Dingwall Owners Club

[The_Owl]

Slightly tangential to Dingwall ownership, but involving the use of Dingwall basses:

Do those of you that play prog metal ala Periphery stick to primarily the roots, or do you venture out?

I've been listening to Periphery and other prog bands since Misha and Tobin Abasi were posting clips on MusicianForums as they started laying the foundation for the modern prog metal sound with their Line 6 Pods.

Contrary to my love of listening to prog metal, I've never really played it. My home-base as a bass player has been rock, funk, and pop for the better part of the last several years, so my comfort level with crazy triplet riffs in odd time signatures is fairly low.

I've been brought on board to track bass for a friends prog metal band and gave everything a listening through; lots of tricky sections if I was gonna play roots following the guitar riffs.

My primary references for prog metal bass players are (of course) Nolly, as well as Mark Mitchell on Scale the Summit's "V", Jon Stockman, Amos Williams, and Jacob Umansky.

Nolly is mostly a roots guy, Mitchell is often playing a lot of counterpoint and complex parts, Stockman is somewhere in the middle, and Williams seems to be a groovier roots guy, but with a lot of double thumbing, slap & pop.

Obviously, it's up to the band to dictate to me what their expectations are as the hired gun, but I'm interested to hear other prog metal guys perspectives. Personally, I'm more comfortable doing something somewhere in between playing straight guitar-following-roots and throwing in a little more harmony/counterpoint/Geddy-esque riffing.

I have two weeks to return 10 tracks of bass.

I wholeheartedly recommend listening to BtBaM for some great prog and bass playing. Melodic, groovy, heavy with absolutely stunning tones, especially on the last two (technically three) studio albums.

Here's a playlist of their latest double release:

 

[Charlzm]

Staying out of everyone's way is a great point.

The hard part is that they're in California and I'm in the UK, so communications are a bit difficult. I'll probably be sending snippets and clips of various ideas and hope they get back to me in a timely fashion, otherwise I'll just be compiling various takes with different ideas for them to choose from in the end.

Here's a demo of a song my band is working on - kind of sums up the bass philosophy I was talking about.

Dropbox - myeternity-ruff_mix-042418.mp3

Dingwall content - I played this on an Afterburner with Nordstrand Big Splits.

 

[J Posega]

Hope it helps!

I think it'd be interesting to know how you end up tracking the project. Not only the way you approached things but also your signal chain

Well, signal chain on my end will be dead simple: ABZ6 and SPj5 into the Pigtronix Micro Bass Compressor set for a decent squish but with lots of clean blended in, then into the Southampton Fifth Gear v2 set up to sound like the one-knob v1 (volume maxed, gain around 9 or 10 o'clock, heat all the way counter clockwise). Maybe throw on the Hiero BEAD fuzz for a couple doomier sections. Then it's into a Samson PRO DI, Scarlett 2i2, and ProTools. I'll probably tinker with a few plugins and try and find some nice drive sounds.

I wholeheartedly recommend listening to BtBaM for some great prog and bass playing. Melodic, groovy, heavy with absolutely stunning tones, especially on the last two (technically three) studio albums.

Here's a playlist of their latest double release:

Yes, BTBAM is another band I need to spend more time listening to. Thanks.

Here's a demo of a song my band is working on - kind of sums up the bass philosophy I was talking about.

Dropbox - myeternity-ruff_mix-042418.mp3

Dingwall content - I played this on an Afterburner with Nordstrand Big Splits.

Awesome, I'll check that out too!

 

[groovaholic]

Havok is one of my favorite "modern" thrash bands. Great live, too.

I think Nick Schendzielos is somewhat wasted in this context.

His previous work in Cephalic Carnage (and Ain Matter, before CC) gave him more room to spread out:

 

[J Posega]

I think Nick Schendzielos is somewhat wasted in this context.

His previous work in Cephalic Carnage (and Ain Matter, before CC) gave him more room to spread out:

Wow. Love the intro arpeggiated chord, and really everything.

Does he always play without the lowest string, or do you think it's just sort of a "narrower string spacing makes palying this song easier to play so I'll shift these around" kind of situation?

 

[groovaholic]

The first time I saw him was in Ain Matter, a 2-bassist band.

The other bassist was playing an F# tuned 5-string through a couple AccuGroove Whappo Grandes, and Nick was playing a 4-string through a Mesa Dual Rectifier.

Needless to say, it was a bass-bath of epic proportions

 

[dazmond]

Yay for Dan Briggs! I love btbam. My favorite album is paralax 2. His playing is so good

I wholeheartedly recommend listening to BtBaM for some great prog and bass playing. Melodic, groovy, heavy with absolutely stunning tones, especially on the last two (technically three) studio albums.

Here's a playlist of their latest double release:

 

[SgtAlexx]

I was really lucky in acquiring my ABHS. If anyone was following the Dingwall Owners Group on FB, they would have seen the bass show up for sale a while ago in June, along with a natural ABZ.

I needed to sell my Super P5 to fund the ABHS. Literally five minutes after posting a for sale ad on the Swedish equivalent of TB, I got a message saying "I'll take it". I arranged to have him pickup the bass, three days later I'd bought the ABHS. Apparently, the buyer of my SP5 had already been interested in the bass since I had posted pics of it. Sometimes the stars align just right...

What is the swedish TB and do you often see used Dingwalls for sale over there?

 

[SgtAlexx]

NBD - almost.

I put in an order for a custom Super J (18 months I guess...), but ordered this Dingwall ABI 5/3 from Bass Directs stock today drool

 

[IvanBassist]

NBD - almost.

I put in an order for a custom Super J (18 months I guess...), but ordered this Dingwall ABI 5/3 from Bass Directs stock today drool

View attachment 3093467

Congrats! (on both)

 

[The_Owl]

What is the swedish TB and do you often see used Dingwalls for sale over there?

www.pratabas.se

Not terribly often. I've seen them a few times. Mostly on the FB group.

