Epiphone, EA7P Professional Guitar and Amp, 1964

Tabs

Specifications
Builder: 
Epiphone
Model: 
EA7P Professional Guitar
Serial Number: 
174997
Year: 
1964
Color: 
Cherry Red
Top: 
Maple
Body: 
Maple
Neck: 
Maple
Fretboard: 
Rosewood
Pickups: 
MiniHhumbucking pickup
The Story Behind

Since the electric guitar was introduced, those who played it have modified it to create new sounds and interesting effects. In the late 1940’s and 1950’s, amplifiers followed suit by including tremolo and reverb with controls mounted on the amp. Stompbox pedals followed in the ’60s, giving easy, portable access to various effects and sounds. The Epiphone Professional guitar and amp set utilised these same ideas, but with controls mounted directly on the guitar – an “innovation” used only on this model. 

Produced for only a short period of time between '62 & '67, Epiphone records indicate that fewer than 400 Professional sets (more than twice as many of the EA7P amps were produced than the larger EA8P) were made and today only a handful survive intact. Almost all have been separated or modified; the amp or cabling lost, etc. 

Made from 1962 through ’66, the Professional combo was offered the Epiphone Professional (EA7) guitar, a semi-hollowbody guitar in the Gibson ES-335 style, with an EA8P 35-watt amplifier with 15″ speaker or an EA7P 15-watt amp with 12″ speaker. Its tube complement included one GZ34 in the rectifier position, two 7591 power tubes, one 12AU7 phase inverter, and three 6EU7 preamp tubes. A multi-pin connector running into the back of the amp and into a side-mounted jack on the guitar connects the guitar to the amp’s effects, but there’s also a standard input on the top of the amp and 1/4″ jack on the top of the guitar that can be used to play without effects. The amp is controlled by the guitar and has only one knob – for standby, on/off, polarity.

The guitar has a semi-hollow body measuring 16″ wide with two rounded cutaways, white binding on the top and back edges, bound Brazilian-rosewood fingerboard with pearloid parallelogram inlays, unbound peg-head with pearl Epiphone logo, a mini humbucking pickup, Tune-O-Matic bridge, and Frequensator tailpiece. It was offered in two transparent-stain finishes, Cherry Red or Mahogany. Its effects controls are mounted through the black, beveled-edge, laminated pickguard, and each is labeled upside-down to be readable by the player. On the bass side, the guitar has five Tonexpressor switches similar to the Caiola Custom model (introduced in ’63), an on/off switch for the tremolo, on/off for the reverb, knobs for the frequency and depth knobs of the tremolo, and one knob to control the level of reverb. Master Volume and master Tone knobs are mounted on the treble side of the guard.

There is one volume and one tone knob and 5 tone switches (giving a lot of tone variations for a one pickup guitar), which work through the 1/4" jack. The other controls on the guitar control the reverb and tremolo on the original matching amp and are as follows: one on/off switch for the reverb and one for the tremolo, one rotary knob for controlling the amount of reverb, one for controlling the amount of tremolo and one for the speed of the tremolo. 

Due to the special configuration of the guitar, where all the controls are located, few control settings are left on the amp. 

A further effort to create an innovative design for guitar players. Nevertheless this did’t caught up with players and it can be considered as an innovation which failed.

This is still complete and original. The amp is a 15 Watts (EA-7P).

If you have any questions, please contact us