Yeah, I may just have to wait till I can afford it without letting another bass go.
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Dingwall Owners Club
- Thread starter FroggyOne2
- Start date
I got a used Z1 for $2500...
I'm considering flipping my Sklar to acquire a Dingwall 6 string while I wait impatiently for my AB1 to be built this summer.
If it were Candy Tangerine it would be unlikely that I'd ever let it go.
I went almost a week without Talkbass!
What’s the first thing I do? Check the classifieds for Dingwalls! Of course! Old habits are hard to break.
For Sale - My collection: Musicman, Dingwall, Fender, Aria, Lakland, Spector
Dbird for sale. Not mine, but the same color shift blue purple. A rare bird. Did we ever come up with a number for how many Dbirds made it out into the wild?
What’s the first thing I do? Check the classifieds for Dingwalls! Of course! Old habits are hard to break.
For Sale - My collection: Musicman, Dingwall, Fender, Aria, Lakland, Spector
Dbird for sale. Not mine, but the same color shift blue purple. A rare bird. Did we ever come up with a number for how many Dbirds made it out into the wild?
As a diehard Dingwall guy. I’ve come back full circle to appreciate some variety. My be all end all bass is a dingwall but I’m really enjoying alternatives and ultimately Spector has taken a distinct second place for me.
My opinion, ditch the Biden, from every vid I’ve seen of them their tone is lacking despite any other playability and feel factors..... I mean they have a sound and if you like it that’s great. Same for dingwalls but I think you’ll find the dingwall to be vastly superior in tonal abilities.
That’s said the Sadowsky offers you a distinctly different option and so I would keep that instead.
Be warned though that the Chinese basses often act as a gateway drug into the Canadian models so warn your wallet now.
gratuitous family photo. Some may come and go but Galactus is #1.
Haha, so true! I was actually looking into the Canadian models. What I REALLY want is a Z3. Then I asked what the lead times are...18 months! . Yeah, no. Not right now. And not exactly cheap either.
I've made up my mind that I'll be picking up the NG3-6 as soon as my annual bonus hits here soon. If I like it enough, and decide the 6-er is for me, I'll put in an order for the Z3-6 and keep the NG3 around for the waiting period.
Also, not sure you have enough basses.
I thought I was bad with my 6 basses...
Billy from the shop told me around 100 D-Bird Standards made it into the wild
My brain finally processed what you wrote when you said Biden. I was like, what does the US pres have to do with basses? Lol. Just woke up...
Dude, that's so tough. I'm in love with the look and feel and most everything about the Boden, with 2 caveats: 1) the B string lacks the same attack as the other strings, it's rather unbalanced to be honest. Which is odd since my 34" Sadowsky achieves this balance just fine. 2) overall the bass has a very warm character. While that's great in many scenarios, it's not great for what I wanted to use it for, e.g. my metal bass. It takes a lot of EQ to make it work (especially that B!), and that's mostly dialing in a ton of 3k hi-mids. If the strings aren't brand new, there's not enough high-mid juice in the onboard pre to get the metal clank I'm looking for. Still, I can make it work well enough.
I wish Strandberg would make a longer scale length bass, and solid body. I think that would be the ultimate ticket right there. That EndurNeck is to die for. Everything else feels vintage or old skool in comparison. I'd sell my Sadowsky in a heartbeat before my Boden despite the imperfections. You can always find another Super-J bass. There's nothing else out there quite like the Boden.
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TB went down soon after my Z3 arrived from Et. This bass is AMAZING! I do believe I've found my holy grail 5-string bass. I've said this several times in the past, but THIS time I really mean it.
The funny thing is that before receiving the Z3, I read on here that many of you exclusively play your Dingwalls in passive mode. I scoffed at that (for myself) as I'm an active guy all the way. However, at least with the Z3 (which has a DG pre) I'm really digging the passive tone - so much so that I think I prefer it over the active tone (at least with this pre). Also, I'm amazed by how many different tones you can get with this bass! When using the parallel/series switches and the pickup selector, I can get a pretty respectable P, J and active modern bass sound. The only other bass I've played that had close to this level of tonal possibilities was my Alembic Elan 5.
Anyway, that's about it on my end. GAS is still gone even though TB is back up!
The funny thing is that before receiving the Z3, I read on here that many of you exclusively play your Dingwalls in passive mode. I scoffed at that (for myself) as I'm an active guy all the way. However, at least with the Z3 (which has a DG pre) I'm really digging the passive tone - so much so that I think I prefer it over the active tone (at least with this pre). Also, I'm amazed by how many different tones you can get with this bass! When using the parallel/series switches and the pickup selector, I can get a pretty respectable P, J and active modern bass sound. The only other bass I've played that had close to this level of tonal possibilities was my Alembic Elan 5.
Anyway, that's about it on my end. GAS is still gone even though TB is back up!
Would someone be able to tell me what is going on here? My Combustion is 6 full months old, bought her brand new. In the one pic, why is the right corners of the pickups a glossy black and the rest of the top surface is not? It is not from buffing or cleaning either. In the neck pic, I thought it was dirt at first, thus I asked how to clean it, safely and effectivly, and I did just that. It is not dirt and not a reflection, it is just a differnet color at the 3rd and 5th frets only, the most busy part I guess. Also, I can see imprints of the strings embedded in the 3rd and 5th wood parts of the neck. They wont come out. This is my first ever maple color neck, which is what I wanted for sure, but does this happen on dark colored fretboards as well and I just dont see it?
Attachments
Awesome! I would love to hear more about the difference between passive and the DG pre. What do you not like about the DG pre? I've heard nothing but good things about how versatile it is.TB went down soon after my Z3 arrived from Et. This bass is AMAZING! I do believe I've found my holy grail 5-string bass. I've said this several times in the past, but THIS time I really mean it.
