Sounds good to me, try the Payson RC, if you don't, you will never know how good they can sound.
Good luck with your quest.
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Dingwall Owners Club
- Thread starter FroggyOne2
- Start date
Good luck with your quest.
Perhaps a pedal like the new DG Harmonic booster could help you add what your looking for in your signal chain without getting to deep into modifications?
It sounds good and cool track btw
None, I have a darkglass vintage ultra but I havent managed to get a good sound with it. I loved it with my super J though.
Hmm ok.
Did you ever get a sound which was good enough going direct into your soundcard ?
I'm asking because as much as the converters on cheap cards are usually ok, their di and preamp sections are usually a catastrophe.
No idea whether your vintage ultra would be better unfortunately, I only know the b7k from darkglass and I'm not very satisfied with mine.
Did you ever get a sound which was good enough going direct into your soundcard ?
I'm asking because as much as the converters on cheap cards are usually ok, their di and preamp sections are usually a catastrophe.
No idea whether your vintage ultra would be better unfortunately, I only know the b7k from darkglass and I'm not very satisfied with mine.
IvanBassist
Commercial User
- Jun 8, 2008
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Sounds like a solid clean tone to me. What is missing for you there? Were there other instruments that had that?
One thing i noticed, and I don’t mean to criticize your playing, specially knowing you recorded the track very quickly so you can get feedback here...but the performance sounds rather flat. Pretty much like a midi bass. Maybe digging in some more, adding more slides/hammer ons, pull offs to some part could bring that aggression that you’re looking for.
Again, i mean no harm. Just something that I noticed that kinda plays a role on how we hear tone.
Could be part of it, I have been on a quest to simplify my playing lately and maybie taking it a bit to far. It is hard to describe what I am missing, but perhaps some growl in lower register. When I dig in on the d and g strings the bass starts screaming a bit, If i dig in on the e and b strings it gets louder but not harscher, the a string is somewhere between I think.
IvanBassist
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You could try what Jakob does here. He’s not digging in that much, but sort of “bouncing” the string against the frets. Similar to playing slap bass, but with fingerstyle playing
try some Dingwall or Payson SS strings. It’s a cheaper route to explore.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
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The OBP-1 is a pretty polite sounding preamp. That's what I have in my Z, and my other Dingwalls definitely have bit more 'character'. Have you tried the bass in passive mode (you lose your EQ but also the 'evening' that the OBP presents? Also, I think that nickel round Dingwalls are a bit 'smoother' than the stainless steel ones.
I do agree that getting a bit of aggression into the playing can emphasize the snarl you may be looking for
but to get back to where you started with this, aside from strings, pick ups and a pre amp internal or external are your next step IMO.
another factor though could be potentially checking your pick up heights?
I concur. The SS strings that were originally on my NG3 were too aggressive for my tastes, so the original owner let me try his Dingwall nickels and Payson RCs. I know, right? What a standup guy! Nickels were the most tame, the RCs in between. So, if you want aggressive...SS strings, IMHO.
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I do love this tone. Would love to see his signal chain and hear the unprocessed and processed tracks.
That tone is UBER-fabulous! I feel like it would work in, almost, any genre. I’m fairly certain that he’s using the Neural DSP plugin, probably Parallax. I left a comment on that YT vid and asked how they got that tone. No reply. Probably because it’s a Dingwall vid and not a Neural DSP or Darkglass vid. As soon as I finish paying for this last bass, I’m getting a new MacBook, downloading the Neural DSP Parallax plugin, and spending the rest of my days trying to replicate dem toanz! At least I’ve got Dingwall basses, so I’m part of the way there already...
To me, the tone and the sound you are looking for is right at your fingertips! If you want to get a more aggressive sound, all you need to do is play more aggressively. Don't hit the strings HARDER, hit them FASTER and let your fingers play through the strings. You want the strings to get some bounce off the frets, bit only slightly.
Understanding that none of this is personal - to echo what someone else said your playing in that clip was far too polite and uninspired if what you want is aggression. You've got to put some more emotion and energy into your playing to get to where you want to go.
As far as how to find that sound, I'd recommend sitting down with you bass on a simple open or fretted note and playing with your right hand technique. You want to focus on hitting the strings fast with your fingertips. Let your fingers play through the strings - don't rake across the strings.
Oooooo yaaaaa!
They’re nice, very different feel. I’d say they sound closer to the RCs to than to the Dingwall nickels or the Payson SS (the only other 2 strings I tried). Not the same as the RCs, though. Definitely a coated/contained vibe, making them a half step mellower / less aggressive (kinda sorta more toward the Dingwall nickels). They’re maybe a bit grabbier, too, but not as rough. I had RCs on before and barely had to touch the intonation.
I’ve only played with them live once and that was through IEMs/FOH, not my own cab, so see how they grow on me. Right now I’d say I’d probably go back to the RCs when these need replacing, though. I think I’ll be playing through my own cab this weekend at the cover band rehearsal, though (and I just got a TC RS210 to stack on my RS212!).
The best part is how they look, haha (picture not doing justice, typical). The only issue is my minor OCD around where the coating comes off and the nickel shows through. Then coloring it in with a sharpie and having to wait for it to dry before I can play. Nothing worse than sitting with a Dingwall you have to wait play. Well, maybe a few things are worse, but watching paint dry has definetly never, ever been this agonizing.
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I noticed that you "liked" the Spector clip earlier in this thread - and that bass was showing off a LOT of metallic grind.
Then I listened to your clip, and I feel like you're wanting more fret buzz and boosted high-end.
So if you're comfortable doing your own setups, I would recommend decreasing the amount of relief in your neck and dropping your bridge saddles.
To paraphrase John Entwistle: you're not looking to eliminate fret buzz, you're looking to make them all buzz evenly.
Once you get the bass set up that way, it'll play more easily, and be sensitive to playing dynamics.
Then boost your treble pot a bit to bring that brighter range into focus.
Once you have a good signal coming out of your bass, you might want to look into different overdrive pedals - they are an incredibly personal choice.
I had to build (and rebuild, and modify) my own pedals to find a dirt tone that responded to my playing in a way that suited my ears.
I think I've built about a dozen overdrives (and bought/sold roughly double that) to end up with the 2 that are on my board.
IvanBassist
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