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Dingwall Owners Club

#50,781
Katoosie said:
Since the thread is quiet and I am absolutely bored out of my mind and still at work, let me poison our collective dingwall minds about the body shapes of the walls' I've been considering and one specific issue that I have dealt with.

So, being a woman and having breasts means that some basses with sizeable bodies can cause some discomfort while playing seated and having the bass on one of your legs. There are ways to remedy this by playing cross-legged or in the classical position with the bass in between your legs, but that's a workaround.

Now, the DROC shape is so good for us ladies because it is not only thin on the entire body but also because the cutaway on the top of the body is very sizeable.

View attachment 4871305
So, you rest the bass on your leg and the cutaway goes directly under the boob and everything is right in the world. Btw Mr @Sheldon D. was this something that you have actively considered during the multi year design process of the shape of this model or was this a happy accident for the fairer sex? I'd love to know... if you have the time to answer this question, that is.

Anyway, all this brings me to my point since I am considering buying a canadian wall' and deciding between the ABI/ABII/Super J or the Lee Sklar sig.

The super J seems the smallest in this regard and if anyone could shed some light on this, I would love to hear about it. Maybe you got some experience with the aftermentioned models?

I get that this is kinda weird but hey - we all got bodies and we gotta interact with the basses somehow, so I think this is a very valid point to have.

Thanks for listening to my Ted talk.
:D

@edit
Typos, sorry. 24hr shifts...
Click to expand...

For your comparison:
Non-Bass Instrument (ignore)/AB2Fretless-5/SPJ-4/AB2-5/Sklar-5/AB1-5

I would agree with @Waltsdog that the ABs may be your best bet just based on a fast glance at these.

DingwallFamilySmall.jpg
 
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#50,782
I love my ABII and have been wanting to get a backup. The B string is the best I’ve tried. I like the looks of the super J, but I’m wondering how much the shorter scale length would change the timbre, particularly in the B. I’ve been talking with a Dingwall dealer, but I can’t decide between the two.
 
#50,783
Laklandfan said:
I love my ABII and have been wanting to get a backup. The B string is the best I’ve tried. I like the looks of the super J, but I’m wondering how much the shorter scale length would change the timbre, particularly in the B. I’ve been talking with a Dingwall dealer, but I can’t decide between the two.
Click to expand...

The B-string on a SuperJ5 is in character with the rest of the bass, which is more traditional. It is good, but it's hard to compete with the extra long scale models in richness and clarity.
 
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#50,784
Katoosie said:
Since the thread is quiet and I am absolutely bored out of my mind and still at work, let me poison our collective dingwall minds about the body shapes of the walls' I've been considering and one specific issue that I have dealt with.

So, being a woman and having breasts means that some basses with sizeable bodies can cause some discomfort while playing seated and having the bass on one of your legs. There are ways to remedy this by playing cross-legged or in the classical position with the bass in between your legs, but that's a workaround.

Now, the DROC shape is so good for us ladies because it is not only thin on the entire body but also because the cutaway on the top of the body is very sizeable.

View attachment 4871305
So, you rest the bass on your leg and the cutaway goes directly under the boob and everything is right in the world. Btw Mr @Sheldon D. was this something that you have actively considered during the multi year design process of the shape of this model or was this a happy accident for the fairer sex? I'd love to know... if you have the time to answer this question, that is.

Anyway, all this brings me to my point since I am considering buying a canadian wall' and deciding between the ABI/ABII/Super J or the Lee Sklar sig.

The super J seems the smallest in this regard and if anyone could shed some light on this, I would love to hear about it. Maybe you got some experience with the aftermentioned models?

I get that this is kinda weird but hey - we all got bodies and we gotta interact with the basses somehow, so I think this is a very valid point to have.

Thanks for listening to my Ted talk.
:D

@edit
Typos, sorry. 24hr shifts...
Click to expand...

Have you considered a Canadian D-Roc? Or did you want a different flavor?
 
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#50,785
Laklandfan said:
I love my ABII and have been wanting to get a backup. The B string is the best I’ve tried. I like the looks of the super J, but I’m wondering how much the shorter scale length would change the timbre, particularly in the B. I’ve been talking with a Dingwall dealer, but I can’t decide between the two.
Click to expand...

