Dingwall Owners Club Part 4

[BuffaloBob4343]

Originally Posted by Smallmouth_Bass

Gotta love the P! How are you liking the natural body finish (or lack of)?

So, if one were only able to have one more Dingwall, and you had to choose between either a Super P or a Super J (PJ), which would would you choose?

I am trying to decide between the two.

[BuffaloBob4343]

Originally Posted by Smallequestrian

Its strange, I don't like black instruments and would opt for a gloss candy finish 9 times out 10 normally, but since I first played this in the store it just felt liked it was meant to be mine.

I do worry about marking up the body more than I normally would, but I suppose if it ever gets bad I could just get it refinished in the gloss color of my choice, so I'm not too worried about it.

I drooled over your bass many times on the BassNW site before you bought it. I think it is really sweet.

[Smallmouth_Bass]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBob4343

So, if one were only able to have one more Dingwall, and you had to choose between either a Super P or a Super J (PJ), which would would you choose?

I am trying to decide between the two.

I've been on a P kick for a little while, so I am leaning more towards the P sound lately. But, for the overall versatility, I would probably choose the P/J SJ if I could only have one. Luckily, that is not the case and I can play them both! Both are really good basses so I would be (and am) happy with either one.

[nostatic]

How many Dingwall owners regularly gig and swap between fanned and regular fret basses during a set? Curious as to how many are "fanned only" players and how many go back and forth.

[SpecialBlender]

Originally Posted by nostatic

How many Dingwall owners regularly gig and swap between fanned and regular fret basses during a set? Curious as to how many are "fanned only" players and how many go back and forth.

My Combustion is my gigging & band rehearsal bass. I practice at home with my Yamaha TRB5II.

I like my Yamaha but sound wise it doesn't hold a candle to my Combustion.

[joebar]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBob4343

So, if one were only able to have one more Dingwall, and you had to choose between either a Super P or a Super J (PJ), which would would you choose?

I am trying to decide between the two.

i played a super j once at a store and was not wowed but then again i am not a jazz guy to be fair

i own a super p and it still blows me away tonally. i dont know what it is but that kinda mojo should be illegal

[Grand Wazoo]

Originally Posted by nostatic

How many Dingwall owners regularly gig and swap between fanned and regular fret basses during a set? Curious as to how many are "fanned only" players and how many go back and forth.

You will be surprised that a lot of people use a variety of basses and switching betewen them as an when it requires.


Lets face it, using fanned frets its not like a doctrine that prevents you from playing normal basses, it is not even an elite-ism by which once you switch to fanned frets you can't switch back in case you risk losing karma. You can easily own parallel and fanned frets and switch between them at will.

Myself, and all the guys whom I know have a Dingwall or two also have other normal basses and we used them as we see fit.

[Jimmy_]

Originally Posted by nostatic

How many Dingwall owners regularly gig and swap between fanned and regular fret basses during a set? Curious as to how many are "fanned only" players and how many go back and forth.

I switch between Dingwall and double bass (more often when our playlist is made by our singer )
And for my new (pearl jam cover) project I'll be adding a fretless 4 string to swap with.

No problems whatsoever (and it makes the neck feel slim and fast when coming from double).

[BuffaloBob4343]

Originally Posted by nostatic

How many Dingwall owners regularly gig and swap between fanned and regular fret basses during a set? Curious as to how many are "fanned only" players and how many go back and forth.

I have recently emptied my arsenal of parallel fret basses, but not because I had any issues with going back and forth. I'm just a Dingwallaholic and I have a problem.

I actually plan to re-acquire a Sadowsky in the near future that I sold a few years back because money was tight. I don't give it a second thought.

While gigging for my last band, i was constantly swapping back and forth in the middle of sets between fanned and parallel with no ill-effects. The funny thing is, when you look at a fanned fret neck from the front, it looks soooo crazy. But from a player's view, it doesn't seems all that different.

Rarely, people try them and for them it is a big deal. Mostly people find it intuitive and rarely give it a thought.

[BuffaloBob4343]

Originally Posted by joebar

i played a super j once at a store and was not wowed but then again i am not a jazz guy to be fair

i own a super p and it still blows me away tonally. i dont know what it is but that kinda mojo should be illegal

That's why it would be a PJ version of the Super J, as I do not favor the jazz sound myself. I am a "P" tone guy all the way, although PJ is also cool.

The nice thing about the Super PJ is you can get many more options cosmetically. No PG, no control plate, upgraded tops and colors. I know that ain't a big deal, or at least it shouldn't be!

[BuffaloBob4343]

Originally Posted by Smallmouth_Bass

I've been on a P kick for a little while, so I am leaning more towards the P sound lately. But, for the overall versatility, I would probably choose the P/J SJ if I could only have one. Luckily, that is not the case and I can play them both! Both are really good basses so I would be (and am) happy with either one.

Are the tones of the two THAT different P pup to P pup? I think that's my biggest decision point.

If you can get pretty darn close to the same tone with the P of a Super PJ as you can with a Super P, then I lean slightly toward the Super PJ because you have the versatility of the extra PUP plus you get many more choices for cosmetic configuration.

But truth is, I am very much a P guy, and not a jazz guy.

[IntrepidCellist]

Originally Posted by nostatic

How many Dingwall owners regularly gig and swap between fanned and regular fret basses during a set? Curious as to how many are "fanned only" players and how many go back and forth.

I have three basses in my rehearsal/gigging/play regularly rotation, and only one of them is fanned. (Dingwall ABI Elite 5, Kubicki Ex Factor, Lodestone Primal Pro 5 [modern J clone]).

Don't have any problems... but it's not like I'm playing complex chords or anything.

