Dingwall Owners Club

[MultiScaleMale]

Just got a Norstrand Nordy Mute for my Dingwall today. On MM setting it's a really nice "almost upright" tone. I think the scale length gives it some of the vibe. It's new so, really affects intonation when you first use it. That should diminish as it breaks in.

 

[MGBR]

Another nod for John Fox. Although he's an independent dealer that represents many manufacturers, he's literally a credit to the Dingwall brand. Straight shooter that invests his time into your concerns and has a refreshing respect for the sheer amount of time and money involved with a big Dingwall purchase.

I couldn’t have sad it better, I have a Super PJ on order through him currently and the build is about to start any time now. He is quick responding to mails and thorough in his answers. Made me feel very comfortable ordering a bass through him.

 

[Bassheart365]

Interesting, before I added a Z to accompany my SJ5, I was most concerned about string spacing as well as it was a big issue for me in the past (Warwick/Spector combo). Biggest challenge has actually been the scale length difference when switching back and forth with my Z3 and SJ5. That said, familiarity returns in a very short amount of time so the issue is a really a "nothingburger"...love 'em both.

I was a Z5 & SJ5 owner. Most of my gigs I reached for the Z, but loved the SJ5, especially the sweet 32” G string. I loved playing melodies on that. However, I loved the 37” B on the Z5 even more. I eventually sold the SJ5 because the muscle memory in my right hand did not appreciate switching back and forth between 19mm (Z) and 18mm (Z5) spacing. So the Z won. Barely.

 

[5StringPocket]

I was a Z5 & SJ5 owner. Most of my gigs I reached for the Z, but loved the SJ5, especially the sweet 32” G string. I loved playing melodies on that. However, I loved the 37” B on the Z5 even more. I eventually sold the SJ5 because the muscle memory in my right hand did not appreciate switching back and forth between 19mm (Z) and 18mm (Z5) spacing. So the Z won. Barely.

It would be nice if 18mm spacing was an option for the SJ5 and SP5 models.

 

[DeltaPhoenix]

I think my Flats experiment on the SJ(P) are over for now.
I got a good deal on a Veillette 30” short scale E-C 5 string Fretless that wears Black LaBella tape wounds. It’s a killer little bass that emulates an upright decently and it was designed with even string tension in mind too.
The Veillette has me wanting the SJ(P) 4 to wear rounds again so it can rock like it wants to.

 

[DeltaPhoenix]

Alright, I put Payson Nickel Rounds on my SJ(P) 4 and I am really happy with the change. I am going to put some fresh Dingwall SS Rounds on the Z tonight.

Does anyone want the GHS Precision Flats that I just took of my Super? They were on the bass for 4 or 6 weeks. Send me your address and I will get it out to you this week.

 

[yanlin1985]

Can super fatty pickups + glockenklang pre also pull off the grindy darkglass tone?

 

[MascisMan]

Hello Dingwall people!

I may be in the market for a 5 string soon and Dingwall is on my radar (along with Spector and Warwick). I usually play 4 string basses so this is new territory for me. I tend towards more "vintage" tones. I dont mind a little clarity/airiness/presence but generally want to stay away from brittle, overly bright highs. I usually play in a Praise & Worship setting but also step out for some rock/country/americana gigs as well. I have read a lot of praise of these basses and their tonal versatility.

Are there any general consensus on the FD3-N vs FDV for tonal versatility? Can Dingwall pickups be purchased 3rd party or direct if I wanted to experiment with a swap (Super Fatty's for example)? I thought they were once upon a time via Best Bass Gear but now can't find them. Also, any consensus on the Glockenlang vs. Darkglass considering the above?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nuage420]

Hello Dingwall people!

I may be in the market for a 5 string soon and Dingwall is on my radar (along with Spector and Warwick). I usually play 4 string basses so this is new territory for me. I tend towards more "vintage" tones. I dont mind a little clarity/airiness/presence but generally want to stay away from brittle, overly bright highs. I usually play in a Praise & Worship setting but also step out for some rock/country/americana gigs as well. I have read a lot of praise of these basses and their tonal versatility.

Are there any general consensus on the FD3-N vs FDV for tonal versatility? Can Dingwall pickups be purchased 3rd party or direct if I wanted to experiment with a swap (Super Fatty's for example)? I thought they were once upon a time via Best Bass Gear but now can't find them. Also, any consensus on the Glockenlang vs. Darkglass considering the above?

Thanks in advance!

Pickups - Bass Direct

 

[Amajew]

Hello Dingwall people!