I found the Super J low B to be decent at the string tension I like, but it wasn't quite the "piano tone" I wanted, and it had just a hint of the wubba-wubba (not a standard TB term) that plagued the B on my old 34" Ibanez way back in '87. The SJ got converted to a glorious E-C, and my Z2 covers the low B, "as it was meant to be." Many like the 35" low B with the right strings, however, so YMMV.
 
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#50,786
AmazingMumford said:
I found the Super J low B to be decent at the string tension I like, but it wasn't quite the "piano tone" I wanted, and it had just a hint of the wubba-wubba (not a standard TB term) that plagued the B on my old 34" Ibanez way back in '87. The SJ got converted to a glorious E-C, and my Z2 covers the low B, "as it was meant to be." Many like the 35" low B with the right strings, however, so YMMV.
Click to expand...
Smallmouth_Bass said:
The B-string on a SuperJ5 is in character with the rest of the bass, which is more traditional. It is good, but it's hard to compete with the extra long scale models in richness and clarity.
Click to expand...
Cool, I had a feeling it was worth checking on first. Now, I can focus on flipping a coin between taking a chance on an ABI or another ABII.
 
#50,787
I was wondering if anyone here has replaced the preamp on their Dingwall with one that has a Blend instead of the pickup selector switch? Do you regret making that change?
I have had my SJ4 listed but I am thinking of keeping it and putting an ACG EQ-01 Filter based preamp I have into it. I have used one of these with J style pickups in another bass and loved it. It does make sense with these type of preamps.
 
#50,788
DeltaPhoenix said:
I was wondering if anyone here has replaced the preamp on their Dingwall with one that has a Blend instead of the pickup selector switch? Do you regret making that change?
I have had my SJ4 listed but I am thinking of keeping it and putting an ACG EQ-01 Filter based preamp I have into it. I have used one of these with J style pickups in another bass snd loved it.
Click to expand...
My buddy Ray, who doesn’t appear to be on TB anymore, had plans to put an ACG filter preamp in his Z. Not sure if that ever came together or not. I’ll message him.
 
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#50,789
Laklandfan said:
I love my ABII and have been wanting to get a backup. The B string is the best I’ve tried. I like the looks of the super J, but I’m wondering how much the shorter scale length would change the timbre, particularly in the B. I’ve been talking with a Dingwall dealer, but I can’t decide between the two.
Click to expand...

Ain't nuthin' like a 37" B-string.

That being said, the Super J B-string ain't no slouch.

Different flavors of goodness!

I like 'em both.

At some point, I'll play the SJ5 a lot more than I do my ABZ5 simply because this old bod will gravitate towards the shorter scale than the longer scale. Until then, it's fun to play both.
 
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#50,790
SemiDriven said:
Ain't nuthin' like a 37" B-string.

That being said, the Super J B-string ain't no slouch.

Different flavors of goodness!

I like 'em both.

At some point, I'll play the SJ5 a lot more than I do my ABZ5 simply because this old bod will gravitate towards the shorter scale than the longer scale. Until then, it's fun to play both.
Click to expand...
I usually get cramps in the first position of 35” 5 strings, but for some reason the 37” on the AB doesn’t bother me. If I had the money I’d get both new, but I’d like to get a used SJ 4 or 5 string in the future.
 
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#50,791
AmazingMumford said:
I found the Super J low B to be decent at the string tension I like, but it wasn't quite the "piano tone" I wanted, and it had just a hint of the wubba-wubba (not a standard TB term) that plagued the B on my old 34" Ibanez way back in '87. The SJ got converted to a glorious E-C, and my Z2 covers the low B, "as it was meant to be." Many like the 35" low B with the right strings, however, so YMMV.
Click to expand...

