Just a pretty but normal 5B bass with a fine piece of natural birdseye maple on the face? Actually no, there are several things about this one that are unusual.
Body wood is lightweight and resonant alder (as opposed to the more usual mahogany). The neck is mostly flamed and rock maple with thin laminations of walnut (rather than mahogany with a single lamination of maple). The EQ is the Aguilar OBP-3 with three bands of cut and boost - the mid is switchable between 400 and 800Hz. In the hardware department this is the first bass where I have used a Johnsen bridge - see below. I saw the prototype of this at Frankfurt 2004 and was impressed with the concept - individual string units with a string through design where the string height and intonation are set by moving a single part - a threaded metal tube.I ordered one and this is the first time I have used it.
So how does it all work out? The bass is lightweight , balances well, with excellent sustain and the Aguilar pre-amp works well with my pickups. The articulation between strings is impressive
Simple and very effective, it seems to add to sustain as well - I like it.
