Epiphone Rivoli Hollowbody Bass

OK this bass was bought used from a bassist who modified it a lot. All mods were performed by Gary Gilbert, an excellent luthier, repair tech, and an incredible player. Chris(the bassist that sold it to me) has played with Gary for many years, so the mods were top quality and make this bass light years better than any Rivoli ever made! It is a 96 model in a beautiful 3 tone burst. The top is a bit flamey too!. Body is like a 335 and neck is a medium scale. The pickups and pots have been replaced. The original neck unit is still there in addition to a treble unit from an EB2D -in fact it makes this bass an EB2D, basically. Also it has been converted to FRETLESS! strings are half flat groundwounds. came with a very nice factory hardcase. I got this for 400 bucks and feel lucky as these are 600 bucks in stock form and the mods on this could easily cost 400 dollars plus. I've played new Rivolis and they suck compared to 60's models because of Epi's crap electronics-This one surpasses old and new alike. The only bass to compare this to is a mid 60's Gibson EB2D (a 2K+ bass these days). I'd rate a stock one at no more than 5-due to the electronics, set-up, finish, and fretless conversion, I give this one a 9!

This is nothing like a stock Rivoli. It's super quiet and way versatile. It can get sweet woody upright tones with the large neck humbucker; turn down the tone and it gets a killer wooly mammoth distorted bass tone-perfect for 70's heavy rock tones. The treble p/u that was added can get cool Ricenbacker tones and can approximate a jazz bass on the treble p/u. But....when combined these 2 humbuckers really open up the tone! Man, it NAILS the Jack Bruce Cream-era tone! This bass is truly a studio WEAPON! In fact my 68 Precision hasn't been out of it's case in at least 3 weeks!

This is my first foreign made axe and frankly the finish and build quality are pretty darn good. Keep in mind that a really pro luthier spared no expense or time to get this bass kickin'.It has only the original neck and body , bridge, tuners, and case. The pots, pickups, nut, and jack are replacements. It's damn sure flawless, a far cry from any Rivoli I've played.

It has been gigged with and is durable and trouble free. The finish is poly-not as thin as nitro, but beautifully applied and super tuff! Strap buttons are gone replaced with Schaller straplocs. I was impressed with the stock tuners-they look awesome and keep it spot on tuning-wise. Neck hasn't yet needed any adjustment, but it was very well set-up before I got it. It could be gigged without backup-but I've never taken that risk before.

Never talked with Epi-no need-to be fair-no rating here.

I've been playing over 20 years, some professionally. I'm primarily a guitarist and own This Epi, a 68 Precision and a GK RB 250 bass head thru a ported Peavey 2x10 350 watt cabinet-I also use a Digitech GNX4 to record with. as far as guitar equiptment...way too much to list here! This was a unique opportunity to acquire an awesome bass and if were stolen or lost I would not replace it but would seek out a 60's Gibson EB2D, only because the mods and prchase price would be pretty high dollar. I love the tone and look of this bass and having fretless is nice too. With my Precision and Rivoli, there is almost no tone I cannot get! I was lucky to get it dirt cheap and custom modded to perfection. My ratings here really don't apply much to Epi, as this bass was pretty much a standard DOG Rivoli-pretty, but no guts. AS it is now, it simply kicks ass!

1995 Korean-made version, set neck, laminated top with natural (blonde) finish. 1 pickup, 1 Vol, 1 Tone, 1 mysterioso treble-cut switch. Not a bass-boost because it's all passive electronics. Dunno what kind of wood the neck is made of, but I think it's laminated too.
30.5" scale. Came with a chip-board case. Bought it Oct 2001 -- it had been sitting on the shelf for 6 years. Not a lot of features on this bass. You plug it in and play it.

It suits my style, which is psychedelic stuff, English invasion, 60s garage bands, etc. With one passive pickup there aren't a lot of different sounds coming out of it. It's a pretty anemic pickup at that. Not a lot of beef. Also, you won't be doing any poppin' and slappin' here. I just started playing bass so I'm not an expert on how well it sounds. I'm using it at home with a Peavey Basic 50 and a Fender SF Deluxe Reverb (for practice, OK?). Haven't taken it out yet ... because it hums so loud I'd be embarassed to play it in front of anyone. More on that below.

