Joe Pass Emperor II

Joe Pass was known as the “president of bebop guitar.” Raised near Jamestown, Pennsylvania, as a teenager Joe headed for New York City where his inventive, fluid lines, advanced harmonic knowledge, and seemingly endless well of melodic ideas were immediately recognized. Perhaps Pass’ best work was for Norman Granz’ Pablo label, based in Los Angeles. During his career, Joe recorded with a Who’s Who of jazz greats including Les McCaan, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, and Milt Jackson.

We’re very proud that Joe welcomed the opportunity to have his own Epiphone model and his Joe Pass Emperor II is a stunning guitar and a fitting tribute to a player who was a great teacher and a great inspiration to players around the world.

Like all Epiphones, the Joe Pass Emperor II comes with our Limited Lifetime Warranty and Gibson’s famous 24/7/365 customer service. The Joe Pass Emperor II could be the only guitar you ever need but since most Epiphone owners love to have at least 4 or 5 Epiphones, check out a Joe Pass Emperor II at your favorite Authorized Epiphone Dealer today.

Historic Style Hardware Built to Last

One of the most eye-catching features of the Joe Pass Emperor II is the gold vintage style scroll tailpiece along with a floating rosewood bridge. The Joe Pass Emperor II sounds great unplugged and at low volume and players who strive for horn like tones or who are searching to develop their own personal touch will find the Joe Pass Emperor II to be the perfect instrument.

Vintage Jazz Tone

The ‘50s vintage style controls are spaced slightly farther apart than on our other archtop models and many players prefer the wider spacing. Per Joe’s request, the Emperor II is voiced by two Alnico Classic™ humbuckers that give the guitar an endless variety of colors and shades. The gold covered humbuckers are set off by a tortoise shell style pickguard with historic metal “E.”

Classic Styling

The Joe Pass Emperor II is slightly smaller than our historic archtops but bears many of the same, distinctive features of the Broadway model including a select Spruce top and maple body. The 24.75” scale hand-set maple neck has a rosewood fingerboard with beautiful mother of pearl block inlays topped off by the legendary Epiphone “tree of life” design which is further set off by Grover® 16:1 ratio gold tuners and a signature “Joe Pass” truss rod cover.