Joe Pass

[shartom]

Just wondering if there is another Joe Pass owner out there?

I've had mine for about a year and it sure makes a fashion statement. It is not meant to rock or chicken pick.

Played through a Peavey Classic 410 it gets the job done.

[volt1281734017]

Hopefully I will have one in a month or so - after I get my tax refund. :-

[carverman]

Yes, I got a '95 in cherry burst and it's '91 Emp II mate in vintage burst.

Play them through a Peavey 112 ( with the tube simulator -t dynamics) with a celestion spkr.

Got them both second hand on Ebay. Both have been retrofitted with GFS vintage 59 p_ups

and GFS t-o-m bridge, as well as full vintage wiring and pots. They sound pretty close

to a ES-175 IMO.

[olman]

Yeah, I have one. Play it through a Peavey classic 30. I get great tone out of it by tweaking my amp etc. Thought about upgrading eveything, but am really satisfied for now, Had a pro setup. Left the bridge stock to get that woodtone. Intonation is not dead on the money, but verrrrry close, within a couple of cents. Mine is natural, and a great looker as well as player. Took the gas out of me for an expensive ES 175. Go for it They are very well made guitars, and sound great as they are.

[RotcanX]

Just wondering if there is another Joe Pass owner out there?

I've had mine for about a year and it sure makes a fashion statement. It is not meant to rock or chicken pick.

Played through a Peavey Classic 410 it gets the job done.

 

Well I plugged one into a Traynor YCV-40 a while back and it rocked just fine. Good guitar, a buddy of mine just picked one up and he's happy with it.

[Parabar]

Mine is a 2001 Samick made beauty, and if I had to pick a favorite guitar of my entire collection, this would be it. It's the guitar I play most often. And I agree with RotcanX, it rocks plenty when I want it to. Mind, we're not talking Marshall stack metalloid shredding here, but it does crunchy distorted power chords and riffs a la Townshend (Who's Next is all Gretsch hollowbody archtop, BTW), Clapton, Carlton, Gibbons, et al just fine.

 

I used to have an early 70's Gibson ES-175, and I like my JP better.

 

[carverman]

Yeah' date=' I have one. Play it through a Peavey classic 30. I get great tone out of it by tweaking my amp etc. Thought about upgrading eveything, but am really satisfied for now, Had a pro setup. Left the bridge stock to get that woodtone. Intonation is not dead on the money, but verrrrry close, within a couple of cents. Mine is natural, and a great looker as well as player. Took the gas out of me for an expensive ES 175. Go for it They are very well made guitars, and sound great as they are.[/quote']

 

I like the Peavey classic 30 as well, but still trying to decide on it or the Fender Blues Deluxe

Reissue. I've heard that the re-issues aren't as "good" as the originals, but who can

afford the asking prices for vintage amps these days.

 

Intonation is easy on these Emp archtops, I just measure 24.75 + 1/8' from the nut for the bass side

and 24.75 -1/8" on the treble side and then adjust the individual string adjusters

while it's in tune,until the fundamental and harmonic on the 12th fret sound close

to my ear, (not sharp or flat).

 

My two Emps came with the ebony bridges, but the GFS t-o-m are cheap,

although it's a slightly brighter tone, you can fiddle with the adjusters for intonation without

having to move the bridge after that. Just my personal preference. I still keep the

original ebony bridges.

 

On the Broadway, which came with the ebony bridge rather than the t-o-m,

I actually prefer the sound of the wooden bridge.

[olman]

I`ve had Ibanez, can`t remember the model, and put a tom bridge. I rather like the tone of the ebony, and decided to live with the slight intonation problem. It`s just not that bad and wouldn`t want to compromise the tone I`m getting at present. I just absolutely love it. I can`t believe the sustain I get out of it as is. I know I could spend a lot more money for a jazz box, but to me it isn`t a great enough improvement to justify the price over my J.P. The Classic 30 to me is a great amp, and I can tweak it to accomodate anything I want to plug in, includeing my Strat and L.P. It can make a cheaper guitar sound great

[volt1281734017]

This would seem to me to be the proper amp to play through with a jazz type guitar. Jim Hall used one of these Gibson GA50 Tube amps.

 

Joe Pass and Jim Hall both used a Polytone Mini-Brute amp.

[carverman]

This would seem to me to be the proper amp to play through with a jazz type guitar. Jim Hall used one of these Gibson GA50 Tube amps.

 

That is really what you call vintage! Probably not the correct forum to discuss amps, but

they had some interesting amps back in the late 50s/early 60s..GA90/GA77,GA55 as well

as a Les Paul Amp with 14-16 watts.

 

From my book, Ted McCarty brought Seth Lover in to work on designing some

new amps because he had to come up with something better than Leo Fender....

and they didn't want to go for that "loud, raucous sound' as Ted called it.

Ted considered Leo an amp builder not a guitar maker. (well I guess he was

entitled to his opinions on that since they were very competive in those days).

 

Ted felt that Gibson players wanted mellow sounds ..but some of his salespeople wanted "that

so called harsh Fender kind of sound", because of the demand just wasn't there for

their amps and eventually they got out of the amp business altogether. That happened around

'67 and Seth Lover went to work for Fender, as a result of that business decision.

