I work for a local live sound production company, and at two of my most recent gigs, I've had the pleasure of running sound for bassists using Dingwall basses. This was a cold introduction to Dingwall basses, I had never heard or played one before this. The first band, was a celtic/rock band, where the bass player was playing either an afterburner or Z-series 5 string. I ran the Eq mostly flat, but with a touch of a high and mid cut to make the bass boost more. (Note: I'm one of those guys who will never boost unless I have to, I'd rather cut the other ranges and bring up the input signal level.) I gotta say, that bass boomed. He hung around alot on the B-string, and it cut through the mix like crazy. (I wasn't favoring the bass at all, I brought it back a fair bit, but no matter what it cut through. Probably helps that the rest of the band was mostly in the mid-high range (2 fiddles, (one electric) 1 Guitar, 4 vocals,) When we started teardown, I complimented him on his bass, and being a fellow bass player, he merely handed me his bass and told me to try it. I didn't have it amped, but the feel of the low action and fanned frets is what sold me. I was stupid and didn't ask him the make or model, but remembered seeing Dingwall written on the gig bag, hence how I found this site. Last weekend, I was running sound for the Grambo brothers (I'm not a country fan, so I had no idea who they were, but the way the promoter was rambling they were something... but that's a promoter for you.) The band was a group of guys from Saskatoon that they put together for a few shows, and the bass player had an older deep wine red 4-string Z from the pre-fire days. He estimated it to be around 10 years old, with passive pickups in it. (Does that sound right to you guys?) Needless to say, I spent a fair bit of time keeping one ear-cup on with the bass solo'd in it. It really helps when you have a competent bass player, and this guy was good. I had no worries about leaving him a little higher in the mix. (Unfortunately my digital camera kinda sucks, the hazer and the lights we had on stage washed out the picture pretty badly.) From these two experiences working with them, and the 30seconds of play time on the one, I've decided to upgrade my bass once my home theatre is set up. I'm thinking an ABI - 5string, with a red flame top. I really wish more luthers would make instruments that could match Dingwalls in quality, it would certainly make my job easier.