format lifted from harmony central's review section:
(forgive the terminology on the sound section.)
EGC Bass #83. Custom JP.
Features:
2 rio grande pitbull pickups. 1 in the middle position. 1 in the bridge position. independant volume and tone controls. 3 way pickup selector switch, bridge/both/neck. aluminum neck through body design (duh.) schaller bridge and strap buttons. gotoh tuners. stainless steel frets.
this bass was modeled after the gibson rd bass. i asked it to be contoured like a fender and it is. i drew a sketch of the bass w/ black and silver sharpies and got exactly what i drew.
Sound:
i went for humbuckers instead of the electrical single coils because i wanted a bigger, thicker sound. humbuckers tend to have more mid's and less bass and treble than single coils. i went for middle and bridge positions to keep some clarity. neck pickups tend to be a little to bassy for me, plus with distortion the sound gets a little washy.
so what i have is a big and articulate sound. the pitbulls sound kind of like the seymour duncan quarter pounder. a lot of transparent bass. not muddy but a lot of bottom end. good treble and mid response.
i use both pickups. all the way on. i run it through a traynor ts-50b, qsc rmx 1450 power amp, sunn 4x12, sunn 215B. the controls on the ts-50b are bass-0, middle-0, treble-10, gain-7. you'd think with the controls set that way the sound would be thin and clanky, but 2x15 booms and the 4x12 gives a lot of top end. i get good speaker breakup and not much distortion since the lower frequencies are all cut.
it's a very "present" sound. it doesn't seem loud, it's easily heard, has a lot of definition even with chords. you can hear everything. very balanced sound. not too boomy, muddy or shrill. it's perfect. like a cross between the tones on "song against itself" and "speak now or forever hold your peace."
i wouldn't recommend the pitbulls unless you like a p-bass. and i mean, really like a p-bass. even through the practice amp at home this bass sound great. at home it's just a vintage proco rat into a peavey minx 110. these pickups are stupid loud. really bassy, and bright. i have the distortion knob at 9 'o'clock. w/ my jazz that knob was at 1 'o'clock.
EDIT: i just now realized that kevin wired my bass with push/pull pots to split the coils of the humbuckers. i had forgotten i asked for that.
so, with two humbuckers, two coil taps, and a 3 way pickup selector i have like...um...a billion tonal options.
Action:
the action was a bit low for my tastes when i got it. some people like how the fret rattle compliments the aluminum tone. i wanted clarity, so i raised it to where i like it. spectacularly easy on a bass with no trussrod.
Fit:
i have no idea what the harmony central people mean by this. i assume how the bass fits me, so that's what i'm going with.
i'm short, and since this body style has no top horn, and since the neck is mounted on the end of the body and not set into the body, the neck seems really long. also, since this bass has no top horn it's neck heavy. i knew this was coming and was the reason i asked for the contours. rest my right arm on the bass and the guitar stays in position.
even with all that said, this is the most playable bass i've ever touched. the neck shape is perfect and really comfortable, even with my high action and the neck dive issue. this is a heavy bastard though. probably a couple pounds more than my jazz.
Finish:
a thick black coat. almost as shiny as the neck. no flaws, runs, smudges or dings.
Reliability/Durability:
well it sounds great, it plays great. and it's mostly metal. i'm not too worries about breaking it.
Customer Support:
awesome. kevin was like my own personal yes-man. every stupid little thing i asked was met with a "sure, i can do that."
Overall Rating:
if you're thinking about buying one, do it. if you know what you like in a guitar ask for it.
and for anyone who missed it in the other thread...
[/b]
somebody help me. i can't help myself.
