TOTAL GIMMICK - WASTE OF MONEY - AND YOU CAN’T HAVE MINE - wait a minute…
All joking aside, the bass rocks. I’m a fickle distortionist (perhaps the second most common trait shared by all TB’ers), and to be honest, this gassy issue has only resulted in me selling a bunch of basses, amps, and pedals that I should’ve held on to… However, it feels/sounds to me like the integration of the Alpha and Omega modes in the Darkray’s pre are natural extensions of the tonal pallet of the instrument. Like you can turn the gain and blend knobs to almost any position and get a tone that might be alright for something. Sweet spots haven’t been hard to come by, especially considering the low and high band boost/cuts that are intuitive and always available to play with. I’ve had far less luck with every Darkglass pedal I’ve owned, so this was a welcome surprise (no shade thrown at Darkglass or its MANY customers - perhaps it was more my setup that dictated how they worked, or didn’t, for me).
In my opinion, the clean mode does leave something to be desired, but that is because I’d like the ability to adjust the mids. The tone is stellar overall, but it’s not an exact copy of that familiar tone you’d expect from an older Ray. If that’s what you’re going for, there may be better options out there.
The main takeaway for me is that the three modes all have their own unique frequency profiles. Even with the gain set on the lower side and the signal blended mostly clean, both dirt ‘channels’ have a distinct timbral difference from their clean counterpart. While this is easily achievable with just a few taps of your feet (if you got the right board), it feels like something different is going on here, and it’s both pleasing and usable. There are still tons of OD’s, distortions, and fuzzes that I would like to own, and I would not hesitate to try inserting them into the chain downstream from the Darkray (of course accounting for the fact that loads of basses with active preamps may not play nice with every dirt pedal).
At least for the way I’ve been sculpting my tone with this bass, having three cool starting points and fine tuning of gain and blend pots within a few inches of where my right hand resides is not a gimmick, but rather a twist on the philosophy of onboard preamps. Not better or worse, but it’s an intriguing concept. Without a doubt, it’s not for everyone, and it’s definitely not the most cost effective way to get to this destination, but my hands and ears seem pretty darn happy.
The build quality of the bass is what I would expect - like real humans put a lot of effort into the creation of this instrument. Considering the current world we’re living in, I’m disappointed but not surprised by the overly-inflated price tag for a hyped collab bass that has a made-in-California seal on the headstock. As with the other Stingrays of a similar caliber that I’ve played, the neck is to die for. Also, the preamp is almost dead silent with the treble band dimed, and I certainly haven’t found that to be the case with every active bass.
Anyway, I hope this info helps!
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