Best Epiphone?IB Texan or EJ-160 or Dove?

[jwmtele]

I have a Epiphone AJ200s that i really love,and would like to get a better Epiphone acoustic,cannot get my hands on any local to play,which of these 3 do you think would be the best Epiphone,The IB Texan or EJ-160 or the Dove?I play alot of Beatles of course and Texas blues,country,classic rock which one would you get to be the best all around guitar?I will play unpluged most of the time.I can afford any of the 3 but would love some input about these 3 epiphones anyone care to share their thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
James

[ataylor]

I haven't played a lot of Epiphones, but I did help my little brother get the same guitar you currently have. In my opinion it is a lot of guitar for the money and sounded as good as or better than the Texan or EJ-160 models you mentioned.

My suggestion would be to keep enjoying that AJ-200 and save up for a Gibson. A J-35 or J-45 would be what you are looking for in my opinion. I've found that nothing cheaper quite captures the classic Gibson sound, and the guitar you already own comes the closest you'll get in that price range.

Not that you'd go wrong by getting one of the guitars you mentioned -- they're nice guitars -- but I think in the long run you'll enjoy a Gibson more, even if it means waiting a while longer.

[Steve DeRosa]

The Epi Texan and EJ-160 are the quintessential Beatles guitars - if you do a lot of their material it's hard to go wrong with either of these. As far as other styles are concerned face it, you will be plugging in sooner or later, so it depends what you're after: the Texan will give you a more typical electric-acoustic sound, the EJ-160 will lean more toward the electric side of things (John Lennon played the repeating figure in "I Feel Fine" on his J-160, so that'll give you an idea of what to expect) - the Dove just isn't my cuppa tea (YMMV)...

[Calmwater]

I have an Epiphone hummingbird and an EJ 200. If I was looking to step up a little I would look at a used Masterbilt Aj500. They are out there at reasonable prices and the examples I have played had a nice sound.

[SalFromChatham]

Keep an eye our for a Masterbilt AJ500M. You would want one in excellent condition that is not a factory second (used stamp).

It might take a while, but the good ones occasionally come up.

[Jimacee]

In my opinion the chet atkins is still the best epiphone

[TwoMartinMan]

I'd stay away from the EJ-160. I've auditioned several of them and never played one that I liked. For some reason, the workmanship on them seems to be universally subpar, and the pickup is very weak. I'm not the only one to have this opinion. You'll find poor reviews of this model in many places.
The Texan and Dove have good reputations. Almost bought a Texan a couple months ago myself.

[Jeremy]

In my the experience the EJ-160 and the Dove aren't any better than the AJ-220S. I've personally not played an Inspired By Texan that I liked but that doesn't mean there aren't good ones out there. I'd probably choose the IB Texan over the other two.

I also suggest looking into the Masterbilt AJ-500. I've played both the mahogany and rosewood models and they were excellent.

[L20A]

Masterbilt all the way. Best Epi for the money.

[roylor4]

+1 on the Masterbilts. I prefer the satin finished dreads. I have bought and sold several (including AJ's) and the satin finished ones always sounded better to me than the gloss ones. E-bay always has several refurbs floating around.

Played several AJ220s's - the Masterbilts are in a whole different class!

[roylor4]

Check it out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Epiphone-Mas...item232d85a3a1

[cliffmac]

Gotta agree with the above comments and of course now being a proud owner of a masterbuilt dr500mce, I have to say they are the best epiphone acoustics out there. Imagine a 1000-200 dollar guitar between 6 and 7 hundred new with epiphone's awesome warranty.