Dingwall Owners Club

[BuffaloBob4343]

Weighing in on the "VVT" thing.. .

..Way back when I retrofitted my Bartolini equipped Voodoo to FD-3's I was familiar with the old set-up and wanted to keep the individual volumes for each pick-up. Sheldon sketched out a diagram and sent it with the pickups and Aggy preamp. I'm still rocking it that way and loving it. There's no passive option or series/parallel switching but it doesn't lack for warmth or flexibility.

Sheldon doesn't have the rectangle shells anymore, as I was seriously thinking about doing this conversion. I actually sent you a PM on the Dingwall forum a while back asking you some questions about your conversion.

He told me I could get them from Nordstrand, but I played my Voodoo Prima a few days later and it just sounds so damn good, I'm just going to leave it the way it is. For a Bartolini equipped bass, it has really killer low-mid growl and it has a nice top end as well. It pretty much works in any mix, any genre it seems. Sheldon really knew what he was doing when he had those Barts wound to his specs.

I really wanted to update it to sort of present day technology, but that old bass just sings the way it is, so I guess no sense messin wid it now.

 

[BuffaloBob4343]

I usually play the Super JP or PJ or whatever...but tomorrow is Super P :

I really like that color combo. I bet it's even sweeter in person.

 

[Blues Cat]

So I had mentioned the previous owner pulled out some components to install the P tone neck pup and the Glockenklang Preamp.

Here is a pic of the F3. Do we know what "generation" it is? I've read there are different evolutions.
View attachment 432636

Here are the two pots and switch. Volume, tone and ?

View attachment 432637

Is this the Bluecube circuit? Are there schematics available on how this is cabled up. I was thinking of returning the AB1 to stock to see what it sounds like. If it helps I can take a pic of the current control cavity setup.

All the info in regard to the generation of that FD3 is labeled on the back, which is cool. '05 means it's wired parallel. If it was labeled "MII 4L" in the post '07 era IIRC, it would give you the option of series or parallel. The neck pu in parallel mixed with the bridge pu in series sounds fantastic.

With those pots pictured, Sheldon should be able to easily tell you where the wires go. If the bass was active with the circuit board pots, the soldering can get a little tricky, but the wiring is not.

The BluEQube is a mid dip switch at 2.5K IIRC. (cuts down on string noise when the tone is wide open)

IMHO, I would leave the P-Tone in, as it is king in the neck position. Sounds fantastic mixed with the bridge MII 4L too. Both pu's are in wired in series.

 

[Paul M]

So I had mentioned the previous owner pulled out some components to install the P tone neck pup and the Glockenklang Preamp.

Here is a pic of the F3. Do we know what "generation" it is? I've read there are different evolutions.
View attachment 432636

Here are the two pots and switch. Volume, tone and ?

View attachment 432637

Is this the Bluecube circuit? Are there schematics available on how this is cabled up. I was thinking of returning the AB1 to stock to see what it sounds like. If it helps I can take a pic of the current control cavity setup.

That is the first version of the FD-3 pickup. It is internally wired in parallel, so it is less aggressive than the later Mach II, the FD3 - 4L and the P-Tone. It also rejects hum very well. It's the same as an FD3 - 4L when wired in parallel.

That is the BluEQ. It is a switch for passive mid cut.

 

[ustabawannab]

Thanks BC and PM. I'm going to leave everything as is.

I have two cabs and two heads. I gig with a Mesa M9 and a Bergantino HS410. I also have a Mesa Prodigy 4:88 and a Vietnamese Ampeg SVT 810e. Obviously the 810e doesn't get out much but I love that cabinet.

I also have a MXR 10 band EQ on my pedal board. Between the two EQ's (the other in the M9) and the Voice options, I've done a lot of twiddling to find my tone. Ironically soloing the P-tone and just leaving every thing close to flat while using my MXR M87 to calm things down a bit works best.

The AB1 is very sensitive to a pick. Using a light touch at higher volume levels makes it articulate. It sits nicely above the kick. Cut the gain a touch then dig in and it drives the preamps of my Mesa Amps into an excellent overdrive with a little hair on every note. The Prodigy especially.

It's always been said that your tone is in your hands. It's never been more true than with this AB1

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Finally got a chance to listen to this on some headphones. Sound is great. Not sure how much of that is strings, how much of it is the Fine instrument he's playing, and how much is Alberto, but nice tone for sure. I like the bloom with clarity it seems to have.

When will these be available to try and how much?

Also, what makes the three sequences different? Three different basses, same bass and three settings?

Right. The Sansone strings will be available shortly from Bass Direct in UK with the possibility of these being distributed worldwide. Price in UK are on par with other major brands such Daddario, Ernie Ball i.e. in the region of £30 pounds sterling for a set of 5. I am helping Sansone liase with BD and at the moment Sansone is being delayed due to bureaucracy issues in obtaining a licence to export. A niggling problem that Italian authorities are making an island out a grain of sand. However it's in the works and hopefully all will be sorted soon.

