• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Dingwall Owners Club

#40,743
LowEndLobster said:
Wow!.... WOW! That little tube module thing is SICK as is that bass. That's some craziness right there! I supremely dig it.
Click to expand...

That's my 'project' Dingwall fretless. It was a used Combustion I bought cheap locally from a friend. It sat unused for a year or so until I decided it should be a fretless. It sounded great fretless but I wasn't happy with the fingerboard work on it. The other thing is that it acoustically sounded wonderful but wasn't actualizing that amplified...to get closer to what I was hearing, I did a few things...

-Darkglass Tone Capsule, since I thought the EQ points made more sense for fretless.
-Moved the pickups back into the Z2/NG2 position.

...that helps but...since was sending the bass to Mo to rip out the inlay, re-luminlay the neck and finish it we'd do some other things.

-Piezo bridge pieces
-Piezo preamp that piggybacked off of the same 18v power supply
-3 position switch that gives DG-TC, Piezo, or both.
-Toggle that acts as a master on/off for the preamps
-push/pull for the DGTC preamp passive/active
-push/pull for the piezo preamp for a tone-profile shift
-stacked the highmid/lowmid on the DGTC

That way we didn't need to put in any more knobs and the layout only added a single toggle.

IMG_0789.jpg


IMG_9661.jpg



...the tube preamp is a cool little kit. the board/components are about 15-20 bucks. the case costs another 12 and the power supply is another 15 bucks or so. It actually sounds surprisingly good. I'm using it on a stereo to fuss up my digital input for mp3 and streaming music...sound nicer than it should.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9661.jpg
    IMG_9661.jpg
    167 KB · Views: 20
  • Like
Reactions: gearhound22, AB Nate, Element Zero and 4 others
#40,744
dirkhh said:
For those interested in the history... I got some feedback from the Dingwall team (including directly from Sheldon) and have updated the Dingwall Wiki quite a bit - especially for the first decade. Always happy to see additional contributions (ideally with source).
Click to expand...

Looks good. Gave it a quick peep. one quick correction, on the AB you've got the shift to 5pc neck as 2008...it's earlier than that. Maybe 2003/2004? My 2005 was a 5pc and it had been a feature for a good while before that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dirkhh
#40,745
BurningSkies said:
Looks good. Gave it a quick peep. one quick correction, on the AB you've got the shift to 5pc neck as 2008...it's earlier than that. Maybe 2003/2004? My 2005 was a 5pc and it had been a feature for a good while before that.
Click to expand...
Happy to correct that. Almost everything that I have there starting in 2000 is based on website snapshots in the WayBack Machine... the first few paragraphs before that are extracted from posts and emails from Sheldon et al.
 
  • Like
Reactions: J R Knots and BurningSkies
#40,748
LowEndLobster said:
View attachment 4181093

And we're done! I'm by no means at the cable management level of the Marvelous Mo, but she's fully functional! Full setup recap:

John East MMSR 3 band stingray preamp
John East Passive Tone Control add-on
6-way rotary switch

Pickup configs going from back to front-
Bridge
Bridge+Mid Parallel
Bridge+Mid Series
Bridge+Neck Parallel
Neck
The triple pickup d-roc combo

VERY happy with the final result. This might just be my favorite bass now..... It can do it ALL! Between the flexibility of the east preamp and the 6 way rotary switch, this thing can PARTY!
Click to expand...

I've been trying to work out how to wire up my Combustion 3X since I got the upgrade kit - so many options!
 
#40,752
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: AB Nate and DingwallDingus
#40,755
BurningSkies said:
That's my 'project' Dingwall fretless. It was a used Combustion I bought cheap locally from a friend. It sat unused for a year or so until I decided it should be a fretless. It sounded great fretless but I wasn't happy with the fingerboard work on it. The other thing is that it acoustically sounded wonderful but wasn't actualizing that amplified...to get closer to what I was hearing, I did a few things...

