juliusmonk

It's vibrato.

Agree with previous posters - nothing to write home about. Once past the Alembic mythology effect, it's pretty much just another bass. A Sire M3 is much better in my opinion, much lighter and they're like 200-250 quid new?

Whatever way you look at it, it requires gorilla's arms me thinks.

I for one am not overly keen on the East preamps, despite widespread praise. I found them always a bit noisy. Then again, my set up is very sensitive to noise - can't stand non-shielded Laklands, for example (not even USA ones). I prefer the Bartolini or Glockenlang preamps. So maybe it's just not for you. The boost-only bass is a usual mistake - turn it down all the way to start with. I find East preamps work better with very dull-sounding basses. Your 75 jazz shouldn't be. It will never make any MM sounds, regardless.

If you want mwah you may have to pay attention to the pickup position (closer to the bridge) and the electronics - especially the mids eq. But each player has also a preference for ergonomics, neck profile, etc. I had a Zon that was very nice, however had also a Mayones that (unexpectedly) had more mwah. It was heavy though. I developed over time a dislike for graphite 'touch' on the neck. Pedullas tend to have wide fingerboards too, which I find daunting on fretless. I also had a remington steele and the ergonomics were awfui for me. One thing I've learned is that what works for me in fretted doesn't necessarily apply to fretless - I have to approach those as a completely different instrument.

Digging in works for 'popping', not so much for 'slapping' (i.e. the thumb thing). But you can do what Doug Wimbish does, which is slapping the strings with your index finger straight on top of the fretboard - that gets a very similar sound, and you keep the hand more in the fingerstyle position.