Gear Review- Tribe Avalanche 4
I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to drop anything over, $1,000 on an instrument, I want to be reassured of my purchase every time I pick up that instrument. Even before plugging it in, I want to weight, finish, fretwork, and neck to feel unequivocally well-made and well-designed. Which brings us to the Avalanche 4 from Tribe Guitars.
Coming in at €1 987 (or approximately $2,366), the Avalanche 4 leaves no question about the quality of design and construction. To save you some time browsing the internet (cue Bo Burnham’s “Welcome to the Internet”), here are the specs:
Construction:Bolt on
Body: Swamp Ash, 38mm thickness
Bridge: Hipshot KickAss USA
Neck: 5 laminated pieces, roasted maple + walnut skunk stripes
Neck reinforcement: 2 Graphite bars reinforcement
Truss Rod: 2 way, double action, headstock side adjustment
Headstock: Matching headstock with ash veneer top
Tuners: Hipshot Ultralight
Fretboard: Pau Ferro
Radius: 16"
Frets: 22, medium
Inlay: Offset Luminlay dots & side dots
Nut: Graphtech USA
Width at nut: 38mm
Pickups: Aguilar Super Double set ( neck & bridge )
Circuit: Active - Passive with Aguilar OBP3 Preamp 18V
Controls: Master volume, pickup blend, passive tone (it works even in active mode), On/Off switch for active/passive circuit, Mid select. 800/400Hz, Low, Mid; Treble (Active OBP3)
Finish: Tribal Avalanche White open pore
Deluxe Gig Bag and wrench keys included
Sounds good, right? Definitely. Sounds good on paper, but the real questions are:
How does it SOUND? We’ll get to that in a bit (spoiler: it’s awesome) and the bigger question on my mind: How does it FEEL?
Yes, of course “feel” is subjective, or at least that which constitutes “good” is. Even more subjective is tone. The truth is, tone is much easier to change should you find yourself dissatisfied. Whether it be tweaking your amp’s EQ, changing strings, or having a slight anxiety attack while changing the electronics, altering the sound is not really that difficult (and if you think it is, you might need to reevaluate your life because you’re being too lazy). The part that is much more difficult to change is the feel. Unless you’re an experienced luthier, changing the feel of the neck (ie. making a new one) is not really an option.
After being disappointed with expensive instruments that sound impressive on paper, I was quite relieved to discover that the Avalanche 4 does not disappoint. The second you get it in your hands, it’s apparent that the people at Tribe Guitars not only know what they’re doing, but care about their craft.
The Avalanche 4 is well-balanced, well-designed, and very well-built. The first thing that struck me was the finish. I’m a sucker for sandblasted finishes. It looks stunning and feels incredible. The swamp ash keeps the weight down for those extended gigs but doesn’t feel cheap. Of course, weight doesn’t always correlate with quality, but more often than not, I’ve found the cheaper, oft Asian-made instruments are typically lacking in mass. So again, the Avalanche’s swamp ash body is lighter in weight but at no point feels cheap.
On to my absolute favorite area to criticize, the neck- “5 laminated pieces, roasted maple + walnut skunk stripes” Sounds good on paper, but don’t talk it, walk it. And again, I can tell you without question, the neck feels solid. It feels sturdy but slick, dense but not heavy, and every single fret is effortless to reach. There’s even a volute for the titled headstock! This might sound silly but the neck constantly reminds you that it's made of wood, which is important to me. Many budget instruments (and yes, even some boutique ones) too often feel like they're made of some plastic composite or something. The Avalanche proudly boasts a dark, wooden neck completely unhidden by paint and unhindered by plastics.
I will admit, I was a bit skeptical when I read the fretboard was pau ferro but was relieved to find that it uses one of the best-looking pieces of Pau Ferro I’ve ever seen. If more companies used pau ferro pieces like this one, I’d probably miss rosewood considerably less. However, I’d still opt for wenge or ovangkol if I had the option because no matter how nice this piece might be, even saying the words “pau ferro” feels dirty.
Onto the tone. I mean, what is there to say about the Aguilar OBP-3 preamp that hasn’t already been said? It’s a tried, true, and trusted onboard preamp that not only spawned a preamp pedal, but a line of amplifiers as well. (I am, of course, talking about the insanely popular Tone Hammer series). However, in case you don’t know about the OBP-3, let me give you a quick rundown.
The Bass control gives you 18dB of cut or boost at 40Hz while the Treble control employs 16dB of cut or boost at 6.5kHz. The Mid control also gives you 16dB of cut or boost at either 400Hz or 800Hz which is determined by the two-way Mid Frequency switch.
What this means is that by only utilizing the knobs on the instrument itself, you can achieve a plethora of tones ranging from a slightly darker and fatter Jazz Bass sound to a fully scooped-out slap tone to a mid-honky, bridge pickup finger funk sound to a growly neck pickup P-Bassy tone. Seriously, the array of tones available on just the bass is quite vast.
In addition to the OBP-3 system, you also have an active/passive switch, master volume, pickup blend, and passive tone. The pickups are Aguilar’s Super Double Soapbar Humbuckers which are described as follows:
“Built from-the-ground-up to be a unique beast, two rows of Alnico V magnets come together to create a big, thick and growly tone. Complete with hum-cancelling performance, this pickup is the perfect blend of strong dynamics and rich overtones.”
The only thing that could possibly make this instrument more versatile is having an option to split the pickups but I’ll be honest, I don’t feel like it really needs it.
Now, there is one eyesore somewhat prominently featured on this bass, and unfortunately, that eyesore comes in the form of the logo. As if by some form of supernatural, universal balance, all of the great features we just discussed are somewhat offset by the use of every Butt Rock [Ed. Note- I prefer Ass Metal, personally] fan’s favorite edgy font: Bleeding Cowboy. Is it really that big of a deal? No. Would that be the one thing that would make me reconsider buying this bass? Definitely not. I just had to poke a bit of fun at the headstock’s lower back tattoo. Not unlike the time I pointed out Warwick’s use of the ever-infamous Comic Sans on their RockBass models.
That’s my take on the Tribe Avalanche 4- Silly fonts and killer tones. This is a fantastic instrument and could easily get you through just about any gig you had. Huge thanks to Tribe for not only letting me check this bass out, but for making something original. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to not see another Precision or Jazz Bass copy (which they also make if you’re into that).
So allow me to slip on my Siskel and Ebert gloves so I can give this bass two thumbs up.
Chris is the executive producer, video guy, and editor of The Bass Channel . He’s an aficionado of Gibson instruments and is probably the biggest Metallica fan you’ll ever meet.