This bass is the next evolution in tonal control, I ordered mine right after the NAMM show through my local dealer and just got about a week ago. I have gigged it 4 times since then and will say that this bass can fill the role of all of the other bass guitars in my collection. The push button controls are simple and I wonder why no one has extensevily used this design IT'S GREAT! The mid controls are smooth and dial in the perfect saturation of tone your looking for, from wooly thick and smooth to snotty growl and straight to piano string clean with the turn of a knob and the push of a button. The preamp is 18volt and screams headroom headroom headroom the funny thing is the output is more tame than my sting ray which is pleasent for my taste but depending on the gig and your style that could be a bad thing, but for the studio I can't wait to see what she's got. And anothr hard to find in the bass world this bass is active and passive and the passive mode sounds better that most passive only instruments. My rig is an Eden WTX 260 head and a Mesa Boogie Power house 15 cab. Yes I miss match equipment, I've never pluged into a rig and said this is it, it has taken many years of trial and error until my dealer set me up with the eden/mesa/ernie ball combination which is what i'll use from here on out. The fit and finish of the Big Al are top notch, I'm a stingray player and have grown acustom to using Music Man gear as the standard to compare everything else I buy to. And Ernie Ball sets the standard High but with this guitar the have moved into a new relm of quality. The finish is flawless and the neck and the neck joint (new five bolt and contured) is what a neck should be. If your not going to buy this guitar you owe it to your self to pick one up and see what the prefect bass guitar neck should feel like. And it goes without saying that the overall vibe and presence of this guitar is so cool you just want to stand there and stare at it with amazement. Over all if you are looking to drop some cash on a quality insturment you can't go wrong with the Ernie Ball Big Al or my fav a Sting Ray.