Messenger Electric Upright Bass

I have already commented elsewhere on the Messenger Bass. I looked long and hard for a decent electric upright that had a sound similar to an amplified double bass and that felt like one too. All of the basses that I played prior to the Messenger were disappointing. Some very much so. Some were even ridiculous.
The Messenger is made by a really nice guy in California named John Knutson. John is a master craftsman and a stickler for detail. Good detail. He is concerned with preserving the feel and sound of the double bass and at the same time getting rid of the bulk. No easy task. There is a very good reason for all the bulk of a double bass. It gives you those LOW sounds! The thing is, when you amplify a double bass to a certain level, you are no longer hearing the acoustic sound of the instrument, just the pickup, which is usually on the bridge (before the acoustic properties of the instrument are engaged). The Messenger Bass sounds like a double bass with a really, really good pickup. Because it takes the complicated acoustics out of the equation it has fewer problems when amplified. It has a Barbera bridge pickup system and a Messenger pickup in the bridge as well. I use it mixing both these sounds to different degrees.
The work on the fingerboard is flawless and the finish is beautiful. And it is built like a tank.
There are now six of these basses here in Venezuela and when I have heard them live, even the often incompetent sound guys can't ruin the bass sound. I will go as far as to say that the best bass sound I have ever heard (as audience) in a live situation (amplified, not acoustic) has come from a Messenger bass. It is simply perfect.