[tombowlus]

Originally Posted by nostatic

How many Dingwall owners regularly gig and swap between fanned and regular fret basses during a set? Curious as to how many are "fanned only" players and how many go back and forth.

I swap back and forth pretty regularly.

[spiritbass]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBob4343

So, if one were only able to have one more Dingwall, and you had to choose between either a Super P or a Super J (PJ), which would would you choose?

I am trying to decide between the two.

Only one Dingwall - oh the humanity!

I would also go P/J. I was having the same debate with myself a couple of months ago after receiving my five-string J/P custom. The inspiration for ordering that one was my four string version. Barry Lamb says that the Super P does have a bit more mid-range. I would think there would also be slightly less bass with the pickup being 1/4" closer to the bridge compared to the P/J but this is surmise as I have not played a Super P. After sacrificing three more nice mono-scale basses, I ended up ordering a J/J custom. I'm now down to one mono-scaled instrument but have never had problems switching between them and fanned fretboards. My name is Ken and I'm a Dingwallaholic.

[Smallequestrian]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBob4343

So, if one were only able to have one more Dingwall, and you had to choose between either a Super P or a Super J (PJ), which would would you choose?

I am trying to decide between the two.

I like to play with distortion/effects and I've found over the last few years that a passive P type sound does best with this for me. If I were to buy a Super J though, it would most likely be a JJ passive though as of I'm going to have a P pickup I'd want it in the right position.

If he was doing a P that could be routed for a PJ, I'd consider doing that, but alas, that's not an option right now.

Anyway, here are a couple of video clips from last Friday's gig. Not the best audio quality and tempo issues galore, but its a good representation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oMqx...EsKLOM&index=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miktF...EsKLOM&index=2

[Grand Wazoo]

Gentlemen Hear Me Out!

I currently have 3 Dingwalls, the first I ever got was an ABZ 5 lovely piece of kit, and every man's go to bass, simple powerful yet passive, then along came an ABII 5 which is basically an ABZ with a turbo switch, thanks to the Glockenklang preamp, and then I got a Super P/J 5 and to be honest, that is the final fronteer as far as I am concerned in relation to the best of both words. The P sound is spot on and if I was to blind fold an unsuspecting P bass owner and play a to b between my P/J and a real Fender P he/she will have trouble telling the difference. That is a fact. As for the bridge pickup again it is very reminescent of a late 60's Jazz played solo in passive mode with the tone rolled half way.

I tried also a Super P on its own and yes that is also very very similar to a P tone but remember it's only one pickup and that one sound its all you have whereas the Super P/J offers you more variety which is why I think it makes more sense to get a P/J but that is only my opinion.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by IntrepidCellist

I have three basses in my rehearsal/gigging/play regularly rotation, and only one of them is fanned. (Dingwall ABI Elite 5, Kubicki Ex Factor, Lodestone Primal Pro 5 [modern J clone]).

Don't have any problems... but it's not like I'm playing complex chords or anything.

For some of my bands I am playing a fair amount of chords. Then again, I have a 5-string strung E-C for that task. The reason I've been sniffing around a Dingwall is that there are occasions where I would like to have a low B and I'd like it to sound very consistent with the other strings and have the instrument lean towards the "piano tone" side of things. In the past I've had 5'ers strung B-G with varying results on the B (currently don't own a bass with a B-string). I've settled on 34" scale for my current basses (though i'm still playing a 33" scale 5'er - that will be swapped out in a few months) as I want to keep that fairly consistent and I switch from fretted to fretless regularly during sets. Seems that comping chords with fanned frets requires a bit of relearning and not sure I have the brain cycles to do that at the moment - working on other things. And I've got some tendonitis issues so I have to be careful (one reason I ditched 35" scale).

I suppose I should try and play one and see if I either get it or don't. Then again, spending 5 minutes often isn't really enough time to get to know the beast...

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Grand Wazoo

Lets face it, using fanned frets its not like a doctrine that prevents you from playing normal basses, it is not even an elite-ism by which once you switch to fanned frets you can't switch back in case you risk losing karma. You can easily own parallel and fanned frets and switch between them at will.

Not really worried about karma or dogma. More just any rewiring that might have to take place. For instance I briefly had 30" scale and 34" scale basses I was using during the same set and it gave me fits as the notes relative to my arm location were in very different places. If I played just 30" all night, no problem. Same with 34". I have less of an issue going between 33" and 34" in a set, but I have to be careful as my muscle memory will send my hand slightly too far in one direction or the other.

[pmad_bass]

I thinnk that I'm finding that when I switch back (to non-fanned) that I miss either the fanned frets...of the Ding itself. :-)

[IntrepidCellist]

Originally Posted by nostatic

For some of my bands I am playing a fair amount of chords. Then again, I have a 5-string strung E-C for that task. The reason I've been sniffing around a Dingwall is that there are occasions where I would like to have a low B and I'd like it to sound very consistent with the other strings and have the instrument lean towards the "piano tone" side of things. In the past I've had 5'ers strung B-G with varying results on the B (currently don't own a bass with a B-string). I've settled on 34" scale for my current basses (though i'm still playing a 33" scale 5'er - that will be swapped out in a few months) as I want to keep that fairly consistent and I switch from fretted to fretless regularly during sets. Seems that comping chords with fanned frets requires a bit of relearning and not sure I have the brain cycles to do that at the moment - working on other things. And I've got some tendonitis issues so I have to be careful (one reason I ditched 35" scale).

I suppose I should try and play one and see if I either get it or don't. Then again, spending 5 minutes often isn't really enough time to get to know the beast...

Perhaps aim for one of the "traditional" Dingwalls then? 32-35" is more manageable (although I have tendonitis and small hands, and have no problem with the 37" low B), and chording is only really weird-feeling to me if I do it above the 12th fret.