Sebastien Ferland

Love the fact that this cab has such a clear ring to it. There are no other bass cabs like it -- whatever amp you use in there will ring clear. Somehow, there's a depth to the sound that gets added in there when I play. I enjoy a fair amount of bass in my sound, but to have it ring clearly, you need low-mids and high-mids to be properly adjusted. With this cab, the speakers are absolutely flawless and bring out all the harmonic content, as well as controls the bottom end and doesn't let it spill over everything else. You can certainly crank up the bass content, but you won't be able to muddy up your sound. It stays well-rounded and always remains clear, which is why I would not play with any other kind of cab.

I own a Ampeg SVT III non-pro head. When playing live, I send the head's line out to the house mix. But when your amp goes out (especially with a tube amp this can happen), my backup is the Ampeg SCR-DI, which is now a permanent part of my pedalboard. I've had a chance to go and play with friends without bringing my amp -- they had a Yorkville stack in the rehearsal space. I brought only my Ampeg pedal... and plugged it inline from my bass to the amp. Funny how a Yorkville amp can be made to sound like an Ampeg amp. This pedal has a great emulation circuit that faithfully reproduces "that Ampeg sound". Absolutely awesome, and must be tried out to be believed. I bring this out everytime I want to avoid carrying my amp head. To record direct into a computer, this definitely has a lotta punch as well. I use it in my pedalboard as a backup for the house mix. I can plug it in and use the THRU to go straight to my amp, without modifying my sound further by adding the pedal's sound. This bypasses the pedal and continues in the signal chain unscathed. If my amp goes out, I can hit the pedal's switch and run my entire rig through that pedal, and at least keep the house mix going. GREAT backup to have!

Amazing sound with this pedal! JUST LIKE CLIFF'S SOUND IN ANESTHESIA! The only problem I have with the wah part is the range of the pedal itself - because it's an optical coupling, there isn't much possibiliy in configuring this pedal, outisde cutting the opening a bit wider in the black plastic shade that stands in front of the optical connector. Morley have told me they didn't have many options to offer me, but said I should experiment. If I had a black plastic to use, I probably would! That said, the sound is absolutely amazing, the fuzz is very nice and has a cool modern/vintage setting which truly colors it differently. Most people will use this to play Metallica stuff, but I just find it very creative and "steely" sound to use all over the place.

Not much to say else but this: if it was good enough for Jimi and Dimebag, its, good enough for you.

The amp and cab emulation is great. Lotsa power packed into a 2U unit. Great to have the digital and analog outs, the multiple options are great. Stompbox effects, mods, wahwah and all other effects (aside from the plate reverb and the digital delay) are awful. Amps sound great, stick with pedals for distorted/fuzz/phaser/chorus/reverb effects. I'm slowly mobing back to pedals. Compression doesnt help much, so a separate compressor unit is very useful. Very transparent and clearly a winner.

Overall Rating: ***** The best part of this bass is its string spacing and its fantastic wood construct. I will be insuring this bass and try to get every possible aspect of its measurements to a luther, so he can build a custom model of this. This was an incredible find, and has propelled my playing light years ahead. I recommend to anyone who has one NOT to sell it, and just go ahead and change the pickups in there. I've spoken with the fine people at EMG, and they've pointed me towards EMG-40Js, which will probably fit the pickup enclosure without routing. Also, adding a EMG-BTS system will be really nice add-on to bring that punch out. Price: $450.00 CDN Where Obtained: Steve's Music Store Liquidation Center, Montreal (now closed) Features: -6-String; -7-ply NECK-THRU construction; -24-fret rosewood fingerboard; -passive J-Style pickups w/active EQ (volume, balance, bass, treble controls); -mahogany body; -maple neck; -beautiful cherry stain on body, neck maple color, gold hardware, black pickups. Amazing construction, poor electronics. String spacing is 6 strings on a 5-string neck (about 2.98", unusually very nice). Bass jack is of poor quality, and after several years cords will fall out. Playability: Off the cuff, the bass is one heavy piece of equipment. I had to get straplocks and get a foam-laden leather strap to comfort my shoulder for those longer sets. Access to the neck is amazing, the higher frets also. The neck itself feels narrower than a normal 6-string, which is something I love, and I will definitely get custom modeled-basses modeled specifically to this string spacing. The complete construction of this instrument is flawless, except for its hefty weight. I would have chosen ash or alder maybe for its body, just to add a little more sustain to it. However, the chosen wood makes its sound original, and has this rockin' tone. Sound Quality: The electronics on this bass are sh*t. I've been playing with these Vantage passive pickups for the last 7 years, and this is the next thing to go. I would think that loading the bass with EMG-40Js would make it really punchy, and bring out it's missing element -- midrange presence. The sound is very dark with it's original pickups, although nice harmonics can be pulled out of it with the proper amplification. Because of its weight, I would advise anyone who has one to keep it for a studio job, but if you have a really nice fat strap, then be my guest and go onstage. Another electronics flaw is in the pots - they have nice little holes in them that let dust go in frequently and make an unbearable scratchy sound when balancing out the pickups. The real sound comes out of the wooden construction, which could be taken to a much higher plateau with new electronics. Durability: I've knocked this bass to the floor many times, and it endures so much. As I've said before, the construction of this bass is absolutely flawless, and although it is hard to precisely adjust the relief and the truss on this bass (because of the massive neck), it is really remarkable how well this bass has held up over the years. However, again with electronics, I wouldn't leave this bass is a damp basement for 3 hours. The pickups will just rust in place.