The Epiphone Les Paul acoustic electric ukulele is scheduled to be available at selected music stores and online outlets sometime this month. It is a solid wood tenor uke with mahogany body and neck and a flamed maple top. It has a built in under the saddle piezo pickup. However, there are no on board controls for the electronics, a feature usually found on this type of uke. The neck is bolted on and appears to be extraordinarily robust with four through the neck bolts attaching the neck joint to the body. There are no videos or sound files of the uke in action other than a rather cheesy almost no chord or two by "Dr. Epiphone" in their one minute online ad/promo video. The price is set to be $99.00 on the street including an Epiphone gig bag.
As in all things musical, the proof will be in the playing and we have yet to hear how the littlest Epi will sound, especially plugged in. It is disappointing that the unit will not have onboard controls making the use of an outboard preamp with some sort of EQ and volume control almost a necessity for serious amplified players. It is also disappointing that the unit will only be available in Cherry Sunburst. Gibson's official website shows a beautiful little Tobacco Sunburst unit being set up by a technician in Nashville. I contacted Gibson and they told me in no uncertain terms that the Tobacco Sunburst unit will not be available on the market at this time. That's a pity because the little red EPI will stick out like a sore thumb on a stage with a bluegrass or folk group. However, Epiphone has a history of providing quality instruments at a very good price and we can only hope that this will be the case with the little Epi Les Paul.
I'm attracted to this, and it has to be appealing to parents of young rockers-to-be. I wonder if the limited electronics are to keep the price low? I'll be trying it out!
ReplyDeleteI am attracted to it too. I tried having a pickup installed in my Lanikai SC and that didn't work out so I'm shopping for an electric uke. I'm torn between it and the Kala Jazz Archtop. The Kala has I believe Fishman electronics with a preamp and all of the controls. But also costs in the $250.00 range and is a tenor. I have played the Kala and it is a fine instrument. Will wait to play the Epi before I make my purchase.
ReplyDeleteBefore you buy this uke, I suggest you check out the EleUke models. One looks somewhat like the jazz model shown, but there are other styles too. An advantage -- it has a built in preamp with tone and volume controls. Another big plus is that the current models have a 1/8" input jack so you can play a MP3 song and play along with it -- neat.
ReplyDeleteAnd with headphones, you can play along and not bother the spouse!
I have an earlier version in a tenor scale (w/o the input jack) so you can see it if interested and if you cannot find one locally.
I use an outboard preamp (Pocket Pod) that already has all of the eleuke electronics features plus effects. The eleuke's sound tinny to me. I prefer the acoustic electric sound.
ReplyDeleteSo far as I can tell, Sam Ash is the only big online dealer in the country with these ukes in stock. I ordered mine last Friday morning, it shipped that afternoon, left Florida the next morning and is somewhere in transit right now. ETA Wednesday. Sam Ash is honoring the $99.00 price including case/gigbag. Will post a review shortly after I receive it.
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