Well, the Triad has impressed me so much that I purchased a Decision P. It should be here next week (or thereabouts). 
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I have a Wattplower Mk1 and absolutely love it. But I'm lusting for a MK11.
if you have had both can you please give me a heads up of what you think about the differences?
if you have had both can you please give me a heads up of what you think about the differences?
I'm back in the Reverend club! I picked up a Rumblefish 5 back in 2010 and used it for a few years but the 35" scale was a bit too much so I sold it. I picked up a Mercalli 5 FM from used guitar center this week. It showed up yesterday and I used it at practice last night and at services today. It's only 8.6#, but still a pound heaver than my Fender MB-5s. It balanced really well and I didn't notice the weight difference. The pickups provide a lot of variety and I made use of each for different songs today. It's definitely a keeper!
I have the MK2, and while I haven't had the pleasure of playing the MK1, the only real difference is the addition of 2 more pickup options, with the middle position on the three-way switch essentially providing what the MK1 does. The reversed-P on the MK2 provides a little more cut/treble in the low strings than the middle position, which has it's place when trying to be heard in a busy band. The humbucker pickup in the neck gives a nice round, warm tone, more bass heavy and slightly less output than the 2 P options, sounds great soloed and also works well for a heavy tone if you're not competing with too many other instrument's to be heard. The other advantage, at least for me, is the MK2 comes in a killer satin green with a slight metalic flake to it, I really like it.
I have the MkII as well and agree completely with these comments. Love the versatility (as well as the green finish), and all three options are quite usable, though the neck pickup does need a turn of the volume knob.
I have the MK2, and while I haven't had the pleasure of playing the MK1, the only real difference is the addition of 2 more pickup options, with the middle position on the three-way switch essentially providing what the MK1 does. The reversed-P on the MK2 provides a little more cut/treble in the low strings than the middle position, which has it's place when trying to be heard in a busy band. The humbucker pickup in the neck gives a nice round, warm tone, more bass heavy and slightly less output than the 2 P options, sounds great soloed and also works well for a heavy tone if you're not competing with too many other instrument's to be heard. The other advantage, at least for me, is the MK2 comes in a killer satin green with a slight metalic flake to it, I really like it.
I have the MK2, and while I haven't had the pleasure of playing the MK1, the only real difference is the addition of 2 more pickup options, with the middle position on the three-way switch essentially providing what the MK1 does. The reversed-P on the MK2 provides a little more cut/treble in the low strings than the middle position, which has it's place when trying to be heard in a busy band. The humbucker pickup in the neck gives a nice round, warm tone, more bass heavy and slightly less output than the 2 P options, sounds great soloed and also works well for a heavy tone if you're not competing with too many other instrument's to be heard. The other advantage, at least for me, is the MK2 comes in a killer satin green with a slight metalic flake to it, I really like it.
Thankyou very much for your assessment. Yes I have the green MK1 and love the colour.
Did you get your Decision yet?Well, the Triad has impressed me so much that I purchased a Decision P. It should be here next week (or thereabouts).
Curious to know your thoughts.
Well, the Triad has impressed me so much that I purchased a Decision P. It should be here next week (or thereabouts).
I bought a Decision P and was so impressed that I bought a Triad! Two great basses.
I did!
...and I've been playing so much I forgot I'd posted this. 
I bought this hoping that it'd give me a different flavor of P/J bass.
I built a USA Custom Guitars P/J in 2007. Alder body, maple/maple neck Hipshot hardware, a Dominger 'Thumper' P-Bass pickup (great pickup!) a Nordstrand Big Single back pickup, and a Nordstrand active/passive preamp with 3-band EQ, a passive master tone, and 1 each volume controls for the pickups. It's a cool P/J! Spent most of its years strung with Ernie Ball Bass Slinkys roundwound strings. I swapped the strings out recently for a set of D'Adarrio nylon tapewounds. The bass took on a new character, one I don't want to change. It's punchy, it growls, and it brings a bag full of vintage sound to the table.
Since I'd recently received a Reverend Triad and found it to be one of the most comfortable basses I've ever played, and I was considering another P/J - something with more output, bigger teeth, and more growl - I looked at Reverend's line up to see what was available and the Decision P seemed like it might be just that. So I purchased one here on TB's classifieds.
