the Goth looks. Even though it's an Epi, you can hear the Gibson "growl" in it. Volume knobs work fine and are clean. Tone knob doesn't have much variance. Oh well, I hardly use it anyways. Plus the amp's settings are very non treble as well. Good, passive sound. Anything from Purple to Sabbath to KISS sounds can be had from this bass, as well as more modern (90s) rock.

Action off the neck was damn near perfect when I got it. My guess is that it wasn't done at the factory. I moved the strap buttons to better balance the bodyweight, as the neck did the infamous dive otherwise. Finish will hold up forever I think; I've put a few cool stickers all over it anyways. The black chrome hardware makes it look very cool....Tunders seem good but I'd still watch 'em. I think they've finally settled on mine.

I've gigged with it, practice 3x a week with my band with it, plus whatever I do at home. Yeah, it'll hold up very well. I hear the tailpiece is a pain in the ass to work with when changing strings, but we'll see...

Being that I've drilled holes in it for new strap lock locations, I think the warranty is most likely voided. Either way, I've heard good things about Epi customer service. Emails to them have been responded to fairly promptly.

As of now the Epiphone Goth Thunderbird is my main gigging bass. I also have and have done a review for the Gene Simmons Punisher, but paying $1000 for that and $360 for this, I'm more apt to take this into a smoke-filled club. Plus these are more readily available. For the money this is an incredible value. It's very comfortable, looks cool, and sounds excellent for us rock, pick-style bass players. I doubt more developed, less Jurassic-type bass players would appreciate it as much. Oh well, more for me. I'd buy it again in a second!

I am giving a 9 because it has the TB plus ceramic pickups and mahogany body unlike the bog standard epi Tbird. The sunburst I think is prettier but these features make it no contest between them. This wins. Otherwise very basic passive bass. But I like basic. Saying that I do miss fret markings and will fit my own. If anyone reading this knows where I can get the stick on ones in UK please email me.

Again this scores very highly. I have fitted Daddario 55-75-90-110 nickels and they have transformed it into one of the best basses I have ever played (and I have trawled shops playing #1k + basses). I play through an old Peavey amp just at home and sometimes through the basic line 6 pod. I will not mislead anyone that this bass has great variety but I have a narrow wish list and like deep woody evenness (Geezer style). This is the biz.

Not from factory. I have dropped action pretty low. No faults but I keep dinging the thing at the end of the headstock as it is so much longer than my spector. Tuners and bridge allow versatility and are of good quality. Build quality generally excellent. Like everyone else, I moved the strap lock only unlike everyone else i put it on the body just behind the neck (it just about fits) so that the button is actually facing the headstock. I find this alot more practical than putting it at the back of the body. One small pick - bridge height can only be adjusted as a unit and not by individual strings. While this guitar is kinda cumbersome I have found the perfect setup re strap etc and it is now really comfortable especially thin neck.

Can only give it a 10. This thing is indestructable.

NA

I'll give it a 9 as I appreciate that many want more versatility than this bass offers but if i knew that you only wanted the sounds that I wnt to make I would up this to a 10

Beutiful pickups, Nice body, Perfect neck. The finish is great dark and devilish with the inlay on the 12th fret and the pickguard with its celtic symbol.. I have no complaints in this department

Once again this beast amazed me.. I was looking for a nice deep dark sound. And this gave out the perfect sound. I love the TB Plus Humbuckers. there's plenty of control over the pickups so once again no complaints here.

Well I'll tell you. When buying this bass i expected to have to fix the strap bolt. The rumors are true, this bass is neck heavy! It was no big deal. All i had to do was move the front bolt to the back of the bass above the "epiphone" emblem near the neck, and it was balanced out nicely.

The hardware seems fine. As for the mahogany body, its built strong. by the looks of it, it should be lasting me a long time. everything is put together nicely and as I would trust it going to a gig without a backup. I'll always still carry one.

didn't have to talk to them

This Bass is incredible, It blows away my and many other expensive basses. If it was lost or stolen I'd deffinatly buy this bass again no doubt about it. The TB plus Humbuckers are amazing pickups and do wonders for such a great value. Those looking for a good replica of the Gibson model buy this. It has the same great playability and sound capability as the real thing. If you ask me I'd save that $1,500 and spend a fraction of it on this wonder of a bass!

this was made in 2004\5 in a factory in Korea that I believe makes other brands as well as one of it's own. it has 20 frets on a rosewood fretboard on top of a hard maple neck. unlike the standard model which has an alder body, this comes with a mahogany body which is more in keeping with the original Gibson one. there are 2 volume knobs (one for each humbucker) and a tone control. this bass is passive and finished in matt black all over. the bridge is a little unusual as the strings don't slot through the bridge as you would expect but hook behind the tailpiece. this makes removing strings quick but a pain to restring as the ball end keeps coming out of the tail until you get it tight enough. The neck is extremely thin and fast and makes a standard p bass neck look like a cricket bat.

It didn't come with a case or anything and the proper Epi ones were #140 so I got a Warwick coffin case for about #65 from Thomann which adds to the dark look of the bass. You have to buy something like this due to the shape of the bass. Also something like a quiklok stand with adjustable arms as normal ones won't hold it.

I can play anything from Frank Sinatra to Black Sabbath in the bands I am in and this bass always sounds spot on. there is a lot of dynamic range from the epi pickups. this bass has such as strong punchy sound that I considered putting it into the active input on my amp. It sounds very bright as well as being punchy with a bit of growl thrown in. I play finger style only so cannot comment what it is like with a pick I use a Hartke HA5500 head which is the daddy and a Beringer BA410 with the aluminium cones. I have never used it in the studio yet so I cannot comment on what it's like.

this is the only bass I've ever bought in the 19 years I have been playing that came set up perfectly. This may not be for everyone as I generally play with a slightly higher action due to being a very heavy player. there was a small mark on the back of the neck when I bought it but I can live with this as its not noticable. It does suffer from the usual T-bird neck dive but I solved this by moving the rear strap button to near the top of the body, fitting strap locks and buying a neoprene strap which all combine to minimise this.

This is my main bass and use it a lot. The hardware looks like it will last but I'm not sure how the finish would fare in the hands of someone who was not as careful as myself. it is very peculiar in that it is not smooth like you would normally expect but totally matt and kind of rough feeling. I keep mine in a case when I am not using it so that it doesn't get damaged.

I asked a few questions about this bass prior to buying it and the guys at Epiphone were pretty quick to respond.

I can't see me having to get anything repaired unless I whack one of the drummers cymbals and snap the headstock.

I have been playing for nearly 20 years ( I'm only 29 before you start thinking I'm old ) and I have owned all sorts of basses such as Ibanez, Bass Collection, Wesley, Musicman, Status, Shine, Spector etc and this is the most comfortable, best sounding bass I have owned yet. I prefer passive to active as all of my active ones sounded very muddy when I played them fast. I have now settled on 4 stringers after playing 5 string basses for the past 10 years as I was finding that more and more I was not using the B string so there was no point in having it. The other gear I use other than the Hartke or Behringer is: Shine 8-string through neck, Owen Gremlin bass overdrive, DOD octave pedal and a Boss Flanger. I run this through a true bypass looper so that I get a pure signal straight to the amp when I am not using any effects