16 November 15 - David Tipton (CO), to Cambria and Emmett:
I'm really happy with the flexibility of the PASV 4 pickup module and finding settings that work really well for certain songs.

20 October 11 - Bas Verkooijen (The Netherlands), to Cambria at Stick Enterprises
I have received The Stick and it is stunning. It plays very well and I took it to rehearsal last night. The sound of the PASV-4 is really good, although the bass side has lots and lots of low end, so I had to adjust the sound so as not to kill the PA system. Amazing when you think of it, since it's a passive pickup. I'm already starting to feel like Gollum from "Lord of the (st)rings". I totally love this instrument! My compliments to Stick Enterprises for such beautiful and superb work. I'm sure it will enrich my life even more than my first Stick already did!

24 September 11 - Mauricio Sotelo (Mexico City), to Stick Enterprises
Well, the new Stick just arrived yesterday afternoon just before the rain. I was waiting all day for it and I immediately opened the case and began to play. I was surprised that it was still in tune, and I just plugged it in and played. The sound is great, with lots of interesting combinations on the (PASV-4) pickup. I already have my favorite sound. The sensation on the fretboard is very comfortable. My fingers feel good and I can play very fast without too much energy. But most of all, I enjoy the powerful sound of the bass strings at the very first frets. This is where I feel the biggest difference.

I'm very happy to have this great new instrument. It is Saturday and I woke up early to play The Stick and to write to you to say, muchas gracias!

22 April 10 - Matt Rogers (Texas), to Stickist.com
After a couple of months getting to know this pickup, I must say that it's fantastic. I was just so used to hearing the ACTV2 on all of our recordings and live playing that it simply took some time to get a feel for this beast. I was able to find pickup/filter combinations that made it fit in better with Mark's ACTV2 Grand, and I'm really enjoying playing solo with it. The PASV4 really screams with distortion, by the way. I like using the bridge pickup with the filter on the "nasal" setting with lots of distortion and drenched in wah-wah. I'm glad I took the time to give this module a fair test run; now there's no way I'd part with it!

15 February 10 - Per Boysen (Stockholm, Sweden), to Stickist.com
As a total Stick newbie I only had vague ideas of what to expect and I must say I was totally blown away by the sound of this mic as my grand arrived. Me and my brother are guitar players since decades, mostly "strat guys", and we both were amazed how this stick sounded almost "stratier than a strat", speaking parallell single-coil position. My own preferred PASV4 sound though is the plain neck mic, both melo and bass side. I play it into two mono inputs of an RME Fireface400 with a laptop running Apple's Mainstage, different processing for each side. Funnily I think the stick sounds better without any software amp/cab simulation stuff; clean PASV4 sound with just a little compression and musical overtone distortion edge. With distortion the PASV4 reminds me of a typical "vintage guitar tone". Yes, "electric" is the word.

5 December 07 - Olivier Vuille (Switzerland), to Stick Enterprises:
It took me less than 5 minutes to remove the old PASV4 and replace it with it's younger "alubrother". I don't know if you did a pre-setup of the Villex modules but once installed, the sound was immediately excellent and consistent on all strings. Minor pickup height adjustments were made to enhance the first and sixth string volume. The sound is superb and the controls' geography is much better than on the former model. Thanks a lot for making it better one more time!

1 January 07 - Eric Peterson (CA), to Stickwire:
For general, all-around clean pristine Stick tone, I love my PASV-4 straight in through my audio interface's instrument preamp, eq flat, direct to hard disk. For bass, the dang thing sounds so cool all on its own, that I have yet to feel a serious need to process it heavily.

17 November 06 - Ron LeSaar (Chicago, IL), to Stickist.com
The PASV-4 has many versatile sounds built right in. I'll be exploring those for a while! Very quiet electronics, well grounded, no hum or noise. The sound separation between bass and treble sides is incredible... very hard to believe it at first, but since I'm running bi-amped,I have ultimate control of each half all the way down the chain. I can split or combine effects from either half.