-Darkglass Tone Capsule, since I thought the EQ points made more sense for fretless.
-Moved the pickups back into the Z2/NG2 position.

...that helps but...since was sending the bass to Mo to rip out the inlay, re-luminlay the neck and finish it we'd do some other things.

-Piezo bridge pieces
-Piezo preamp that piggybacked off of the same 18v power supply
-3 position switch that gives DG-TC, Piezo, or both.
-Toggle that acts as a master on/off for the preamps
-push/pull for the DGTC preamp passive/active
-push/pull for the piezo preamp for a tone-profile shift
-stacked the highmid/lowmid on the DGTC

That way we didn't need to put in any more knobs and the layout only added a single toggle.

View attachment 4181480

View attachment 4181482


...the tube preamp is a cool little kit. the board/components are about 15-20 bucks. the case costs another 12 and the power supply is another 15 bucks or so. It actually sounds surprisingly good. I'm using it on a stereo to fuss up my digital input for mp3 and streaming music...sound nicer than it should.
Click to expand...

Looks awesome! Where did you get the piezo bridge saddles?
 
#40,756
gearhound22 said:
Looks awesome! Where did you get the piezo bridge saddles?
Click to expand...

The piezo saddles are from Graphtech. Out of default because they ostensibly are drop-in for ABM bridges. Note that you can't just 'drop them in' though and the bridge carriages, the bridge brackets and the base plates & shims all needed a good amount of modification. Even the wiring trusses for the piezo pieces needed to be modified to work.

The preamp that is in it is also the Graphtech bass preamp, which I have some mixed feelings on. The basic setup is for a volume and a switch that has two different tone settings, one that's big and deep the other that's quite bright. Were I to do it again I'd look at a few other options for the preamp and find something that has a couple bands of EQ...but then, I didn't want to add knobs and pots to the bass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gearhound22
#40,759
BurningSkies said:
That's my 'project' Dingwall fretless. It was a used Combustion I bought cheap locally from a friend. It sat unused for a year or so until I decided it should be a fretless. It sounded great fretless but I wasn't happy with the fingerboard work on it. The other thing is that it acoustically sounded wonderful but wasn't actualizing that amplified...to get closer to what I was hearing, I did a few things...

-Darkglass Tone Capsule, since I thought the EQ points made more sense for fretless.
-Moved the pickups back into the Z2/NG2 position.

...that helps but...since was sending the bass to Mo to rip out the inlay, re-luminlay the neck and finish it we'd do some other things.

-Piezo bridge pieces
-Piezo preamp that piggybacked off of the same 18v power supply
-3 position switch that gives DG-TC, Piezo, or both.
-Toggle that acts as a master on/off for the preamps
-push/pull for the DGTC preamp passive/active
-push/pull for the piezo preamp for a tone-profile shift
-stacked the highmid/lowmid on the DGTC

That way we didn't need to put in any more knobs and the layout only added a single toggle.

View attachment 4181480

View attachment 4181482


...the tube preamp is a cool little kit. the board/components are about 15-20 bucks. the case costs another 12 and the power supply is another 15 bucks or so. It actually sounds surprisingly good. I'm using it on a stereo to fuss up my digital input for mp3 and streaming music...sound nicer than it should.
Click to expand...

Love the luminlay lines...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Andyman001
#40,760
NaH said:
Love the luminlay lines...
Click to expand...

I'm definitely a fan of lines on multi-scale...Full luminlay is totally over the top, but in a good way.

I'm not finding a problem with the shrinkage/expansion seasonal changes situation that I know can be a problem with many lined fretless basses with this one. It may be because the material is plastic and not prone to movement but also because the neck has been completely refinished...the fingerboard is coated with a good layer of some kind of very tough poly (satin) and the back of the neck was also sanded/refinished in the same. The hasn't had any seam-sprout that my others have either...completely smooth. Another thing I notice, is that the the grain on the center piece of the neck blank appears to be quarter sawn while the others are flat...so that may be adding to overall stability.
 
  • Like
Reactions: J R Knots

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back