I've logged a few hours on the bass now (though all of them at home) and feel comfortable enough to give a quick review on the sound of this beauty.
The ebony in the neck just kills. I have some simple recordings of my old mahogany bodied, all maple necked, signature equipped Rogue. I used the exact same settings, played the same little tunes on this bass and the difference in the bottom end audible. Hard to describe tone, but the bottom end with the ebony is definitely bigger and seems to be tighter and more focused.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the PJ setup with the signature electronics. I can solo the P and get some incredibly diverse tones with a sweep of the filter. With the filter wide open the P gives a really aggressive, growly P tone and rolling off the filter the tone goes to more traditional P and then the further I dial it down the thumpier and funkier it gets. I've never been much of a Jazz bass guy (tone wise)- and the J pickup on this bass is *really* sparkly and if soloed can get really honky without much effort. My thoughts when planning this bass was that I would probably end up using the bridge pickup to add some cut and sparkle with the pan to keep the neck pickup from getting too thick, and so far at home, that's what I've been doing. I'm normally setting the pan to favor the P at about 60/40, but I could easily see dialing in more of the J to cut through in a live setting.
I haven't mentioned it yet, but I really appreciate the knowledge and help that Will Gunn was able to give me through the planning and build process on this bass. He made planning this bass a fun and easy experience. He's a real asset to what Alembic is doing as a company and I strongly suggest giving him a call if you're planning a custom. I hope to build another somewhere down the line, if I do I'll be giving Will a call.