05 May 06 - Bob Schrum (MI), to Stickwire:
The Stickwire discussion list is the only one that I can confidently read in the presence of my daughter. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind if she ever wanted to read it. Every other forum I frequent, I never know what I'm going to run into. To be fair, there are great people on those boards, but a revelation came last weekend while browsing a recording technology forum. Nadia snuck behnd me in the studio, looked at the screen and asked, "What does _____ __ ______ ________ mean?" I was like, "ahem... Ummm... Well... It's kind of a...um...(changing subject)", "Hey! Have you fed your rabbit yet today?" :\

27 February 06 - Eric Peterson (CA), to Stickwire:
I'm absolutely in love with the bass tone I get from my PASV-4. It completely smokes any bass I've heard. There are bassists out there who get really awesome tones (usually with lots of FX or a wall of Ampeg 8x10 cabinets and an army of roadies) but I'd stack my PASV-4 up against pretty much any pickup I've heard. The bass just seems to sit in the mix much better with my Stick than it ever did when I played a mere bass guitar.

12 January 06 - Rob Martino (VA), to Stickwire:
For versatility you can't go wrong with the PASV-4. I love the sound of the neck/bridge pickups together in phase, kind of adds a subtle "spatial" quality to my ears. The filter settings are also useful for getting different sounds, I tend to keep it on the higest filter setting (i.e. the most hi-end cut out, with some kind of low-mid boost it seems). The tone of the PASV-4 seems to respond very well to all kinds of effects processing/tone shaping. My opinion is that the PASV-4 and ACTV-2 respond a bit better to overdrive/distortion than the Stickup (a smoother sound), but comparing the pickups without effects, the Stickup has the most harmonically "rich" sound.

11 January 06 - Bob Schrum (MI), to Stickwire:
I have the PASV-4 pickup and love it. Some prefer the ACTV2 and others swear by the good ol' Stickup. Unless you live or travel in the vicinity of lots of Stick players or Stick Enterprises to try a bunch of different Stick configurations, I'd characterize the purchase of a Stick as a "lover's leap." Decide what meets your personal aesthetic and style - what you feel to be the best extension of "you" as an person/artist/performer/whatever. Then buy it, learn it, explore it, make your own sound and don't look back!

07 January 06 - Dave Barrett (ON), to Stickwire:
You should note that the Activ2 has way more bite than the Stickup and, when used on the melody side only, it actually works to give a more unified sound, since it puts back some of the edge that you lose when you play the strings closer to the bridge. On the other hand, nothing brings out the growliness and punch of the bass side like a Stickup. Nothing. I've heard Greg's hybrid pickup quite a bit now, and I have to say that I love it. It's the best pickup module I've heard because it suits the needs of each side of the instrument properly. The melody side needs the edge, and Stickup remains perfect for the bass side. So far, my idea of a "Dream Stick" is an XBL with that pickup module. That being said, any Stick, with any pickup module is wonderful.

10 July 05 - Jaap Kramer (Holland), to StickWire:
If you love the Stickup's sound, go for that! I have 2 Sticks, one with Stickup, one with PASV-4. The Stickup-Stick is my "acoustic" Stick, the PASV-4 my "electric" Stick. The Stickup has this unique, sweet, crystal clear sound, and the PASV-4 has more mids. The PASV-4 is ideal to cut through a band sound, especially in the bassist role. Both sound great, but it's hard to get the Stickup's sound out of the PASV-4, and vice versa. I play my PASV-4 most of the time, but if I want the classic Stick sound, I grab the other one.

11 May 05 - Dr. John Rose (CA), to Stick Enterprises:
Just got my 10 string XG and it is unbelievable. I played it at four shows this weekend and it was awesome. The Villex pickup is astounding. So many tonal variations including the out of phase which is very cool. Your craftsmanship is unmatched.

25 December 04 - Jaap Kramer (Holland), to Stickwire:
We had two fantastic Christmas services in our church yesterday. Some 4000 - 5000 people visited the services. On two songs I used my new Grand Stick with PASV-4 as a bass instrument. The PASV-4 is really cool for bass sounds - beautiful full bass tone with the Stick's unique attack! I still love the Stickup sound very much, but for bass parts the PASV-4 wins.

30 September 04 - Mike Baran (OH), to Stickwire:
The Stickup is The perfectMostmisUndersToodPickup that is the Chapman sound. I love its simplicity and the way it fits the instrument.

31 May 04 - Mark Smart (IL), to Stickwire:
Thanks, that's just the straight sound of the PASV-4 with the neck pickup on both sides, and the tone controls set on the darkest setting. Great sound for jazz, it almost sounds like an archtop.

