Finding the Good in EXTREMELY Terrible

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Hi! I just stumbled across the Epiphone EB-0 bass today and thought I look it up.
Not long after, I was met with reviews of TERRIBLE neck dive, Extreme muddiness, Stubborn bridge and ABSOULETLY Disgusting Playability. But, I still have hope for this terrible bass and I would love to hear from those who bought this bass and had a Nice or decent experience. thanks you!

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Those things all sound pretty bad but honesty the most glaring part is how they sound. Do not underestimate the muddiness.

Also, Epiphone quality is pretty hit or miss. Some people have had good luck but every one I have tried was garbage.

Sorry that didn’t help with the positive aspect. Ok here’s one: Jack Bruce was able to make them sound good!

That had to be after a lot of EQ though.

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Oh Yeah!

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You can always like any basses out there that people find terrible it’s your opinion and your money if you buy one there’s nothing wrong with it. I own a few basses people find fugly and I love them.

Luckily the outside influences are not effecting at all as I own a few more basses than the average players :joy:

That said, I’m just not a big fan of the SG style body. It’s the aesthetic thing.

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Jack Bruce was an amazing bassist. He created music many copied for decades. He played what he played, which he rightly considered jazz, and I’m very grateful for it. Anyone’s mileage will invariably vary. But it doesn’t change what he contributed to music. Kudos, Jack. :+1:

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This :point_up:

The pickup is really horrible.

I have the same “miss or miss” experience with Epiphone :sweat_smile:

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I tested a Vintage Reissued VS4CR Cherry Red electric Bass guitar last year, which is supposed to be similar. It looks great on pictures.

All this was 100% true. It was the most terrible bass I ever had in my hands!
I remember the muddy sound especially, and the sticky neck … like the previous player had pleasured himself before playing :slight_smile:

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It takes some kung fu to bring out the tone greatness. Look on the bright side you can get a flat wound string tone on a round wound. Lots of nasally overtone goodness.

It’s doesn’t look like a difficult bass to play even this chick in her pajama made it look so easy, :rofl:

I :heart: Kinga.

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I have the EB-3 version and can effectively turn it into an EB-0 by turning down the bridge pickup but I rarely do.

That being said, it’s rapidly becoming one of my favorite basseses to play. It has a warm sound to it that gives a similar vibe to a Rick. Similar, mind you. You definitely need to use both pickup to get a good tone out of it. Turning off either makes it sound really…wonky? Harsh?

Either way, I don’t know if I’d pay the full Gibson price for a “real” one, so to speak, but at the Epiphone price I quite happy with it.

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I love the body style, but not the muddiness. My solution was to get a Fender Pawn Shop Mustang which moves the humbucker off the neck.

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The pickup was designed by the same dude who designed the mudbucker. Leo poached him.

Still for classic 70s rock, this is the sound.

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Or the P-bass.

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Hard to go wrong with a P

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Actually turn the statement around. The Gibson EB sounds like 70s rock. Things were kind of muddy anyway.

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That’s not an EB-0 though; that’s an EB-3. The EB-0 just has the neck mudbucker and a chunkier neck.

(Al knows this, I bet he has a couple - that’s just a comment on the video example)

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So here is a positive experience with an EB3, the caveat is that I made mine - mahogany body, rosewood fingerboard and maple neck. It’s 30.5" scale with aluminium tuners, and with the strap button on the back of the heel, there is no neck dive at all.
I used an Epiphone three point bridge and had no problem setting the base up with moderately low action.
I didn’t paint it, I stained it red and oiled it, so no sticky neck syndrome.
I sourced a four wire sidewinder pickup, so I could have a coil split (which I never use). I fitted tapewound strings which sound very double-bassey with the neck pickup on full. Not to everybody’s taste but I love it. I understand the modern SG bass comes with a much less ‘muddy’ humbucker. If you buy and EB0 (with one pickup) it would be very easy to upgrade. If you like playing up the fretboard, an EB3 gives fabulous access to 22 frets.