Epiphone Jack Casady Really is All That

#41
they are not heavy. As a matter of fact the neckdive is severe because of the body weight. biggest drawback for me. next is it plays long. bridge is ins et on body and 34" scale makes it feel long to a average size person. reminds me of my series 2 alembic.... i seldom use it.
 
#43
jumbodbassman said:
they are not heavy. As a matter of fact the neckdive is severe because of the body weight. biggest drawback for me. next is it plays long. bridge is ins et on body and 34" scale makes it feel long to a average size person. reminds me of my series 2 alembic.... i seldom use it.
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I've not experienced the dive as badly... It's probably a matter of taste, expectation, and the strap you use. My thought is the only real way to know is to play one and decide. Probably does play long but my arms are longer than my legs so I'm not sure I can judge.
 
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#45
My Casady is currently on the block, awaiting some mods*. While it was still a stock Casady I thought it was really good. A lot of the criticism I see leveled at the tone of hollow and semi-hollow basses comes from everything but the fact that the bass is hollow or semi-hollow. If you build a shortscale bass and set it up with a floating bridge with wooden saddles and low output pickups situated right down the end of the neck and right up at the bridge, then you will get a thumpy tone. It doesn't matter if the body wings are hollow or not. I don't think there is a measurable, reliable and predictable tonal characteristic that comes about simply because a bass is hollow or semi-hollow.

My Casady honestly sounded more like a slightly different P bass. It wasn't necessarily thumpy, dull or pillowy sounding. You can make it sound like all three if you like, but it isn't mandatory. For a hollow bass it also doesn't automatically call for flatwound strings. Honestly I reckon a Casady could keep up in a metal band, whereas a Guild Starfire or Epiphone Rivoli bass would flounder.




*Mods you say? My Casady is getting refinished in vintage white, receiving a rewire and I'm taking the opportunity to install a Guild Bisonic reissue pickup. I'm scrapping the 3-way impedance switch (it wouldn't work with the Bisonic) and filling the hole for the switch.
 
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#46
I have zero affliations...
I don't own one of these and when it comes to playing amplified, acoustic oriented music - I am way more into playing upright or fretless - but I LOVE the music created and played by Jack Casady and it may spur me towards a future JC Bass purchase (as the GAS simmers)....

Jack.jpg
 
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#49
FYI, I was surfing the Sweetwater website earlier today (just for fun, of course!), and I came across the Epi JC bass for sale (in stock) in the usual gold color, but also came across a 20th anniversary version (in stock) in a wine red color. I found that red color to be quite attractive! Each bass is priced at $799 w/gig bag. They have a few different gold ones in stock, as well as a few red ones.

I like that Sweetwater lists the exact weight and serial number of each bass they have in stock, along with detailed pics.

For the record, I have no affiliation whatsoever with Sweetwater. I just thought there might be some TB'ers who would be interested in the above info. :)
 
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#53
No size issue for me, unless I'm sitting on a plane like at the end of this week. 6'5"



ThuzzleFump said:
Yeh, as far as I can tell, a big diff between them is about $4,000 US. I was reading about the EJC's development and they acknowledge that the LP Sig was a big influence. Is the LP a shortscale? Looks like it from the pic to me. Regardless, the EJC is a sweet bass and as others have pointed out, the Korean ones are made by Peerless, who make superb stuff. I have a Gretsch made by them, too, and it is flawless.
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I'm familiar with Peerless' archtops, and I've got an acoustic Gretsch guitar that was probably made in the Peerless factory (has Made In Korea sticker) — my best/favourite guitar.

The LP Signature is NOT short-scale, 34.5" advertised, but true scale may be different, I've seen it listed as 34.2".

LPsigbass75.jpg



cdef said:
Well, Jack did approach Gibson with his own ideas for modification, but there was apparently no interest. Epiphone took him up, and did a great job. Jack gets the credit for reviving an all but forgotten design, and Epi for making it a pretty successful proposition at an affordable price, working first with Peerless in Korea, and now with some trusted manufacturer in China.
...
No, AFAIK they only do the gold finish. I guess they've been building it mainly to use up hardware they had stocked as OEM for Epi. The original bridge says [Epiphone] on the underside.
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I meant in no way to denigrate any of Mr Casady's contributions to the bass world, just still find it weird when there's a doubling up on signatures — like a Slash-Les Paul. :laugh:

Thanks for the info. The Epi JC-Sig with flats I played was a black one, in a shop, for sale, but I couldn't afford it at the time (nor now); and the focus that day was purchasing a bass for my friend's daughter — she wasn't keen on the JC, liked an Ibby and a Dingwall but wound up that I gave her my Hamer instead.


