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Epiphone Ripper Bass

 

Review of the Epiphone Ripper by The Man in the Jar

This is an Epiphone reissue of the old Gibson Grabber.

Features of the Epiphone Ripper Bass 

Tuners - The tuners are open-backed with large knobs. They work very well and look great but you'd need to prevent dirt accumulating in the gears over time.

Headstock - Simple Epiphone paddle with two-a-side and a black lacquer face.

Nut - Nice to see a brass nut which adds clarity and sustain to the sound. The nut abuts the fretboard and is well finished.

Neck - The bolt-on maple neck is a long-scale affair with a healthy width across the fretboard. This makes it a wee bit of a challenge if you have small hands. But for those with good finger reach the slimness of the neck is a joy.

Fretboard - Maple again, making for a lovely visual effect. This is complimented by the abalone dot markers.

Frets - Twenty medium frets are well polished.

Action - Very good straight from the box, just high enough to prevent that nasty farting noise on poorly fretted notes.

Body - The use of maple in the body gives the Ripper a full house. It makes this bass look blonde and very beautiful. The body shape is like a fatter sister of the Gibson SG six-string, and although it looks quite big, the Ripper shares the relative thinness of body with the SG. The contoured edge is also an SG trait. 

Bridge - This is a solid-looking bridge / tailpiece combination with the ball-ends of the strings anchoring in recessed slots. This makes string changing simpler. The chunky individual saddles are adjustable for height and string length via small allen screws.

Pickups - Two single-coil pickups each with eight pole pieces. The neck pickup is split into two and staggered to give a wider tonal response in that position. 

Controls - Each pickup has a dedicated Volume control which allows you to blend away to your heart's content. A single knob controls overall Tone and a three-way selector completes the picture. 

Scratchplate - The two-ply white/black scratchplate does a lot to define the visual appeal of this instrument.

Strap-buttons - Medium-sized strap buttons are in the usual places.

Output Jack - Set in the scratchplate below the controls.

Finish - Very good finish on this Korean-made instrument.

Accessories - A bog-standard guitar lead.

 

Sound of the Epiphone Ripper Bass 

I love the clarity of tone that comes from single-coil pickups nested in a bed of pure maple, and the mechanics of that tone are as true of this bass as they would be of a six-string electric. The bridge pickup run alone has a "honky" tone that just invites you to slap octaves until your face falls off. But flick to the neck pickup and the advantage of that long-scale neck becomes apparent. Now the tone has a huge low-end growl to it but retains the same clarity and brightness found at the bridge. Gorgeous... And you get to mix and blend these voices with the two volume controls. 

 

Overall Impressions of the Epiphone Ripper Bass

I really like this bass, and for the price I think it's a steal. The combination of the maple and the long-scale makes for winning tones throughout the range, tones that will cut through when needed or simply sit back and chug. If you're looking for a bass that's out of the ordinary in all the best ways (and as long as you don't have small hands) I suggest you buy the limited edition Ripper while the going's good. 

Buy the Epiphone Ripper Bass 

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