Thanks guys, she is purity. I played her for 2.5 hours last night with the band and she sounds great. Unlike my Gretsch 5123, she didn't feedback and her resonate frequency is around a C, so she didn't vibrate a bunch while playing. The bass drum would send my Gretsch into vibrating feedback fits if I were playing an open E or fretted B. The Hofner would only resonate a bit when playing a sustained C, so she did much better than the Gretsch in this regard. The Gretsch would be fine if our club wasn't so small and our layout so tight. A bigger venue would help in that regard.
She doesn't sound like the Club. The big box really lends itself to a more retro upright sound. With the Chromes, she still had a well defined tone and clarity I really didn't expect, cut through the mix just fine with the right settings on the Mesa rig. Everyone liked the sound out of her. So, I might be playing Hofners almost exclusively with the band in the future. I will continue to work the Thunder Jet in, I just need to exchange out that crappy bridge for a more adjustable one that I have in a drawer in the shop. The intonation with the original bridge sucks. It's the one with the 4 wheels in a straight line. I'm blanking on the name for it at the moment. I hate it!
I love the short scales and they just really work best for me in extended playing situations. 34" scale basses have been giving me hand cramps (left) after 45 minutes or so and practicing more with them doesn't seem to help. Life is tough when you're 62! But with these basses, I can adjust.