As for Alberto Rigoni, he is playing these strings on his signature Alusonic Jazz bass, solid body with a aluminium top fitted with Aguilar humbucking pickups. and the 3 different clips are Bridge p/up solo - Both together and Neck pickup solo.

If you want to hear how the Sansone strings sounds on a Dingwall, then my good friend Alessandro Stellano who endorses these strings has a lot of videos on youtube but this is the best :

 

[NaH]

The only acronym I can up with for that bass is SICK!!!!!!

Thanks. It makes me smile every time I get it out to play.

 

[5StringPocket]

Just watched that video for Sansone strings again. Alessandro Stellano is an incredible player! The Dingwall fanned frets work well for me at the 12th fret and below but feel awkward 15th fret and above. Seeing the way Alessandro holds his bass, it seems to me that upper fret access would be improved by shortening the strap to raise up the bass a bit. Has anyone else experienced this or had to make adjustments?

 

[singlemalt]

I think that's the classic trade off, and why jazz guys who solo a lot have a reputation for wearing their basses at neck tie level.

My sixer sits a little on the high side, the wide neck and playing chords feels better that way.

Its about the same height as sitting with the bass on my right leg, but I have an old speaker stand I use for a foot stool. Kind of like classical guitar players use.

I tend to shove the bass over to the left when going for the highest frets and let it swing back to a more relaxed height for most playing. The high notes on the C string are not at all in line with the side dots, it takes some time to get used to. (nobody is paying me to play up there, anyway) The sixer gives me tons of range without too much shifting around.

I have 4" Italia straps and I cut slots once I have the height dialed, force it over the strap button, nice and tight, and leave the strap on the bass.

 

[CL400Peavey]

Ok. Massive catch up.

Fundamentally, this bass has convinced me the Novax system is the way to go. It may ruin me on 5 string 34 inch scale parallel frets.

This is what WILL happen in my experience.

I really like my AB-1 with the P tone. I still have the original passive with the blue eqube, and I wouldn't change a thing. There's a whole lot of exploring to do with the tone knob and switch combo.

I am really glad I ended up with a similar bass. The tonal variations are huge. I have been learning what different sounds I can get with just the different pick ups, and I love how each pick up setting sounds different.

The Dingwalls reward a light touch and give you tons of dynamic range. Something that revealed itself to me over a couple years, and caused a total revamp of my right hand attack.

This has been huge for me. I am no longer loosing my finger tips to long practice sessions.

The parallel setting on the 4-way switch makes for an incredible throaty, growly, punchy tone with immense clarity and bite, and the series setting gives me something akin to massive vintage P bass vibe with a bit of tone roll off (whereas running the reverse P solo'd is much more modern, aggressive and cutting).

+1 to this. I love the difference in series/parallel on my AB1.

......

Just like with the dingwall, the greenboy cabs will make you rethink your tone, eq, and most importantly IMO your gain staging. No more hiding behind baked in fluff.

Now for the good stuff:

NCD!

This is honestly the very best rig I have ever heard.

Dingwall AB1 -> Carvin B1500 -> fEARless F212

 

[BurningSkies]

Coming to the ABZ-5 after my old parallel-fret bass, series mode seemed the most familiar and comfortable. I actually found myself ignoring the other pickup positions on the gig.

However, while experimenting with compressors and preamps recently, I re-discovered the neck pickup. While that nice little scoop in the series position adds to the growl, it also creates a bit of gank on the D and G strings, and I was finding that a little tricky to dial out.

The neck pickup sounds a bit thin and hollow at the same amp and tone control settings. However, I discovered that rolling back the passive tone control and boosting my level a bit was a real treat.

It gave me a slightly mid-forward tone that sits in the mix remarkably like a P-bass, while retaining the signature Afterburner growl and clarity.

This was as an excellent reminder that louder always seems better, which is why it's so important to re-balance your levels when doing comparison testing. It also taught me not to be afraid of the passive tone control, which is much more subtle and musical than most.

The neck position is now my go-to, and the parallel position is getting more air time as well. Sheldon sure knows his stuff...

I've sometimes battled the brightness of my Dingwall basses -- especially coupled with the mental block that I have about having my tone knob set at anything other than a center detent or 100%. That means that I rarely, if ever, use my tone controls -- active OR passive.

But today I went home for lunch and played a bit -- and I thought of Steve Rolefca's discussion of learning to love the parallel mode.

So I tried some different settings out -- and got some great tones!

The "happy accident" in all of this is that because of my oddball pan pot + 4-way switch configuration, the passive tone acts as a master volume when the selector is in series...and it just so happens that the same knob position that takes the rasp off the parallel mode ALSO rolls off the series volume the perfect amount so that now all 4 switch positions have the same output!