When it arrived it was strung with RotoSound roundwound strings. It sounded HUGE, and a good bit aggressive in character. I played it for a while and then got curious as to how it would sound with flatwounds. I put an idle set of GHS flatwounds on it and this too sounded great! It was still plenty aggressive sounding and so I stuck with them for a bit. Ultimately, though, the bass had more teeth to bear with roundwounds, so I strung it with Ernie Ball Bass Slinkys (my favorite roundwound strings). This is precisely what I hoped the Decision P would provide - a versatile rock bass with a big, fat P-bass tone, and a J-bass(ish) bridge pickup with a similar output level to the P-bass pickup, and this is exactly what I'd hoped it would do.
The Jazz Bomb back pickup was a bit of a surprise, though, in that it's position is closer to a Stingray pickup placement than a Jazz. I'd read this, and it seemed like a cool alternative to a standard Jazz bass bridge pickup (I have great Jazz Bass and a P/J with that covers the J bridge Jazz pickup sound very well), with some extra weight to its sound. I don't own a Music Man Bass anymore so having something that has a similar sound very cool!
I ended up with more bass than I was expecting, and my expectations were pretty high given reviews online and my experience this far with the Triad. It feels and plays like the Triad, but offers a whole new selection of tones. It showed up with the same fantastic setup as did my Triad! It needed a 1/4 turn of the truss rod to take up some of the relief (from 3,000+ miles in carrier trucks through several climates) and it just fell right into place, and with perfect intonation. The action is ridiculously low, with no fret buzz anywhere. Both Reverend's have a mild dead spot on the G string at fret five, but both provide enough punch so as to go unnoticed until I went looking for dead spots. Both sustain long enough before decaying into a harmonic C, one octave up. It'd be great if all dead spots were this subtle.
That's where I'm at with it so far.
Here's a close-up picture of the Decision P's body, and a family photo with its siblings...
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I have the MK2, and while I haven't had the pleasure of playing the MK1, the only real difference is the addition of 2 more pickup options, with the middle position on the three-way switch essentially providing what the MK1 does. The reversed-P on the MK2 provides a little more cut/treble in the low strings than the middle position, which has it's place when trying to be heard in a busy band. The humbucker pickup in the neck gives a nice round, warm tone, more bass heavy and slightly less output than the 2 P options, sounds great soloed and also works well for a heavy tone if you're not competing with too many other instrument's to be heard. The other advantage, at least for me, is the MK2 comes in a killer satin green with a slight metalic flake to it, I really like it.
NICE!!!! ...and that color!?!!
That triad is dreamy. I need a 5 string version.I did!
I bought this hoping that it'd give me a different flavor of P/J bass.
I built a USA Custom Guitars P/J in 2007. Alder body, maple/maple neck Hipshot hardware, a Dominger 'Thumper' P-Bass pickup (great pickup!) a Nordstrand Big Single back pickup, and a Nordstrand active/passive preamp with 3-band EQ, a passive master tone, and 1 each volume controls for the pickups. It's a cool P/J! Spent most of its years Ernie Ball Bass Slinkys roundwound strings. I swapped the strings out recently for a set of D'Adarrio nylon tapewounds. The bass took on a new character, one I don't want to change. It's punchy, it growls, and it brings a bag full of vintage sound to the table.
Since I'd recently received a Reverend Triad and found it to be one of the most comfortable basses I've ever played, and I was considering another P/J - something with more output, bigger teeth, and more growl - I looked at Reverend's line up to see what was available and the Decision P seemed like it might be just that. So I purchased one here on TB's classifieds.
When it arrived it was strung with RotoSound roundwound strings. It sounded HUGE, and a good bit aggressive in character. I played it for a while and then got curious as to how it would sound with flatwounds. I put an idle set of GHS flatwounds on it and this too sounded great! It was still plenty aggressive sounding and so I stuck with them for a bit. Ultimately, though, the bass had more teeth to bear with roundwounds, so I strung it with Ernie Ball Bass Slinkys (my favorite roundwound strings). This is precisely what I hoped the Decision P would provide - a versatile rock bass with a big, fat P-bass tone, and a J-bass(ish) bridge pickup with a similar output level to the P-bass pickup, and this is exactly what I'd hoped it would do.
The Jazz Bomb back pickup was a bit of a surprise, though, in that it's position is closer to a Stingray pickup placement than a Jazz. I'd read this, and it seemed like a cool alternative to a standard Jazz bass bridge pickup (I have great Jazz Bass and a P/J with that covers the bridge Jazz pickup very well, with some extra weight to its sound. I don't own a Music Man Bass anymore so having something that has a similar sound very cool!
