Epiphone EB-3 Bass Guitar - Cherry Reviews

Epiphone instruments may have some quality issues. Here and there a customer gets a bad one. Thankfully, the one I purchased from Sweetwater is nearly flawless. I did have to level and re-crown one fret. I replaced the factory roundwound strings that came on the bass with medium gauge La Bella flatwounds. Perfect. I then set the intonation and adjusted the string height to a low clearance. No dead notes or buzzing. Again, perfect. The neck is very ergonomic and plays with minimal effort. The bass is neck- heavy. I rest my forearm on the bass body to counter the neck and headstock weight. This works and does not interfere with playing the instrument. The Epiphone EB3 is aesthetically a beautiful bass. Every quality aspect about the bass is comparable to that of a $1,500 bass. The hard shell case is sturdy. The pair can be purchased for a shade over $. And that is a fantastic price.

Absolutely in love with this bass. Offers a nice contrast to my Precision, and it's capable of so many different tones, from hi-treble/mid rocking fills to a fat bass-y low end just like you'd hear in a Cream song. Doesn't hurt that it looks great to boot. Definitely a great purchase and a highly underrated bass for its price.

My new bass just came in and after I got it unpacked I sat down with a tuner to check it out and to my surprise it"s ready to play right out of the box. I couldn"t be happier. Thanks Sweetwater!

great bass put some flatwounds on it sounds great,.but most of all Bart Amburn is great to deal with a real player and easy going

The EB3 has exactly the sound for the music I love. A little gritty for some tastes, but for rock perfect. Easy to play, thin neck for us with less than large hands. Controls are simple and easy to use. The fit, finish and overall appearance was perfect. No blemishes, nicks, scaches, etc. It was even in tune when I received it.
The staff at Sweetwater were phenomenal. It may be the best I have ever dealt with in my many days. From beginning to end a six star experience.
Come for the excellent bass, stay for the service.

love it! love it! absolutely beautiful and sounds like a dream. Thanks guys!

WoW!!! Would be a correct term. I've been looking for a bass that would give me DEEP LOW END sound like Cream's Jack Bruce from my cabinets and head and this one certainly does. A lot of people have complaints about mudbuckers but between the bridge and neck pickups I get the sound I want. This Epiphone EB-3 has a fit and finish that is bar none, definitely a keeper. She's a beauty in the transparent cherry finish so I've given her a name and it's "Ruby". The bass arrived in 3 days and set up was great right out of the box. I'd like to thank Nick Huskins for his superb assistance. Sweetwater you guys got it going!!!

I have several Epiphones in my collection, from a Les Paul to Dot and SG, and all have been excellent guitars that I have been very pleased with. This EB-3 bass did not disappoint either. It has a beautiful finish and great action. Value for price you can not go wrong and Sweetwater comes through again with excellent service. Thank you once again!

I have to look at the headstock to remind me this isn't a Gibson from the 60's. It definitely has the Gibson vibe. It's a beauty to look at. With the dual pickups and the three-way selector switch, you can get a lot of different tones. I like this bass so much, I had to buy the matching SG 400.

I couldn't be happier buying the EB-3 for my first (and last) bass. The SG style and color match my Gibson Doubleneck, and this bass is just as beautiful, and solid. My hands are small, and the neck on the EB-3 feels very comfortable which makes it easy to play. It sounds like a bass...so I can't argue about the sound. But hooking it up to a Bass Floor Pedal (your choice) seals the deal, especially if it has drum patterns to play along with. It is lightweight, which is another plus. It is neck heavy, but I solve that by using a simple strap that goes around my leg and hooks on to the end pin. (I invented it for the Doubleneck). With the light weight and the neck dive issue solved this thing can be played for hours with no fatigue, leaving me free to let go with either hand to twist knobs or pencil lyrics. For the price, I am simply amazed. Who says beauty and satisfaction can't be had for a song? How can they sell this for so cheap and make money?

I've only played it a couple times at my local shop but, believe me after three years palying bass I know a thing or two about them. This may not be a MIA Fender a real Gibson or a very versatile machine. BUT, it's built for Rock see the SG body and you can guess that I'm mainly into Slipknot, and the like and for that it fits the bill it's almost as good as a 5 string, So those of you looking to get thoose low deep notes but, don't want to relearn how to play bass forget the 5 stringers and pick this up instead.

