Eastwood Ampeg Bass

[arts]

I have always been a big fan of all things Ampeg,and have always wanted an Ampeg scroll bass.

One of my biggest moments of stupidity and regret is not snatching an original Ampeg,absolutely mint, with case,single owner fretless that was on consignment at my buddy's music store. I decided to ''think'' about it due to the price,which was about 1/3 of what they go for today.When I called back the next morning,it was already gone. Clearly,I am an idiot.

Anyhow,does anybody have any experience with Eastwood instruments,guitar or bass? Just wondering about quality and playability.I believe that they are made in China or Korea,so I'm not sure what to expect.

http://www.eastwoodguitars.com/eub-1-sunburst/

I'm also considering one of these; looks like a great short scale sofa-bass

https://airlineguitars.com/products/airline-map-bass-34

 

[marqueemoon]

Ha. Yeah, that Airline looks like it would balance terribly.

I've played a few Eastwood guitars in shops. Quality seems decent. No idea how the Ampeg bass would stack up to the original though.

The one thing I'll say is I owned a fretless bass for a while and it didn't get played nearly as much as I thought it would.

 

[arts]

In my case the fretless would probably get used the most,as I've always been an upright player,and that's also what I learned on.

Yep,that Airline looks unbalanced all right,but it might work for me,seeing as I'm rather unbalanced myself I'm a sucker for sea foam green too.....

I just can't seem to find a review that doesn't stink of bias or some kind of affiliation with the manufacturer. Cripes,Jaco endorsed Guild at one time

 

[jmela]

This guy has a nice product, if you've got the scratch. I once passed on a clean 1964 Fender P and Jazz set for $2k, so don't feel too bad.

http://www.xstrange.com/index.html

 

[rollcentre]

Hey arts, I had my eye on that Eastwood Ampeg aeb/aub-1 copy as well. It's been a little bit since you posted, I was just curious if you ended up getting one.

The first thing I noticed is the Eastwood has a more simple headstock with no scroll, which is really one of the things I love on the Ampeg.

As jmela mentioned above, Bruce Johnson at xstrange was making really nice copies of the ampeg aeb/aub and devil bass, etc. Last time I was looking, I think his site was down and I'm not really sure if he was still making them then, but glancing at his site now it appears that he still doing it. Looks like they run about 2k, which is much more than the Eastwood, but about half as much as the real deal. Let me know what you decide on! This is one of my dream instruments as well.

Cheers!

 

[arts]

Hey arts, I had my eye on that Eastwood Ampeg aeb/aub-1 copy as well. It's been a little bit since you posted, I was just curious if you ended up getting one.

The first thing I noticed is the Eastwood has a more simple headstock with no scroll, which is really one of the things I love on the Ampeg.

As jmela mentioned above, Bruce Johnson at xstrange was making really nice copies of the ampeg aeb/aub and devil bass, etc. Last time I was looking, I think his site was down and I'm not really sure if he was still making them then, but glancing at his site now it appears that he still doing it. Looks like they run about 2k, which is much more than the Eastwood, but about half as much as the real deal. Let me know what you decide on! This is one of my dream instruments as well.

Cheers!

Hi Roll,

In the end I decided against the Eastwood,and for exactly the reason you mentioned: No scroll! What the heck is a scroll bass without a scroll?

The Johnson basses look really good,but the prices,especially at the Canadian exchange rate,are really steep. Shipping would also no doubt be an expensive (and scary!) proposition.When I looked at his website,I didn't get the feeling of it being current.Also,there are no (if any?) recent reviews,commentaries or endorsements of his products or business practices. Way out of my comfort zone.

Art