Epiphone EB-0

[Guy!!]

Epiphone Eb-0 Bass Guitar

Cost : £99 from local guitar shop



Specs :
4 string, Short scale
Not too sure what the body/neck are made out of (first bass, first review, been playing almost 2 months...)
High Action
Single truss rods.
Fixed bridge (i think)
Single passive humbucker pickup.
Cherry red body, also available in black

[attachment=27299:NIKOLAI_001.jpg]

Pros : Despite the bad reviews, it IS possible to slap on this bass
Great roaring sound
A little muddy, but not too much
Versatile, been playing a little bit of everything so far (metal, funk, blues, rock, random sh1t that my wannabe metal friend made up)
Great colour and look, like a gibson SG style
Stays in tune well
Short scale makes it easier to glide up and down the neck

[attachment=27300:NIKOLAI_004.jpg]

Cons :
Neck dive, but its not too much of a problem
Its actually impossible to buy a bag for this bass. It has big tuning pegs, so the heads are not wide enough- and the official bag is difficult to get to ship to england, and supposedly falls apart anyway; im going to buy a crappy bag and cut the top off, he can wear a hat or something =]
It can be difficult to adjust from a short scale to a full scale, i borrowed my friends broken fender precision bass copy when i first got my eb-0

[attachment=27298:NIKOLAI_003.jpg]

Overall, its a great bass, and for £99, you cant really go wrong =]

[EdwardHimself]

fender JAZZ bass copy guy JAZZ bass copy!!!

[basskit_case]

[quote name='Guy!!' post='518118' date='Jun 19 2009, 09:40 AM']Its actually impossible to buy a bag for this bass. It has big tuning pegs, so the heads are not wide enough- and the official bag is difficult to get to ship to england, and supposedly falls apart anyway;[/quote]

I had one of these basses for a while and got a EB0 gig bag from eBay, hard wearing and pretty cheap as well.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/EPIPHONE-EB-O-EBO-SHORT-SCALE-BASS-GUITAR-GIG-BAG_W0QQitemZ370212446314QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item563261a06a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]EB0 Gig Bag[/url]

[EdwardHimself]

[quote name='basskit_case' post='589573' date='Sep 4 2009, 12:19 PM']I had one of these basses for a while and got a EB0 gig bag from eBay, hard wearing and pretty cheap as well.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/EPIPHONE-EB-O-EBO-SHORT-SCALE-BASS-GUITAR-GIG-BAG_W0QQitemZ370212446314QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item563261a06a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]EB0 Gig Bag[/url][/quote]

he's already got one. He borrowed the money off me to get it lol

[Cat Burrito]

The neck dive on the EB3 is worse for obvious reasons

[cameltoe]

Dreadful neck dive on these. If you want to have a good technique, don't buy! This was my first bass and I've been in the habit of 'cradleing' the neck in my palm of every bass ever since this, for fear of neck dive.

Big, messy, muddy sound. No tightness to the bottom end at all.

Looks awesome though!

[Pookus]

I have two! The mahogany makes for a great tone. A hipshot supertone bridge and dimarzio model 1 pick up really bring out the best. I also routed 4mm out of the neck pocket to give the EB more of a Gibson set neck feel. Had to modify the bridge a bit. Next will be a fretless neck for one of them and the other I will turn into an EB3 - with an Aguilar preamp. I like them. Use a decent set of flats.

[KiOgon]

Neat review

The neck dive could be the least of your problems - if you keep leaning it against the wall - as in your photo, you might one day find out how easy these seem to snap the head off when they hit the floor!

Do yourself a favour - when you get a few £ to spare - get a stand & use it

(If you don't mind some friendly advice like )

Cheers,
John

[Guest BassKS]

[quote name='Pookus' post='779094' date='Mar 18 2010, 09:38 PM']I have two! The mahogany makes for a great tone. A hipshot supertone bridge and dimarzio model 1 pick up really bring out the best. I also routed 4mm out of the neck pocket to give the EB more of a Gibson set neck feel. Had to modify the bridge a bit. Next will be a fretless neck for one of them and the other I will turn into an EB3 - with an Aguilar preamp. I like them. Use a decent set of flats.[/quote]

I like what you did there, Mike Watt did the same thing.... OBP-3 is what he swears by.

[kerley]

Just picked up one of these used for £90 literally in as new condition. The quality really did surprise me and it looks and feels like a much, much better bass than the £140 they are new. I was expecting it to be a bit rough around the edges for such a low list price but I can't find a single fault with it.

From reading other reviews I thought intonation might be a problem but it was spot on without touching it. The only thing I have had to do was take 1 mm off the nut as it was too high (that seems to be a common problem as I like strings as low as possible at the nut as it makes the action lower all along the neck)

The neck dive comments are true (even sitting down) even with the short scale. The huge headstock and massive tuners are not going to be helping there.

