Dingwall Owners Club

[smeet]

I recently got the gold in a 6'er... I love the color. Debating which Neck Illusions stickers to try out..

Regarding passive tone and a different preamp flavor - if you can live without a mid knob, the Nordstrand 2B preamp is a great choice. One of my NG3's has Super Fatty 2 pickups + Nordy 2B and I have that bass wired up vol-rotary-passive tone-bass-treble. No drilling, all 5 holes are used. You may need to enlarge the holes slightly but thats easy with a slow hand and a reamer.

I just ordered the Neck Illusions MultiScale Gloss Black Pearl block stickers.

I'm going to have to take some time to think about preamps and other controls. There are so many options: 6-way selector, DGTC vs Nordstrand 3B (need that mid!) vs the flat-response East UniPre (sweepable mids).

 

[tombowlus]

I noticed that one has one of the Roasted Ash necks, does anyone have any experience with the new Roasted Ash neck offering vs. Wenge?

My latest ABI has a roasted ash neck (the first one "out in the wild"!), and while it is hard to compare to wenge, tonally, without an identical bass (with a wenge neck), having owned many wenge-necked basses in the past, I would say that the roasted ash appears to be a bit more clear and "open," whereas the wenge has a bit more higher mid push/punch. It does not seem as aggressive or as thin as some other non-roasted ash necks I have tried, but again, it's hard to really pull out just what one piece of the puzzle is contributing without comparing to otherwise identical instruments.

Feel-wise, it feels more like maple than wenge, and it seems to be a very stiff neck. I love mine!

 

[J Posega]

I just ordered the Neck Illusions MultiScale Gloss Black Pearl block stickers.

I'm going to have to take some time to think about preamps and other controls. There are so many options: 6-way selector, DGTC vs Nordstrand 3B (need that mid!) vs the flat-response East UniPre (sweepable mids).

You can add a passive tone control that works with the Darkglass Tone Capsule, @gustobassman has done it with a stacked volume/tone pot. And you can mess with the series/parallel wiring of each pickup really easily thanks to the rotary having screw terminals.

If I had a 3x, I'd probably have it modded for a Free-way 10-position blade switch. Easier to see where the selector is without using an ugly knob on a 6-way rotary selector.

 

[gustobassman]

I just ordered the Neck Illusions MultiScale Gloss Black Pearl block stickers.

That was on my list too, lol... I really like the Black/Olive Swirl, thought that might work with gold. Then I had the wild idea of getting a set of the red perloid and the green perloid and doing an alternating pattern. Not sure yet..

 

[AmazingMumford]

My latest ABI has a roasted ash neck (the first one "out in the wild"!)...the roasted ash appears to be a bit more clear and "open,"...I love mine!

Based on Tom's positive comments from when he first got his ABI, this ABII's going to have a roasted ash neck to lean a bit toward an "open," "airy," "sweet," and "singing" tone--whatever those might mean (hence the ABII, swamp ash, FDVs, and Glockenklang). We shall see fairly soon....

P.S. I do note with some sadness that my 2014 Z2 is no longer in the Gallery following the website rework. Good run, though!

 

[smeet]

If I had a 3x, I'd probably have it modded for a Free-way 10-position blade switch.

I just looked at the 10-position blade switch, and it looks really cool. I like the way it is organized into 2 banks of 5 positions. Do you know anybody that has used this switch with an active bass (or anything other than a Strat)?

 

[J Posega]

I just looked at the 10-position blade switch, and it looks really cool. I like the way it is organized into 2 banks of 5 positions. Do you know anybody that has used this switch with an active bass (or anything other than a Strat)?

No, but as far as I'm are that shouldn't have any impact on using the switch in an active bass. You're just replacing the rotary switch, which is the first thing your pickups connect to.

Technically, I used the switch on a non-Strat... but it was a Bass VI style instrument that had 3 single coils and a 5-position blade switch, so it was also technically the same as a Strat (with only 1 volume and 1 tone knob). It's really easy to tell which position the Free-way is set to. Unless you're a skilled router-er, I would have a professional do the install; I need to Dremel the control cavity on that instrument in order for the switch to fit.

I just ordered a 6-position toggle for my custom Bass VI with 2 P90s to get some series and out-of-phase sounds from it. I'd probably never go for a 6-position rotary selector because I'd need what would likely be a really ugly indicator involved so I could tell what position I was in on-the-fly.

