Epiphone Jack Casady Signature Bass Review

Thanks for the nice bass Mr. Casady!

The Epiphone Jack Casady Signature Bass will add a whole new color to your paintbox. The best feature of the JCB is the sound. The bass has it's own unique character. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it, but it speaks with a completely different voice than a solid body bass. The pickup has plenty of lows and highs, and also a pronounced full range brightness to the mids. The… read more Vari-Tone switch takes the tonality from warm to bright and gives a volume boost as you increase the brightness.I have no idea how the Vari-Tone works, but it gives you 3 really nice tones to work with. Plus there's also a standard treble roll off type tone control. Set the Vari -Tone on 50, roll the tone off and pluck by the neck, and the sound is almost like an acoustic bass. At the other extreme with the Vari-Tone on 500 with the tone full up, and the JCB has a pleasingly zingy brightness. The playability of this bass is awesome. One of the first things I noticed is how light it is. For me, this is a huge plus. The balance is surprisingly great too, despite the semi-hollow body and the giant headstock. The very slight tendency to neck dive is easily fixed with a wide strap. The neck is a little wider and thicker than say, a Jazz Bass, but it's still very comfortable to play. The Sparkling Burgundy finish looks fantastic. It works well with the vintage vibe of the bass. The appearance of the color changes from bright red to a more muted tone depending on how the light hits it. I like that the neck, back and sides are dark stained maple that shows the wood grain instead of red - it's a nice visual contrast. Since I almost never use a pick, I took the pick guard off to reveal more of the finish. The build quality is good. The bass stays in tune really well. The tuners work great and the large clover style keys compliment the old school look of the bass. With a few tweaks to the 3 point bridge it was easy to get the JCB playing the way I like. I was prepared to have to change the strings out, but the medium round wounds that the bass came with sound pretty good, so I left them on. I found a couple of minor QC issues. The volume and tone knobs were very loosely attached to the pot shafts. The volume knob would actually fall off the shaft when I'd go to adjust it, and the tone knob wasn't much better. I applied a little teflon tape to the shafts of the pots and that seems to have fixed the problem. Also, the bass was delivered with a small divot/dent on the bass side of the fingerboard between the nut and first fret. It's pretty small and doesn't effect the playability of the bass, so I can live with it. Overall, I like this bass a lot. It's relatively inexpensive, surprisingly versatile, very playable, looks sweet, and sounds great.

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Back to the 60's

Fit and Finish: Acceptable at this price point. Playability: Decent but not an easy player. Sound: With a set of flatwound strings, I am happily achieving those rich and resonant hollow body tones of the 60s era. Definitely pleased. With the roundwound strings it arrived with, you have a pretty good tone palette. All kinds of useful sounds can be achieved. I am happy with this… read more purchase!

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Great Product For The Price

Great all purpose instrument for it's value!

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High Quality

I was searching for an upgrade on my bass rig and purchased a popular Tube amp which I immediately sent back. None of my 8 basses sounded good through the new amp/cab. So I turned my thoughts towards a bass I've had an interest in since it's debut. Back in the early 70's I owned an all black fretless with Tapewounds on it. I didn't play fretless at the time, so inevitably it was… read more sold. Remorse. Recently, I started looking at the hollow-bodies that are available. I'm a smaller player, so size was a thing for me as the hollow body basses can get big and uncomfortable. Not following my criteria, I went ahead and allowed my wife to gift me this new bass. :whistle: After YouTubin' it and deciding against certain models, I took my chances and bought an Epiphone Jack Casado Sig. WOW!! Incredibly well made high quality bass! Shipped to me in one day! Sweetwater! Coast to coast free! Finish=Flawless Intonation=Perfect Hardware=Nickel Frets=good no sprout From the moment I plugged it in I was blown Away! It sounds sooooo good! Deep and rich. The Electar Humbucker is thoroughly beautiful. This is definitely a do all bass. It's not too big to make it uncomfortable. It has a 3 position selector switch that allows you to dial up different ratings @ 50/250/500. All the videos for other basses in this category were often played with a little overdrive which I was only interested in the clearest of tone and output. This bass has it all. You want whopping clear authority or driven into frenzy it's here! Best bass I've ever owned.

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Love this bass!

I’ve wanted a Jack Casady bass for many years, but had never had a chance to play one. I watched every YouTube and read every review I could find. The bass arrived two business days after I ordered it. It was pretty much unplayable due to major fret buzz on frets 1-4. Releasing the tension on the truss rod (3 small turns) eliminated this. The action was much higher than I… read more prefer, so I cranked that down and made a few adjustments to the intonation. Once the setup was complete (30 minutes max), I was ready to rock. The tone is solid and balanced - no dead spots like my Fenders. All three tone positions are quite useful, and the sustain is amazing. I’m very happy with this bass and have played it every day since I got it. Highly recommend!

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Awesome bass! But, not semi hollow.

I bought a gold top version of this bass and absolutely fell in love with it. I own a plethora of Fender P"s and J"s ranging from Mexican to Custom Shop. The build quality of these Epiphone"s is top notch. The tone is very versatile. You can play anything an acoustic gig to a hard rock gig. I wish sweetwater would change the description to HOLLOWBODY. It is NOT semi hollow. It"s… read more fully open inside. There is a block under the bridge, and that is it. I loved my gold top so much I bought a second one. That one is a 20th anniversary. Fantastic.

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Jack Casady 20th Anniversary

I've been using this bass since it first came out in 1998. I have 6 including the anniversary. I have used this bass to record and perform with and reeive many compliments on it's sound and appearance. I still use my Fender P bas J bass and Pawnshop bass VI but this anniversary edition is spectacular to say the lest. It's definitely my go to bass. Came out of the box ready to… read more play with no issues. I am a professional with almost fifty years of experience.Many thanks to Jack Casady for all the excellent work in making a great bass for a very affordable price.

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Owned one since 2006

This bass is a friggin tone machine. I have owned Fender basses. (I still use the fretless j. bass occasionally). Because of the tone of this Epi Jack it bass become my go to bass and is strung now with La Bella flexible flats, just my preference of bass strings over the round wounds it comes with. Definitely buy the case for it.

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Epi Jack Casady Bass

What's to say? Great tone, great bass. I love the wide fingerboard and neck; it fits my hand like a glove. Great instrument. I play rock, blues, r&b and soul, and this bass delivers the sound and vibe I want. It really cuts through the mix. The fit and finish of this bass is simply fabulous, and the sound is awesome, and I'm not playing it through anything special. The bass comes… read more with roundwounds, which aren't my cup of tea. I put on a set of Ernie Ball flats and adjusted the action to suit my playing style. Love it, and the bands I'm playing with love it!

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Love this bass

This is the first bass I have every bought and oh my! I love it! The neck is chubby but feels awesome and nothing feels wrong with the neck

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Jack Casady Artist Signature bass

I was surprise at how fast it got to my house open the box it was packed real good I tuned it up wow grate tone tried all settings nice tones good for all styles of music Kent Sallaz was real helpful with hisknowledge, it is a nice looking Guitar and plays real well.

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