Epiphone Beast

A 2001 E Series Epiphone "Beast"

The body type is basically an Explorer (enough to have fooled myself and the local dealer into thinking it was an Explorer) but has a bit of a cut away on the back and the front (making it easier to access the higher frets).

The neck is surprisingly easy to play on, I think it's styled to feel like a Wizard neck shape) I got lucky and the owner of the shop had sanded the neck down to a VERY fine grain (perfectly smooth to touch).

The tuners are pretty solid, I've been playing like crazy for about a day on it (just bought it) and it's yet to fall out of tune. (And I'm notorious for picking harder than necessary, from a year of having no amp).

The majority of the weight is on the very back of the guitar, instead of distributed through the whole thing, making it very easy to move around while playing.

My only complaint about the body is that it doesn't have a 24 fret system.

The stock pickups on this guitar a very surprising. The versatility of them is amazing, and clean they are VERY hot, and have that artificial tone that seems to be coming into rock again (see Between the Buried and Me's Selkies: The Endless Obsession).

With a little bit of distortion (or overdrive) the crunch put out makes it IDEAL for playing heavier music (I've found that if it's run through a crunch amp, it can get a sound EXACTLY like Paul Gilbert's in Curse of Castle Dragon).

The guitar is also good for a jazzy style, if you turn the distortion down a bit, and run it through almost clean, with a bit of reverb and echo (very little).

The only problem with them is that they do have a bit of a crunch when playing chords and chord shapes, so if you're looking for something that versatile, I'd suggest installing a tap switch to switch from single to double coil.

If it's run through a Fuzz pedal (I use a Danelectro Fuzz) it sounds almost exactly like a 70's style Strat with distortion (The tone difference between playing Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) on my Beast and my Strat is almost non-existent).

There is virtually no buzz if it's set up correctly.

I got it used, so I can't say that it's how all are set up (though being out of production, if you find one, I'd say to just get it set up).

The action on this guitar is VERY low, very easy to play, especially with the Wizard Style neck.

The finish on this guitar is VERY strong, in the last few hours I've beat it against every doorway, chair and desk in the house, and it has yet to show a mark.

It's also very easy to sit down and play, which was unexpected (having never played an explorer-style guitar).

Again, my only complaint is that it doesn't have a 24 fret system.

I haven't been able to try it at a gig yet, but I think it will hold up, but I wouldn't bring a backup.

The finish has yet to let up (even with my overly hard picking style) and the only real complaint about the finish is that since it's so thick, fingerprints show up, and pick stripes through the finger prints, show up just as brightly.

Strat buttons are solid enough, though I may swap them out for locking ones in the future, just out of preference.

Haven't had to deal with any support from Epiphone yet, and hopefully I won't have to

Having been playing for several years (4-5 now) and being one above the average player in my time group (4-5 years) I can say that it's a very well rounded guitar, especially for the price. If it was lost, I think I'd either search out for another, or find something similar to it.

The stock pickups are very versatile, in conjunction with the neck quality, I'd have to say if you find one, jump on the opportunity, it's well worth the money.

Finish is beautiful metallic red. I bought it on craigslist and the picture didn't do justice at all. Was going to put pickguard on it but so it looks like a gibson explorer, but new don't want to touch the finish. The tuners, pickups and head have the epiphone logo which is cool I think. MINE HAS A BUILT IN DISTORTION AND CHORUS TOGGLE! I've been trying to get more info on this guitar and it is hard to find like if those toggle are stock. If you have any articles online about this guitar, let me know.

I've heard it is a rock/metal guitar and I agree, though I do get good Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here sound. Very good sustain and feedback if you want it. 2 covered humbuckers with the epiphone logo.

Bought it used. Action is good, I would like the strings a hair lower but good enough for now. I haven't touched any of the setups. I don't own any real expensive guitars, but this is the best one I own and plays the best.

No problems at all with hardware and the finish is perfect except for one nick. There aren't even any pick scratches below pickup. I heard you need strap locks and I agree and am getting some this weekend.

