HN2MGD Ultra 339

[chipwich]

Greetings fellow Epiphonites.

 

Been out of the fold a while. Recent good fortune allowed the upgrading most of my axes to mother ship, but missed owning an Epi. Decided that I had to have a Pelham Blue 339. Would have been fine with Pro model, but not to be had in the glorious color of my dad's '73 Caddy. So, Ultra it was. Found a good candidate, used, but the posted images showing very low mileage. She arrived today in good shape, with a very fine setup, and I had to look hard for any blemishes. A little rough sanding at top of neck/body joint, but nothing that wouldn't pass ye olde Gibson QC these days.

 

Well fired her up expecting perhaps the dreaded dead center switch position, but she pass with flying colors. Good to go. All of my humbucking Gibsons have the lauded '57 Classic (including my CS 339), so was at first put off by the Pro Bucker. Sounded a bit harsh on the top end, but later realized that these things really shine when driven hard. Very nice pickup for playing rock. OK, I get it now, overdrive the crap out of them and they really shine. Not your daddy's jazz or clean blues pup, They need the whip put to them. But the rewarding tone is wonderful. I've seen some good clean reviews on YouTube, so it's there. I just must be used to the 57s.

 

The tuner seems to be spot on, but wonder if it has any other modes, and that brings me to a question. Where do I find a manual for this thing? Epi web site has a generic one, but I couldn't find one specific to the Ultra 339 or LP.

 

Anyway, great axe and mega props to Epi for having the foresight to put this one out. Must try the Ultra LP one day.

 

 

[Bluemans335]

Nice score. Have you tried Epi Customer Support?

 

I was skeptical of Probuckers until I tried them; they really are an upgrade from the PU's they used to use. I'm impressed. The Alnico Classic Pros are also very good. Epi's really putting out some nice guitars these days.

[chipwich]

Cheers Bluemans335. I think that I've got the tuner figured out. Looks like there is a # indicator, which would get you alternates. And you can deduce most other functions just by plugging in, pushing buttons, and turning knobs. I will probably still call or email Epi support on the front jack. It looks like if you just wanted to plug in and not use any of the bells and whistles, you could go there. So, humbucker output for stereo, or times when you didn't want to use the tuner, or switch to the Nanomag. Good stuff. Going to borrow an acoustic amp this weekend and play around with the Nanomag, if the honey-do list isn't too long.