REVIEW > COMPANY NAME BY JOE CHUPARAKORN DIGITAL ONLY REVIEW > EPIPHONE to hear audio clips of the guitar at premierguitar.com/jun2012CLICKHere… Shadow NanoMag pickup Onboard tuner Stereo outputs and USB jack
EPIPHONE
ES-339 ULTRA
The Gibson Les Paul is so dang ubiqui- tous, that’s it’s sometimes easy to forget
the importance and greatness of Gibson’s
semi-hollowbodies. Gibson’s ES–339, which
married the semi-hollow construction of
the legendary ES–335 with the smaller
body size of a Les Paul is a great reminder
of the of the guitars’ shared heritage, and
not surprisingly, was an instant hit almost
immediately upon its release several years
ago. Unfortunately, the price tag of a USA-made Gibson kept it out of reach for some.
For these budget-conscious guitar aficionados, Epiphone’s new Ultra-339 might just
be the answer to their prayers.
More Than Meets the Eye
Like virtually all ES guitars, the Ultra-339
is built from a laminated maple body with
a solid center block, and on the surface, it
seems like a typical Gibson semi-hollow
guitar. Look closely though and you’ll see
where the Ultra designation comes into
play. Discreetly planted at the end of the
fretboard is a pickup called the NanoMag
(engineered by Shadow Germany), a low-impedance magnetic pickup that uses 3
Samarium-Cobalt magnets, and on the side
of the guitar, you’ll find two output jacks
for mono or stereo routing options. There
are four knobs that look like the conventional Gibson volume/tone/volume/tone
configuration, but are actually much more.
While the Ultra-339 does have individual
volume controls for each pickup, in place of
individual tone controls you’ll find a master
tone control and a dual-function control
consisting of a NanoMag volume knob and
a push-button switch for choosing between
the humbucking pickups, piezo pickup, or
both. On the back of the guitar you’ll find
a set of controls for the NanoMag —treble,
bass, and gain—located next to the battery
compartment cover (the NanoMag requires
a 9V battery).
The Ultra-339 features an onboard
tuner, which is activated by a miniscule on/
off button, stealthily located on the bridge
pickup ring alongside the tuning indica-
tor lights. The pickup ring is also home to
two LEDs (red and blue) that indicate the
pickup configuration in use. One or both of
these two LEDs remain illuminated when
the guitar is plugged in so that you know
which pickup is being used, but they shine
discreetly and looking at the guitar head
on, you might not even notice it. That’s a
good thing, given how traditionally minded
Gibson fans can be.
DR11 PREMIER GUITAR APRIL 2012
premierguitar.com