Overall great quality for the price!

I had the guitar shipped to me and it arrived quick and in excellent condition. the only issue I have is with the output jack. the nut and washer came off after the first practice session. Since it looked like a simple fix and instead of shipping it back I attempted the fix myself. I took the back cover of the guitar off where the controls were to get to the jack and was able to push the jack back through the body and put the washer and nut on and tightened the jack. I had to do this 3 times and on the third time I decided to try some loc-tite. The tech from sweetwater confirmed my decision and I used loc-titee on the threads of the jack. So far it has held up.

The onlu othrer issue is that I have a hard time unplugging a guitar chord that has an angle on it. It comes out a little bit thaen I have to use a screwdriver (with care) to pry it out the rest of the way. Maybe this will loosen up in time.

Great bass for the price. Had some string vibe when I got it. Had to switch from full to half strings. Plays well, good tone, but it is neck heavy. Grate bass for anyone who wants a SG at a good price. I also have an EB-O pretty much the same thing but only single pick. Great for a beginner and a good SG for the price as well. If you want a easy to play bass for a beginner or practice bass an EB-O or is the way to go. For something a little more advanced get an EB-3

i bought this bass and the best thing about it is the fast neck , which is just a blast to play!! the pickups are average ,the pickups on the original gib EB-3 werent really that clean. your not paying
900.00 for this bass . the pickup selector switch knob is TERRIBLE.
they could have come up with a better switch. my fingers turned black from the burnt maple fingerboard . its just alot of fun to play.

Great sounding bass and punchy sounding. The only thing it needs is a thumb rest in between the pickups. That's where the best sound is.

Got it a couple of weeks ago. I didn't think I would ever own a Epiphone over a Gibson. I was really surprised at how nice it is built. Plays great and has a good feel to it. Two volume and two tone controls plus a pickup selector gets you to the sound you want. For the money this is the way to go.

Purchased this Bass in 2012 because my Fender PB was getting too heavy for long sets, I always loved the EB style and the price was right. I often get comments on its color and long neck. (Love) It is easy to play, looks expensive, stays in tune, is light weight and can produce some nice tones with the proper equalization. (Hate) However, I have had to reattach the three point bridge to the body, drill and pin the A string tuner, install the correct lock washers on the cable jack, resolder some electrical connections and file the sharp edges off of the nut. Also the tone pots are very nonlinear, flat wound strings produce a very weak response and if you take your hand off of the neck it goes to the floor. With all this being said, it is still more than worth the price. Just be aware of its short comings.

The reason I was looking for an EB-3 was; 1. I think it is one of the best styled basses that there ever was; 2. I wanted to play around with converting it to a low-B string bass. I play in a praise band every week, and the low B of a five string fits in most of our music. My normal 5-string is a "Ric", but I also play a "Epi 5-string Firebird on occasion. The EB-3 converted very nicely to a low B set-up. I had to raise the birdge a tad to releave the buzz. The whole thing would have been a 5-star, but I had to rework the cord input. The threads were stripped, and it was loose from the factory. Also the action was set to low. Alot of buzz. I do love the finish and detail Epiphone put into the guitar. I would buy one again, and recommend it to anyone who likes the looks and loves to tinker a bit. The tone is mellow, and the sustain is as good as my "Ric". Well worth the money.

EB3 Rated 3.0 Really good !!
Received July 2016, and after doing a quick setup: it plays great, this bass is so easy to get around on the neck. It's light, and tone is very sensitive to plucking hand placement, you'll find a usable tone.
It has total vibe, really cool. I played it for an hour straight, the first day I had it.
One negative; the strap button is placed on the back of the guitar, behind the neck, in the middle of the body, rather than up on the horn. The result is that the bass wants to rotate forward, a small annoyance until I add a new strap button on the horn to keep it in place better. Otherwise, this is a really fun instrument, and definitely worth the cash.
My wife's review: This one has a totally different sound than your other guitars. Yep. Precisely why I bought it.

Okay, it has a neck more like a jazz bass only set. It still sounds Gibson like, only in this case the pickups not being so strong is a favor. The "mud-bucker" bass pickup is not really oppressive and the bridge pickup alone or mixed is useful. It isn't a Fender, but isn't that the whole point of buying it? Really is a cool item for what it is. It can be setup to play nicely and build quality for the price is pretty good.