Hi Forumers!
I'm planning to order a Dingwall bass right away. Before I do, I want to get some community feedback to make sure I'm headed towards something I will be satisfied with.
First, a quick background on me. I switched from guitar to bass about 2 years ago. Almost immediately after switching, I joined a [url=http://www.bellewether.ca:3qcrzbzs]band[/url:3qcrzbzs] and went directly into the studio. Our album was recorded almost entirely on my main bass -- An ash-body Fender American Deluxe P-Bass w/ Joe Barden pickups and D'Addario Chromes Medium Flatwounds. While recording, I thought this combo sounded good. However, after release it sounded more mellow than the sound in my head.
Since leaving the studio, I have been working really hard on my playstyle to get a more aggressive sound. Besides my playing, I switched to D'Addario XL Regular-Light Roundwounds. I briefly tried Prosteels, but it completly eradicated that thick beefy low-end P-Basses are known for. I also tried out a bunch of different basses. These include Dingwalls (Combustion, Z3 Exotic, Super-J Exotic, Super-P), Yamaha (Attitude 3), Fenders (a bunch of different Ps and Js), and a handful of Warwicks.
Of all the basses I tried, the two that were the absolute best were the Yamaha Attitude 3, and the Dingwall Super-P. The Attitude 3 was thick and boomy, but also sounded super aggressive. The Super-P everything a Fender Precision is, but 100% even across the strings, and ridiculously comfortable. Plus it was a 5 string while the Attitude 3 was a 4 string. AND they're featherlight compared to my 12lbs Deluxe P.
The tone I'm going for is the coveted "grand piano left-hand" sound. You can hear a comparable tone on Silversun Pickups "Panic Switch". I also really like the bass tone in Bush's "Comedown". I also want some flexibility to get some other tones out of it too. I can provide some more examples of recorded tones if that helps.
I tend to play with a fairly heavy touch, and hate it when my strings totally fret-out. As far as I'm concerned, it's wasted engery. A guideline I heard at the [url=http://www.canrockbassbash.com/:3qcrzbzs]CanRockBassBash[/url:3qcrzbzs] is to let a little bit of fret sneak into your notes when you're playing above 70% effort. But in order to get this I have to set my action really high. I had some techs look at my frets, but they all say it's fairly even. The Dingwalls play so nice, I have never had this problem when trying any of them.
With all that said, here's what I'm considering...
Super-P Standard 5 String (Alder body)
Maple Fingerboard (Maple Neck)
Passive pickups (because I never use my Deluxe active)
One P-Style pickup (because I never use my Deluxe's Bridge J pickup)
What do you guys think? Am I going along the right path? Should I even be considering a Super-P, or should I be looking at something more flexible like a Z3?
Last note - I'm in a little bit of a rush, because I want to get the order placed before I go back in the studio this January. Hopefully Sheldon, Dingwall Sales, and co. will be able to make delivery for mid-January if I place the order/deposit this week.
Thanks everyone! Can't wait to hear from you! Hopefully Sheldon can post too

Andrew