D-Bird is passive and has different pickup selector options .
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Dingwall Owners Club
- Thread starter FroggyOne2
- Start date
Oh man you can select all 3 pickups at once?! That is AWESOME.
If you're dead set on a 5-string in this body style and you just can't wait to for one with our favorite brand name on it, there is another very good option: the Sandberg Forty Eight. It's an extremely well made German bass with a wonderful jazz-bass feeling neck, and a massive humbucker in the bridge position and a split-P in the neck position. It totally nails both P-bass and MM tones. Controls are volume (pull out for passive), p/u blend, bass, and treble. I recently bought one in 4-string, and totally love it.
I am uploading some sample videos to YouTube right now, so come back to this posting later and I will update it with the links once they are uploaded.
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(must use headphones!)
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It makes me question why having all 3 pickups selected at once isn’t one of the options on any of their basses with 3 pickups. It just seems logical if you have 3 pickups to be able to run them all at once.
I think for now it might be a way to differentiate between different 3x setups...provide something different with the DBird that only the DBird has. Not that I've heard anything to the effect of this, but I imagine someday this could be something you choose between when ordering a bass.
When I first saw a Z3 my assumption was that you’d be able to run them all at once. I was disappointed when I found out you couldn’t. Especially considering the Z is like their “flagship” model
MDBass
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- Nov 7, 2012
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- Endorsing Artist: Dingwall-Fender-Bergantino-Dunlop-Tech 21-Darkglass-Nordstrand
It's actually going to be more practical for most to have a single bass that can do P, J and MM sounds, which is why my SJ has the original 3X rotary again after giving the DBird rotary a spin.
My favorite pickup setting on the DBird so far is actually the middle soloed:
The DBird was actually designed in part by a Dingwall artist with a 3X SJ that needed a bigger, bolder sound: he rewired the rotary to the DBird options first, and it lead to a totally new bass model.
Pretty cool.
I can't remember exactly where I saw it, but I am pretty sure I saw an explanation from Sheldon which made sense to me, which was that adding the third pickup didn't do anything to add meaningfully to your tonal options, and added considerable complexity to the electronics, so it wasn't a worthwhile tradeoff. Maybe I am totally making that up, since I can't remember where I saw it. But since I have a Z2 with 2 pickups and a couple Z3's and ABZ all with 3 pickups, I can say from experience that the 4-way rotary switch behaves in essentially the same way in all of them (bridge, 2 in series, 2 in parallel, neck), and I definitely do not find myself ever looking for some additional tonal option that I don't have on any of the four basses. (And I am somebody who is extremely particular and fussy about tone.)
You can buy a D-bird rotary and convert any 3X to have all three pickups on simultaneously.
Wasn't within my budget either, but I took the plunge anyway!
What pickup are you using in that second clip? That sounds amazing
So you could add that rotary to any Z3 and have the ability to use the same selections? Selecting all 3 is awesome and so is the idea of selecting the middle one by itself. The whole concept just seems better to me. In all honesty the body is the only thing I DONT like. It’s really cool looking but it’s just not my style. If it’s sounds/tonal options/pickup selector choices were attainable in a Z or AB body it would make me very happy.
Several months ago I purchased a D-Bird selector switch and had it installed on my SJ5 x3. One of the reasons was the "all three pickups on" option. Well, after trying it out, I quickly decided that the 3-on selection didn't float my boat, and put the original switch back. The other thing about the D-bird selector switch is that you don't have a neck solo option, which I use from time to time as my "P-bass" setting (I currently have a P-tone in that position.) In my perfect world, I would like to have a middle solo instead of a bridge solo option, because I never use the bridge solo. Anyway, here is the diagram which shows the difference between the standard and D-bird 4-way selector switches:
MDBass
Supporting Member
- Nov 7, 2012
- 8,590
- 14,892
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Dingwall-Fender-Bergantino-Dunlop-Tech 21-Darkglass-Nordstrand
MDBass
Supporting Member
- Nov 7, 2012
- 8,590
- 14,892
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Dingwall-Fender-Bergantino-Dunlop-Tech 21-Darkglass-Nordstrand
Due to the longer scale and other construction differences, the middle setting on the DBird sounds like a bigger, meaner P bass.
I didn't care for middle soloed setting in the SJ at all, or the loss of neck soloed, which is why the original rotary went back in.
I'm with you. I've never been a fan of the Thunderbird body shape. I prefer the offset body shapes, so I'm more of a J-bass fan than a P-bass fan(the irony of that statement is not lost on me...
). But there's just SOMETHING about the D-Bird That appeals to me.
Haha that’s how I feel about it. It’s not something I’d be into using in a live setting but something about this bass just speaks to me in such a badass way. It just looks gnarly. Ultimately, I’d prefer the Z body though. I just like more traditional looking body styles I suppose.I'm with you. I've never been a fan of the Thunderbird body shape. I prefer the offset body shapes, so I'm more of a J-bass fan than a P-bass fan(the irony of that statement is not lost on me...