Just got it and love it, especially for the money. Paid $180 from craigslist. That is why I'm taking the time to write this review. I would like more info on it. I heard it was only made in 2001 or 2002, so it may be collectors item also, but i'm playing mine every day. I've never played a Gibson Explorer, bought this because I want one someday maybe and wanted to check it out. I've heard the Beast is just as good for 1/4 the price. After I played it and seen it, I didn't even try to talk him down. Paid my $180 and left a happy man!

A 1999 E Series Epiphone "Beast" which is a very similar shape to the Epiphone Explorer. 22 Frets, 2 E Series Epiphone Humbuckers, Satin finish maple neck with a very nice Indian Rosewood fretborad Metallic blue finish. Epiphone branded tuners which work really well. Came with a custom made hard case.

I normally play indie rock... this is more of a heavy metal guitar... probably suited to Metal, Heavy Rock or Punk. This guitar lives up to it's name "The Beast" It's loud and made to Rock, which it does very well. On the clean chanel it's a surprisingly warm sound which surprises me for this type of guitar.

I play through a Marshall 30 watt amp... The only down side to this guitar is it is built to Rock and Rock is all it's gonna do, which is fine if you want a rock guitar. It loses a couple of marks here pulely becasue it's quite limited in terms of the sounds it makes.

I bought this 2nd hand... It'd been set up perfectly. Pickups at perfect height... Amazing action, the body is in almost perfect condition for a second hand guitar.

This guitar seems quite light... But I would and will gig with it without a back-up. I've have Other Epiphone guitars and I trust the brand. The Tuners are great, the strap buttons (although arkwardly placed) are solid. I'm pretty sure this would take a lot of abuse, although I'm generally careful with my guitars.

Didn't deal with Epiphone but Dawson's Music in Manchester (where I bought it from) were top notch.

I've peen playing for 5 years... I've got a few other guitars... An Epiphone Les Paul Standard a Taylor Big Baby an Aria Elecrto Acoustic A 1989 Silver Series Squier Precision Bass and an Ashbury Solid top acoustic mandolin. I bought this to "Rock Out" and although my Epi LP is more than capable of doing that... this looks really really cool, and becasue it's a limited edition and a really good price they swayed my desicion.

Metallic Red body, H-H Epiphone "Ultra-Hot" humbuckers, 3 way switch.. Volume and Tone knobs, Epiphone tune-o-matic bridge.

The guitar has a nice fat tone, and the large body size really does add to the rounded sound it makes. The pickups are fine for the price, they dont suit acoustic playing very well, but they sound great though a cranked up amp. I played mainly metal with this guitar, Iron Maiden and Metallica style stuff, and it sounded great though my Marshall AVT100 combo.

I also experimented with different tunings on this guitar (C, D, and Eb) and it still sounded good and rounded.

The finish on the guitar looks great, deffinately a head turner. There was one tiny mark on the back of the guitar but other than that it was fine. The innotation was totally out from the factory, but the action was set pretty well. Everything is personal preference and ive since changed the setup on it many times since i first bought it.

It did make me realise that a fixed bridge isnt for me though. I felt the bridge was too high off the body, and it doesent give me as comfortable playing posision as a floyd rose equipped guitar.

I also found that its very neck heavy, and not a very comfortable guitar to play sitting down (tends to make my shoulder ache).

It does seem as solid as a rock. Its never been gigged, but it has been accidentally hit a few times and its hardly scrached, the finish seems pretty thick.

My only complaint is a typical one with Korean made guitars, the output back does come loose, although ive never had to re-solder the connections inside (which i had to do many times on my Squire strat).

I have never dealt with Epiphone

Ive been playing guitar for around 4 years. Other guitars i own are an Ibanez RG570EX and a Music Man John Petrucci Signature. I originally bought the Epiphone to replace a Squire strat, and for a year this guitar was my pride and joy. Since buying my Ibanez, i have hadly used this guitar, and have become too accostomed to floyd rose and vintage trem bridges to feel comfortable playing the epiphone. However my playing did improove a lot while i had my epiphone, and for a ?300 guitar its hard to find much better.