5 May 04 - Chuck Reynolds (VA), to Stickwire:
PASV4 into SBLive5.1 soundcard. There is actually a quarter inch jack that carries signal to the PC. So technically I guess there is a preamp, but I skipped all of the JStations and PodPros and just went straight in. I never really thought about the wattage or anything because the preamps (external) I use are all powered. This just lets you plug guitar cable into the PC. It's a nice feature on an underrated recording card. I also use Delta 1010s and this has all of the features on one input that you find on the 1010, plus a nifty remote! I was so stunned that after two days I could pull that little bit off, I wanted to skip all the usual production stuff and go straight in. I normally, for bass and guitar anyway, go nuts with processors. Stick doesn't need that at all. I'm very happy with it.

24 February 04 - Greg Howard (VA), to Sticknews:
Lately I've been thinking a lot about which pickups make the most sense for which situation: The Stickup - Emmett's original pickup has a "growl" in the bass that makes it the best one for articulate two-handed bass, and also give the higher bass strings an "acoustic" edge, making them great for accompaniment. For the melody strings, this pickup is "multi-dimensional" to my ear, and the sound it produces is complex, with lots of clear low end and an "acoustic" high end. The attack is pronouced, and full of complex high harmonic clusters. The ACTV-2 - Something about this module makes it a great one for "unifying" the sound of the instrument. Listening to Bob's "Romantica" CDs or Nick's "Stick Insect", I hear a real pitch clarity and smoothness. These are two very different records, but the effect is the same. The Stick sounds like one BIG instrument. Last night I really noticed this as I moved to my 12-string with the ACTV-2 for the second set. Overall I love the fatness of the sound. Melody distortion is superior and easily controllable with this pickup, and the true mono capability makes it very versatile in performance routing. Of the two Block modules, I think I prefer the basic tone of this one, but it doesn't have the timbral versatility of the PASV-4. Of all the pickup choices I like the ACTV-2 pickup best on the Stick Bass (SB8), but in the inverted position, which makes it very edgy and percussive. The PASV-4 - I've spent less time with this pickup than the others, but I'm thinking of putting it back on my 12-string for a while just to explore. The tonal variety is the big plus here, and I think it shows up best when layering Stick sounds. I've heard Glenn Poorman do this incredibly well. When I hear Emmett play solo without effects, the tonal contrasts are like primary colors, mixing together to form distinct tones. If I were playing in a band with a bass player, I would chose the ACTV-2 or the PASV-4 to exploit the tonal varieties and BIG Stick concepts. Playing with a guitar player (especially acoustic guitar), I think I prefer the Stickup for it's tonal distinctiveness. With a primarily electronic setting, like synths and samples, I think the PASV-4 would be highly advantageous, because it would be easier to "fit" the sound into the mix. My dream is an active quad Block, which would give us more of the sonic versatility found in the NS/Stick, something Don Schiff has demonstrated to us so well.

4 February 04 - Barrett Blackwell (SC), to Stickwire:
Here's another vote for the PASV-4. My considerations in choosing that pickup over the others were: - Flexibility. 4 distinct pickup "alignments" per pickup pair + 4 distinct "frequency focus" tone-sculpting choices per side (if you count the bypass as a selection) = great flexibility in constructing your foundation sound, and you haven't even sent your signal out to the world to be processed and mangled yet! I mostly practice with a clean, balanced sound, with tonal focus on the mid-highs for both string sets, but try setting a pickup pair to the reverse-wired, nasally tone and sending that out for further processing into an otherwise-throwaway 90s/nu-metal patch like you might find in a POD unit. The sound you'll get is like the Electric Bagpipes of Satan. - I like passive electronics. No battery, no drain, no extra little thing to remember. I leave my instrument plugged in to an SP-13 that's always on, and it's great to just pick it up and start motoring. - The PASV-4 module is LOUDER than the other modules, without being noisier. - PASV-4 seems to my ears more electric than the Stickup, and less electric than the ACTV. Tonally a nice balance of old-style percussive oomph with a sophisticated modern glow.

4 February 04 - Mark Smart (IL), to Stickwire:
This year at NAMM was the first time I got to play a Stick with a PASV-4, and I was really impressed by it. It has a wide range of available sounds and is capable of generating the darker, jazzier Stick tones I've been looking for by using the neck pickup on both the melody and bass sides. I'm getting ready to send off my Stickup-equipped rosewood Grand for PASV-4 modification. It says on the Stick web site that the PASV-4 compensates for the lower volume of the higher-pitched strings on both the bass and melody side...how is this done? Are there stronger magnets under those strings? Very cool design.