 

[alembicbones]

I am a very lucky person to own many amazing basses. They all have a story and are part of me as a bass player. For example, my Alembic is monster, both tonally, visually and weight wise. More and more, though, I'm finding that my two Dingwalls are me right now. Both my NG-3 and ABI are such flexible and amazing instruments. Live they sound great. In the studio they record like a dream. I'm so happy I tried one those many years ago and made the plunge.

Bones

 

[Applejacks]

Since we’re on the topic of 6 way switches….. anyone know where I can get the wiring info to do this setup? I have the switch already just need the diagram. Thanks!!

 

[silky smoove]

Since we’re on the topic of 6 way switches….. anyone know where I can get the wiring info to do this setup? I have the switch already just need the diagram. Thanks!!

Did you buy it from Mo? He includes a wiring diagram.

 

[Applejacks]

Did you buy it from Mo? He includes a wiring diagram.

No I didn’t. I ordered 2 switches about 3-4 years ago and never got around to installing them.

 

[AB Nate]

No I didn’t. I ordered 2 switches about 3-4 years ago and never got around to installing them.

I’d see if Mo can help.
Fwiw he reached out to me not long ago to confirm he does do these switches for FN and can do them as a 3,4,5,6 position set up.

 

[smeet]

No, but as far as I'm are that shouldn't have any impact on using the switch in an active bass. You're just replacing the rotary switch, which is the first thing your pickups connect to.

Technically, I used the switch on a non-Strat... but it was a Bass VI style instrument that had 3 single coils and a 5-position blade switch, so it was also technically the same as a Strat (with only 1 volume and 1 tone knob). It's really easy to tell which position the Free-way is set to. Unless you're a skilled router-er, I would have a professional do the install; I need to Dremel the control cavity on that instrument in order for the switch to fit.

I just ordered a 6-position toggle for my custom Bass VI with 2 P90s to get some series and out-of-phase sounds from it. I'd probably never go for a 6-position rotary selector because I'd need what would likely be a really ugly indicator involved so I could tell what position I was in on-the-fly.

Unfortunately, it's not a general-purpose switch, it has internal wiring for the specific strat settings.
I emailed the company and here is what they said:

In order for the 5B5-01 to be compact enough to fit into a Strat Body, we needed to limit the overall size and hence the number of terminals. Therefore, the 5B5-01 is internally configured to do most of the pickup combinations it creates.

Having said that, there is no reason why you couldn't use this with the three pickups of the Dingwall Bass, just that you would have the 10 pickup combinations which are determined by the Free-Way itself, namely:-

I wonder if that set of 10 combinations would work well for a 3 pickup Dingwall.

 

[IronSpatula]

I wonder if that set of 10 combinations would work well for a 3 pickup Dingwall.

I would say yes. Other than the "all three" setting being all in parallel instead of a mixture of parallel and series, those 10 combinations include all the D-Roc and 3x settings as well as the combos people are getting by swapping leads to the Dingwall switches.

I think it could be a cool mod but probably invasive to install. Could be a retrofit for one of the rare "switchblade" basses, potentially...

 

[groovaholic]

I think it just has to make sense to you and how YOU use the bass.

My bass has a unique control scheme, but to me it’s simple and quickly delivers the sounds I want from the bass.

 

[Waltsdog]

I wonder if that set of 10 combinations would work well for a 3 pickup Dingwall.

Seems like it would be way less hassle to add 1 extra hole and go 3 volume knobs with series/parallel switches rather than the major surgery that the a strat type switch would require (personal opinion: a strat style switch looks a bit cheap and nasty anyway, sorry switchblade owners)

 

[smeet]

Seems like it would be way less hassle to add 1 extra hole and go 3 volume knobs with series/parallel switches rather than the major surgery that the a strat type switch would require (personal opinion: a strat style switch looks a bit cheap and nasty anyway, sorry switchblade owners)

That’s a good point. Maybe 3 3-way switches, series/parallel/mute for each pickup. And then a series/parallel switch that would take all three pickups from series to parallel. That might be cool, it would be easy to see what the current setting was. Of course I wouldn’t be able to get the all 3 setting, but maybe that’s ok.

 

[Jason Bonilla]

Anyone have any idea how to date a Canadian Dingwall from the serial number?

 

[Waltsdog]

Email Dingwall and ask when it was made is the only answers. You can guess within a year or so depending on the number but not that accurately

 

[ElderBass]

Hi guys and gals, is there a large difference between the dark glass tone capsule and the
Emg pre in the combustion?
Will it make a big difference?
Thanks again in advance .