Korean Explorer style Body, 22 easy-access frets, solid body, 1 volume, 1 tone, 3-way selector, Epiphone Humbuckers.

i personally think this guitar is great. the sound on clean is good, ive played better but it is still very good. if your looking for a heavy sound this can make it, i use this as my main guitar an am very pleased

this gutiar didnt contain any flaws, very easy to work, i have it in black with a slight silver sparkle, it is great, great shape

i confidently use this guitar without backup, the only problems i have had is that it has suffered alot of knocks on the spike part of it due to me hitting it on things, i also broke the pickup selector knob thing off but think i was being too rough with it

i love this guitar, it was quite cheap and a great sound for the price.

This seemed great at first, however i wasn't a very experienced guitarist when I bough this and with more experience I can say the features leave a bit to be desired.

The biggest problem is that through chips in the finish, I noticed the wood it is made from-this "tone wood" that Epiphone use seems a lot like plywood-in fact, it's so light that even with a bulky explorer shape the guitar is very neck-heavy, which is a pain to play with. Also, because of the shape you have to buy strap locks otherwise the strap just comes straight off-I just got mine from a swing-top beer bottle but they aren't perfect.

There's only one tone and one volume knob and there's three pick-up options between two humbuckers. The bottom option feels very hollow and the top two don't have a huge difference between them, although for an entry-level guitar this isn't too terrible, only I've been wanting more options recently.

I used to play metal but recently have been getting more into jazz/funk stuff as well as some neo-classical and the tone is ok for some of this, although the variety of tones isn't great. There is a big problem though in the ammount of bass it gives off-even when I turn the bass fully down on my amp it's too strong.

I play it through a Marshall MG50, which isn't a great amp in itself so may account for some tone issues but the guitar still does not rival strats and les pauls as other reviewers have said.

The action was a little too high at first and I had to play around with it a bit, but that isn't a huge issue at all-I expect it as only I know how I want it to be.

Other than that, when I bought it everything was fine

The pickup selector snapped after a year and I found it was made of plastic despie steel plaiting. Also, the explorer shape makes it hard not to bump into things and the finish seems to chip a lot-exposing the plywood the guitar is made of, which is also quite easy to chip once exposed. A coupld of tuning pegs have come loose as well, although they are easy to tighten.

The input has problems after a while-it tends to cut out and doesn't play any sound unless the lead is in exactly right.

I haven't tried the customer support.

I've been playing 5 years now and I wish I'dhad more experience when I was buying this or I almost definately would have gone for something else. If it was stolen, I wouldn't replace it.

Ok... where to start... This is a 2001 Epiphone "Beast" Explorer-style guitar. This baby was given life in Korea, which surprised the hell out of me when I found out. I'm a blue-blooded made-in-America fan, but I admit the sound that came out of my amp when I hit a E5 knocked any and all prejudice outta me. 22 frets, solid-top. 1 volume, 1 tone, 1 3-way selector neck - both - bridge. My first dual 'bucker guitar... I'm hooked for life. B.B. and Hammett were right. The hummers are passive Epi's, Ultra-hot. And they earn every bit of that name. The neck is hard maple with an Indian rosewood fretboard. The finish is Metallic Blue... it looks killer on the Exp. body. String-thru-body hardtail with stop tailpiece... I left it playing a low E harmonic and came back 10 minutes later... it was still ringing. Seriously. You like sustain? Get this guitar. Non-locking epi tuners that did not come out of tune until i put new strings on it. Medium-jumbo frets on a c-neck, not-too-thick, not-too-thin... best feel I ever had. Smooth-as-glass finish... effortless slides. I wish I could find a pool cue like this guitar neck... oh, rock-hard finish on this guitar. I was walking around my room playing it and hit the dresser something like three times... not a scratch. The epiphone hardcase for this guitar is key... the only bad thing about this body is that you have to buy strap locks. Period. Now, the guy i got this from had a kickass idea - use a monster safety pin. Put the strap on, then lock the safety pin around the button. Simple, free, and most importantly, it works. I have to give it a 9 because the look of the headstock could be the tiniest bit better... of course, i wish i had a Gibson neck to put on it. But if you want Gibson looks and BETTER tone, go Epi. I joke not.

this guitar makes ME sound good... it can do that for anybody. I play blues, southern rock, jazz, and metal. Yes, metal. I will school you on some sandman. Anyway...

