i love my epiphone so much....it sounds ace. its really easy to play, looks great on stage, iv had a lot of comments about it, all good....the epiphone bass range looks alright, but im wary of the Viola bass. as for bc rich, i hardly use it now that i have my epiphone. the bc rich is fucking huge, and bloody heavy. i only use it in emergencies, i dont even take it to gigs anymore. i'd advise you to try out an epiphone bass at least, theres one like mine in Bruce Millars, for the same price i got mine for.