I may be in the market for a 5 string soon and Dingwall is on my radar (along with Spector and Warwick). I usually play 4 string basses so this is new territory for me. I tend towards more "vintage" tones. I dont mind a little clarity/airiness/presence but generally want to stay away from brittle, overly bright highs. I usually play in a Praise & Worship setting but also step out for some rock/country/americana gigs as well. I have read a lot of praise of these basses and their tonal versatility.

Are there any general consensus on the FD3-N vs FDV for tonal versatility? Can Dingwall pickups be purchased 3rd party or direct if I wanted to experiment with a swap (Super Fatty's for example)? I thought they were once upon a time via Best Bass Gear but now can't find them. Also, any consensus on the Glockenlang vs. Darkglass considering the above?

Thanks in advance!

FD3’s are a bit higher output from what others state. I have the FDV’s with the Glock preamp and it slays. Super clear and articulate. There’s plenty of low end available, believe me.

I also own a Spector euro 5 that I swapped the stock tonepump and 40TW’s for a SNC pre and 40p/j pickups. The bass plays fantastic and is a beast.

3rd I have a streamer LX with the MEC jazz pickups. It sounds wicked good as well.
These are all 5 strings and they all sound and feel different from one another.

my go to is the ABZ by far.

 

[Nuage420]

my go to is the ABZ by far

I have my ABZ with the FDVs and a droc with super fatties and a P tone in the middle and I would say the Droc is great at mimicking the classic basses and the ABZ is just pure muscle.
In terms of cars the Droc is a super charged 69 Stingray and the ABZ is a Z06 Vette

 

[silky smoove]

I tend towards more "vintage" tones. I dont mind a little clarity/airiness/presence but generally want to stay away from brittle, overly bright highs.

My Super J with FDVs and a Glock preamp works for vintage tones, but it's all skewed a little towards the clarity end of the spectrum. There's also a certain "pingy" quality to the top end, particularly on the G string when compared to my other Fender'ish basses. A little judicious cutting of the treble control, which is a tone knob in passive mode, and it'll get more typical of what we think of when we say "vintage" but even then it still sounds more clear. Whether or not that's a good thing for your purposes is a personal decision. It's my favorite bass by a mile, if not more, but there are some sessions where I won't bring it because I know what's wanted is something decidedly less clear.

 

[MascisMan]

@silky smoove @Nuage420 @Amajew Thanks for the replies!

I definitely don't mind clarity. In fact one of my draws to a Dingwall are Sklar's comments on the clarity he gets from his (specifically the B and E). Silky, you mentioned cutting the treble will get you more in the "vintage" arena but still with clarity. That sounds exactly what I am looking for. I definitely want to 'clean up' some of the traditional boom/looseness on the lower strings but at the same time not at the expense of shrill/brittle/pingy highs. Hope that makes sense.

@Amajew How would you rate the fidelity/clarity & tension of the B string on those 3? All comparable?

 

[IvanBassist]

Hello Dingwall people!

I may be in the market for a 5 string soon and Dingwall is on my radar (along with Spector and Warwick). I usually play 4 string basses so this is new territory for me. I tend towards more "vintage" tones. I dont mind a little clarity/airiness/presence but generally want to stay away from brittle, overly bright highs. I usually play in a Praise & Worship setting but also step out for some rock/country/americana gigs as well. I have read a lot of praise of these basses and their tonal versatility.

Are there any general consensus on the FD3-N vs FDV for tonal versatility? Can Dingwall pickups be purchased 3rd party or direct if I wanted to experiment with a swap (Super Fatty's for example)? I thought they were once upon a time via Best Bass Gear but now can't find them. Also, any consensus on the Glockenlang vs. Darkglass considering the above?

Thanks in advance!

I remember A/B’ing a 5-string spector and a dingwall last year at the Guitar Summit here in Germany. The string tension on the Dingwall felt miles ahead compared to the Spector.
A Super J or Super P should cover all your needs

My Super P is extremely versatile. The band I’m currently playing for changes between ska, rock, punk, reggae, and latin.
Sometimes even mid-song and the Super P fits in all those genres perfectly while using only the P pickup, moving my hand position and sometimes turning the tone control.

 

[MascisMan]

I remember A/B’ing a 5-string spector and a dingwall last year at the Guitar Summit here in Germany. The string tension on the Dingwall felt miles ahead compared to the Spector.
A Super J or Super P should cover all your needs

My Super P is extremely versatile. The band I’m currently playing for changes between ska, rock, punk, reggae, and latin.
Sometimes even mid-song and the Super P fits in all those genres perfectly while using only the P pickup, moving my hand position and sometimes turning the tone control.