 

[been_effected]

Slightly tangential to Dingwall ownership, but involving the use of Dingwall basses:

Do those of you that play prog metal ala Periphery stick to primarily the roots, or do you venture out?

I've been listening to Periphery and other prog bands since Misha and Tobin Abasi were posting clips on MusicianForums as they started laying the foundation for the modern prog metal sound with their Line 6 Pods.

Contrary to my love of listening to prog metal, I've never really played it. My home-base as a bass player has been rock, funk, and pop for the better part of the last several years, so my comfort level with crazy triplet riffs in odd time signatures is fairly low.

I've been brought on board to track bass for a friends prog metal band and gave everything a listening through; lots of tricky sections if I was gonna play roots following the guitar riffs.

My primary references for prog metal bass players are (of course) Nolly, as well as Mark Mitchell on Scale the Summit's "V", Jon Stockman, Amos Williams, and Jacob Umansky.

Nolly is mostly a roots guy, Mitchell is often playing a lot of counterpoint and complex parts, Stockman is somewhere in the middle, and Williams seems to be a groovier roots guy, but with a lot of double thumbing, slap & pop.

Obviously, it's up to the band to dictate to me what their expectations are as the hired gun, but I'm interested to hear other prog metal guys perspectives. Personally, I'm more comfortable doing something somewhere in between playing straight guitar-following-roots and throwing in a little more harmony/counterpoint/Geddy-esque riffing.

I have two weeks to return 10 tracks of bass.

I've primarily played rock/heavy rock/pop over the years with a little funk thrown in for good measure. I think your prog influences are in good company and there's been some solid advice from the others in this thread.

My advice is given your playing background in rock and funk, you'll have a good conceptual sense of groove and feel. Lean on that and trust your instincts to know when to fill space and when to sit back.

I too am a huge Karnivool fan (I'm Australian too, which helps. Been spoilt so many times seeing them live over the years). For inspiration/ideas, I give a +1 for Havok, and also give you:

Disperse - Foreword (Album). Some really tasty and tasteful bass on this record. My picks:
Bubbles:

Tether:


Cog - The New Normal. Another incredible Australian prog rock of the same vintage as Karnivool.

My picks: Anarchy OK, The Spine (for an amazing two note groove), Doors, Naming The Elephant (though the whole record is great).

And for my influences/output, this was the last record I was on:

 

[IvanBassist]

I've primarily played rock/heavy rock/pop over the years with a little funk thrown in for good measure. I think your prog influences are in good company and there's been some solid advice from the others in this thread.

My advice is given your playing background in rock and funk, you'll have a good conceptual sense of groove and feel. Lean on that and trust your instincts to know when to fill space and when to sit back.

I too am a huge Karnivool fan (I'm Australian too, which helps. Been spoilt so many times seeing them live over the years). For inspiration/ideas, I give a +1 for Havok, and also give you:

Disperse - Foreword (Album). Some really tasty and tasteful bass on this record. My picks:
Bubbles:

Tether:


Cog - The New Normal. Another incredible Australian prog rock of the same vintage as Karnivool.

My picks: Anarchy OK, The Spine (for an amazing two note groove), Doors, Naming The Elephant (though the whole record is great).

And for my influences/output, this was the last record I was on:

Really like your record!

 

[J Posega]

Thanks for all the suggestions @been_effected ! I’m compiling playlists to listen to while doing stuff around the house.

It’s too bad we can’t have a sticky within a thread, it’d be nice to have a section dedicated to Dingwall owner’s bands.

Here’s the aftermath of new string day!

The clamp was for keeping the ball ends from going rogue. Just nudge the edge of the rubber bit against the butt end of the bridge once you’ve fed the string in and the ball cant escape, but it’s free to rotate.

I’m sure someone with the skills could model and 3D print a little tool that would slip around the bridge and keep an entire set of strings from going all over, sure would make stringing up quicker.

Next time I’m online shopping, I’m buying one of those little mini vacuums for cleaning computer keyboards to clean all the dust off the pickups and knobs and bridge between string changes. Had a lot of crud build up because I prefer playing over cleaning.

 

[The_Owl]

Today was a good day.

 

[spiritbass]

Hopefully, today will be a new pick guard and fresh string day for my NG.

 

[The_Owl]

So the string change was really what made the playability. Less tension, and now the bass practically plays itself. Amazing. I'll have some clips shortly.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Thanks for all the suggestions @been_effected ! I’m compiling playlists to listen to while doing stuff around the house.

It’s too bad we can’t have a sticky within a thread, it’d be nice to have a section dedicated to Dingwall owner’s bands.

Here’s the aftermath of new string day!
View attachment 3094273
The clamp was for keeping the ball ends from going rogue. Just nudge the edge of the rubber bit against the butt end of the bridge once you’ve fed the string in and the ball cant escape, but it’s free to rotate.

I’m sure someone with the skills could model and 3D print a little tool that would slip around the bridge and keep an entire set of strings from going all over, sure would make stringing up quicker.

Next time I’m online shopping, I’m buying one of those little mini vacuums for cleaning computer keyboards to clean all the dust off the pickups and knobs and bridge between string changes. Had a lot of crud build up because I prefer playing over cleaning.

I see I am not the only one who hates an open-style bridge. I tend to just hold the strings tight to keep them in place but I might try the clamp technique in the future.

 

[The_Owl]

Also, mandatory Luminlay pic.

 

[spiritbass]

Hmm... the open bridge is not a problem for me - I love the ease of string changing. I wind the string onto the post until I can slip the ball end into the bridge, then keep tension on the string with my right hand while winding the key with my left.