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Dingwall Owners Club

Yet another read a ton of stuff then bought sight unseen, an SJ5. It was simply amazing right out of the bag. I immediately wanted to order an SP but it took me a few months to settle on what I wanted.

With the exception of my Grove 51 P and Martin BCPA4, I sold everything else after the Super P arrived. They were just collecting dust in the closet.

I'm afraid this is now happening to my beloved Sadowsky P! I re-acquired it from the guy I sold it to and was thrilled to have it back.

Now it's sitting in my guitar stand looking gorgeous and very sad.
 
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Pics from yesterdays gig with the AB1. Singer/songwriter trio.

1497631_322183844596160_4950104873366150044_n.jpg 10307182_322183977929480_7487403065517954340_n.jpg 10363381_322184094596135_6359676296903517176_n.jpg 10422241_322184121262799_5375118839940148804_n.jpg 10422241_322184151262796_8036889312920597278_n (1).jpg
 
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Is that in front of a barn? Looks good, bet the AB sounds good in such a small setting.

As for the fanned Ibanez... I'm sure it'll be great quality, but if they start the low end at 34" scale, I only see the ergonomic benefits of the design, and none of the benefit of a longer low string.
 
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Is that in front of a barn? Looks good, bet the AB sounds good in such a small setting.

As for the fanned Ibanez... I'm sure it'll be great quality, but if they start the low end at 34" scale, I only see the ergonomic benefits of the design, and none of the benefit of a longer low string.


Yep it was an outdoor farmfest.

Didn't run through my rig, but had a monitor and DI to the PA.
 
Hopefully before the end of the month, I'll have a home-recorded demo of my band to share with you guys. Did the bass parts for 4 tunes on my ABZ in one take each, with a couple punch ins. I think we're tracking guitar next week, then finalizing drums. But the ABZ, plugged right into the interface with nothing in the signal path, coming through the keyboard players KRK's and sub was pretty amazing. Makes me rethink the whole vintagey tubey tone I've been going with... almost.
 
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Hopefully before the end of the month, I'll have a home-recorded demo of my band to share with you guys. Did the bass parts for 4 tunes on my ABZ in one take each, with a couple punch ins. I think we're tracking guitar next week, then finalizing drums. But the ABZ, plugged right into the interface with nothing in the signal path, coming through the keyboard players KRK's and sub was pretty amazing. Makes me rethink the whole vintagey tubey tone I've been going with... almost.

This is why I have a few amps and cabs. I dont want to work in a single tonal universe. As versatile as my AB1 is, having different platforms to play on is what keeps me loving my tones.
 
I know this won't be a surprise to anybody, but I just need to say that Shelden Dingwall and Tech dept. head Jeff Frey are both fantastic. My Z3 wasn't right when I got it. I had thought that the pickups were just too close to the strings on the treble side (and after listening to an audio sample, Sheldon thought the same thing). We exchanged a lot of emails and Sheldon was particularly quick to reply. [Does anybody know if he sleeps?] Long story short, it ended up being faulty pickups. Replacement pickups installed and this is now the best bass ever.

Greg
 
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I know this won't be a surprise to anybody, but I just need to say that Shelden Dingwall and Tech dept. head Jeff Frey are both fantastic. My Z3 wasn't right when I got it. I had thought that the pickups were just too close to the strings on the treble side (and after listening to an audio sample, Sheldon thought the same thing). We exchanged a lot of emails and Sheldon was particularly quick to reply. [Does anybody know if he sleeps?] Long story short, it ended up being faulty pickups. Replacement pickups installed and this is now the best bass ever.

Greg
Glad to hear. What were the symptoms you heard that led you to conclude that there was a problem?
 
I know this won't be a surprise to anybody, but I just need to say that Shelden Dingwall and Tech dept. head Jeff Frey are both fantastic. My Z3 wasn't right when I got it. I had thought that the pickups were just too close to the strings on the treble side (and after listening to an audio sample, Sheldon thought the same thing). We exchanged a lot of emails and Sheldon was particularly quick to reply. [Does anybody know if he sleeps?] Long story short, it ended up being faulty pickups. Replacement pickups installed and this is now the best bass ever.

Greg
My job is post-sale customer support, and it's a rare skill to turn a problem into a glowing endorsement.

I don't know that I've ever succeeded at it, but here's Sheldon D doing it yet again.

10 years ago, I had a warranty issue on my very first Dingwall, and how I was treated in that situation turned me into a Dingwall fanboy and motivated me to swear off all other basses.
 
Glad to hear. What were the symptoms you heard that led you to conclude that there was a problem?

After trying the Z3 and a Combustion, I posted here that the pickup balance on the Z3 was wrong, but that it could be easily fixed. In hindsight, it's a good thing for everybody that when I tried it, I had no intention of spending the sort of money to get a Z3. If I was going to, I would have made the adjustments before buying it and discovered it wasn't right and gone away with a bad impression of Dingwalls in general. No idea how many other people tried it and were unimpressed?

Anyway, I decided the Z3 was everything I'd been looking for in a bass and found the money. Playing it without an amp, it sounded very balanced and consistent. I run a studio, so was able to follow the setup details on the Dingwall forum, using a VU meter [I also used a Dorrough meter] to set the pickup height. I then spent hours raising and lowering the string heights and pickups, trying to get it to sound balanced through an amp. The A, D and G strings were very bright, where the B & E were dull in comparison. The E seemed to be lacking any true fundamental. I should say the tone was still great, just not balanced from string to string, which is what I wanted out of a Z3. I eventually realised that the E was rattly/buzzy when slapped or played with a pick. I contacted the Australian distributor who said he'd heard of that problem with the strings and sent me a fresh set. Sheldon confirmed that they'd recently changed string manufacturer and that there were some problems with some of the E strings.

The new strings were a big improvement, but the A, D and G strings were still very bright, like going through an Aural Exciter on a high setting. At this point I sent the Aus distributor a recording of the bass and asked him to forward it to Sheldon. Sheldon's response was that it was adjusted badly and my technique wasn't great. He made a few suggestions, all of which I had tried or was doing, confirming the bass was the issue, not my playing. I suggested that reversing the pickups would be an improvement, so the B & E coil was under the D & G strings. I tried this and it was better, but still not right. I was ready to conclude that a Z3 wasn't for me, when I listened to it without an amp and was reminded how even and balanced it was acoustically.

I then did some tapping on the coils with a screwdriver to listen to the response. It was then I realised the neck and middle pickups weren't right. Speaking to Jeff, it sounded like the low coil was the issue and he said they had a guy making the neck/middle pickups who they had to let go and he'd made these pickups. They sent me a whole new set, which I installed and it was like a different instrument. I'm not sure about the B & E coil, but there is no question that the other coil wasn't right. It's much smoother and balanced now. Doesn't have the scratchiness any more. The Glock preamp is now useful, where before, it just seemed unnecessary.

No idea how it left the factory like it did, but I think it's good it came to me. Most people would have just returned it and concluded that Dingwalls weren't that great. Hopefully no other pickups like these are out there either or players aren't going to have a good impression of Dingwall.

Greg
 

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