At the extreme low end (bridge pickup only, full bass boost and treble cut) this bass really gives a fat, warm sound, especially with a touch of distortion. At the other extreme you can get a very punchy, bright treble. Of course all shades in between are available if you play with the settings. After playing a while I found the wound strings were a bit trebly for my liking so I replaced them with flats, which really brings out that old-school thump in teh bottom end. This is a great bass for recording (which is what I use it for - no gigging as yet)- the humbucking pickups have no noise at all which is just what you want. The active circuitry means you can plug straight into a mixer or line-in without needing a high impedance input.