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Just picked up a 97 Peerless Epi Emperor Regent.
Paid $500 and I love the thing.
I don't know how good they are now but I've owned lots of Epi's.
I've had a Joe Pass, a Howard Roberts, a Broadway, and solid bodies.
Les Paul gold top, and an Explorer and a Hofner style Beatle bass.
All fantastic instruments for the money.
The thing I've found about the Epiphone's is....
Buy a good one.
If the neck isn't damn near perfect there's no fixing them.
Whenever I've bought a new one I drop the action so it's almost touching the frets.
I play every note on the neck up and down.
If there's a buzzy or funny section on the neck.....move on and find one that doesn't.
I made my music store bring in seven Explorer's before I found one to take home.
That being said I've yet to find a better guitar for the money.
My Emperor is a beautiful guitar.....period.
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05-12-2013 10:25 PM
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My 64 Texan is one of the best guitars I've ever played.
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Echoshill,
On the subject of quality, I think there is a variability with at least some
of the Epiphone products. I did own an Elitist which gave a good, clear
amplified sound. No vibrations or extraneous noise and no feedback problem.
I have a few Emperor Regents, built at various places in various years.
These are the single floaters, which I think are not built anymore but
otherwise I believe the same body as the Broadway.
They all sound different. The 1996 Antique Sunburst is the loudest.
The Cherry Sunburst is brighter, more ringing. I think built not later than 2007.
The Natural is warmer, rounder in tone, built not later than 2010.
I think apart from the single-pickup configuration it could be similar to the Broadway,
which means the sound is a variable. Each instrument could exhibit different traits.
Or, it could depend on the factory which built them.
To me they're an inexpensive guitar that I can use for public gigs, and
I have no feedback problems.
I think Gibsons are way overpriced.
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Have a Broadway , Emperior Regent and a Sheraton , all from the mid 90's . Love them all . Also a 46 Triumph . Broadway is my main axe . Stock pups . TI flats . Thru a small Fender amp . Can't be beat .
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Interesting... I ended up putting P90s in it (the stock ACH pups were really bad), and ended up with Ti bebops. I seem to prefer the clarity of the bebops with wooden bridges. Currently playing it thru an Excelsior. Lovely tone. Very Johnny Smith-ish.
Originally Posted by bigdaddyguitar
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The only gripe I have with my Epiphone is that it is a bit heavy for me. But, of my guitars purchased new, it is the best value. I love the sound, it plays nicely and feels like it has some quality construction considering the low price. For $600 with a hard-shell case, it was a steal.
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The year 2016.. Gibson's quality might have gone down...I'm not sure, but I can tell you...as a pro musician for roughly 50 years and a player on many fine guitar and owner of many, Deluxe Fenders, upper level PRS guitars, G&L's...so on, I think my opinion holds strength. I just bought the Epiphone Sheraton Pro II. My guitar tech told me that he knows that guitar very well and that the build is very good. In fact the hardware he told me was great....from the Graphtech NuBone nut to the Grover Rotomatic 18:1 tuners to the soapbar tail piece....all good stuff. I got the guitar as a kick around, but my tech told me to just upgrade the electronics PUPs, pots, switch, caps, output jack and wiring harness and he would put that guitar up against any Gibson ES-335 model. Well, I got the guitar back and the band had rehearsal and if finally came time for the guitar to show it's stuff or to be an epic fail. Well....this guitar rocked it. The band was blown away. Take my word for it. My tech was right...I would put this up against any Gibson. Total cost for my guitar with upgrades...$935.00 and it will sound as good as a $3,800.00 Gibson. Any takers...I'll prove it. Epiphones are made much better now than years past.
My playing style, Rock, Classic Rock, Southern Rock, Blues and Country.
Originally Posted by Echoshill
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I'm Epiphone agnostic. I've had quite a few - Dot, Sheraton, Les Pauls, Riviera. The one I used most extensively as a gigging guitar in rock and folk bands was a Sheraton II made in 2000.