So, now the bass is MUCH more flexible -- and I like the overall tone better.

If there's a moral to this story, it's to keep exploring the MANY possibilities that these basses offer us.

Yes to both of these things, although I seldom use a 'single pickup' setting but tend to use either the parallel or the series settings. I favor the series setting, but have on a 'full stage' moved to the parallel setting and goosed my settings. The parallel gives you some deeper lows, less low-mid forward tone and of course is a little extended in the highs. If you're going from the series setting to the parallel setting it can feel underwhelming unless you do make adjustments, but the net benefit can work in some settings. I often switch depending upon what's happening in the band. Is it really FULL sounding for a gig? (extra drummers, spare guitarists, etc) Then I may decide that what we don't need in our sound is a 'huge' bass presence but more deep low and fill underneath. Parallel suits that letting me go deeper and not compete in the low mids. Also if people are overplaying I tend to do a couple things, run parallel, turn down, play less. I hate a wall of noise, and unfortunately not all guitarists understand that or know not to treat multiple guitars on stage as a competition.

 

[BuffaloBob4343]

Right. The Sansone strings will be available shortly from Bass Direct in UK with the possibility of these being distributed worldwide. Price in UK are on par with other major brands such Daddario, Ernie Ball i.e. in the region of £30 pounds sterling for a set of 5. I am helping Sansone liase with BD and at the moment Sansone is being delayed due to bureaucracy issues in obtaining a licence to export. A niggling problem that Italian authorities are making an island out a grain of sand. However it's in the works and hopefully all will be sorted soon.

As for Alberto Rigoni, he is playing these strings on his signature Alusonic Jazz bass, solid body with a aluminium top fitted with Aguilar humbucking pickups. and the 3 different clips are Bridge p/up solo - Both together and Neck pickup solo.

If you want to hear how the Sansone strings sounds on a Dingwall, then my good friend Alessandro Stellano who endorses these strings has a lot of videos on youtube but this is the best :

Thanks. I'll give these a listen when I get a chance. I have to use headphones cause my computer sounds bassless without headphones.

 

[BuffaloBob4343]

Just watched that video for Sansone strings again. Alessandro Stellano is an incredible player! The Dingwall fanned frets work well for me at the 12th fret and below but feel awkward 15th fret and above. Seeing the way Alessandro holds his bass, it seems to me that upper fret access would be improved by shortening the strap to raise up the bass a bit. Has anyone else experienced this or had to make adjustments?

Yes! I wear long scale Dingwalls up higher than the Super series. It definitely helps a lot.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

I'm just going to put in a plug for the recessed rear straplock on late models.

Makes it much easier to hang the bass with the body relatively low and the neck high.

I find this to be the best compromise of all. Because the body is moved to the left, upper fret access isn't quite as good as Stellano's positioning.

However, the upward slant does pull the headstock in closer to your body in the same way, shortening the reach and opening up your left wrist and hand. Meanwhile, the low position on the plucking side lowers the whole instrument, reducing the stress on your arm and shoulder on the fretting side, and making for a much more relaxed plucking hand and wrist.

Alessandro's left hand position is pretty good, but his right wrist is still pretty cranked, almost as chiropractor un-approved as Norm Stockton's:

 

[CL400Peavey]

Ok. So what is the skinny on the NG-2?

I sold my BFR, and have my Stingray up for sale so I will have cash burning a hole in my pocket. I have little need for another bass, and I should really save my pennies.... but I have a lot of "want". So I am eye balling the NG-2 and the V4 combustion. Anyone here have hands on either yet? Comparisons of the two?

 

[BurningSkies]

I personally would be looking at an NG-2 or a used Z series.

 

[CL400Peavey]

I personally would be looking at an NG-2 or a used Z series.

Yeah that is kind of where I am at. I am usually particular about the fretboard material, and like a dark wood, but you cant order a NG-2 with one. I would personally do devious and dastardly things to get the yellow NG-2 prototype with the rosewood board. Will probably end up with a green/maple one though.

Sexy!

 

[I am Soma]

I really want to see a picture of the black ng 2

 

[J Posega]

From what I read over on the DW forum is that the v4 Combustion and the Nolly is that they have universal pickup routes. Personally, I'd get the v4 Combustion, swamp ash body, and then move the pickup. I just prefer the color options available for the Combuations more than the NG's.

 

[CL400Peavey]

From what I read over on the DW forum is that the v4 Combustion and the Nolly is that they have universal pickup routes. Personally, I'd get the v4 Combustion, swamp ash body, and then move the pickup. I just prefer the color options available for the Combuations more than the NG's.

Hmm... that is a thought. Wonder what it would take to get the same electronics set up. Natural body, rosewood neck. NG-2 style guard, pick ups, and electronics. A guy can dream right?