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Sweet. I've owned Euros and USAs and that's a very USA looking Euro. I've never hesitated to mod my Spectors. My first Euro5 LX I replaced the old EMG 40TW with 40DCs, and the Tone Pump with an Aggie OBP-3. The aggie added the blend also and I much prefer that over v/v.
I'll bet it sounds great! In hindsight I wish I had kept the Tone Pump in my first Euro and converted to v/b instead. But it's all good 'cause I'm playing this now.
Once I heard the B string on a Dingwall I was hooked. 
Yeah, I like the Tonepump as well. About the whole 37" vs 35" I think, like you say, it comes down to tonal preferences. I tend to prefer the tone of basses with 35 or even 34" scale length. While I can't deny the overall superior clarity and tightness of the 37" B-string, I may actually prefer the tonal quality of a 34-35" B-string more. A shorter scale adds a certain amount of roughness to the tone which I really like - if that makes sense?Purely tonally I prefer it to my dingwalls (sacrilege !).
Ergonomically not, it feels like a "classic" already.
It's far from bad though.
Its B string is good but you have to work around it, like all non-dingwall basses I know.
Basically the fact that it's "too" short makes it sound darker and more menacing, so it's easy to do, and cool
However for the music I'm doing these days and tuned like we are, in the band context nothing beats the dingwall.
Also I don't get the hate for the tonepump, there are plenty of usable tones in there.
In fact I would probably put one in the purple AB1 to try it out if I could find one with a 3-band eq - that glockenklang is really too neutral for my tastes.
I found a 3-band HAZ but I'm afraid that might be too much lol
To me that's a sound I just never enjoyed at all.
Neutral is indeed how I'd describe it, too. As someone who prefers his tone on the cleaner (but not sterile or "hifi") end of things, I want the grit of the tone to come more from the instrument and pickups themselves. I like pickups that add natural grit and compression to the tone (i.e. EMG and/or most ceramic dual coil soapbars), as well as a more complex midrange character (not necessarily the amount of midrange, but rather the character of the midrange). I find these qualities (midrange and compression) to be more present in 34" and 35" scale basses.Sure, makes sense.
The dingwalls I've played were always very neutral, it has advantages but that's not necessarily what everybody wants.
I mean just look at the number of people in love with p with flats on this forum
I mean p with stainless, a pick and an svt ok I get it, but flats played with the thumb, the tone rolled off and a mute under the bridge .. urgh.
But that's normal, to each his own !
Yeah, like I said, it's not so much a question of the amount of midrange, but rather the tonality or tonal quality of the midrange. There's no doubt my ABHS had lots of midrange; it's just that the midrange was very punchy and clear, rather than warm and fuzzy. I tend to prefer the latter.
Finally, someone who speaks language!I know what you mean.
This is a big problem when describing sounds generally, I say I want it to sound ample and loud and big and people understand more headroom or more volume when in fact it's the opposite, compressed sounds big, infinite clean headroom sounds awfully boring.
It's the same for bass frequencies, if they are faithfully reproduced sure you can eq more of them in, but it just sounds like the same old boring stuff, except with more bass.
I like when bass is presented with a small delay, as if it was so huge that the playback system has difficulties to represent it :
View attachment 3843943
I suppose the classic tube amp sag is some variation of that, can't be sure though - I didn't have the time to analyze it seriously.
For the mids well I want gnarly and aggressive, unfortunately I did not find the secret sauce for that yet (except taking the right bass and playing that of course) but I'm sure it's out there
Purely tonally I prefer it to my dingwalls (sacrilege !).
Ergonomically not, it feels like a "classic" already.
It's far from bad though.
Its B string is good but you have to work around it, like all non-dingwall basses I know.
Basically the fact that it's "too" short makes it sound darker and more menacing, so it's easy to do, and cool
However for the music I'm doing these days and tuned like we are, in the band context nothing beats the dingwall.
Also I don't get the hate for the tonepump, there are plenty of usable tones in there.
In fact I would probably put one in the purple AB1 to try it out if I could find one with a 3-band eq - that glockenklang is really too neutral for my tastes.
I found a 3-band HAZ but I'm afraid that might be too much lol
I'll bet it sounds great! In hindsight I wish I had kept the Tone Pump in my first Euro and converted to v/b instead. But it's all good 'cause I'm playing this now.
View attachment 3843160
Not one I can afford at this time.There is a solution.
