Epiphone J-45 Review

Great Guitar

I was very pleasantly surprised after receiving this guitar from Sweetwater. I have a Gibson Hummingbird Pro and a Martin DCME, both magaony back and sides which is a sound I love. This J45 has the best warm tone with tons of volume and ambience. The mid range tones will fire out of this unit, especially with the tone knob turned up a bit. For using a pick it has a great tone… read more with the tone knob turned all the way to the mild or bass end of the spectrum. I'm playing through a JBL Eon 1 with a 12 channel Yamaha mixer, which I suggest to give you even more tone control and pre-amp. The playability is great too with a very nice neck. In sound tone controls limit this unit a bit since I have a Kyser feedback buster which unusable with this placement of the controls. I highly recommend this inspired by Gibson guitar for solo players!

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This is the modern workhorse.

When Gibson introduced the J-45 in 1942 it sold for $45 USD. Accounting for inflation that's roughly the cost of $ today, which is what the Epiphone IBG J-45 is priced at. The USA built Gibson J-45 is $. Our grand parents and great grand parents could have never afforded what Gibson charges today for the modern J-45. In an age where manufacturing has been sent overseas for everything,… read more with guitar's there's a super premium to manufacturing in the US. The iconic models by Martin, Gibson and others are luxury goods often priced out of reach new for gigging musicians. The Inspired by Gibson J-45 really fills the void... I own a 2001 Gibson USA J-45, so I have something to compare it to and I will say the name "Inspired by" is appropriate. This Epiphone J-45 is its own thing for sure, but it lives up to the J-45 name in that it's a very mid-range focused instrument. A bit more balance and a little less thump on the low E and A strings than the USA J-45b, but it delivers as a songwriters tool. Songs just pop out of this thing! I own four other full size acoustics. Almost all of them cost more than my IBG J-45, yet this Epiphone J-45 has become my go-to guitar. In a quiet room it's just an amazing guitar to play and sing over and super comfortable to play. It's not a loud instruments, the best J-45's aren't that loud. It's about having a richness in its subdued tone. It never will compete with your vocal, but someway always helps make you sound good.... Two problems 1.) mine had scratchy frets at the 10th and 12th string. Easy to polish out using Lizard Spit's fret polishing syste ($.. excellent product... might as well add to cart if you buy this) other issue is with the pickup. I hate the Fishman Sonitone and just wish they would have gone without electronics in these. The case is NOT included, but Epiphone builds an excellent case for this guitar. Talk to your Sweetwater rep and see what kind of deal they can work for you on the case!

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Great guitar!

This is a fantastic guitar for the money. It plays and sounds great! The pickup is usable but a bit quacky. This guitar does everything you would need it to do, it's a great tool for making music! I also own a Gibson J15 which is on a whole different level. The Epiphone is perfect to take to places I wouldn't want to take the Gibson!

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More people should know about this J45

You're either in the market for a $3k guitar or a more reasonably priced guitar. If you're in the market for the prior, then by all means, check out the Gibson J45 (I would). But.... I'd suggest you look at this Epiphone J45 first. I own a Martin HD 28 and love it. It will never leave me. But it's not the guitar that I just want to knock around everywhere. And I decided I wanted… read more a gibson strummer for when I sit out on deck in the high heat/summer humidity and tool around on. Then I decided I did not want to have $6k invested in two guitars for which neither should be exposed to extreme elements. So I decided to look at the epiphone strictly bc of price. Wow...what a secret weapon this guitar is. It just sounds amazing. The all solid wood construction is apparent from feel and sound. The aged finish (although poly) looks great and gives an immediate mojo look. But the real deal is that I find myself playing this guitar much more than my martin. Just bc I spend most good weather outside. And it sounds every bit as good to me. And I'm not worried about one single scratch or dent. And out of the box, the action was perfect, neck was perfect. Flawless finish. Anybody who tests this blind against a gibson j45 and says that they know it's not the true feel of a gibson is already biased bc they will know immediately what they are holding bc of the poly vs nitro finish. That's all nonsense. This epiphone holds up to not only its gibson counterpart, but other American manufacturers like Martin and Taylor (own a Taylor as well). This epiphone J45 is my most played guitar, although I did not intend it to be. And I have 12 guitars.

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Epiphone J-45 Acoustic Guitar - Aged Vintage Sunburst Gloss

This is my 1st review, so here goes, this is an amazing guitar, compared next to two Gibson J-45's that I tried they were almost identical each having it's own sprinkle on top if you know what I mean. Very comfortable neck, smooth playability, great action, and the balance across the strings just amazing. As you can see I took off that huge bat wing pickguard more vintage looking… read more seems to have a little more resonance maybe it's just me. Also had a custom thrust rod cover made for a cool vibe, I also put pictures of the products I used to get the Indian Laurel neck darken and more Rosewood looking, pic don't do justice it really makes it look nice. Is this guitar one of the Diamonds in the rough I don't know but I would give this guitar a try, a whole lot of guitar for the money. I want to give a big shout out to my guy of 5 years now Dave Brow, amazing guy if you need anything give him a ring he will take care of you. James

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