Blues - neck pickup, volume about 7, tone on 6 (take the treb down a little bit on the guitar, not the amp,) tweed-style amp, tiny bit of reverb and the barest bit of distotion (so you can barely hear the drive) and that guitar cried harder than Saddam did when we kicked his ass. Not quite Clapton-ish... nothing like a strat for that, but BB and lucille have met their heavy-lookin' match. Looks like something Buddy Guy would play on a whim, you know?

Southern rock - Neck/bridge bucker combo, played through a crate 50 watt, and I heard Skynyrd and the Allman brothers and I forgot I was playing. Vintage sound that almost knocked me back a few decades - out of an explorer. DAMN.

Jazz - Neck/bridge bucker combo, sometimes bridge only, clean sound, tone on 10, and you can get a groove on to beat any rapper you can name. Not that they're worth mentioning, since it's not really music. My drummer buddy said it was the best jazz sound he had heard yet, and my bassman was drooling over the sounds from the middle of the fretboard. Oh yeah. I love you, Pat Metheny.

Metal: Neck - nasty snarl, rip-your-head-off-if-you-ever-touch-my-girl-again type sound. Crunch heaven. Hetfield would be proud.
Neck/bridge - a little brighter... if there is such a thing in metal... a little scrappier than the neck only... kind of a wuss-out option if you ask me. Play lead or rythm. No inbetween.
Bridge - who's afraid of a little soloing? and who's afraid of looking like Marty Freidman doing it? Not me. access to the bottom frets is effortless. the neck (bolt-on) is sculpted for this purpose, but is thick enough to ground you and keep you from sailing off into infinity on that last note, which by the way, has not stopped ringing in my ears. Fantastic sound running though the minor pentatonics - a little intonation problem on the high e, but nothing a screwdriver could not fix on the tailpiece. Dimebag sound through my buddy's randall - effin' right dude.

I could play this guitar until the day i die and not get tired of the sound. Go ahead, laugh. I'm not.

Set up was screwed up by the guy I got it from, but we fixed that quickly. He raised the action on the low E to compensate for a buzz on the first fret - shimmed the nut, lowered the action, fixed the intonation on the high e, and cleaned the contacts on the toggle. It had a problem with turning on the bridge hummer, but you would be surprised what a little contact cleaner can do. Pickups are dead-on accurate. Tone is out of this world on all settings - just perfect. I should be beaten with a big stick for stealing this guitar from the guy I bought it from. I need to go give him another thousand dollars. seriously, that is what this guitar is worth, if not more.

It gets an 8, which it probably does not deserve, and i probably would not give it such had i gotten it new, but previous owner screwed with it, and i had to fix it, so there.

I cannot wait to get this guitar on stage. A professor friend of mine, whose house contains more guitars than i ever hope to own, said i had gotten the best deal he had ever seen, and it looked great on top of that. Hell yes. If my fast fingers cannot get a girl with this guitar, than i guess i'll have to hire angus young to play under my name. This think is a freakin tank. I think it will last longer than i will. Set up, it plays effortlessly, like a dream ... or a nightmare, depending on what mood I am in. Hell, the different ways this thing plays, my backup (jackson soloist) is gonna be sitting around collecting dust. Anyone want a jackson? I want another beast so I can put a Floyd Rose on it and use that one for my backup.

Ain't dealt with em, probably ain't gonna have anything happen that me or my buddies can't fix.

Dude that sold it to me is fairly damn stupid for letting this guitar go for a fraction of what it is worth. I have seen friends of mine with record contracts have fits over this guitar, then get mad at me for paying so much. I mean, hell, I had to have paid over $2000 for this guitar, right? You're just a college student, you can't afford... oh wait, you mean I DIDN'T pay $2000? How much did I pay? $350? $#%@*??????? you gotta be #@*&ing me!!!!!

I've been playing for a couple of years now and have played all kinds of stuff. LPs, PRS, strats, jackson, washburn dime models (oh hells yeah), Gibson explorers, ESPs, and Ibanez.

