Epiphone Embassy Bass Guitar - Sparkling Burgundy Reviews

This was my first bass. The price was right, the looks were right, what could possibly go wrong?

Absolutely nothing, that's what. Out of the box, this Embassy played like a dream. It has all the deep, warm thud you'd expect from a Thunderbird in an incredibly attractive, light, ergonomic package. This thing is a pleasure to hold, either on a strap or over your knee. While the neck radius is noticeably thicker than other offerings, it remains incredibly easy to play, and I found myself picking it up and advancing in no time after coming from the guitar world. The volume/blend/tone layout is incredibly intuitive to use, with a satisfying detent in the blend switch to tell you when you've reached middle position. Not to mention, everywhere it goes, it turns heads. Most people don't know what it is when they see it, but be warned, they'll want to find out.

If there are any cons? They're incredibly minor. A satin neck is almost always superior to gloss, but I haven't found this one holding me up one bit. The protective covering over the pick guard is nigh impossible to completely remove, and I'm pretty sure I still have bits of it under my pots. My example was lighter at 7lbs 3oz, and sustain is sometimes not as great as I would like it to be, perhaps as a result of that. And yes, Thunderbird tone means Thunderbird tone, for better or for worse - and you should make sure that's what you're looking for before investing.

But these are minor gripes; small potatoes in what is an otherwise delicious, savory, sumptuous feast. The bottom line is this: if you're considering this bass, especially while there's promotional financing or any other sort of sale going on, pull the trigger already. You won't be disappointed.

Great Bass !
Plays like a long scale feels like a short scale. Light, well balanced very comfortable neck. Pickups nail the TBird tone. Epiphone got it right with this beauty. Looks Stunning.

Really Loving this Bass, Super easy neck to play, light, hangs nice on the strap, Sounds Great, very versatile. Completely satisfied.

This bass was shipped with care and it plays great. I also bought the ephiphone bass hard shell case for it which I thought was a steel.

I want to start by saying thank you, for answering every call i made. to my very own Sale's engineer, Matt StockBurger . I appreciate your time and assistance. For being patient with me and helping especially when i call like every 2 weeks since March to get and update on this bass lol. So thank you Matt.

I absolutely love this bass. Im so glad i didnt listen to my friends,bcuz i love my new purchase. i waited, & happy i did.
Epiphone knock it out of the park with this bass. It looks absolutely gorgeous and sound phenomenal.

I bought mine as a Demo that had a bit of overspray in some areas (extremely minor and not detracting away from the gorgeous burgundy finish. Once I set out to get it how I like it, I found the initial setup was basically spot-on and the fretwork was/is excellent. However adjusting the pickups became problematic - I could not get the neck pickup to adjust down without having it tilt up toward the headstock, and the bridge pickup tended to bind up going down. Investigating further I found the pickups themselves were too wide for the routes due to the cover solder bulging the covers out by a few millimeters. Thankfully I'm a pretty competent guitar tech so I widened the routes to accommodate them. Big thanks to Sweetwater for offering up a small refund in the purchase due to the defect - I wanted to initially return it but the thing plays and sounds SO NICE that I couldn't risk it, and it became my project bass! The tuners were the first to go - they were only so-so with a lot of slop, so I put on some Gotohs - a worthwhile upgrade at a relatively modest price. The bridge is an unsung hero on the Embassy Bass - it's a solid piece of hardware (thank heavens its not the three-point bridge - nice one Epiphone!) Additionally I fashioned a hand-made thumb rest for it out of ebony and slapped on some Slinky cobalt flatwounds - made this thing a beast! I've read and seen reviews calling the pickups too polite - maybe it's a rig thing, but not what I found. This thing can get MEAN, especially that neck pickup. Bridge pickup gets nice and burpy, too (in a good way!); dual in both pickups and it's so big and warm, but clear, too (cobalts might be a factor, TBH). If you're thinking about getting one, be aware the pickup routes could be very tight or the pickups too wide and may not offer up much adjustment. Try one or look at how the pickups sit on the bass before buy. I believe Epiphone needs to tighten their QC at their Indonesian factory a bit - despite the price point here I think it's a worthwhile suggestion - Epi does make REALLY GOOD stuff overall and they continually up the bar year after year.

Overall, I think bass is a great way to get the sound of a Thunderbird in a *much* easier to play package and for much less money.

Mine had a couple QC issues. One of the frets looked really rough, with deep scratches along the sides of the fret (not the crown, luckily) that I was able to carefully buff out with some sandpaper and micromesh pads. One of the screws on the neck pickup made a buzzing sound every time I touched it, which turned out to be a grounding issue that was easy to fix. A little disappointing, but not the end of the world.

That said, the pickups on this bass sound amazing, and when you consider that good aftermarket t-bird pickups can easily run $200 per pickup, you're basically paying for a quality set of t-bird pickups with a bass guitar attached for "free".

It's also an extremely comfortable bass to play. It's super light and feels balanced whether you're sitting or standing. I don't know how to explain it, but the neck is so easy to play that at first I thought this might be a short scale bass somehow until I double-checked the specs.

All in all, I'm happy with this bass and would recommend it to anyone looking for that more rock-oriented Gibson sound.