What factory setup? Other than filling out an inspection card, there appeared to be no work done to it at either the factory or the dealer since it left the assembly line. One of the bridge studs wasn't fully inserted into the body. The major flaw was the hum. It just couldn't be played. On the other hand, the quality of the woodwork and finish are quite good and the frets are OK. The look of this bass is one of the reasons I bought it.

The bass seems plenty solid. Finish will take some wear and the tuners and strap buttons are on there tight. Once the strings stretched out I haven't had to tune it other than minor tweaks. Haven't adjusted the truss rod at all. I'd gig it without a backup.

Is there a rating less than zero? I took it back to the dealer to fix the hum and his guitar tech didn't find any loose ground wires and then told me "It's a single coil, they hum like that." I gave up on the useless warranty at that point and took it to my guitar repairman, who told me it's a humbucker that was wired wrong at the factory. He's replacing the pickup on it right now, dressing the frets, and setting the action.

I'm a guitar player who's been messing with the bass for a couple of years until this summer when some friends needed a bass player and I got serious about learning how to play it. I've been playing a Peavey T-40 and just about broke my shoulders hefting that baby. I wanted a short scale, lighter weight bass, something inexpensive, and something that didn't look like every other bass on the market. The Rivoli fit the bill (along with the Guild/DeArmond Starfires). It was pretty close to an impulse purchase. I've been looking for 6 months and haven't seen any other blonde hollow bodies at the price I paid (even including the repairman). Couldn't compare it to any others, because I never found another Rivoli or Starfire in any stores in the area. This was it.

I can't say I got hosed, because it hummed in the store, too ("Yeah, that's how a single coil sounds with fluorescent lights" the salesman told me. Geez.) I made him check the grounding before I bought it and then took a chance he wasn't BSing me.

Love the look and the playability, don't mind the lack of features. It suits me. If I end up playing bass more than I do now, I'll probably go looking for a Guild Starfire, which is what I'd replace this with if it were lost or stolen.

Bottom line? It's a cool bass, just make sure you don't spend so much that you can't afford to replace the pickup and get it set up.

Not sure what year my Rivoli was made or where it was made. I suspect it is Japanese based upon comparisons with new Korean Rivoli's which seem to be very poor quality in every department and incredibly overpriced. These basses don't have any flashy technical features and are certainly not versatile in their own right. I still don't really understand what the push button control is suppose to do(?) I don't tend to alter any settings on the bass and control the sound using the EQ on my amp. As far as looks are concerned this is undoubtedly the most beautiful of all bass guitars in my opinion.

I should really play a Fender Jazz bass as I play in a funk, soul jazz band and often play very dubby bass lines however it doesn't realy matter what bass you use if you've got a nice amp. I run the Epiphone through a Trace Elliot AH250 with a custom made 1 x 15" Cab and it sounds superb. The EQ lets you change the sound dramatically from being very boomy and sustained to being choppy, especially when played with a pick. I played around with the pick-up for quite sometime before settling on having it re-wound and having all the electrics replaced - this made a huge difference and I would recommend scrapping the rubbish that Epiphone insist on putting in theses things. It's like putting a lawnmower engine in a Rolls-Royce.

Bought the bass 2nd hand after falling in love with it becasue of how it looked and how easy it was to play. Since then I have had the frets stoned. It helps to have the action set quite high and I think this makes the sound better too because the strings don't buzz like they do on the new Korean basses.
The finish is superb and the tobacco sunburst is perfectly done.

I've gigged the bass about 30 times and never had a problem. I very rarely take a back-up bass with me.

With these basses you either love 'em or hate 'em. I've heard people describe the 60s US Semi-acoustic versions as being a plank of wood with rubber bands strapped to it and lots of people think they are terrible. Everyone who comes to see our band play always say that the bass sounds phat though so I'm not gonna change it unless I play something that really blows me away.

one pickup (single coil), one volume and one tone control, one tone(?) switch, no case included, paid $850 CDN, beautiful sunburst finish and arch-top body.

the look is its best asset, suits our music which is a bit like Neil Young and Cowboy Junkies. The sound is quite good now after I changed the pickup to a DiMarzio Humbucker. The original pickup had a nice acoustic quality, but needed a lot of EQ to even it out. The electronics are crappy and noisy, I'll probably replace them.

