Dingwall Owners Club

[The_Owl]

So lately I've been really GAS-ing for a Dingwall Super P4/5 with the alder/wenge combo. Does anyone have any such soundclips to make the GAS even worse?

Also, possibly a Super P with flatwouds?

 

[Bocete]

I've been using floating thumb for years. But I have trouble moving my wrist in a diagonal fashion, or rather I have trouble doing it automatically. I can do it when I look at my right hand, but it doesn't feel right. It makes me want to turn my forearm so it's parallel to the motion, which is diagonal. I'm so used to extending and pulling back the whole arm parallel to the picking motion. This is a different motion, much less natural for me.

As an example, try playing Jaco's River People with its double 16th note octaves. Moving my hand back and forth like that feels really awkward. Can you play that smoothly, plucking perpendicular to the strings while quickly moving your forearm diagonally across the strings? Or do you adopt a different technique for situations like that?

I cannot do much Jaco. Just rotate the upper arm while keeping the forearm parallel to its previous position, so that your right hand wrist doesn't rotate. It's all it takes. That said, I've been doing this diagonal motion even before my first Dingwall, as it produced a more even sound on a parallel fretted bass. My 2c

 

[singlemalt]

Yeah, there is a bit of a learning curve with the right hand, and a sweet spot the follows the pickup.

Pickup height can really help you dial in to your touch.

Since the bridge angles in, even small moves towards the bridge on the treble strings can have a large effect.

The increase in clarity and performance is going to take a while to absorb. Have fun!

 

[J Posega]

I play about 50% floating thumb, 50% anchored on the bridge pickup or B string. I find that anchor helps my arm to naturally rotate, so that my fingers follow the angle of the strings. I do find that when playing with a pick I tend to play parallel with the parallel fret, which I'm working on changing.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Agreed, unless you are noticing a significant tonal change between strings its not something to worry about. In a lot of ways it would be similar to the variation you might get between plucking with your ring and then middle finger. Unless you have a strange plucking technique, your middle finger pluck is always about a centimeter closer to the bridge and I doubt very many people worry too much about that difference.

+1

The only time I've noticed any audible issues related to the angled bridge, was while recording some short tracks to evaluate string changes, etc., on my ABZ.

I was trying for perfectly repeatable samples, and found myself using the edge of the pickup housing as a guide, in order to make my plucking position more consistent. Otherwise, I could convince myself that the one string was slightly darker or brighter than another, just because of minor inconsistencies in my right hand attack.

I've never noticed this as an issue under normal playing conditions. In fact, I guess I approach bass lines like a singer, unconsciously adjusting my "breathing" (right hand attack) as necessary to get the sound I'm after.

To that end, I will pluck, thump or fan the strings anywhere from about the 9th fret up to about an inch from the bridge. When your right hand is moving around that much, a centimeter one way or the other isn't going to make much difference.

The ABZ's sensitivity to these antics, is one of the things I love about my Dingwall. I can get a sweet, round attack on the skinny strings in the upper register one moment, and then an angry grind the next, without touching a knob...

 

[pmad_bass]

Another question. What is this little potentiometer for? It's in my recently acquired ABII with what I assumed was Glockenklang 2 band preamp.
View attachment 468450
Thanks.

Is that your PU selector knob? If so, it's for adjusting the output level for the series setting, so that you can have the series setting be roughly the same, louder, or quieter than the other pickup settings.

No problem. I set mine so I get just a smudge more volume from the parallel setting, but I may turn it down so I'm at the same volume, just different tone.

Oh, good to know! On mine the series setting is notably quieter than parallel so I will have to open that up and see if I can make that adjustment.

Ahh. I will take a look at the one on my SJ5, as (and I forget which one it is; series or parallell) the setting just after solo neck PU is a bit louder then ther others. It is fairly balanced on my SP/J5. On the J, I'd like to make it so that the soloBridge PU is just a tad louder.

-PMaddy

 

[Sheldon D.]

I need to point out that the series trimmer pot was only installed for about a year. We found it interacted with the tone control on rare occasions and opted to discontinue it.

 

[The_Owl]

While I have you here Sheldon, what would you say is the main tonal difference between an alder/maple/rosewood Super P as opposed to an alder/wenge/wenge one?

Wenge has always been one of my favorite tone woods, and I am curious how it affects a classic design like the P-bass.

 

[Blues Cat]

I need to point out that the series trimmer pot was only installed for about a year. We found it interacted with the tone control on rare occasions and opted to discontinue it.

I like to have the series setting be what it is, a louder more aggressive tone that acts as a passive boost. Some might think it's muddy, but one man's mud could be another man's wool.

 

[Sheldon D.]

While I have you here Sheldon, what would you say is the main tonal difference between an alder/maple/rosewood Super P as opposed to an alder/wenge/wenge one?

Wenge has always been one of my favorite tone woods, and I am curious how it affects a classic design like the P-bass.

I'm going to generalize here as there are always exceptions. Wenge/wenge should sound brighter with a more solid low end and have a snappier response than maple/rosewood.

 

[The_Owl]

Thanks! I'll keep this in mind for future reference.

 

[spiritbass]

I like to have the series setting be what it is, a louder more aggressive tone that acts as a passive boost. Some might think it's muddy, but one man's mud could be another man's wool.

I love the series setting! It can be almost 'too much' on some instruments. I've been tweaking the pickups again on my SJ/P5 to balance and tame it a bit but still, if I pluck in front of the P pickup it is monstrous. It's safer to pluck behind the P. Sounds great too. In case someone hasn't seen this beauty yet ():

 

[J Posega]

I use the series setting 80% of the time, but I think I'd use parallel and solo bridge more if I adjusted the series setting to be at unity with the others.

 

[CL400Peavey]

I use the neck solo on my AB1, sometimes with the tone pulled down or the BluEQ, for a more vintage feel. The parallel setting gets used a bit too for a more modern feel depending on the song. But 60% of the time it is series for me as well.

 

[BurningSkies]

The last gig, I experimented and used series with the bridge in series and the neck in parallel. For many songs it was a nice sound, but I sort of missed that big aggressive low mid sound that I've been so used to playing with. I ended up toggling back and forth between all series and the above setting depending on the song. For ones that were heavyweight roots n' dub numbers the all series setting still wins, hands down.

If I'm doing 100+ BPM churn-and-burn 16th notes and faster stuff, the P/S setting kept things a bit tighter and a bit more intelligible.

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I love the series setting! It can be almost 'too much' on some instruments. I've been tweaking the pickups again on my SJ/P5 to balance and tame it a bit but still, if I pluck in front of the P pickup it is monstrous. It's safer to pluck behind the P. Sounds great too. In case someone hasn't seen this beauty yet ():

I have seen it and I always love seeing it!

 

[MDBass]

I'm going to generalize here as there are always exceptions. Wenge/wenge should sound brighter with a more solid low end and have a snappier response than maple/rosewood.

Just when I thought I couldn't be more excited for the pending arrival of my ash/wenge/wenge 3x Super J....

 

[spiritbass]

Just when I thought I couldn't be more excited for the pending arrival of my ash/wenge/wenge 3x Super J....

This is going to be a mean machine.

 

[BC82]

The SPJ5 is enroute from the factory to The Bass Place. So maybe by the end of next week it'll be in my hands

 

[CL400Peavey]

So anyone here have the story on this JS3X?
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Talk dirty to me....