"Hi Enrico,
first of all, the look is amazing! Like you said, in real life the wood looks way more beautiful than in the pictures, and it feels great too. You know, I've never had a six-string, so I thought it would be hard to get used to the wide neck. But I am surprised how easy it is to play it. I can easily reach the 6th string even in the highest positions.
And, of course, the main thing... the sound!! Mmmmm.... It has it all! During these first 2 weeks I've tried it in my prog-rock band, onstage with a jazz/funk band and in an heavy metal band. To be honest, I am not surprised that it sounds great with jazz-funkers. But yesterday I was really blown away by its power and versatility! With this bass I can just relax and play whatever I want, not thinking about whether I hear myself or not, cause I not only hear the bass, but also FEEL it! It pushes masses of air with its power >=) And the tone.... mmmm.... =)) By the way, the best sound I got so far is through my Markbass rig. A killing Italian combination >=) When I turned the highs all the way up I got the agressive metal sound a-la Steve DiDiorgio (or Les Claypool when playing slap stuff), when I switched to passive it reminded Gary Willis, when I played in active mode not touching the controls it sounded like Sean Malone.
Like you said, the bass is very responsive to playing dynamics. It is so easy to control it! Just add a tiny bit of strength to the touch, and it cuts through the mix with its "mwaaah" =) It sounds so powerful!
The passive mode is just a little bit quiter than the active. Actually, I noticed a very pleasant thing about the output, comparing to my other instruments (Spector and Warwick). Spector has a very loud output, which makes the amp clip no matter how low I set the gain. Warwick has a weaker output, but if I raise the gain on the amp, clipping also starts at some point (which is kinda normal). But with this bass I haven't found a point, where the amp starts clipping. I turned the gain knob over the middle, and still nothing. However, it sounds almost as loud as Spector. Thus, it allows to set the rig real loud, way too loud for a rehearsal =) With my heavy metal band it was the first time when I felt the power over the drummer! =)))
Thank you very much, Enrico!!"
Denis Dyakon - Latvia, September 2008