I think the Super P would probably be my ideal choice, however, may not be in the budget. But you never know!

If I go the Dingwall route I may end up getting a Combustion and swapping pickups if the FD3's aren't in my ballpark.

 

[Low End Scum]

Totally unrelated, but do y'all know any online shops that do NG3 pickguards? Have a Ferrari Green NG3 and was thinking it'd be wicked to get a pink or pink swirl pickguard for it

 

[MascisMan]

Ok so, follow up question regarding the D-Roc. I have been skimming a few videos on YT and really like how they sound. I know they use the same pickups as the Combustion, however, I also know the D-Roc uses different woods and it appears the rotary knob is set up a little differently and the pickups are wired differently (series vs parallel in different positions).

So here are my two questions assuming I like the aesthetic of the Combustion over the D-Roc.

1. When a Combustion is in passive mode, how close to a D-Roc does it sound? Do they cop similar tones? I know the wiring is different so they wont be identical, I am speaking more in generalities.
2. Could a Combustion be rewired to D-Roc "specs" (knowing there would still be some differences because of woods)?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. This Dingwall world is brand new to me.

 

[Derek Williams]

Ok so, follow up question regarding the D-Roc. I have been skimming a few videos on YT and really like how they sound. I know they use the same pickups as the Combustion, however, I also know the D-Roc uses different woods and it appears the rotary knob is set up a little differently and the pickups are wired differently (series vs parallel in different positions).

So here are my two questions assuming I like the aesthetic of the Combustion over the D-Roc.

1. When a Combustion is in passive mode, how close to a D-Roc does it sound? Do they cop similar tones? I know the wiring is different so they wont be identical, I am speaking more in generalities.
2. Could a Combustion be rewired to D-Roc "specs" (knowing there would still be some differences because of woods)?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. This Dingwall world is brand new to me.

The pickups are also in slightly different location, so the combustion will always be a bit thinner as its pickups are a bit closer to the bridge. I think by about half a pick-up width?

 

[Amajew]

@silky smoove @Nuage420 @Amajew
@Amajew How would you rate the fidelity/clarity & tension of the B string on those 3? All comparable?

From best to worst, Dingwall > Spector > Warwick.

We're dealing with all different string lengths as well. 37, 35 and 34.

The Spector is still very good and the Warwick is very good when played lightly within reason. When you start digging in with a pick or use an angled approach with plucking that is where you see where the Dingwall shines.

ie. if I'm riffing on the B string, the Dingwall is clear as a bell, Spector is good until I get really aggressive and the Warwick gets a bit muddy when really digging in.

 

[GBassNorth]

I found this interesting D-Roc 5 video in which the neck and middle pickups were switched (at 3:45 in) with the connecting wires left intact. The effect on the 4-position switch:
Pos Original => Modified
1. Bridge solo => Bridge solo
2. B+M Parallel => B+N Parallel
3. Middle solo => Neck solo
4. B+M Par/Ser N => B+N Par/Ser M

Position 2 would change from a Music Man vibe to more of a jazz vibe and Position 3 would change from middle solo to neck solo. The modified settings seem like good ones and the mod is reversible. This is similar to the July 6th Post #53415 (pg 2671) except that no wiring modifications were needed.

Just wanted to give you a quick update and some interesting info on the neck/mid pickup position swap mod.

Recall I did your mod a couple of weeks ago and liked it a lot. But there’s always the potential for confirmation bias with any tone change method like this. So I brought the D-Bird to the Thunderbird GTG in California last weekend and just let everyone play it in whatever settings they liked. It was mostly being played through a Sunn Coliseum/Ampeg twin 15 folded horn cab at about stage volume. There were about 40 basses there (everything you can think of, not just Tbirds) and about a dozen players, most of which are excellent current gigging players.

The Dingwall was a huge hit! Fanned frets ended up being pretty much a non issue for anyone playing it, but more importantly, to a person - everyone who played it loved the second position (bridge + middle pickup in the neck position, post mod now called bridge+neck parallel). They all tried pretty much every switch position, but every single player picked the #2 position as their favorite, to a point where I started getting offers on the bass (I ain’t selling). Many thought it was one of the best sounding basses of the day, and there was some phenomenal stuff there.

So your mod appears to be a big hit across a broad base of players! It does make me wonder, how much of the magic in that mod is driven by moving the specific pups into that configuration vs keeping the pups in their original locations and just having a bridge+neck option added to the switch.