4 February 04 - Vance Gloster (CA), to Stickwire:
Here's my take on the PASV-4 vs. the ACTV-2 pickups. Whereas the active pickup has only one pickup for the bass and one for the melody (that is why the -2 on the end of its name), the PASV-4 has two pickups for each side. Just like many electric guitars, you can select one or the other or both or both with one out of phase. This is done on a rotary switch. Also, there are a variety of tonal shapes that can be selected on another rotary switch. These go from the normal full Stick sound (fairly flat response with a little boost at the top and bottom) to a reasonably high order bandpass filter (midrange boosted and highs and lows cut, like a wah-wah pedal half way down), with several settings between. I think it is a lot more useful than a traditional guitar tone control, which you could just label "muddiness". The range of sounds you can get with the pickup combinations and tone shape control is vast, but most of them fall into category of electric-guitar-like tones. I have to put in the disclaimer that I use the Stickup, and I love it. The Stickup has a unique sound that is instantly recognizable as a Stick. For bass it is an especially wonderful sound.

9 January 04 - Antony Hequet (France), to Stickwire:
I have a PASV-4 and it is my first Stick. I left (it) in one setting for almost a year. Now I am experimenting with the various settings and boy is it useful and musical.

24 December 03 - Michael Hoegeman (CA), to Stickwire:
At first, I wasn't sure if I liked the PASV-4. I was so used to hearing the traditional Stickup sound (which I think is great by the way), and I was "expecting" to hear that in the PASV-4. The more I played it though the more I liked it. Now I'm very glad I got the PASV-4. You can get a more muscular "twangy" sound out of it as well as a more Stickup like sound as well as a almost acous-stick-y sound. Electronically, it's more powerful and seems to work better with things like the Adrenalinn.

3 October 03 - Julian Flaks (UK), to Stickwire:
Was interesting reading the PASV-4 writeups on here lately. I really do find the range of it incredible, even though I've no experience with other Stick pickups. I worked hard at putting in glassy thin sound possibilities on my Strat.. 2 stacked humbucker Strat imitation pickups from Dimarzio which I can pop out of phase, even combining with a giant single coil with huge bar magnet, for in between odd thick/thin sounds... and the PASV-4 does all of that range and about 100 times more. I made a nylon guitar simulator on my Boss GT3 ages back, nice on guitar but on The stick, it's just amazing how acoustic it can sound.

29 September 03 - Sean Malone (OR), to Stickwire:
However, it's the (PASV-4 Villex) pickup where a completely unexpected treasure was found. I've always thought of the Stick's electronics as something that merely documents what a Stick sounds like - it never imposed itself on the player, instead, it served as a conduit between your hands and the rest of the world. This pickup is an instrument unto itself. It detects, coaxes, and invites the sound from the instrument with a degree of resolution many orders of magnitude greater than previous pickup designs. Again, rather than the wishes of the designer being imposed upon the sound, it's like discovering several new and discrete bands of color divided from white light by a prism. What was once only red and a bit of orange on one side, and a bit of blue and violet on the other, is now a brilliant spectrum - ready to be combined and convolved - in any way you see fit.

3 August 03 - Paul Frields (VA), to Stickwire:
You can find the original "Stickup" type pickups on the polycarbs, but do not let anyone tell you that this is an inferior-sounding pickup. All my instruments have had Stickups, and they sound frankly beautiful to my ears. They definitely do not have the geegaws of the PASV-4 (which I also enjoy the sound of), nor do they have the "electric-ness" of the ACTV-2, but it is the classic Stick sound, tried and true.

3 August 03 - Paul Potts (MI), to Stickwire:
The original is a fine design; if you really like it, stick with it. That said, if you get a chance, at least listen to the new designs and see what you think before deciding; the PASV-4 is particularly interesting to me because of the flexible range of tone.

4 July 03 - James Bizon (Canada), to Emmett:
My short time spent using the PASV-4 left me dumbfounded. The variety of tone in such a tiny package was a little overwhelming at first, but in my opinion it brought The Stick to an unparalleled sonic level. It's hard to imagine you being able to improve on your latest designs, but I have no doubt that you will. Brilliant work.

21 March 03 - Marc Mennigmann (Germany), to Da Chapman Stick Forum:
I have my third Stick instrument now, the first two had the original Stick pickup, the last one now has the PASV-4. I strongly recommend the passive pickup because it adds so many options to change the sound dramatically. With the correct playing style you will have everything from Stick to jazz guitar to clean Strat.

