Epiphone EB-3

[isaac42]

Jammed with some guys...

 

A couple of guys I've met invited me over to play a bit. They both play guitar; one plays bass. So I played his bass while they played guitars.

 

The bass was an Epiphone EB-3. Mudbucker at the neck. Smaller, better-sounding pickup at the bridge, but the bridge pickup was lacking on the low end. The bass wasn't particularly well set up, either. Not playing particularly hard, there was a bit of fret slap. The E string was much louder than the others. That effect was more pronounced on the neck pickup, not as bad on the bridge. Neck wasn't bad at all. It was a bit narrower than I prefer, being used to my Rics, but it wasn't particularly thick. I like the "SG" look, but without a long upper horn, the bass sits too far to the left, making it necessary to reach for the low notes. Not as bad as a Thunderbird, but not good. After playing for an hour or so, I got a cramp in my upper back.

 

Overall, I'd say it played pretty well, but would be much better with a good setup. I think the pickups could be set up for much better balance, too. As it was, I wouldn't want to add it to my arsenal. Using only the bridge pickup, the lows were lacking. Adding in the neck, it was all lows except for some treble from the bridge. Neck by itself was nothing but mud. With a good setup, it might be useful, but I can't be sure. I won't be seeking one out.

[mildbill]

 

....The E string was much louder than the others...

 

 

 

I bought a used bass that does this - a Gretsch g2202. The E string is louder than the others, but it sounds truly awesome.

The A string is quietest, and the D and G pick it back up a bit.

It's got a single TVJones humbucker in it.

 

I've tried adjusting the height up and down on both ends, and can't get it to even out. Is it possible that the poles could be wound differently to

produce this effect?

 

Honestly though - that E string makes up for it all.

 

About the Epiphones - I tried out an EB-0 today. Short scale with a single HB. Tried out a Gibson SG Special w/dual HB's at the same time to compare them.

Obvious differences are the pickups and the finish. The SG felt like a more quality instrument (and it should be for the price difference), but the EB-0 seems like good bang for the buck.

 

The bridge looks a little funny on it though, and I've read about people having them pull out. If I picked either of them up, I think I'd go new with it for the warranty and peace of mind of knowing that it hasn't been put through the wringer.

[WRGKMC]

I played a 60's EB back in the early 80's in a touring club band. I had been playing a precision before that. The bass sounded great through my XV4B head and B52 cab with two 15" altecs.

 

I can see where you would think the bridge pup sounded best having played a Ric and dialing up those kinds of amp tones.

 

In my case I'd dial up the neck pickup to have the best tone, then I'd tweak the ultra thin sounding bridge pup up in volume to add a bit of treble to the neck pup which was carrying most of the load.

 

I still say the pup combination of those EB basses was terrible. I think its because you have a single coil neck and mini humbucker bridge and the impedances don't match well. On mine when you could have the neck volume cranked, and it would match the bridge at about #8.5 in volume. If you turn it to 8 the bridge disappeared completely, turn it to 9 and it was all bridge pup.

 

Getting the two to blend well was a razors edge setting on the bridge pup. When you have that kind of sharp volume hump its an indication the instrument has an impedance mismatch between the two pickups. I probably could have added a high pass cap to the bridge pup to get a better balance. I had the same issue with my Gretch bass when I added a single coil to the bridge and a 250K pot and it worked pretty good. I recently replaced the single coil with a humbucker and it fixed the problem.

 

If that bass had two of the large single coils or two humbuckers it would have had a much better balance. As is, electronically its a poor pickup combination for most modern amps. They sounded much better on older tube amps of the day.

 

I did like the neck on them though. I'm mainly a guitarist and having the thinner Gibson shaped neck and shorter scale allowed me to get around on it faster then I could on the Precision.

 

 

[Radar-Love]

...I think its because you have a single coil neck and mini humbucker bridge and the impedances don't match well.

 

 

The neck pickup on an EB-x bass is actually a Gibson Sidewinder humbucker.

 

Under that huge chrome cover is a pair of typical Gibson bobbins wound with heavy gauge (42 gauge?) magnet wire used for bass pickups with bar magnets on one end. The non-magnet side of both coil poles contact a common steel bar in the middle that the steel screw polepieces screw into for height adjustment.

 

Any typical Gibson Sidewinder neck pickup found in an EB-x bass is wound stiffly to about 30kΩ impedance compared to the typical neck mini-humbucker used on some of the bass models with a 5kΩ ~ 6 kΩ impedance. So, yes, a major impedance mismatch when the two pickups are mixed together.