The sound is subjective but I actually like it. I thought I liked modern active tone but after having a BTB for a few weeks in December I proved myself wrong and I actually like old thumpy tone.

So if you like the sound and want a short scale very well finished bass for very little money this is a good option.

[Mod_Machine]

My first bass about 4.5 years ago was the eb-0.
Got it as i loved the Gibson SG look.

I sold it to our guitarist for £25 about a year ago as needed the wall hanging space.

I agree the neck dive was shocking but didnt know what it was back then and learned to compensate for it!!?? in hindsight that was never going to be good.

Also really found the noise too boomy and struggled to EVER get defintion out of the notes...always thought that was bizarre as being a short scale it was much easier to shred. Tried compression pedals and everything.
I had always put that down to the rubbish amp i was using at the time (erm behringer 300w beast that had a graphic equlaiser that didnt seem to make a difference and the lows were always entirely at bottom but still till boomy/muddy)

As for intonation it wasnt great from store, BUT i found out that the intonation would get really effected by the strings - better quality and nice and new then no probs, however as soon as they started to deaden the intonation went all over the place and dead spots appeared really quick.

The final straw for me was after about the 3rd gig the bridge actually semi popped out when i was abusing it on stage. I pushed it back in , retuned and even though paid a pro to get it all sorted I never trusted it again!

A sad story as i always thought its small scale offered so much potential for a small player like myself.
On the flip side i seem to remember it was really well crafted asthetically and the neck was solid and smooth.

I really loved that neck.

[Davout]

My brother plays a Tokai SG style bass; an EB3 two pickup version. It has a medium scale & slightly more modern lightweight tuners & there is very little neck dive from it. Admittedly it is rather more expensive than the budget Epiphones, but a lot cheaper than the genuine Gibson article. It is a great, well-playing bass & you can tell the diference in quality. I think he picked his up on Ebay for about £200 secondhand, & I believe they are around £400 new.

Tony.

[drewm]

Just bought one of these for my daughter to learn to play on, after she was making good progress with a Sue Ryder but couldn't stand the physical size and weight of a full bass. (Sitting practising, she'd have to stop due to a dead leg! Kids these days.)

I wanted her to get the short scale Squier Jaguar, as that seamed the lighter and better sounding bass (was quite tempted to get one for me, too!) but the SG looks of the EB-0 won her over.

I figure then when you're starting out, better to have an instrument that you really like and want to play than a better one that gathers dust in the corner.

Seems like a nice little bass. Sounds a bit wooly, but some people go for that. I hadn't actually noticed any neck dive, but I'll watch out for that.

[ojplaysbass]

these basses are great - i stuck a 'ramp' type doodah (piece of old skirting board) under the strings to make it easier to play near the bridge which made it sound a little less wooly and a bit more usable - i'd definately recommend it to someone who wants a shortscale - nice sound if you're playing with a jazz outfit or big band because you can get a slightly double bassy sound if you try

my only criticisms are:
the 3 point bridge is really frustrating and the hipshot replacement costs more than the bass does :/
the intonation becomes 'questionable' above 12th/14th fret (on mine)

gorgeous looking though and surprisingly good quality for such a cheap instrument

[paul torch]

I have one that I modded. Dimarzio model one at the neck, routed and added a fairly cheap select by EMG mini humbucker at the bridge, replaced the bridge with a Schaller 3D and put a set of Status flats on it. Solved the neck-dive by using a suede strap. I have to say it is a dream to play and there is plenty of range in the tone. It may be the honeymoon period but I am using it more than my old Washburn Status.

[Dr H]

[quote name='basskit_case' timestamp='1252063156' post='589573']
I had one of these basses for a while and got a EB0 gig bag from eBay, hard wearing and pretty cheap as well.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/EPIPHONE-EB-O-EBO-SHORT-SCALE-BASS-GUITAR-GIG-BAG_W0QQitemZ370212446314QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item563261a06a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]EB0 Gig Bag[/url]
[/quote]

I have one of these too (great beater bass for practice and one that I intend to keep) - I ordered a hard case from Epiphone through my local music shop, Andertons. Good quality, shaped case for the EB-0.

Oh and no noticeable neck dive problems for me.

Edited January 7, 2015 by Dr H

[Scottcold]

Bought one secondhand down here in Ghana for about £80, in perfect condition. Bass players here prefer five strings so you can pick up four stringers for little money.

I love it, the QC is not too good as one of the posts on the bridge hadn’t been glued properly so had popped out, easily fixed. Action and intonation was adjusted and the neck was dead straight so left it alone, nice low action. People complain of the muddy tone but I rather like it. Body is very heavy for a small bass and the tuners were not too good so replaced them with some Japanese Gotohs that I had.

Might fit a DiMazzio pickup just out of interest. All in all a good buy.