[sunriver]

Hi shartom,

 

I have a '03 Joe Pass made in the Unsung plant. It is a great guitar, easy to handle and dream to play. I had GFS '59's put in also, and the tone is wonderful. This is a real keeper guitar for me. I use a Fender Blues Jr. as well as a Henricksen JazzAmp 10.

 

If you are wondering what the JP can sound like, go to YouTube and look for Matt Otten. He has a lot of videos that he uses a Joe Pass on and his tone is out of this world. Of course it helps if you have the talent that he has, but you can get a real good idea of tone possibilities from listening to those videos.

 

He also plays an Epi Sheraton II sometimes, and the tone that he gets from that is to die for.

 

I would highly recomend the Joe Pass.

 

Good luck on your search.

 

Rich

[shartom]

Thanks for the feedback. It really is a beautiful guitar. Shortly after my first posting, I found the pickup selector button sitting in the bottom of the case. Part of the threaded area is missing but I was able to thread it back into place. I ordered a couple from Stew Mac along with a bunch of other things this morning.

[RotcanX]

A little tip: if you ever get sick of the 'Joe Pass' signature on the pickguard it can be easily rubbed off with a rag dipped in brake fluid. This will not attack the plastic either.

[epinder]

Those are nice looking JP's, but is it possible that they're all fakes???

 

They seem to be built backwards!!!

 

Now this is a correct version:

 

[Tukinator]

I love my Joe Pass!

 

I got mine in a trade and when I got it it had flat wounds on it. Me being a dork, and having never played them before, I just thought they were extremely worn out. So I cut them off, (something I almost never do but for some reason did this time) and chucked on a set of regular bronze strings.

 

Couple of days later, I was talking to someone about it and they said "you should throw some flat wounds on that thing. You'll really dig the jazzy sound you'll get."

 

So, I went and got another set of the flats and he was right.

 

I was also surprised when I got it how loud and resinent it is when played unplugged.

 

[carverman]

I love my Joe Pass!

 

Couple of days later' date=' I was talking to someone about it and they said

"you should throw some flat wounds on that thing. You'll really dig the jazzy sound you'll get."

[/quote']

 

Its a mellower sound with the flatwounds.

Wes Montgomery, (see Gibson L5 Signature series), used heavy guage flatwounds on his L5.

Of course his magic thumb and unique way of playing octaves had a lot to do with it with

his sound. I'm using Fender flat wounds .013 to .054..heavy guage on the Broadway.

A unique tone, when played with the thumb.

[RotcanX]

resonant?

[layboomo]

Well thanks alot guys! All this Joe Pass talk gave me GAS and I just bought one made in 1997 by Samick in Korea on Ebay. Looks really nice and the reviews are very good for the Samick Epi's. Should have it next week and I'll post a few pics.:-s/

[garyelcrrt1281733995]

resonant?

 

Tell 'im, Tuk! You meant to say that there is sap oozing out from the layers of plywood, right?

[catfishstudios]

Yup, well..got like a 90 pre Joe Pass Emperor ....pics are on this forum somwhere already ;]

[dubstar]

does the Joe Pass have a floating bridge? thanks

[layboomo]

does the Joe Pass have a floating bridge? thanks

 

Yes it does...all archtops in this class do to my knowledge...there is no center block for the studs to screw into otherwise.

[dubstar]

thanks, makes sense...I thought it might be something stupid like glued down...what about casinos, though?

[dubstar]

I'm asking all these questions because I bought a 94 samick Joe Pass LH last night for $325 with case...however,

when I got the guitar I noticed a bunch of things not quite right, which sucked because it was described as perfect...

 

last night, I was too depressed to even admit I bought it ha ha, but now with everyone's help, I am starting to see the

positives...here's the deal:

 

1. pots kind of wonky...just played it again, however, and I can live with it for now

2. unplugged sounds great and easy to play...plugged in was "eh"...however, that was because >

3. the freaking tailpiece is drilled off center, so it was pulling all the strings off the pole pieces >

4. however, I just loosened the strings, realigned the bridge, and did some minor pole piece / PU

height adjustment >

5. after that, I played through my vibro champ and it sounds much better than last night!

6. pickguard was warped...it's off and the guitar looks way better...easier for me to play, as well

7. string change is up next and redrill the tailpiece

8. entire guitar was sticky and smells funny...first cleaning did wonders so I'll be continuing that

9. the case smells like vomit mixed with fabreeze...looks new inside..any suggestions?

10. cosmetically, I am going to get black & silver reflector knobs like the broadway

11. I think I am going to install a frequensator

12. frets look great, kind of medium jumbo, which I like

13. wood bridge posts are angled back like this / and the strings have cut into it pretty deeply, so

that's up for a change

 

so thoughts and comments are appreciated...do you think I can redrill the tailpiece w/o losing the ground wire?

 

no photos until I make the changes...the knobs, frequensator, and no pickguard are needed to make this "my"

guitar...I need to erase the memory of the guy I dealt with LOL

 

thanks

 

PS I like the joe pass trc, which I thought I would hate...didn't like the signature PG, however

[dubstar]

suggestions for bridge replacement welcome...wood or TOM...I suppose the wood one would have to be LH,

but it looks I could make the TOM work?

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/Instrument/Archtop_guitar/Bridges,_tailpieces/Tune-o-matic_Bridge_For_Archtop_Guitar.html