Keavin,
Wasn't #12 just at the mothership for a refurb?
How does she drive now?

Rusty, when I began playing fives, I'd take the four with me to the gig, and after a half hour of OOOPS and SCUSE ME and #&%&$^@*~!!!, I'd chicken out and finish the gig back home on the four-string.  So I explained to my fellows on the bandstand that it was just going to take a little while and I left the four at home.  You may want to go back and forth (I'm not that smart or facile), but if you're going to play five from now on, I'd suggest leaving the four-string as a fond memory.
 
I also wouldn't let the S2 see the Schecter.  Leave them alone in the same room, and you may come back and find the blue one alone with a 'who, me?' look and a pile of sawdust around the other stand . . . .
 
Joey

she drives like new Coochie!.....Tight as hell!

Good advice J o e y! I played my first gig with the Europa Saturday night & left my SCSD in the stand the whole night. I had a few flubs from getting on the wrong string but nothing major. I just did some runs to make it sound like I meant to start on that note! LOL! I will keep the Schecter as a backup bass to play on outdoor gigs with less than desirable conditions where I don't want to risk my Europa. Luckily it has active bass, mid,& treble boost & cut so I can dial in a decent sound without having to change my amp or SF-2 settings. I was playing with my settings at home last night & have come to realize that the Series II is much more sensitive to minute changes in the EQ settings. I can move the low end frequency on the SF-2 less than 1/16 on the knob & make a huge difference in the sound. I got a great sound from my amp now so I don't want to change the settings for a different bass.  
 
I may even leave the SCSD home & bring the Schecter to all the gigs for a backup. I would hate to get in a wreck with both Alembics & damage or destroy them both! Plus, my worst fears have been realized, the Europa sounds so much better than the SCSD, I want to play it on every song! I still love my SCSD, but it is a totally different animal than the Europa. I may eventually find a place for it in our sets, but for now I want to concentrate on mastering the 5.

I too had problems getting used to the 5.  I've owned them in the past, but sold them about as quickly as I bought them.  I wanted the neck wide enough so the string spacing would be close to what I was used to on my Warwick 4.  The downside is that it's a real stretch from the low-B to the G.  I was so used to anchoring my right thumb on the E and playing all the other strings in that same position.  Now I have to continuously move my whole hand up and down between the strings to keep from flubbing notes.  It's hard to get used to a middle (A) string as well.  The new technique is actually helping though.  It's making me faster on the 4 as well (although I still can't play YYZ up to speed.)

Jerry, I was the opposite on my neck, I wanted a narrow, thin neck similar to what I was used to on my SCSD, so my string spacing is a little closer on the 5 than what I'm used to, but I am adapting to it pretty quick. I can actually play faster on the 5, I'm just not always on the right string! YYZ is one of my favorite warm ups too!

When I first knew that I wanted to start playing a five was when I was invited to sit in on a bands set but the bass player only played five stringers.At first I thought I would be lousy but just as soon as I started playing I took to it like a duck to water and my quest for a five string Alembic began in earnest.
Especially after I picked up a Rogue 5 for a test run at a local store and it was then I knew exactly what I wanted and had to have.

From the video Mica posted, you can see how Phil Lesh sets his:
 
 

Dave, the first 5 I played was also sitting in with a band & I was totally lost! We played Sweet Home Alabama & I was on the wrong string the first minute of the song! I finally got a feel for it, but after that night I had no desire for a 5 for about 4 years. Then my guitar player sent me an ad for an Epic in a pawn shop close to my house so I had to go investigate. They wanted too much for it, but I thought if I could get a good deal I would buy it & could always resell it if I didn't want it. I went back 3 times checking it out & the more I played it the more I decided that I needed a 5. I was using an octave pedal on some songs to get low notes. I couldn't get him to come down on the price so I wound up buying a Schecter for half the price. It was a good learner bass but felt like a toy compared to my Alembic, so now I have a real 5!

Thanks for the picture Greg! It looks like Phil runs his filters pretty close to the way I had mine for my first gig. I had more CVQ, but I play with my fingers & he was picking so still probably a similar sound.
 
 

Rusty:
 
Best recommendation I can make is to play the pickups separately, and really, to think of them as separate.
 
I tend to run the bridge pickup hotter, and mix in the neck pickup to fatten up. A lot of times, I run the neck pickup with the filter all the way down, and the Q off.
 
It takes a good long while to really get what's going on, in my experience (and I've heard it mirrored, not least of which, from the Alembic folks).