To be honest although it always played nice the electrics were a joke, especially the pickup switch, the pickups were the usual Epi muddy-but-not-appalling, and it wasn't what I considered stable enough tuning wise for gigging (doing heavy retuning at gigs means you're playing out of tune a lot of the time!). After a while it had a luthier set-up, bone nut, rotomatics, Seth Lovers and a tone pros bridge. Perhaps the ££ was a false economy but it became a first rate gig workhorse in all respects and I was still grabbing it preference to a £2k 335 Custom a long time after I bought the latter.
The low-end Epiphones like the Dot are fair enough but to be honest you may as well go even cheaper and get a Tanglewood or whatever as they are pretty similar.
In essence, an Epi can be made great if the cost is worth it and some of the special models are good as they are.Last edited by davidBb; 03-05-2016 at 03:27 PM.
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I had 4 Epiphone since the early 90s and can tell I don't regret my purchases. Still got my 2 Arch Tops (Samick and Peerless) that are heavily modified though.
All of them were good value for the money despite they still feel a bit toyish compared to my Gibsons (probably because they are dipped in poly).
I swapped pretty much everything out of them for better quality electronic and hardware but the platform itself wood and construction were good enough to make the investment worth it.
The learning process of making your own setup and tinkering is priceless, something I would never have done as a beginner on my more expensive Gibsons.
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Well, after almost two-and-a-half years owning the same Epi ES-339, I think it's safe to say the "honeymoon phase" is over.
So, in a nutshell, after the hardware upgrade and a fret-leveling, it's my go-to #1 instrument used for my Smooth Jazz project, which, it turned out so good that's also the controller of my GR-55 guitar Synth.
So no, I don't regret owning (and currently using) an Epi at all. Best two Franklins I've invested in a long time!
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I used Epi Birdland and sold it after few gigs.
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I only regret not buying my Epi ES 339 Pro sooner. Would've saved me a about $2400 going down other roads.
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I own a Korean made (Samick) Sheraton II that I purchased new in 1995. It is a very nice guitar and has served me well over the years.
I was just beginning to pursue Jazz guitar at the time, having played both acoustic and electric blues for about 30 years prior. At that time I was playing a lot of local Blues jams. I can't count the number of wonderful compliments I received from members of the audience as well as other musicians regarding the beautiful tone of the Sheraton. One of these compliments came from a local bass player who came up to me out of the audience and said, "The tone of your guitar is as clear as a bell".
My Sheraton is the best damn $600 guitar I've ever played and will "run with the big dogs" in terms of playability, tone and aesthetics. A beautiful guitar for not a lot of money.
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My early 90ies Sheraton is a great instrument,especially after electronics and pickup upgrade, but my ES-333 is the better guitar.
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I owned a number of MIJ and MIK Epi's over my lifetime. As a matter of fact the first guitar I bought for myself in the early '70's was an MIJ Epi Classical. The neck began to warp after about eight months and Epiphone replaced it under warranty with very little hassle. Being a teenage during that era, getting respect as a customer was welcomed and something that I was unaccustomed to. This endeared me to Epiphone for life. I played/owned that guitar for decades and gave it to a nephew in the late 90's.
Other Epi's have come and gone in my possession and I also gave my son an Epi LP Standard in his high school days.
In February '09 I worked a deal for a NOS '06 MIK Broadway. This would remain my sole guitar for nearly seven years. Fit and finish were as good as any polyurethane guitar, but it would be modded during my ownership: pickguard "had" to go, pots swapped out for CTS pots, orange drop capacitors, black hatbox knobs, Gibby 57/57+ pups and a tune-o-matic bridge.
Played and sounded great. I remain on a one guitar budget, but in my old age I was hankering for an American-made single coil guitar after the holidays. My first thought was the new Gibson Les Paul 60's Tribute with P90's. It was awful with a fragile finish and despite its "Made in the USA" stamp on the back of the headstock, it felt like a very cheap MIC instrument. I fell in love with the American Deluxe Tele, which granted cost almost twice as much as the LP, but it was the one guitar I found worthy of replacing the Epi Broadway which was traded in towards the purchase of my new rig. (Yes, purists will say with the N3 pups on the Tele that it is not a true single coil guitar, but I like it. )
It boils down to this, I never regretted buying an Epiphone, but I also never regretted gifting them or selling/trading them. We evolve as musicians and guitars come and go. There will always be more guitars.
