I was very excited to see the B.C. Rich Vortex Signature Warlock Bass at Winter NAMM 2008, even though I've long outgrown liking guitars with inordinate amounts of corners. Instead, I was psyched to see Dimmu Borgir's bassist Vortex now has a signature bass.

It's no surprise that Vortex plays a Warlock. I can't recount how many Steel Reserve fueled nights have resulted in a room full of overturned furniture and severe bleeding in the wake of Dimmu's "Puritania," and Vortex's operatic vocals [even more so than his bass -- check it, he also sung for Borkagnar] are some of the band's highest points.

The bass features Vortex's signature blood red vortex logo and similar graphic inlays that look vaguely like the number of the beast. A bolt-on neck provides added flexibilities in case you want to change necks or even break necks -- a concept I'm sure Vortex himself would happily condone.

This bass features B.C. Rich's active EQ bass pickups. They're P style pickups with a black, sealed top. They boost clarity and attack and focus on maximizing low end clarity and power. If this isn't what you look for in your bass tone, you'd probably look ridiculous on stage with a B.C. Rich.