The white one is an older model, with the old Hyperactive pickups and a board 300 preamp (which is wickedly LOUD, and the pickups have a brilliant sizzle to them). The 5-string is more recent (2012) and has a board 303 preamp with a small trimpot in the back to temper the output level, which is very useful and makes me favour the 5-string a lot over the 4-string. Both are great-sounding and very comfortable instruments, but the 5-string has become my go-to bass since I received it in August.
The white one appears to have a small issue with the balance pot or the pickup wiring. With one pickup soloed, it has massive amounts of treble and top-end sizzle. However, with both pickups combined, it is a good deal less loud and loses most of its brightness. I'm not sure why this happens. Wrong pot value? Pickups connected out of phase? I haven't looked into this issue yet, but I may have a luthier take a look.
I'm loving the hell out of these two basses, they're so incredibly good! The tone took some getting used to, it's very direct and fairly bright (but not cold and harsh, as some people have said of graphite necked basses). The EQ on these is something special unlike any regular 3-band EQ. The bass and treble controls operate like any other boost/cut-affair, but the mid control is a powerful filter with variable sweep and fixed boost/cut through the small 3-way switch. It influences the output level of the bass a fair amount, so it's not very useful for switching from flat mids to a boost or cut setting while gigging, but the range of tones is huge!
