After having a pretty hectic year in the electric guitar and acoustic guitar departments – having released the Bigsby-equipped Montreal Premiere LTD Imperial Blue, Summit Classic HT and the all-mahogany Metropolis Composer QIT – Godin has turned its attention to expanding its bass guitar lineup for its newest offering.
Enter the A4 Ultra Natural and A5 Ultra Natural: two semi-acoustic, fretless basses that, as the names would suggest, arrive in either a four- or five-string iteration, and feature some seriously intuitive onboard controls.
Before we take a look under the hood, the build is worth noting. Both basses are constructed from a two-chambered Canadian Laurentian basswood body, which is paired with a solid spruce top, bolt-on hard rock maple neck and a 16”-radius Richlite fretboard.
Additional appointments include a top-mounted thumb rest, Graph Tech nut and an ebony bridge.
In terms of tone, each bass boasts a two-voice pickup system, composed from a low-profile Lace Sensor magnetic pickup and individual LR Baggs saddle transducers. Both are said to offer up slightly nuanced tonal characteristics, with the former aiming to achieve a more modern and dynamic sonic range.
The LR Baggs system, meanwhile, strives to emulate authentic acoustic double bass sounds.
Tones are tweaked by way of two Lace Sensor-specific side-mounted volume and tone knobs, with the LR Baggs saddle transducers also dictated by the custom-designed top-mounted preamp system.
Comprising four ergonomic slider mechanisms assigned with adjusting Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass and a warmth-inducing Saturation parameters, both the A4 and A5 also feature a Fat Switch, which is capable of providing a mid-low boost.
The A4 Ultra is available now for $2,150, while the A5 Ultra is currently listing for $2,300.
To find out more, head over to Godin.