Okay, so no black Peerless, so I'm sticking with my original plan, find an early Korean-made* BLACK Epi JC! :bassist:



*Nothing against the China-made stuff, just don't have the dosh to buy new.
 
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#54
Axstar said:
...
*Mods you say? My Casady is getting refinished in vintage white, receiving a rewire and I'm taking the opportunity to install a Guild Bisonic reissue pickup. I'm scrapping the 3-way impedance switch (it wouldn't work with the Bisonic) and filling the hole for the switch.
Click to expand...

Why does the Varitone not work with the Bisonic?

Would love to hear your thoughts on the Bisonic conversion once it's done, as this was one of my planned mods as well, for the bass I don't even have yet...

Should my madness come to fruition, I'll leave the varitone in, unwired, or replace it with a toggle that does nothing — the fabled "producer switch".
 
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#55
Feral Feline said:
No size issue for me, unless I'm sitting on a plane like at the end of this week. 6'5"





I'm familiar with Peerless' archtops, and I've got an acoustic Gretsch guitar that was probably made in the Peerless factory (has Made In Korea sticker) — my best/favourite guitar.

The LP Signature is NOT short-scale, 34.5" advertised, but true scale may be different, I've seen it listed as 34.2".

View attachment 2840692




I meant in no way to denigrate any of Mr Casady's contributions to the bass world, just still find it weird when there's a doubling up on signatures — like a Slash-Les Paul. :laugh:

Thanks for the info. The Epi JC-Sig with flats I played was a black one, in a shop, for sale, but I couldn't afford it at the time (nor now); and the focus that day was purchasing a bass for my friend's daughter — she wasn't keen on the JC, liked an Ibby and a Dingwall but wound up that I gave her my Hamer instead.


Okay, so no black Peerless, so I'm sticking with my original plan, find an early Korean-made* BLACK Epi JC! :bassist:



*Nothing against the China-made stuff, just don't have the dosh to buy new.
Click to expand...
Feral Feline said:
No size issue for me, unless I'm sitting on a plane like at the end of this week. 6'5"





I'm familiar with Peerless' archtops, and I've got an acoustic Gretsch guitar that was probably made in the Peerless factory (has Made In Korea sticker) — my best/favourite guitar.

The LP Signature is NOT short-scale, 34.5" advertised, but true scale may be different, I've seen it listed as 34.2".

View attachment 2840692




I meant in no way to denigrate any of Mr Casady's contributions to the bass world, just still find it weird when there's a doubling up on signatures — like a Slash-Les Paul. :laugh:

Thanks for the info. The Epi JC-Sig with flats I played was a black one, in a shop, for sale, but I couldn't afford it at the time (nor now); and the focus that day was purchasing a bass for my friend's daughter — she wasn't keen on the JC, liked an Ibby and a Dingwall but wound up that I gave her my Hamer instead.


Okay, so no black Peerless, so I'm sticking with my original plan, find an early Korean-made* BLACK Epi JC! :bassist:



*Nothing against the China-made stuff, just don't have the dosh to buy new.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I certainly was not offended by anything in your post. All good.
 
#56
Feral Feline said:
Why does the Varitone not work with the Bisonic?

Would love to hear your thoughts on the Bisonic conversion once it's done, as this was one of my planned mods as well, for the bass I don't even have yet...

Should my madness come to fruition, I'll leave the varitone in, unwired, or replace it with a toggle that does nothing — the fabled "producer switch".
Click to expand...

Whenever I hear "Bisonic" I think it should be like a buffalo.
 
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#57
Feral Feline said:
Why does the Varitone not work with the Bisonic?
Click to expand...

The Varitone is a 3-way rotary switch that selects between taps on either side of the transformer within the Casady bass. All you are doing is altering the impedance. The pickup in a Casady is low-impedance, and the varitone and transformer are the last two components before the output jack. From what I understand it basically bolsters the impedance of the pickup so that you can use the bass with normal amplification.

The Bisonic pickup is a high impedance pickup, so doesn't need the additional circuitry to work.
 
#59
Love my modded JCB, picked it up from a wannabe artist, carved his bands' name in the finish, a Comedian sticker hides the damage for now, replaced the 3 point bridge with a Hipshot Supertone as well as black ultralights to offset the neck dive, added a Hipshot d tuner as well. Paid $250 for the bass, added $250 in parts and a little love, it's one of my favourite live basses.
 

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