I didn't enjoy my retrovibe, it was functional but no personality at all and in band rehearsals it didn't cut through anything. It has all the parts of a bass but there doesn't seem to be any science in the sound.
I wouldn't have complained about it in public if it wasn't that the manufacturer said he wanted first refusal if I decided to sell, but when I let him know I wasn't getting along with it he didn't want to know.
I had a similar experience with chowny, got the hollow body and the neck was bowed to hell and could only be made playable by filing the frets down to almost fretless level. So now its playable with good action but nowhere to go from here. I left it way too long to be able to return it. Absolutely my own fault, but I approached them to see if they were interested in a PX for a good one, because I liked the bass in many ways. At first they were open to talk about it, then they asked for my name, address, and the model of my bass, they stopped replying exactly after I sent an email with those details. I prodded them with a couple more follow up emails but no replys. This made me feel like they knew the bass they sent me was not up to standard. That's conjecture on my part but certainly a thought that stuck with me. I still want a good chowny HB but if I'm going to pay twice I may go for the jack cassidey instead.
Sorry if you enjoy your chownys and retrovibes. This was just my experience.