20th Anniversary JCS [new pics]

[uwe]

The Gibson gold is more brass (with even a slight greenish hue, but that is the aged clearcoat), the Epi one more yellow and shiny.

[Alanko]

The Gibson gold is more brass (with even a slight greenish hue, but that is the aged clearcoat), the Epi one more yellow and shiny.

Just my luck, but I can only find gold ones in the UK at the moment. There is one silverburst one, but at a markup. There is also a white one, but I'm not sure the seller would ship and it is dazzlingly white.

My plan here is to find a used one to find out if I get on with it, and then buy one of the red ones when they become available, so colour isn't a clincher by any means.

There is a photo on Talkbass of a JC bass and an original Gibson, and the colour difference is stark. The Gibson also benefits from not having a gaudy 'E' on the pickguard and has a nice chrome bridge cover as well.

[patman]

Actually I always kind of preferred the gold, but they rarely come up on craigslist...

[Alanko]

Actually I always kind of preferred the gold, but they rarely come up on craigslist...

Move to the UK!

The sunburst seems to be vanishingly rare here. I've never seen one in the flesh, never seen one listed for sale...

[uwe]

Pick guard needs to be removed on both Epi and Gibson as it seriously muffles the sound. Both the Sig and the JC have quite an acoustic signal due to the scalloped sustain block. Playing with or without the pg obstructing the lower F-hole is quite a contrast.

[Alanko]

Surely only unplugged?

What is this fluted/scalloped block that Jack talks about in interviews? Does the central block not contact the top or back of the bass, and have a scalloped pattern carved into it to allow further airflow? And therefore does the pickup technically float in the top of the bass?

[uwe]

All that, yes. The top is free from contact to the sustain block, the pup has no contact to the sustain block either. Whether they did this for air flow or just to make the top less stiff, I dunno. But even when playing plugged at low to mid volumes you notice a difference playing the bass with or without a pg. It's more responsive without. And at higher volumes you can feel the top working and the bass has strong "Hand of God"-sustain, but never nasty feedback.

[4stringer77]

Feedback is possible at a loud enough volume. I can say this from experience. When I needed to use my JC as a back up bass before a show, it would feedback particularly when a low E or in my case down tuned D was ringing out. It was manageable enough to get through the set but don't expect miracles from an essentially hollow body bass if you like to crank up the amp.

[uwe]

I kinda liked it, it was that continuous "Carlos-Santana-sustain-on-the-brink-of-feedback". Yes, if you did nothing and let a low note ring, it would gradually morph into a drone, but nothing uncontrollable. I played it in a Brit Pop band with two guitars for a while, we weren't a thrash metal band by any means, but the guitarists preferred that blurry "Oasis-Wall-of-Open-Chord-Rhythm-Guitar-Sound", so it wasn't exactly quiet.

With today's amps pumping out volume over comparativley small speaker cone areas it's probably less an issue than if you stood before an Ampeg 8x10" fridge with its "sea of sound".

[bassilisk]

A guy over at TB just took delivery of one. These are apparently made in China.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/nbd-jack-casady-20th-anniversary-bass.1298148/

[doombass]

I believe they are all Made In China nowadays. The Korean Peerless factory still manufactures the JCS (renamed Bassmaster) though they changed the headstock shape and use heartshaped tuners:

http://www.peerlessguitars.eu/bassmaster/4557055576

[4stringer77]

I wonder if the Peerless made basses are constructed better? It's neat that one of the few Peerlesss dealers are in Woodsville N.H. I'll have to remember that when I'm in their neck of the woods, pun intended. 

[Dave W]

Doesn't surprise me that they're MIC. Epi Qingdao makes the semihollow guitar models now too.

[Basvarken]

I wonder if the Peerless made basses are constructed better?

What do you think is wrong with the way the Epi JCS is constructed?

[Highlander]

The Gibson gold is more brass (with even a slight greenish hue, but that is the aged clearcoat), the Epi one more yellow and shiny.

... says the man who does not collect for fins, but probably has at least one of every fin that Gibson and Epi have ever produced, by sheer chance, not design, of course...