Epiphone Allen Woody Rumblekat Bass Wine Red

I received the bass after waiting a month since i ordered it. Took 30 days to build the bass, I hear constant rattle. Had my friend a very guitar savvy person look at it, and after adjusting the trust rod, adding spacers between the screws in the pick ups, it still just has a slight rattle, I don't hear it through an amp but when I play hard I hear it on the bass itself. The first (back pickup) is raised really high and I hear my finger hit it while playing. I don't think I will order a bass without first playing it in a store. Slick design but a couple pieces just feels kind of cheap, constant rattling..

This was a nice looking guitar. Finish and binding all looked good. Nothing looked especially cheap, but a few things felt cheap, particularly the tuners. There was a noticeable amount of play in them. The bridge was also mounted at an unnecessarily extreme angle. The front was raised about as high as it could go and the back was super low. The plastic housing around the bridge pickup also buzzed really badly at first. A little bit of pushing it around made that buzz go away, but then I started hearing a clicking noise from the same pickup. And no, it wasn't from playing too aggressively. All of these things could probably have been dealt with easily by having a setup done, and probably upgrading the tuners, but the thing that made me return it was that I really struggled to get any range of tone out of it. I was hoping to get a nice warm vintage sound. And it does have that, but not much more. Perhaps those with a better amp than I've got would be able to get more out of it.

This, as others have mentioned, is a beautiful bass. Simple and elegant design, and the wine red with the gold fittings seem perfectly matched rather than "gaudy", at least to my eyes. The instrument feels solid without being heavy, and has probably the most comfortable bass fretboard I've played on. The chambered body sound reminds me of a glass bottle being blown across its lip - slightly glassy, slightly hollow. In that respect, and along with the neck-favoring pickup placements, gives the bass a distinctive rather than a flexible tone when compared to the little Gretsch Jet II that I also play. The Gretsch is also a louder bass. I also own a Hofner Ignition violin bass, and while that is my go-to instrument and cannot be beaten for lightness and the way the small body encourages melodic playing by making the upper frets so accessible, the Allen Woody certainly does better in the sustain department. I would almost buy this instrument just to stare at it in the early evening sun, when the wine red glows translucent, but it also plays like butter and sounds great live or for recording, so, unless you're looking for a tonal jack-of-all-trades (and assuming you like its tonal signature), it would be hard to regret investing in this instrument.

Awesome deal for this attractive (& freakish) wine-colored short-scale semi-hollow electric bass - like a cross between a Gibson and a Hofner! Great reviews. I liked it enough to purchase, although any lower-end instrument needs to be dialed-in. This is not a flawlessly built instrument, however after ordering a new set of gold Hipshot HB6C-3/8 open-backed clover tuners, filing the nut slots down to proper depths, correcting a couple high frets, putting on some LaBella 760FLmed flats, adjusting truss rod, and mod-bar for bridge, this baby vibrates, has great tone, and can't put it down. Are you reading this Epiphone? Nothing wrong with the provided tuners, except that I don't like 'em. I have not installed the bone nut I ordered; sounds/feels great even with plastic one (for now). This is a 10 yr. old bass and the frets are in great shape. For about 500 bucks, you can't go wrong if you do the tweaks, or take it to your guitar guy. Maybe you don't (or can't) play a short-scale. Ha! I almost can't see spending 2000.00 - 5000.00 on a custom built bass guitar! Heavy on "Beatle bass" sound, pickups are 2 mini-HB@neck and the controls are limited to about a minimum of 2 thumpy tones - but this is what I wanted in this style of bass, anyway. Lot's of fun.

Love the chambered tone and short-scale of this bass. In-between a hollow-body and a solid-body instrument, with better sustain than my Hofner and more overtones than my solid-body Yamaha, though I like each for different reasons. The Allen Woody is pretty, first of all, with its transparent burgundy and gold, elegantly simple design, and solid build - just nice to look at.. With the pickups closer to the neck there is not necessarily a wide range of tones, but the tones it does give you are warm and glassy. Between the action and the short scale this is easy to play, especially for a smaller person. Slight neck-dive but does not significantly impinge upon left hand freedom of movement. Happy.

This is my first bass so take this with that in mind. The fit and finish and setup were very good. I had read others complain but mine was perfect. This bass is a neck diver (it will not stay in playing position, neck dips toward the floor.) I added 31 oz of lead shot to the guitar strap and now it stays put. I understand this is common with some guitars, especially bass guitars but I own dozens of electrics and acoustics and this was a surprise. Overall I like the bass and with Rotosound 77 strings it has a mellow pleasing tone. I'm mostly rock and folky stuff so if you are a djenerate you should listen to one first. It is light weight compared to a full size bass like a P-Bass. It is almost as big as a 34" though measuring only 1.5 inches shorter than a P-Bass. I also picked up a Ibanez Mikro which is several inches shorter and lighter and the scale length is 2 inches shorter (28.6 vs 30.5 for the Epiphany). If you want tiny (but still acceptable tone consider the Mikro, it would be better for kids. If you want a bass that is short scale but otherwise a contender for performance playing the Allen Woody is fine. I also tried on a Fender Mustang (30 inch scale length) and it did a neck dive too. If this is an issue for you I do not know what to tell you.