The beefy 18volt system produces oodles of output - make sure to use the "active" input on your amp. But there's a trim pot on the preamp card to bring it down if necessary. I'm gonna try to go without controls - that blue/green ash is too pretty to drill, I've got a volume pedal and it's kinda cool to play a bass which appears to have no pickups or controls AT ALL. (-;

The bass is well-balanced and the neck feels terrific - thin and Jazz-like at the top, but with plenty of width to dig into the strings at the body. The instrument feels very solid yet quite resonant. Those super-light Turner-Tomastik strings can still make it vibrate.

And THERE'S the thing - those strings!!!!

If you're a fretless player, lemme tell you those strings are Nirvana!!! It feels a little strange, bringing them up to pitch - they stretch quite a bit. But once the guitar is strung up and the string tension is right, prepare yourself for the most awesome "mwah" you've ever heard! The fast fretboard encourages movement, but the strings beg you to tarry and play LONG, SLOW lines. Each note swells and blooms before dying off. This effect is quite noticable when the guitar is played acoustically. And if you can hear it, you can amplify it... but if it isn't there to begin with, no amount of effects-loop magic can reproduce it. Well, it's in there, folks. On another guitar your milage may vary, but if you've got a piezio-equipped fretless I urge you to give Rick a call and try out a set of these strings - they're amazing! No ferrous metals in the strings, tho - they won't work with magnetic pickups, unfortunately.

I used the graphic on my Trace to roll off the treble a bit to cut down on finger-squeak, but otherwise had to make no changes. The guitar comes well eq'ed. The 4 separate piezio elements seemed to be well balanced and blended, with no differences in loudness crossing strings. And it's so much damn fun to play! Not only is the guitar a beauty, those "soft" strings are very easy on your fingertips, unlike nickle/steel roundwounds. It's seductive... you just want to play and play and play... now my roomates think I'm keeping a humpback whale in a big tank in the basement.

Construction	95%
Playability	100%
Appearance	95%
Sound	100%
Value	100%
Cust. Service	100%
Overall	100%