I ended up with more bass than I was expecting, and my expectations were pretty high given reviews online and my experience this far with the Triad. It feel and plays like the Triad, but offers a whole new selection of tones. It showed up with the same fantastic setup as did my Triad! It needed a 1/4 turn of the truss rod to take up some of the relief (from 3,000+ miles in carrier trucks through several climates) and it just fell right into place, and with perfect intonation. The action is ridiculously low, with no fret buzz anywhere. Both Reverend's have a mild dead spot on the G string at fret five, but both provide enough punch so as to go unnoticed until I went looking for dead spots. Both sustain long enough before decaying into a harmonic C, one octave up. It's be great if all dead spots were this subtle.
That's where I'm at with it so far.
Here's a close-up picture of the Decision P's body, and a family photo with its siblings...
View attachment 5419003
View attachment 5419004
Reverend's instruments are an amazing value! I had opportunity to play a Rumble Fish not long after they were released and I walked away very impressed. I had other priorities at the time and forgot about the demo for years afterward. Recently the Triad caught my attention, and then my checkbook. One Reverend begat another, and now I want a Mercalli 5-string....
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I'm seriously considering buying another Mercalli 5 and dropping in some Chris Turner Multicoils and a Lusithand double NFP.
Really, the Mercalli 5 neck is just about perfect in all ways.
Really, the Mercalli 5 neck is just about perfect in all ways.
Awesome, glad you're loving it.I did!
I bought this hoping that it'd give me a different flavor of P/J bass.
I built a USA Custom Guitars P/J in 2007. Alder body, maple/maple neck Hipshot hardware, a Dominger 'Thumper' P-Bass pickup (great pickup!) a Nordstrand Big Single back pickup, and a Nordstrand active/passive preamp with 3-band EQ, a passive master tone, and 1 each volume controls for the pickups. It's a cool P/J! Spent most of its years strung with Ernie Ball Bass Slinkys roundwound strings. I swapped the strings out recently for a set of D'Adarrio nylon tapewounds. The bass took on a new character, one I don't want to change. It's punchy, it growls, and it brings a bag full of vintage sound to the table.
Since I'd recently received a Reverend Triad and found it to be one of the most comfortable basses I've ever played, and I was considering another P/J - something with more output, bigger teeth, and more growl - I looked at Reverend's line up to see what was available and the Decision P seemed like it might be just that. So I purchased one here on TB's classifieds.
When it arrived it was strung with RotoSound roundwound strings. It sounded HUGE, and a good bit aggressive in character. I played it for a while and then got curious as to how it would sound with flatwounds. I put an idle set of GHS flatwounds on it and this too sounded great! It was still plenty aggressive sounding and so I stuck with them for a bit. Ultimately, though, the bass had more teeth to bear with roundwounds, so I strung it with Ernie Ball Bass Slinkys (my favorite roundwound strings). This is precisely what I hoped the Decision P would provide - a versatile rock bass with a big, fat P-bass tone, and a J-bass(ish) bridge pickup with a similar output level to the P-bass pickup, and this is exactly what I'd hoped it would do.
The Jazz Bomb back pickup was a bit of a surprise, though, in that it's position is closer to a Stingray pickup placement than a Jazz. I'd read this, and it seemed like a cool alternative to a standard Jazz bass bridge pickup (I have great Jazz Bass and a P/J with that covers the J bridge Jazz pickup sound very well), with some extra weight to its sound. I don't own a Music Man Bass anymore so having something that has a similar sound very cool!
I ended up with more bass than I was expecting, and my expectations were pretty high given reviews online and my experience this far with the Triad. It feels and plays like the Triad, but offers a whole new selection of tones. It showed up with the same fantastic setup as did my Triad! It needed a 1/4 turn of the truss rod to take up some of the relief (from 3,000+ miles in carrier trucks through several climates) and it just fell right into place, and with perfect intonation. The action is ridiculously low, with no fret buzz anywhere. Both Reverend's have a mild dead spot on the G string at fret five, but both provide enough punch so as to go unnoticed until I went looking for dead spots. Both sustain long enough before decaying into a harmonic C, one octave up. It'd be great if all dead spots were this subtle.
That's where I'm at with it so far.
Here's a close-up picture of the Decision P's body, and a family photo with its siblings...
View attachment 5419003
View attachment 5419004
I love my Decision Anniversary. DR Pure Blue Nickel strings and it just rips.
Reverends Rule!
Supposedly, there are only 30 of these produced.That's stunning!
According to Tim at Reverend
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,518
- 19,954
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
We just published Sean Fairchild's video/written review of the Triad Bass. Man, that thing sounds good! 
