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Don_Viviano « Very cool »
Published on 09/27/10 at 03:35Mine is an Epiphone Firebird VII in 2004 made in Korea. For other opinions who write that they were made in the USA, I have a big doubt about it, check your serial number, but the sticker "100% INSPECTED and set up in the USA by Epiphone" common lots of Epiphone, does not mean that your guitar out of a U.S. plant!
To my knowledge anyway, all these guitars were made in Korea.
Vibrolance beautiful.
Sunburst rather successful for mine, quite light but very bulky, gold finish (microphones, vibrato and mechanical)
Set neck (not at home through the Gibson)
The small bump is supposed to represent the passage through the neck (for Gibson) is purely aesthetic and is actually a piece of plywood cons attached to the body (which is solid wood, it probably mahogany).
3 pickups Epiphone mini humbuckers (on mine, the micro bridge was changed to a Gibson, but I'm not sure it changes a lot of the original microphone, cf. Below)
Grover on the head reversed, but not type like on the Gibson banjo (another difference).
Quite a few differences with the original, then, is surprising from Epiphone, and others LP because I hit were very loyal. If the note 'typical' must take account of this, so it is fairly low, and it is true that between us, I would have preferred a neck-through mechanism and banjo.
UTILIZATION
The handle is fine, very nice with easy access to optimal acute due to the shape of the body.
The configuration of the microphones is quite surprising:
switch 3 positions
3 independent volume knobs
Knob a general tone
If we do not touch anything, we have:
Acute position: bridge + middle interlocked
Middle position: middle + bridge + neck snapped
Serious position: middle + neck snapped
We therefore choose the mic you want instead of knobs with the volume, not the most practical idea in my opinion. I am using the microphone rather acute only in principle, well ... finally To see (and hear).
SOUNDS
The sounds are varied. Using a single microphone at a time, one realizes that the original Epiphone pickups are not bad at all, they do not face the demerit Gibson that was added on mine, it sounds really Similarly, clear, airy, vintage and with little gain. There is no sensation of muffled sound, common to deaf Epiphone pickups that I have met so far (from Les Paul Humbuckers, P90 on the Wildkat).
I speak only of its crunch because it is the only one I use (on a Laney LC 30, the gain in half)
The acute single microphone: is frank, but less sharp than my Les Paul, a little less treble and brilliance too, but not dark.
When one adds the micro middle, the tone changes, all the while! You end up with a much more acute, leaner, and much much less gain. It looks like a single coil! My amp saturates almost in that position, but the presence is very strong, the volume does not decrease.
By lowering the volume, gradually loses its shine and gain back, and leaving the middle knob to 8 (Bridge 10) was a kind of compromise, the gain is the same as the micro bridge alone, but the brightness of the 2 combined is a little bit. Interesting.
So the addition of the microphone on the upper middle that seems to have this effect ...
But strangely, the middle one mic is not acute at all. It looks like the micro bridge, the middle position simply moves slightly towards the low tone. (Ditto for neck pickup).
Setup microphone so strange, but interesting, I found a sound I had not, vintage, and quite nice.
OVERALL OPINION
I use it only for a few days, and the look is really terrible, extraordinary, I have chosen for it. I like the sound pretty well, even if it surprised me!
To my knowledge anyway, all these guitars were made in Korea.
Vibrolance beautiful.
Sunburst rather successful for mine, quite light but very bulky, gold finish (microphones, vibrato and mechanical)
Set neck (not at home through the Gibson)
The small bump is supposed to represent the passage through the neck (for Gibson) is purely aesthetic and is actually a piece of plywood cons attached to the body (which is solid wood, it probably mahogany).
3 pickups Epiphone mini humbuckers (on mine, the micro bridge was changed to a Gibson, but I'm not sure it changes a lot of the original microphone, cf. Below)
Grover on the head reversed, but not type like on the Gibson banjo (another difference).
Quite a few differences with the original, then, is surprising from Epiphone, and others LP because I hit were very loyal. If the note 'typical' must take account of this, so it is fairly low, and it is true that between us, I would have preferred a neck-through mechanism and banjo.
UTILIZATION
The handle is fine, very nice with easy access to optimal acute due to the shape of the body.
The configuration of the microphones is quite surprising:
switch 3 positions
3 independent volume knobs
Knob a general tone
If we do not touch anything, we have:
Acute position: bridge + middle interlocked
Middle position: middle + bridge + neck snapped
Serious position: middle + neck snapped
We therefore choose the mic you want instead of knobs with the volume, not the most practical idea in my opinion. I am using the microphone rather acute only in principle, well ... finally To see (and hear).
SOUNDS
The sounds are varied. Using a single microphone at a time, one realizes that the original Epiphone pickups are not bad at all, they do not face the demerit Gibson that was added on mine, it sounds really Similarly, clear, airy, vintage and with little gain. There is no sensation of muffled sound, common to deaf Epiphone pickups that I have met so far (from Les Paul Humbuckers, P90 on the Wildkat).
I speak only of its crunch because it is the only one I use (on a Laney LC 30, the gain in half)
The acute single microphone: is frank, but less sharp than my Les Paul, a little less treble and brilliance too, but not dark.
When one adds the micro middle, the tone changes, all the while! You end up with a much more acute, leaner, and much much less gain. It looks like a single coil! My amp saturates almost in that position, but the presence is very strong, the volume does not decrease.
By lowering the volume, gradually loses its shine and gain back, and leaving the middle knob to 8 (Bridge 10) was a kind of compromise, the gain is the same as the micro bridge alone, but the brightness of the 2 combined is a little bit. Interesting.
So the addition of the microphone on the upper middle that seems to have this effect ...
But strangely, the middle one mic is not acute at all. It looks like the micro bridge, the middle position simply moves slightly towards the low tone. (Ditto for neck pickup).
Setup microphone so strange, but interesting, I found a sound I had not, vintage, and quite nice.
OVERALL OPINION
I use it only for a few days, and the look is really terrible, extraordinary, I have chosen for it. I like the sound pretty well, even if it surprised me!