Epiphone EB3 - Is this bass any good?

[abakerdabra]

Which would you go with... One of these or a used MIM P-bass?

Both would be around the same price.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--EPIEBG3

[The Golden Boy]

Depending on what you're going for in a sound...

I haven't played that Epi version, but I've played plenty of the old Gibson ones- and although the "coolness" factor isn't as up there as the EB-3, the "Fender-y" bass would usually get my vote- UNLESS you're looking for that big boomy sound.

[SGNick]

I had one for a while, strung it with flats and really dug it. It was really heavy though.

It had great thump with a pick, and the long scale was a good mix with the pickups.

In the end, my guitarist fingers couldn't hack it, I sold it for a Hofner Icon. If it weren't for my fingers (and my back), I'd still own it. It's part of my "tones to have one day" list.

I only ever made one recording with it, direct through a bassman amp model, played with a pick, rather compressed. I used it to record a demo for a song, here http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=758446&songID=6622746

I really like the bass tone actually...

[walterw]

EB-style basses, even real gibson ones, are going to be "specialty" sounds, good only for certain more offbeat genres. a p-bass, even a cheaper mexi version, will be good for everything.

[SGNick]

EB-style basses, even real gibson ones, are going to be "specialty" sounds, good only for certain more offbeat genres. a p-bass, even a cheaper mexi version, will be good for everything.

There are a lot of things I wouldn't dare use a P-bass on.... Early Beatles being a big chunk of what I play, sounds "wrong" on a clear crisp bass.

[Belmont]

P bass all the way,you can fake an upright if you want,back the tone knob all the way off and play with your thumb up at the end of the neck,they did replace the upright after all.

[envika]

Ooh, good question. Depends on the genre. My bass teacher has three original early-70s long scale EB-3s, all of which are awesome and just as versatile (if not more so!) than a P-bass. But I played an Epiphone EB-3 and hated it. The neck was thinner than a J-bass, with less taper up the neck. The electronics were somewhat noisy and had unspectacular tone.

That could have had something to do with the stock strings, but I assume that they're the same strings that came on my Epi Thunderbird when I bought it. Those strings were fine--enough that I kept them on for three or four months after I bought it! I'm a Thunderbird player so I shouldn't be whining about this myself, but it was also quite neck-heavy.

Go for the P-bass, but don't buy sight unseen. I've played some awesome Fender MIMs, and I've played some god-awful MIMs.

Incidentally, are you a roundwounds or flatwounds guy?

[SGNick]

Ooh, good question. Depends on the genre. My bass teacher has three original early-70s long scale EB-3s, all of which are awesome and just as versatile (if not more so!) than a P-bass. But I played an Epiphone EB-3 and hated it. The neck was thinner than a J-bass, with less taper up the neck. The electronics were somewhat noisy and had unspectacular tone.

That could have had something to do with the stock strings, but I assume that they're the same strings that came on my Epi Thunderbird when I bought it. Those strings were fine--enough that I kept them on for three or four months after I bought it! I'm a Thunderbird player so I shouldn't be whining about this myself, but it was also quite neck-heavy.

Go for the P-bass, but don't buy sight unseen. I've played some awesome Fender MIMs, and I've played some god-awful MIMs.

Incidentally, are you a roundwounds or flatwounds guy?

You mustn't have played a newer Epi EB-3. The one I had had a true baseball bat neck to it, filled out my whole hand, I considered it TOO big at first but liked it when I got used to it!