The funny thing is that before receiving the Z3, I read on here that many of you exclusively play your Dingwalls in passive mode. I scoffed at that (for myself) as I'm an active guy all the way. However, at least with the Z3 (which has a DG pre) I'm really digging the passive tone - so much so that I think I prefer it over the active tone (at least with this pre). Also, I'm amazed by how many different tones you can get with this bass! When using the parallel/series switches and the pickup selector, I can get a pretty respectable P, J and active modern bass sound. The only other bass I've played that had close to this level of tonal possibilities was my Alembic Elan 5.
Anyway, that's about it on my end. GAS is still gone even though TB is back up!
View attachment 4229003
It's not that I don't like the DG, pre, but I have to say that it's has a bit of an odd tone to it in comparison to the passive tone. "Odd" is probably the wrong word as it does sound good, but it's just that the passive tone sounds so much better in comparison. I'm not a huge fan of DarkGlass preamps (I had one in a Spector before and wasn't a fan). So, anyway, the only thing I may change w/ the Z3 at some point is the pre. Curious what other preamps people use in their Dingwalls.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Haha, so true! I was actually looking into the Canadian models. What I REALLY want is a Z3. Then I asked what the lead times are...18 months! . Yeah, no. Not right now. And not exactly cheap either.
I've made up my mind that I'll be picking up the NG3-6 as soon as my annual bonus hits here soon. If I like it enough, and decide the 6-er is for me, I'll put in an order for the Z3-6 and keep the NG3 around for the waiting period.
Also, not sure you have enough basses.
If you're strapped...18 months is a good thing. Deposit the part up front and 18 months is a good amount of time to accumulate the rest.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
I would guess that the pickup shell is getting "glossy" where you've been in most contact with it while playing...you've polished it with your hand and skin oils, pick or whatever. are you using a pick and laying the side of your hand across the strings/pickup there? I'd refer questions on the fretboard to Dingwall. String imprints are from fretting the strings into the maple hard...it's denting the wood/finish. I don't do that anymore but definitely have when I played harder in the past. It happens on rosewood boards too, but often blends in. I can't see what's really going on with the neck, whether that's wear or fading or staining or just the light in the picture. Again, probably a shop question.
On my lovely Z2 I still haven't been able to figure out the combinations for the controls.
Yes, I found the schematics (which interestingly aren't included at Z2 Pickup & Control - mine has three toggle switches for s/p neck, s/p bridge, and 220/500Hz mid freq).
What I am missing is an "Idiots guide to tones" for a Dingwall Z2 with FD-3 & Glockenklang 3-band EQ.
I hear people talk about "getting a P sound" or a "J sound" or... references to other bases like MM... but what does that mean? How do I get these sounds, when would I want those?
Sure, one answer is "play around and use what you like", but I wonder if there is a more structured writeup somewhere...
Yes, I found the schematics (which interestingly aren't included at Z2 Pickup & Control - mine has three toggle switches for s/p neck, s/p bridge, and 220/500Hz mid freq).
What I am missing is an "Idiots guide to tones" for a Dingwall Z2 with FD-3 & Glockenklang 3-band EQ.
I hear people talk about "getting a P sound" or a "J sound" or... references to other bases like MM... but what does that mean? How do I get these sounds, when would I want those?
Sure, one answer is "play around and use what you like", but I wonder if there is a more structured writeup somewhere...
I have never touched those pickups and never cleaned them, ever, untill I took the pickguard off the other day to make way for a pickguard I had made (NG2 style). I play with a pick 100% of the time and I dont even hardly every play the G sting, which is over those far outside corners of the pickup. Nothing goes near them. The string imprints are understandable on a light color wood finish I guess (as its my first), the strings are like a fine thread screw always rubbing into the wood. Cellphone cameras are really, really good. I just dont get what the orangeish colors are at the 3rd and 5th and extending into the 2nd. Its only there, the rest of the neck is pristine.
You can reach out to a Dingwall dealer or Dingwall themselves for pricing. It was $200 Canadian last I checked, they give you a third pickup, a new pickguard, and a new 6-way rotary which is built for their 3 pickup configuration. On your combustion it should change the Bridge/Neck Series setting to be Bridge/Middle series and everything else would be the same.
Usually it's because the "sound" of a type of bass often has to do with the pickup placement and wiring. A P-bass is a split-coil closer to the neck in series for boosted low mids. A jazz bass is a bridge and neck pickup wired in parallel to blend between. A musicman is a bridge humbucker usually wired in parallel but sometimes switchable to series.
So when thinking about a 3x dingwall with 3 pickups in a row, you can cop some of those combinations.
Bridge solo, Middle solo, and Neck solo are just pickup sounds at those positions. Not unlike a Jazz with pickups there. But their pickups are all split coils too, so you can go series/parallel inside the pickup. Neck only or middle only in series might get you more like your P bass tone.
Neck and Bridge in parallel is like your Jazz configuration, since that's what the blend sound of a J-bass is like.
Bridge and middle in parallel is closer to the two parallel coils of a Musicman, and series is more like a MM pickup in series (purely based on placement and wiring).
And if you have series/parallel switches on all three pickups you can vary those too.
But so basically:
Bridge/Neck parallel - Jazz bass pickup arrangement
Bridge middle parallel/series - MM pickup arrangement (usually parallel, but some were switchable.
Then the individual pickups might have placements similar to other basses, like Jazz Bridge or neck for bridge or neck, P-bass placement is somewhere in there. Middle might be like the neck on a warwick thumb, etc.