The finish and wood seems great. One of the most beautiful instruments I've seen. The pickup screws needed to be adjusted a lot to even out the sound because of large differences in volume between strings. The tuning pegs are cool looking and work well.

Strap buttons solid, I use the instrument live and haven't had anything unexpected happen (knock on wood).

I got something reconnected , some wires came loose due to poor soldering, it was under warranty of the store I bought it from (Long & McQuade, a canadian chain of music stores).

I love the way it looks, it sounds good now but I changed the pickup. I've been playing bass for two years, guitar for 10. I bought this bass shortly after I started playing. I don't own any other bass equipment. I'm trying to sell my Marshall stack so I can buy a bass rig. If it were stolen, I might buy another of the same if I could also afford to change all the electronics.

Outstanding look, GIBSON clone ES335 (recent reedition)
Origen: Korea
Color: Sunburst (very good work)
General Maplewood / Rosewood (Neckjoint: Glued in, very good work)
Standart 18 frets (Jumbostyle) on shortscale neck and plastic nut (good fret work / good fretboard)
4 Strings (change inmediatly!!)
Controls: 1 volume / 1 tone / 1 bass booster switch (all bad quality, the booster switch don't function)
Pickup: 1 neckposition / Humbucker style passive (very bad quality, very high volume differences between strings)
Bridge: 3 point fixing adjustable / independent adjustable sattles for intonation, not for independent string high - controled by the 3 fixing points (Bridge fixing in wood very bad - in my case needed rework)
Very tweaky cord inlet plug (change before damege!!)
Tuners: Standart Elephant-ear style (not bad at all)
Separete Hardcase

By myself I changed first off all the Strings to flatwounds.
The sound is general poor, due to the quality of the pick up.
But having stringed flatwounds and after severall hours of string and humbucker screw-magnets adjustings I have a pretty wood-sounding, mellowed blues sound, realy surprising warm wood tone.
To avoid some string humming the adjustment has to be a little high, but nothing outstanding considering the retro-antique-tecnology of the overall construction.
The earthing of the separated metalparts like bridge = strings and pick-up simply doesn't exist. I solved this conecting some cupper hairs from a normal flexible cord between the switch and the pick-up. This reduced the noise of opend ground on strings.
The short scale length feels realy nice and is very easy to play, like the dimensions of the neck form and adequate string spacing.
This is a one-sound bass, very limited. But a nice single warm wood sound. Good for studio, but I don't recoment to take it on stage, because of the limited sound options.
I run thru a TRACE ELLIOT GP 150W / 15" Speaker - very flat setting.
For recording I run thru a BASS POD set to MINI BRUT / AMPEG B15 / VOX 100 - all realy good jazzy / bluesy sounds.

The overall work of this bass is realy good (wood finish and painting)
The electric components are selected thinking more on the final cost then on the sound.
The factory set-up could be better. But may be this is due to the transport.

I think it is more a home / studio instrument - to be handeld with some love - then a gig instrument.

In Spain? Are you jocking?

I'm playing bass for 10 years. I own a japaneese Fender Jazz Bass too.
It is realy hard to find a pick-up replacement (If you know some solution please inform me).
I love this bass because of the wood-sound. It is not like a upright big brother, but it is very analouge, very old sounding, very acustically sounding. And don't forgett the outstanding look of an classic construction.
PLEASE HELP ME TO FIND A PICK-UP REPLACEING.

This is a cool looking bass. It has a vintage ES335 style to it. Mine was brown sunburst; one neck pickup; chrome hardware. It came with a hardshell case. Passive electronics & pickup.

Poor sound quality. The pickup is some cheap piece of garbage. All the electronics (pots, switch, etc.) are cheap, too. It's too bad they put this junk in an otherwise nice guitar.

Nice paint job, nice wood, plays well with good finish. Well made guitar. (except for the electronics & pickup)

ok, i guess. the epiphone logo on the pick guard might break off???

???????/

I've played a lot of guitars over the past 20 years. This is a nice guitar except for the pickup & electronics ( which are cheap garbage). You could put a new pickup in it, but since it is not a standard pickup, you have to have one CUSTOM MADE. This costs about $200-300, which is too much extra to pay for a $600 bass. Its too bad because this is such a cool looking, and good playing instrument.