I finally went to Tampa where Dean CEO Elliot Rubinson gave me all 3 of the prototypes to check out;
1) The "spyder' bass. It is made there in Tampa in their custom shop. Fit and finish is flawless, inlays are really well done. Body is well balanced. Has aphex exciter built into EMG pre-amp/lo-z pick ups. With it on the bass sounds really powerful. Neck profile is a little more 'j" than "p", but not too chunky front to back. Top grade hardware (gotoh gold plated tuners just like on the alembic, babicz super dense bridge/saddle combo. Nice switches and pots.
$4500 retail, 25 being made, I think they've already sold most of them. a

2) USA Hybrid. Same electronics as spyder. Mahogany neck & body. Well balanced with really nice bevel at bottom of body so you can reach higher frets. High quality fit & finish and has hipshot as does spyder. My only complaint is that the neck is really skinny at the nut. If you like a "j" profile its great, but I prefer a wider neck like on the B2.
3) Import hybrid. Maple neck, alder body. High z EMG pick ups. Its a prototype so it was hand made so I don't know what the import version will be like quality wise, but sounded good and played well. Still think the neck profile is too thin at the nut.

Anyway, I spent a day at the factory and was impressed by quality control and the interest of the staff. I'm not crazy for the heavy metal axes they make, but the quality of everything both domestic and import was really good. I played a ton of different models (not the metal stuff) and found it all pretty nice with some great stuff mixed in.
I saw that the Dean custom shop guys hand fret and hand cut inlays for their USA models. Also they have 5 guys who do nothing but look at every single guitar and bass that goes through the place to make sure that there are no fit/finish problems.
Fun trip for sure.

Thanks for the report!

Ironic that the fingerboard is narrow near the headstock on the Hybrids - the reason John stuck a P-neck on a Thunderbird in the first place was because the Gibson neck was too narrow in the low range for his left hand fingering techniques.