This model appears to have far more controls than a single-pickup guitar would need, and indeed, the volume and tone knobs on the treble side of the pickguard are the only actual controls for the guitar. All of the other knobs and switches are for the guitar’s amplifier.

With Gibson’s purchase and makeover in the late 1950s, Epiphone was less bound by tradition than Gibson, and the Professional represented a continuing effort within the Epiphone division to use imaginative designs to circumvent the one-step-below-Gibson status that Epiphones were supposed to maintain.

While it was a great idea, in theory, to give a guitarist a remote control over his amplifier settings, in practice the Professional severely limited the guitarist’s choices of amplifiers to the matching Professional amplifier. The control-less amp was useless without the guitar, and the guitar cord would only connect with the matching amp.