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Dingwall bass
- Thread starter Cory rich40
- Start date
I love my ng2 5 string and I’ve had a lot of $2k plus musicman and Warwick basses. I really only look at other brands for fretless bass these days. Next fretted bass will likely be a the SP-1 production super P that comes out later this year.
if you have an American made musicman with their oil/wax finish that’s what the neck finish feels like on my ng2. I really dig the banjo frets also.
There are just a couple of things I can't get past on my Dingwall, the reach to the first fret on the E and the stretch from the F to A on that string. Also the way my pointer finger hits the nut on the lower side when I am playing at the first fret. My finger hitting the nut I could probably learn to live with (I rounded over the leading edge of the nut just barely), but the reach and stretch on those low frets just kills my wrist.
It really is too bad too, I love the way it sounds and plays. Since it is completely passive, you don't have the aggressiveness of the preamp. The additional tension on the lower strings makes a huge difference in tone, in a very good way.
FYI, it currently for sale in the classifieds here.
It really is too bad too, I love the way it sounds and plays. Since it is completely passive, you don't have the aggressiveness of the preamp. The additional tension on the lower strings makes a huge difference in tone, in a very good way.
FYI, it currently for sale in the classifieds here.
This concept of an instrument being more suited to metal due to aggressive or mid-forward tone signature is beyond me. Most of the basses I've owned and played have been Korean Spectors and MTDs-- all of which are known for being mid-forward.
I played on worship teams at church for years and sound guys and my drummer always salivated over my tone and how it sat in the mix.
I can't understand how people aren't getting the tone they are looking for with something as nice as a Dingwall. With three pickups and some knobs, I would think there is plenty of tonal variety to work with. Maybe the issue is the body style, lol.
I've never preferred any Fender to Spector or MTD. I have played some American Standard Jazzes and a few Mexican P-Basses and they just do not speak to me and I certainly would not expect a more modern instrument design to be inferior IN ANY WAY to an instrument that has been around for decades.
I played on worship teams at church for years and sound guys and my drummer always salivated over my tone and how it sat in the mix.
I can't understand how people aren't getting the tone they are looking for with something as nice as a Dingwall. With three pickups and some knobs, I would think there is plenty of tonal variety to work with. Maybe the issue is the body style, lol.
I've never preferred any Fender to Spector or MTD. I have played some American Standard Jazzes and a few Mexican P-Basses and they just do not speak to me and I certainly would not expect a more modern instrument design to be inferior IN ANY WAY to an instrument that has been around for decades.
I’ve often wondered if metal basses are called that mainly because of their looks. My theory is that you could play a BC Rich warlock with 666 stickers on it in a church through a vintage style amp and cabinet and still get a vintage like sound. I would never be that bold or crazy. My Bongo played through a fender bassman or ampeg SVT worked great with worship music. Played through a darkglass amp and cabinet though and the members of the group thought it was way too loud no matter how much I turned down. And honestly through that darkglass rig my Bongo had a quite different sound to it. And I didn’t really have any distortion turned up on it. So my honest opinion is that some basses may pair better with a darkglass pedal or darkglass amp. The Bongo doesn’t have a darkglass tone capsule but the Dingwalls do. So I could almost imagine that paired along with a darkglass pedal or amp could give an even more radical sound than my Bongo did when paired with the darkglass. I do wonder how a passive fender would sound through a darkglass rig. I’m sure you know that plenty of metal bassist use fender jazz and precisions yet nobody ever says they are metal basses. I don’t think it’s cool to always loophole basses into one genre. The shop I mentioned that sells these dingwall basses unfortunately only really sells darkglass amps, so if I do get to try one out, it will be through a darkglass rig. I need to try one through something more vintage to make a fair judgement
I loved the mid forward sound. It does seem like it would work great with praise and worship music. Southern gospel or country maybe not. But I’m sure you could take those basses you mentioned like the spector and play through a vintage styled amp and get the sound one would need for country. Those basses are versatile
I’m assuming the BC Rich Warlock is a bass. It may be a guitar. If it is, I’m sorry for not getting my facts straight, but you guys know what I meant to convey
Have watched several vids of people swapping the order of those pickups with no issue. Swap back pickup with mid and boom: you now have a front & mid choice or mid only choice while still being able to access the front only or a stingray set up.
Gospel, Country, Rock, Jazz, Metal, Blues.. Not sure it makes a huge difference. I must not have an ear for tone or something. Or maybe we are all more interested in hearing "that" tone we think sounds good coming from our basses and amps but don't care as much about what the actual mix sounds like.
I figured it out be getting a deep bassy sound that my band mates loved but I personally would have thought had been the pure definition of muddy. Talkbass actually helped me figure it out. Now I can listen to recordings of when we played and can hear myself. I think a lot of times we may be sharing the same frequencies as our guitar players without realizing it
No, there is no such thing as a "metal" sounding bass. It's a piece (or pieces) of wood or composite material with magnetic pickups.
That is putting it mildly. That is another discussion. Keys and guitars hogging the lower frequencies... rude. LOL.
I’m not going to lie guys. The spector dimension and spector ethos basses look better than the dingwall NG3’s in my opinion. My Bongo does too
BC Rich, most of ESP/LTD’s collection, Warwick Vampyre/Dark Lord, most Kiesels, Jackson’s basses, Schecter Omen. Pretty much anything that is designed for drop tuning that’s loaded with hot aggressive pickups I associate with being marketed to a metal crowd. Aside from Lee Sklar and Stefan Lessard, everyone I’ve ever heard on a Dingwall tunes it obscenely low and runs it through an ear piercing Darkglass unit. Just sounds like a mess to me.
Right, so it’s not the bass, it’s the application of the bass as a tool for the expression of the artist. John Taylor, Lee Sklar, Stefan Lessard, Claudio Rocha, etc. The list goes on including some 100% squeaky clean gospel players that are as far from the metal and Darkglass B3K thing as you can imagine. It sounding like a mess to you is the fault/choice of the end user, not the instrument.
And I just asked a random person a question. I showed them a picture of my Bongo which happens to be crescendo white and a dingwall NG3 which is also white. They said that the Bongo was gorgeous, and preferred it’s looks way more. I asked which bass would they guess would be played more in metal and they picked the dingwall. I know that both of these instruments have unconventional looks to some people. In honesty the dingwall that calls out to me is that one that’s shaped like the Gibson. I’ve often read on this forum that a lot of bassists would buy a different bass because they had to look the part of the band they were in. I don’t always agree with having to do that. Kenny Chesney’s bassist plays a bongo. Leland Skylar plays a dingwall. Funny thing is I guarantee I could play a darkray in clean mode and no one would bat an eye.
I love the crescendo! As much as I love my Dingwall, I'd have a tough time choosing it over that.
And I have had people comment at church what a beautiful bass it is. With the Bongo’s I think the color and pickguard can have a lot to do with how attractive they can be. My crescendo doesn’t have a pickguard. I think the Bongo and the dingwall basses do look futuristic and that’s why they will probably never really look dated. Folks said the Big Al bass sounded awesome but to me it looks like it didn’t age so well with the looks.
