Many know L`Arc~en~Ciel for its driving bass lines and intoxicating melodies. The bassist; tetsu, uses left hand techniques used by guitarists known as “slides” and “hammer-on’s” and “pull-offs” extensively throughout all of his recordings, taking the bass guitar from the back of the rhythm section to front and center stage as a first class lead instrument. Favourites such as forbidden lover, HONEY, and cradle repeatedly show off tetsu’s melodic yet rhythmically driving bass lines that have catapulted Laruku to the stardom they so enjoy today. For those of you who remember, Laruku’s first album DUNE, which was released in June of 93′ contained bass lines like no one had ever heard before. The bass consisted of constantly moving patterns outlining the songs melody using both major and minor modes with breathtaking slides up and down the neck of his bass that sounded like they would never end!

One example of a very cool slide is on the track Be Destined from the album “DUNE”

track time: 1:55.

This slide contains depth and clarity both up and down the neck requiring only one pluck of the string. Not many basses can do this.

Another example of tetsu’s mastery of the bass guitar and his signature sound is on the track “Cradle” from the album “ark”

track time: very beginning (0:00)

This sound speaks for itself. Its so cool it can’t be described in words.

Along with tetsu’s left hand mastery comes his right hand picking speed. Tetsu crosses strings with his pick like a grasshopper jumps

from one lilly to another in a pond; with grace and finesse. Examples can be heard on the following tracks:

“HONEY” from the album “ray”

“Blurry Eyes” from the Album “Tierra”

One can assume that tetsu uses a myriad of electric basses for his recordings. Top quality instruments, combined with the best recording and signal processing equipment money can buy, run by the best sound engineers in Japan, you can assume that his sound is a direct result of being a rock star and having access to gear that most bassists can only dream of playing on/through. I have researched tetsu’s recording equipment by speaking with artists in Japan who also love his tone, reading magazines, and searching the web for fan sites and webring’s dedicated solely to tetsu’s bass playing. I have even gone so far as purchasing some of this equipment (well, ok, a little more than some.. try all) myself and playing bass through each piece of gear individually, slowly getting closer to the sounds that come from Laruku’s recordings. Out of the thousands of dollars that I have spent (many many thousands) building my arsenal of “tetsu” equipment, there’s one thing I am most certain about: the mots important piece of equipment tetsu owns is his ZON Legacy Elite II. (pictured below)

“Having acquired it in the spring of 1993, just before his debut, tetsu has immense confidence in this, his main bass. In addition to its graphite neck, it has no dead point and is capable of producing a clear, wide range of tonality.” – Bass Magazine, Japan

My research shows that tetsu has used this exact bass on more recordings than any of his other basses. I first learned of the Legacy Elite through a TalkBass forum. Later I purchased just about every back issue of every magazine that tetsu or L`Arc~en~ciel was mentioned in. One bit of info that confused me was that the bass he plays live and poses with isn’t actually a ZON, but a ZON copy. Its called an ESP “ELT” Artists Model bass as shown below.

These basses, which are currently produced by ESP are not exact copies of the ZON tetsu uses on his recordings. In fact, tetsu has never stated he uses his ESP basses for recording. In fact, in a Bass magazine issue, tetsu explicitly states that he “really trusts his ZON Legacy Elite bass”. This is partly because the ZON Legacy basses are made with composite necks that are well known for keeping the bass in tune under harsh weather conditions. The composite neck, combined with the unique phenowood fingerboard and custom wound Bartolini pickups produce an low end “growling” sound that can’t be reproduced through a wood neck and fingerboard. To try and reproduce the strength of the ZON Legacy neck, ESP has constructed its copy basses out of 7 pieces of Maple, Walnut, and Padauk wood. Even though this neck is very strong, it’s still susceptible to the warping and twisting and will not produce the same sounds that are capable through a Legacy Elite bass.

Both basses contain Bartolini pickups but the ZON pickups are custom wound specifically for the Legacy Elite series… another feature that ESP is unable to copy. The headstock of the ESP artists model bass was designed by tetsu himself. You will not find this on a ZON Legacy Elite bass. Other features key to the sound of the bass that are not found on the ESP but are standard on the ZON are the bridge ZON uses, the preamp, and the craftsmanship.

BunnyBass.com’s Bunny Bass shown

holding a ZON Legacy Elite 5 String bass.

BunnyBass‘s article describes Joe Zon as someone “exhibiting major ‘Type A’ personality traits. The author goes on to note the cleanliness of the shop and the passion and seriousness Joe Zon exhibits when discussing his basses. Although Japan is well known for its ‘Type A’ workers and strict quality control habits but no company as large as ESP can produce an instrument as fine as one where the founder of the organization inspects each instrument before it is shipped to the customer.

The most obvious difference in tetsu’s sound can be heard on his later recordings from the Smile and AWAKE albums where he uses other basses besides his Legacy Elite.

One example is his Sadowsky NYC bass. This bass features Bartolini pickups, a flamed maple top (as does one of his ZON legacy basses), and maple neck. Sadowsky basses are very popular right now. Many top name artists are using and endorsing Sadowsky instruments both for recording and live performances. tetsu’s own Sadowsky is shown below:

This bass is used most on the SMILE album. You can really hear the tone of this bass on the songs “Lover Boy”. The sound is a very thin and distorted sound. No where near as good as the ZON Legacy series basses in my opinion. If you don’t want to take my word for it, look at the ratings the SMILE album received compared to every other album in Laruku’s history. Another example would be on the song 叙情詩 which is currently Laruku’s second most popular song (to ‘New World’) on the newly released AWAKE CD (2005). It is very clear that regardless of if the fans know the technical details about tetsu’s recording equipment, tetsu’s signature, most loved sound comes from his ZON Legacy Elite II bass, built in Redwood City, California, U.S.A in 2003.

Do not be mislead by copies or look alike’s. There is only one ZON Legacy Elite. There is no substitute.

For information on purchasing a ZON Legacy Bass, please visit ZON on the web.