2 February 03 - Jonathan Wheeler (UT), to Stickwire:
In my limited experience, I would highly recommend the PASV-4. I have played Kent Rytting's grand with the ACTV-2, and it sounds just as good as the PASV-4, but the PASV-4 is much more versatile. You can accomplish many different tones with the different pickup combinations. Plus, it is very hot for being a passive pickup. I would say to just go for it, all of the different options make it very desirable for me, and it might work for you too.

21 January 03 - Jonathan Wheeler (UT), to Stickwire:
From what I understand, they are the same size, so you should be able to swap it out without a problem! (I would highly recommend it, I love the PASV-4!)

28 December 02 - Kevin Ramsey (Japan), to Stickwire:
This is something that I've been doing a lot over the past couple of days after the arrival of my new Stick. I was initially anxious to try setting some new patches on my effects units, but it turns out that I'm almost too busy exploring the tonal options in the PASV-4 to bother with my effects units. Also, since I practice through headphones, the result is that my flubs (and my sweet licks, too!) really become apparent for close inspection. Last night, I also began focusing on playing with as absolutely light of a touch as I possibly could. Wow, that really has begun to open my eyes. Immediately everything that people have been saying about the huge dynamic range of The Stick started to make sense. All this time I thought I had been playing lightly, but I found that I haven't been, and I really have to concentrate to keep my dynamics in control. The music I've been playing suddenly has a new level of expressiveness, and therefore more energy and life.

3 December 02 - Glenn Turner (IL), to Stickwire;
The ACTV-2 is, in my opinion, a very worthwhile upgrade from The Stickup. The "true" mono switch is very useful if you want to just grab a guitar cable and plug into a small guitar amp or headphone amp for practice, and it's also really nice to have tone controls for each side of the instrument.

17 October 02 - Jonathan Wheeler (UT), to Stickwire;
I wanted to let everyone know that I got my Stick on Friday. Purple heart 10-string #1814. It is so beautiful! It plays like a dream, with fantastic action and the PASV-4 sounds wonderful. It is very clean, with very low noise. I love the way the volume works, it is not like my guitar where it isn't very subtle. You can tell the difference with the slightest turn. To say the least I am very happy with it, and someday I might actually be good at playing it too!

28 July 02 - Jim M Kam (TX), to Stickwire:
I have a PASV-4 on my Graphite 10 string, medium gauge strings. Unlike the other two, there are 2 sets of pickups per string group. Each has a bridge and a neck pickup. This pickup allows for all kinds of sound selections. You can choose between using the neck or the bridge or a combination of both. Of course the controls are discrete for each string grouping. This pickup sounds even more electric than the ACTV-2. Each pickup has 3 knobs, a volume, pickup selector and a tone selector. There is also a toggle for stereo/mono selection. The range in sounds goes from a fat "humbucker" type sound to a funky "single coil". In particular, I love the Telecaster-like sound you can get from it. This is my favorite Stick and for the most part when I play out, I use this one. I'm not sure it is due to the pickup, though.

27 July 02 - Glenn Poorman (MI), to Stickwire:
I have a Stick with a standard Stickup as well as an instrument with a PASV-4. Actually, I've always liked the sound of the standard pickup and I still do. The thing the PASV-4 offers is the variety of different sounds you can get using the tone and pickup selector switches. It's also a much louder pickup than the standard. In my travels so far, I really like the PASV-4. When Greg was in town last, we did some head to head comparisons with the ACTV-2. My experience was that the ACTV-2 didn't offer as much of a variety of tones as the PASV-4. Playing side by side though, there was a noticeable "bite" in the ACTV-2 that I didn't hear in the PASV-4 (and I mean "bite" in a good way). It's a tough call really. Currently, I'm pretty happy with my setup so I wouldn't actually change anything. The pickup is definitely not a cut and dry decision though. I suppose that's why Emmett continues to offer the full selection.

