New Dingwall

[fredguy]

After much agonizing I finally purchased a Dingwall Afterburner I and figured I'd wait until it had been gigged before posting a review. I tried a number of high end 5 strings, Sadowsky, Lakland, Roscoe, Lull and Dingwall and it came down to the Roscoe and the Dingwall. I decided on the Dingwall as I really wanted a passive bass. I looked without success for a used one and ended up getting a new AB1 from Bass Central. The bass has an alder body with flamed maple top, maple neck with wenge fretboard, and weighs in right at 8 pounds. Getting used to the fanned frets was easy, getting used to the fifth string was a little more difficult. After a couple of weeks of home play and one rehearsal I took it to a gig on Friday night. I played my Nash Jazz through my LMK2 and Epifani 3x10 for the first two sets and swapped out for the Dingwall for the last set. I ran the amp at the same settings, slight hi mid cut, VLE at 9 o'clock, slight bass boost. I used the pickups in series with the tone rolled off about 75%. It had a thick Pbass like tone and sat well in the mix. I actually played a little better during the third set as I was concentrating more than usual. The band loved it and I think I'll be bringing two basses to gigs from now on. Since the bass doesn't exist until pictures are posted here you be.

and the body without the glare:

Dave

 

[BurningSkies]

Nice! I love mine too!

And...Dingwalls love LM2's!!!!

 

[Blues Cat]

Very cool Fredguy! Welcome

Pop on over to the DW forum sir. Invalid Link Removed

 

[puff father]

Congrats and play 'er in good health!

 

[chutsk10]

Loverly Bass!!!


I want one.

To be more specific, I want this in a 6 string version

*drools*

 

[Fender32]

Congrtats! It looks great, fredguy.

Out of interest, what does it sound "like"? I've never come across a Dingwall bass, either in shops or on TV/YouTube etc., so I have no point of reference.

Are they Jazz Bassy, Alembicy, Sadowskyy ?

 

[Double Agent]

*sigh*

I had one that looked just like that. You have a fantastic bass there, congratulations.

Fender32, the Dingwall AB-1 is the ultimate P-bass on steroids sound IMO. It is what the perfect Fender 5 string P should sound like. Both pickups are side-by-side humbuckers like a P, but the neck is much friendlier and the fanned frets really let that low B talk. You can get J tones out of it as well, its pretty versatile. But, think great passive tone with a perfect mix of traditional and aggressive.

 

[fredguy]

Congrtats! It looks great, fredguy.

Out of interest, what does it sound "like"? I've never come across a Dingwall bass, either in shops or on TV/YouTube etc., so I have no point of reference.

Are they Jazz Bassy, Alembicy, Sadowskyy ?

DoubleAgent hit it pretty well. Both pickups in series, with the tone rolled down to taste, sounds like a thick p-bass. The pickups in parallel is jazz like but not as close to a standard jazz sound as the pickups in series is to a p-bass. The Nash just nails the vintage jazz both pickups full on tone. The bass is just a blast to play and it's nice going to a lighter bass for the last set as it weighs 8 pounds while the Nash is closer to 9 pounds. Now I just need to get DR to make some long scale high beam flats. My fingers just aren't used to stainless round wound strings.

Dave

 

[fullrangebass]

Congratulations on the Dingwall. IMHO These basses are, by far, the easiest to play, great sounding and they sit perfectly in the mix. Very versatile too.

 

[mandrlane]

Great bass... I own an afterburner II.... Quick question for you though...

Hows the action? Thats the thing about mine I am not happy with. I've tweaked the heck out of it and can't get low action without a bunch of buzz...

Had one guy look at it and he thought maybe the nut was not quite right...

So I'm thinking about taking it somewhere to get the nut/frets done so I can get lower action. Little frustrating though, fugure it should have came right. But overall its one heck of a bass!

Congrats

 

[Juneau]

On my Dingwall, if I want low action, I have to adjust ALL relief out of the neck. They seem to prefer zero relief if you want the strings really low. Any amount of relief at all caused buzz for me.

 

[lomo]

Looks like you've been bitten by the Dingerbug......in my case it was fatal. Enjoy the disease, and if you like flats, I recommend D'Addario Chromes Super Long set-they fit and sound ginormous on an Afterburner IMO/IME.

 

[fredguy]

Great bass... I own an afterburner II.... Quick question for you though...

Hows the action? Thats the thing about mine I am not happy with. I've tweaked the heck out of it and can't get low action without a bunch of buzz...

The action is higher than I typically like but I haven't tweaked it yet. I'm going to try to get it a little lower once I get some free time. I'll post before and after measurements.

As for flats, chromes aren'm my favorites but I'm going to order a set just to see how the bass sounds with flats.

Dave

 

[fredguy]

Update:

I got a set of chrome flats from The Perfest Bass yesterday and they went on without incident. I trimmed the silk on the b string and burned the ends with a lighter. A quick half turn of the truss rod got the relief just under 0.020" and I dropped the saddles to get the action down to 7/64" on the b string and 5/64" on the g string. The bass with flats sounds huge. Now I just have to convince DR to make a set of hi beam flats in a super long scale 5 string set.

Dave