IMHO that wubba-wubba is precisely what you're looking for in a 35" B, however it's important 1 that it's just a hint of it and 2 that the other strings match that warmness/darkness, for lack of a better word :)
 
#50,793
[QUOTE="Smallmouth_Bass, post: 26973977, member: 66450"]The B-string on a SuperJ5 is in character with the rest of the bass, which is more traditional. It is good, but it's hard to compete with the extra long scale models in richness and clarity.[/QUOTE]
A few years ago, a bunch of Dingheads and prospective first-time buyers met up for a hang with Sheldon at Long & McQuade Markham, which regularly stocks Dingwall and other boutique brands like Fodera. He was on the way to NAMM with some of the show basses.

We were all trading off, sharing our own instruments and trying out the models that were on the way to NAMM. I finally got to play a Sklar, and was relieved to find that I prefer the more angular feel of the Afterburners over the Z. I was quite smitten by a loaded matte white ABII 3X that was headed to the show, but I digress…

My big takeaway that day, was that the group seemed to naturally divide into two factions:
  • The first group were Fender diehards, a couple with heavy studio experience, who were coming to Dingwall as an alternative to the Custom Shop, Sadowsky, etc.
  • The rest had come to Z’s and AB’s from Ric’s, Gibson’s, exotics and Japanese brands with non-Fender body shapes and neck carves, string spacing, etc. We varied in experience, but we all gravitated to the Prima/Z/AB/Combustion family.
Regardless of whether I simply shut my eyes and listened, or watched people’s reactions as they played, it was clear that the people with a deep affinity for Leo’s designs were clearly more comfortable and made better music on the Super-series instruments. Their technique was built around P and J basses, and it translated to the SP and SJ better than it did to the long-scales.

I strongly recommend that anyone who is on the fence about the S-series VS the long scales, should take a trip to a stocking dealer, and try them out for themselves.

I actually started my Dingwall journey during a period when I was feeling nostalgic about the ‘64 Precision I played in college. I had the fixed idea of buying a Super P at first, but when I tried one out in Markham in 2013, I was surprised to find that I preferred the Combustion that was beside it.

That led to ordering the honey amberburst ABZ that’s still my #1.
 
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#50,795
silky smoove said:
My buddy Ray, who doesn’t appear to be on TB anymore, had plans to put an ACG filter preamp in his Z. Not sure if that ever came together or not. I’ll message him.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks for checking with him. I am getting back into the idea of this preamp for the SJ4. I was considering it more for a fretless but I think I want to hotrod my SJ4.
 
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#50,796
Laklandfan said:
I usually get cramps in the first position of 35” 5 strings, but for some reason the 37” on the AB doesn’t bother me. If I had the money I’d get both new, but I’d like to get a used SJ 4 or 5 string in the future.
Click to expand...

Honestly, the biggest adjustment for me moving from the SJ5 to an AB or Combustion is the string spacing. The SJ5 has a wider neck and 19mm spacing at the bridge and even having the SJ5 as my #1 since 2008, I have always struggled with it a bit as 18mm is my preference. Also, access to the frets above the 12th is more difficult. But, that is the price you pay for having it feel so compact. It's like you lose at least 2 frets off the reach and it even feels more compact than most other standard basses too. So it really is comfortable to play in the money zone (positions 1 - 9).
 
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#50,800
DeltaPhoenix said:
I was wondering if anyone here has replaced the preamp on their Dingwall with one that has a Blend instead of the pickup selector switch?
Click to expand...
When I added a neck pickup to my Z2, I replaced my volume pot with a blend (since I’m not in Metallica, I didn’t see a need for the capability to turn my own bass down).

I still have the selector; it defines the “operating mode” of the 2 original (Bartolini) pickups.

The neck pickup (Dingwall P-Tone) goes to one side of the (MN250k) blend pot, and the output of the selector goes to the other side.

All that is separate from the preamp & still works in passive mode.

Speaking of preamps, I’m on my 4th since I bought the bass.

The original Bartolini preamp (NTMB-18F, iirc) was a little polite sounding, so then I tried no EQ but buffered (a Bartolini TBI) but that sounded too shrill, so then I installed a Darkglass tone capsule - which was cool, but imparted too much of its own character for my preference.

Now it sports a Nordstrand 3-band, and I’m really happy with it.
 
Last edited:
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