30 March 02 - Marc Solomon (CA), to Stick Enterprises:
I picked up 2055 today with the PASV-4. I am amazed. Having not yet read the Website to understand all that this unit has to offer, I explored all (probably not all) the combinations in random order. Every time I turned a knob, I had a completely different instrument, just right for the next phrase I was contemplating. I swear, the pickup is worth the whole thing. I'm not a guitarist, so I am pretty ignorant about what a pickup can do, but I am thrilled The loudness of the pickup has finally gotten me to stop pounding on the strings, something that Emmett noted years ago. I feel a lightness and speed increase that has both crispness, due to the precise intonation I was expecting from the Rails and the dynamic range sensitivity from the pickup. The sound is different. I like to play high bass-side counterpoint, and The Stick TALKS now. Something about that pickup phasing and that high frequency doubling Emmett told me about. Yeow. The instrument is beautiful and savage, and the inlays Yuta recommended are almost alien, they glow and pulsate. Thanks for getting me into the new instrument. Everything has changed for the better.

3 January 02 - Brian Baggett (TX), to Stickwire:
The item that sold me (and the rest of us) was the PASV Block pickup. This thing sounded pretty hip: if I recall correctly, there are 4 distinct tones for EACH the bass and melody side, plus another pickup selector in the midst (? - please correct me if I'm wrong) giving multiple tonal variances without the use of effects (woo-hoo!). A mini effect processor on board, if you will. There is also a switch allowing the player to plug in "mono" - an option I wish I had in my early Stick playing days when a second amp wasn't available.

2001 - From "EMG Pickup catalog", re. The Block ACTV-2 pickup module:
The rhythm pickup (EMG-FT) is undoubtedly the best pickup we make. All the elements are in the right proportion: magnet choice, coil size, amount of turns, and good luck have given the EMG-FT the sweetest sound of any EMG. Emmett Chapman has adapted the FT to his latest "Stick" Design because of the beauty of its tone.

18 September 01 - Will Pirkle (FL), to Stick Enterprises:
I am so glad that I followed Yuta's advice and got the PASV-4 pickups - amazing. With my Stick tuned so "doubly" (double guitar tunings) it really helps to have different tonal palettes for the two halves - keeps 'em from stepping on each other too much. The PASV-4 can sound like a vintage single-coil strat or humbuckers galore. I could go on and on about the PASV-4 - I am blown away. Thanks again for such a great instrument - and the design improvements - especially the Fret Rails and PASV-4 -have exceeded my expectations. If it isn't obvious, I am a happy customer.

24 May 01 - David Wozmak (NH), to Stickwire:
The pickup deserves it's own post, but I basically concur with what Emmett wrote about a month ago, when he introduced it. His "marketing hyperbole" in that post (same text as the web page on his site) can be pretty much taken at face value, as an accurate description.

4 May 01 - Eric Wallack (OH), to Stickwire:
Just think what an amazing vehicle for expression that puppy would be! A few months out of one's life to finally get THE ONE (Graphite Stick with PASV-4) is a relatively small price to pay for unbridled artistic freedom!

29 May 00 - Paul Mimlitsch (NJ), to Stickwire:
The active EMG's sound great, both when running "clean", and especially when driving the tube preamp section of my Digitech RP20 processor - yielding a smooth distortion with lots of sustain. The Big Picture: Unprocessed, in mono mode, signal levels are even across the board. In stereo mode, when doing the running bass line/wailing (well, sort of :) ) lead thing there's no compromise in the bottom end of the bass side but at the same time it really cuts through with that uniquely Stick "wireyness".

22 October 99 - Tom Griesgraber (CA), to Stickwire:
The Block has a much more electric sound than the standard pickup. I think Emmett has described it as being more like a single coil Fender guitar tone (but without the noise since it's active). The Stick Night '99 video would be a great one to check out as you can hear players with both pickup setups side by side.

The Block also has some added features not on the standard pickup. It has a stereo to mono switch that sends both signals out the bass side, and it has tone knobs for both sides. It is also "reversible" By unscrewing two screws, you can pull it out (without touching your strings) and reverse it placing the pickups in more of a bridge position. I'm fascinated by the bass sound in this configuration... it's the funkiest Stick bass sound going I think.

16 June 99 - Rob McGuire (Japan), to Stick Enterprises:
The new Stick is great! I wasn't a big fan of active electronics until I got this new instrument.

14 June 99 - Dave Bowmer (England), to Stick Enterprises:
I have had a great weekend exploring the new instrument and must say how happy I am with the sound of The Block. The melody side sounds wonderfully crisp and is rich in harmonics while the bass side is driving, full and punchy. With guitars, my preference has always been the Stratocaster type sound, and now the narrow Block pickups elevate this focused type of sound to a new place. The Block produces a powerful electric sound with serious tone. Thanks again for an inspiring instrument.