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I am jonesing for an Epi Casino Coupe as a sofa-special but I have too many guitars and one on the way.
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I certainly don't regret getting my Epiphone Dot (335). I couldn't be happier with it. It plays great, sounds great, looks great...it has it all. The Dot is a bargain. Every time I look at it or play it, I am bewildered that Gibson can manufacture such a high quality, complex guitar for less than $500. It has an aftermarket Bigsby and Seymour Duncan '59 pickups in it. I traded a Fender Mexican Standard Telecaster for it which was a fair trade for both of us. I've played $2000 Gibsons that I didn't like as much as the big Epi. It's an amazing guitar. Epiphone archtop hollowbody and semi-hollowbody guitars are great. I played an Epiphone Emperor Swingster a few years ago that I adored. Here's a picture of mine.
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I have 3 Epiphones: The ES175 Premium, a "Peerless" Epiphone Broadway and the Elitist Broadway. I love them all. Great guitars. The Peerless-made Broadway got a pickup replacement, but the others are wonderful.
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I've had my Epi Dot for about 17 years now. Had a bone nut installed the day I bought it and switched the pickups to Duncans. I'm looking at it right now and I still love the thing ! What I've learned thru the years is: hunt for that guitar with that little sprinkle of magic, be prepared to mod the guitar to get it just the way you want it, learn to do your own setups and don't get hung up on what's written on the headstock. Oh, and a good amp never hurts !
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A cheap Epiphone with a proper setup and maybe some upgraded electronics can clearly punch above its weight.
Based on the four Epis I owned over the past years, I would say the main difference vs Gibson is more in the feel of the instrument.
The dipped in plastic effect thick poly gives them a kind of toyish feel that no upgrades or tweaking could fix for me.
With that said, the best neck I ever played, was on my former Emperor Regent.
I don't regret anything as I learned a lot about setting up, tweaking and tinkering which I would not have dared on more expensive instrument.
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[QOTE=Jazzchief1;223651]I replaced a higher end guitar with an Epiphone Sheraton II. I chose it because the quality of workmanship. I replaced the pickups with a set of Dimarzio DP-211 & DP 212. After those slight changes and some DR Blues strings. I would put it up against any othe Semi-solid body guitar on the market. Great Blues guitar.[/QUOTE]
I have a MIK Sheraton ll that I have owned for about 10 years. I swapped the pickups with 57 classics, had the frets polished and guitar set up with heavy flatwounds even before I brought it home. Just took it directly to my guitar guy after I purchased it. I still love the way it sounds and plays and plan on keeping it forever. It's become a good buddy and I consider it my first jazz guitar. There are other Epiphones I would like to add to my collection as well, the Riviera is another cool guitar that they stopped making. 60s casinos, especially the single pickup models are very cool. The only downfall with some of the older Epi's was that the binding tended to crack but I think these older ones are even cooler than old Gibsons.
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I had a couple (still have a les paul) and i enjoyed them. I especially like the hollow body models, more than the semi hollow or the solidbody ones. However, if you have guitars of higher quality, their limitations become very obvious, more so if you gig with them. And i don't think changing pickups makes that much of a difference, i did it on a couple, but wouldn't do it again.
They probably are my favorite budget brand, if a left handed 175 was available i 'd buy one
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I have owned plenty of Epiphones from Broadway Elitist and JOe PAss to chinese Sheraton, KOrean Broadway, now I have a korean Sheraton. Liked them all a lot. This Sheraton got a massive upgrade and can stand against any other 335 copy or a real one, too.
I think You should check the 80s and 90s korean and japanese models, they are superior to the Epis which chinese factories make nowadays.
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I got an Epi Joe Pass for Christmas (my wife is real sweet). The music store then has an Epi 175,and I could have upgraded. The Joe Pass won. The guys I play with love it too. And the audience likes it. Goes over well at jam
sessions.
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I'd love to see it! Originally Posted by jazz.fred
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