SO COOL!
Some of you may know, but I'll fill you all in on the back story here.
A while back, maybe two months or so? The President of Schecter emailed me! So that's pretty cool for starters. Then I read the email, and it got even better. Michael (The Prez) was looking ot put together some "demo boards" - pedal boards for artists to use when they try out Schecter gear.
Then we get to the best part. He asks if we do trades.
In my experience, when someone from another music related company wants to do some "strictly business" dealing, they just ask if we will sell them the shit, and if they can have a discount. when someone actually wants our shit, like desires it, they ask if you want to trade. So right away i was like FUCK YEAH I WANT A HELLCAT!
and the rest is history. I actually decided on the Stargazer 12 (awesome also) and the Ultra VI, because well, the Hellcat is so goddamn ugly.
Now for a review!
First impressions: Wow. Really a gorgeous machine. Reminds me of a motorcycle. Silverburst all over. Ships with roundwound strings.
Craftsmanship: Schecter's craftsmanship has always impressed me, and this one is no exception. Everything is expertly done. I don't know if it's "just" set neck, or if it's Neck-Through, but it feels like on giant piece of wood. Schecter was nice enough to ship this in a case that looks purpose-built for the U-VI. The pickup selector switches are kind of sticky and cumbersome, so consider that if "quick switching" is important to you. I;ve only had it for like 11 hours, but the tuning has been stable.
TOANZ: The tones are many and varied. each of those three humbuckers can be coil-tapped, so right there you have a lot of damn sounds. Neck PU in full HB mode is very nice and beefy, and will do a perfectly good "Normal bass" tone. The other positions and combos all do various different flavors of honky and toothy. The middle and bridge pickups are where you go for that "classic" VI sound. It's a very bright instrument, but it provides plenty of low end whallop through a proper amp. Obviously you can get a really different feel and sound if you were to switch to flats. I'm sure I'll try eventually, but I kind of view the U-VI as a hulked out guitar, so I will probably utilize the bright toanz.
Feels: The All Important Feel!
The fretboard is wider than a Fender Bass VI, but not as ungodly wide as the gretsch electromatic baritone bass whatever they call it. The Bon Iver they ought to call it. So on one hand, I'm less likely to hit the wrong string, but I am stretching more.
The thing is HEAVY, let there be no bones about it. It is also neck heavy. I have a solution for this though. Hold the fucking neck in my left hand while I fret the strings and quit whining like a little baby. I found myself saying out loud (again) "It's a whole different animal." So after getting pretty decent at guitar, and finally holding my own on bass, picking this up is that much stranger. I'm not going to embarrass myself making a demo until I can play it with some soul and confidance.
SUMMATION: So glad I have it! It's providing me with a new set of sounds and challenges (leaving it tuned standard for now, just to make it thrice as difficult) and I'm thinking of a number of places to put it in my solo stuff I've begun.
I'll admit, it's not Fredo's pink Custom shop Bass VI. That thing is like God's Cock. But as far as the VI's available today this is a really REALLY good option. it DESTROYS the Gretsch. The neck on that thing felt like a Wal-Mart knockoff guitar, the tuning was all over the place, the pickups sounded like a soda can full of sand and twigs, and the fretboard was like 8 inches wide. It is considerably better than the Thundercats as made by former Shortscaler Robert(original) but I'm pretty sure it's because that was a crazy idea to put a bronco bass neck on a jag body and make a Fake VI.
I wouldn't really put this in the Baritone category. It's much more Bass than that. Baritones are a super easy jump from standard scale. So while there are plenty of cool baritones out there (Especially the Fender Jaguar Baritone Limited Bass VI Custom Classic Edition) or whatever they ended up calling it, the VI's are really REALLY different instruments.
The End.
PS, yes I will do an demo and review for the Stargazer 12 which might be even more awesome?!?!?!
As for overall weight, it is kinda heavy, but my old Hellcat was even heavier.