The bass is awesome to play. It does, however, have a pretty serious noise problem. That comes from the filters being adapted from telephone technology of the day that was designed for multiplexing multiple phone connections over one wire. The filters were designed for super tight frequency tolerances at the expense of noise. So, bringing up the filtered sound always includes a fair amount of noise.
Where the bass really shines is acoustically. It has a really wonderful bloom to the notes, even acoustically, that usually only happens when playing through a loud amp. I would attribute it to the thicker than usual neck (and also the fat ebony fingerboard) and probably the new headstock and the way it joins the neck. It's really a joy to play. I didn't get to play it through a powerful rig, though, so no bombs, but it was obvious what kind of power it has. However, I found that my bass (seen in the background), is equally wonderful, although a little different. I think the difference in fingerboard woods and the headstock construction account for most of it. That said, I'm not sure I would change it because I really like the current character it has.
Click on the URL link for an uncropped version of the picture, which shows my bass in the background. I was there picking it up after the installation of the bridge and re-installation of the pickup mounting system.
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=59AEF21D