I already posted about this in the Aguilar TH500 thread, but I feel it's also worthwhile to post it here:
Brian Ristola really, really knows his craft. Not only in his woodworking, but in his choice of pickups, onboard preamps, and woods combinations to get the tone his customer desires.
I've owned my Ristola-6 for almost 6 years now. It's still the best bass I own. There's a certain type of tone I've been chasing since the mid 80's. If anyone has heard the bassist on Adrian Belew's "Twang Bar King" album, it's in that ballpark. Punchy, thick but still defined, midrangey without a zingy top end. He may even be playing a fretless.
I was playing through my Aguilar TH500 into my pair of Aguilar GS112 cabs last week. My bass' EQ was set flat and I had my pickup blend barely panned towards the bridge pickup. I tend to play over my bridge pickup and pluck with a little force. I was playing along with one of my favorite Stax Soul songs (Duck Dunn +P-Bass) and it hit me like a mallet:
I had THAT tone!!!!
I put on "I wonder" off the "Twang Bar King" album and there it was!!!
I almost giggled out loud like a kid.
When my bass was in it's planning stage, and I was giving Brian a list of sounds from bassist's that I admire, he recommended Bartolini Deep Tone Original Series Quad Coils. I love Barts, but I was a little worried the Deep Tone models wouldn't have enough definition, but I went with his suggestion.
I'm very, very glad I did. As I said: Brian knows his craft.
Oh, and last Christmas, I bought a set of Infeld Superalloy strings from Jason at BSO; He also knows his stuff, those strings may have been the "Missing Link", they're incredible. They still sound fantastic!
Once again, I say Brian knows his craft and in my opinion, he builds the greatest basses in the Universe!!