But I like THIS one.

I would cry, then fly into a rage and get thrown in jail for beating the piss out of anyone who so much as looked at this guitar wrong. I think i am getting obsessed...

It's so damn mean.

They don't make em like this anymore. Literally. Which is good and bad, depending on how you look at it. Bad for all you poor effers who want it but have to buy it used. Good for me cause you are going to want to pay me lots of money to get your hands on this beauty.

When you hear me rockin' half a world away, you will know its me cause the guitar sounds SOOOOOOO good. Have a nice life knowing that I will always sound better than you with my Epi Beast.

It has two humbuckers... WTF else does a guitar need? I guess volume/ tone on both p/u's, but I wouldn't use those anyway.

It rocks. It sounds as good as some Gibsons. It's quiet, it sounds good rockin' or clean, and it stays in tune.

When I bought it it had been sitting around the music store for over a year (hence the price) and was set up son poorly it didn't play. I bought it anyway as a joke because of the gaudy body shape and finish(a baby- blue explorer? What's cooler than that?) After application of some red electrical tape to glam it up a little, I set it up and straightened the neck and it played friggin' awesome!!

The thing is covered with blood, sweat, dings and scratches from abuse at shows. It gets beat up a lot because it was so cheap that everyone just kicks it around. Anyone who gigs w/o a backup is a dumba$$, because strings can break @ any time, on any guitar.

For $50? It wouldn't take much to total this guy. All it would take would be ONE new pickup...or some tuners...

Unlike most of the people who actually like explorers, I am NOT in a metal band, and I find the things hilarious! There is nothing cooler than breaking this thing out at shows, because even people who know nothing about guitars think it's cool. It rocks!! It was $50!!

Korean made Gibson Explorer ripoff

Pickups sound like cheap pickups and are more geared toward beginner players who play with lots of distortion. Doesn't sound great or terrible, decent sound for high distortion rock, punk or metal.

The action was super high, but when adjusted lower there was tons of fret buzz. The only alternative to fret buzz was to keep the action higher than I like. The one upside to this guitar is that the finish is absolutely beautiful. I got the metallic blue flake and I still love looking at it.

The explorer shape has points that lend themselves to getting dinged. I have lots of dings all over my guitar. I'm not sure how these people have written that they've dropped it without getting a scratch. It's as fragile as any guitar, but I think the points on the end make it even more likely to get chipped if you're ever playing live. For me one important part of reliability is staying in tune, something this guitar doesn't do at all.

I've been playing guitars for 10 years and I've owned tons of them. I'm willing to admit that I bought this guitar on impulse because I loved the metallic blue finish on an Explorer shape. Unfortunately, a guitar based on looks is cool for live shows, collecting and little else. I've tried playing it live twice but it goes out of tune so quickly when you bend strings that I've always switched to another guitar after one song. Of the 10 guitars I own, this is the worst one. I think that the reason most people are giving this guitar such high reviews are that they haven't been playing long or they've never played a good guitar. I still thinks it's a hot guitar to look at but I don't recommend buying one unless you plan on putting new tuners and pickups in it.

This Guitar Rocks. It has a wide neck for folks with big hands like me, which also makes for easy riffing. It has a bright red metallic finish. Not sure on the body material. Rosewood fretboard with maple neck. Two epiphone "ultra hot", covered humbuckers, three way switch with tone knob and volume knob.

The sound out of this beast is incredible right from the box. I play LOTS of metal and this kicks the the living crap out of my strat. It has really high output and tons of growl. Great for Pantera, Metallica etc. I dont plan to replace the humbuckers.

Perfect. Nuff said.

I have only been playing for about two years and am only 16, so I havent played any gigs, but am positive it will withstand any punishment you can dish out. Oh yesh, YOU MUST BUY A STRAP LOCK! As soon as i got the guitar i didnt put the strap locks on and dropeed it on the hard floor. Not a SCRATCH on it. This guitar is as solid as steel.

Havent needed it.

I love this guitar. If it were stolen and i found the bastard, i would make him pay dearly then get another one. Great right from the box. If you play metal and are on a budget, get one of these little beasties.