I wrote this over in the talkbass purchases that led you astray thread, thought some here might enjoy the read too.
I have been waiting for a thread like this. I'm 24 and a working musician mainly playing bass, but also a producer using synth's and drum machines etc, been playing live consistently (for income), I can in my experience the majority of information regarding equipment on here has....led me astray.. My thinking is that the majority of users on here are in a higher age bracket, thus the music and sound which they are trying to achieve is that from decades past (not flaming anyone, i love the vintage goodness, used and SVT and jazz with flats for years) but with that comes a strong reluctance to anything new and innovative. "fender P is all you need" "flats are real bass strings" and other sentiments lay strong within this forum, for good reason, the Fender Precision is and always will be a staple to electric bass, the standard in which all are judged.
That being said, innovation and moving forward with arms wide open to these innovations is ideal to a healthy and evolving artistic community. A Lamborghini adventador is an incredible piece of machinery, now made under the supervision of Audi. Some may say it doesnt have the flare and flamboyance of previous cars like the Diablo or Countach, but often this flamboyance and excitement comes from the vehicles short-comings and the people who used them creating romances with these vehicles because of them, instead of being critical of an expensive "super" car falling apart or being very difficult to drive, even more so if you compare the Adventador to a model T-ford. IMO embracing innovation not only good for all musicians (young, old, up and coming) but it is good for the market. So many threads on here are about people complaining about this company, that company, this brand that brand. Majority of which are the big players in the industry, the same big players that are stuck making the same instruments decade after decade. Their main and target audience imo are people that enjoyed music in their prime through the 60's-80's which goes back to my previous point about the nostalgic point of view in my argument.
Earlier this year I went into a bass store in Melbourne and played a dingwall Super P4 and it blew my socks off. I actually didnt know what to do, I couldnt put it down, If i wasn't playing it i was gobsmacked by all the details and the level of sophistication and innovation at nearly every corner/curve of the instrument. I then picked up an ABZ and was even more amazed that a bass could PERFORM and deliver low notes with such accuracey while still feeling like an instrument with "soul". I'm not trying to fanboy or anything like that but here in Australia the only real options to try are fenders, musicmans, ibanez, the occasional rickenbacker and a few boutique stores which carry some dingwalls, MTDs, Spectors, Sadowsky's. The dingwalls just to me we're everything that pointed to the future, to progressive thinking, to improvement on a design thats stood the test of time until now. Not long after I ordered a custom ABII for myself.
Same goes for tubes and their glory, solid state and its staleness, multi-FX and their coldness. I can tell you now that myself and my guitarist have gone through so many pedals thanks to forums hype and after years have come back to high quality multi-FX for their silent delivery, huge versatility especially in live situations. Sure they are not perfect, but in majority of live situations only you will really notice the difference, and sure it depends on what you are going for. If you are going for original music and sounds to engage the audience and put on the best show and experience for them, you need to be open minded and innovate. Because audiences of today demand you to be "fresh".
TLDR;
Try things before you buy, if not, do serious research and PREPARE your mind and wallet for the situation that even after all that trawling through threads and youtube videos the piece of gear might just not be for you.
Dingwall/MTD/other highend innovative designs are like the bugatti veyron
Classic designs are like the model t-ford or an old mustang.....both are great and have their own thing going on, but you know out those you know which one is "better" at being what it is.
