I was floored! By that time, I'd owned more than a dozen different rigs and had played through dozens more. And nothing came close to what I could get out of an Eden. Even better, in order to get a passable sound out of the others, I had to spend countless hours learning how to tweak them. With the Eden, all I had to do was turn it on. My first reaction was, "oh, yeah! Gotta get me one of these..." And so I did.

One of my favorite things about the Edens is that I don't have to spend a lot of time dialing in my sound. The amps and speakers let me hear the true voice of any instrument I plug into it. And believe me, after spending thousands on custom basses, I want to hear them as they should sound!

You shouldn't have to pursue an engineering degree in order to use an amplifier. You shouldn't have to spend hour after hour tweaking an amp, then listening and tweaking some more. I want to play the bass, not the amp. With Eden, that's exactly what I get to do.

My sound involves LOW notes. Normally, I de-tune a whole step. When I hit that low A, I need it to sound like the very voice of Spirit. When I play over an open string pedal tone, I need that low note to sing! With the Eden, it's so powerful that people feel it in their bones, even at volumes that don't shake the roof. I get all that and more.

When doing my solo Bass pieces, and solo sections with a band, the high notes have to be clear and ringing. The harmonics have to jump out and slap you. Chords need to speak with authority, without mushiness or muddyness. And it often has to happen over a pedal tone. Eden gives me that in spades.

Although I don't slap much, when I do, I want to be able to go from finger-style to slap without having to change a lot of knobs. I also use a guitar-style finger picking technique and two-hand tapping. With my Eden rigs, I can go from one to another without ever having to worry if my rig can keep up. This allows me to think about the music instead of my gear. Again, Eden is integral to that.

In addition to the importance of my Eden rigs to my sound, as I got to know the company, I saw what a great job they did with customer service. They truly bent over backwards for their buyers. I saw this through the eyes of my customers, as well as through my own. I actually felt as if I was talking to a friend when I called - and it didn't matter who picked up the phone...they still treated me well.

After many months I found myself talking to David "Eden" Nordschow himself. Wow! The man! The head honcho, the big cheese, the god of Thunder, the big boss, the <SLAP!> Sorry . . . Anyway, David was obviously very knowledgeable, but also extremely friendly and helpful. He displayed a genuine interest in what I was doing and with whom.

Since my first purchase of an Eden, I've recommended them to other players and students. After a couple of years of this unofficial endorsement, David's wife Judy (who oversaw Artist Relations at the time) invited me to make it official. I fairly jumped at the chance, and have continued that relationship to this day. Eden speakers and amps are still the only choice as far as I'm concerned and I won't use anything else.

In the last quarter of 2004, we took the relationship a step further. I was very proud and honored to become a member of Eden's Product Development Team and moderator of their on-line forum. Becoming a member of the PDT meant I'd have the opportunity to try out prototypes of new gear and tell Dave and his crew of world-class designers what I think. How much fun is that?

As of March, 2005, I have become a full-time employee at Eden. Until now, I've never been paid for my work with them. As an employee that will change. However, I've always been proud of my involvement with the company and never said a word I didn't truly believe, and I still won't! Why do it, you ask? Because they deserve my support. David and crew build great products, they back them better than anyone, and they're really nice people! So, yeah, I'm proud of my affiliation with them.

Anyway...that's the basic story of why I use Eden and how I came to endorse their products. If you have any questions about Eden, feel free to e-mail me. It may sometimes take a while for me to respond, but I always do.

One last thought about all of this: I call my sound the Voice of Thunder. With Eden, I make that slogan a reality every time I play, whether live or in the studio, no matter which instrument I use. Here's the bottom line:

Want Thunder?
Get Eden!

Lane is now a full-time employee of Eden. More...

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