'Organic' sounding 5 string: Dingwall Combustion vs Lakland 55-02 vs Fender Jazz

Given your criteria, a Lakland Darryl Jones signature bass would be the best bet. I had the four string version a long time ago with the Aero pickups and I regret selling it. It was truly a wonderful instrument. Definitely up there in best passive Jazz style bass I had played and heard.

 

As a former long term (three years) owner of a DJ5, I second that they are great basses, but the bass was based on Daryl Jones’ 1966 Jazz. The pickups are not in the seventies position. A reasonably priced option for a five string with Seventies position pickups would be a Carvin JB. They sound fine passive. A Sire Vintage V7 would work too since it can go passive also.

 

The sound of a bass is any sound you can get out of it. If that sound suits you, then you are playing the right instrument.

I'm not sure how selecting a sound "downgrades" a bass at all.

 

I find that it’s easier to add thump to a bright bass than to add brightness to a thumpy bass.

My main bass is brighter than what I usually use it for. But I’m not getting rid of it, because when I want that brightness...it’s there.

Be sure you won’t want brightness in the future before you get rid of your bass.

 

TT4.

 

You need a passive bass with single coil pick ups.

Lakland DJ5 or JO5/55-60 would be my recommendations.

 

Remove the preamp and four way rotary, and install a standard passive tone control and blend pot: that will get you much closer to the passive Jazz tones you enjoy, and you can also switch the strings to flats if desired.

There are plenty of players using Dingwalls to create warm/woody sounds instead of modern sounds if that’s what you’re after.

@BurningSkies uses his for some really rich, dark reggae tones, Sklar gets really woody tones out of his when the singer/songwriter gigs call for it, lots of other examples.

 

I agree with those who say DJ5 it’s an awesome bass with great jazz tones plus the necks a dream. As for the 55-02 it’s a very versatile bass with many tone options and another great neck.
I have not played a Dingwall but my Lakland 55-01 has Dingwall pups made by Nordstrand. It has great growl but I tame it a touch with nickel strings.
As you can see I’m a Lakland fan and understand the hi-fi sounds some basses can have. You sound like me with the voice you want in a bass, no hi-fi ....just good warm thumping tone. I hope you find it

 

Totally possible. But I'd start by playing with my amp EQ and my bass' EQ to see what you can do. I've been using Dingwalls for much more traditional sounding stuff now for about 15 years, and have been active most of that time. I usually run them with both pickups on, in parallel or series. From there I generally roll the bass control up a bit, the treble back from center a bunch, and then ride the mids up or back just a little depending on what I want to hear.

I play with fingers either over the front pickup or between pickup and bridge. My amp is set up similarly with the mids flat, a bit of boost in lows and roll off in the treble range.

Set up this way:

Dingwall Z1 (not the bass in the video):


Dingwall Combustion NG3:


NG3 Live covering Pink Floyd:


All with stock round wound nickel wrapped steel strings. DI'ed with my Monique.

More studio and live stuff up on that account.

 

* other thoughts...You're using that Combustion passive, and though counter intuitive, it's gonna stay bright. The tone control doesn't work to roll off any of the treble when you're passive. If you want to be dedicated to not using the preamp, either change out the electronics to a passive setup with a traditional tone control that works, or get yourself a LPF on your board that you can use as a tone control.

Don't be afraid to EQ at will and/or feel bad if you DO want to only have it passive. It's not bad. There's whole ranges of Dingwalls that are passive (My newest is passive). Don't feel that 'this is made to be bright and modern so why bother'...the bass has a lot of tonal variety at hand for a reason, to be able to use it. Don't feel like you're betraying the intent of the bass.

 

Why did you buy the Dingwall if it is the total opposite of what you want tone wise ?

 

I’ve been wanting a Dingwall for awhile and I think they’re awesome. If their sound isn’t what you want, so be it. If I was looking for an alternative, I’d give a G&L L-2500 a try. Theo Se MFD pickups have a ton of power and range, and the pickup switching and minimal EQ give you a lot of different tones.it even has a passive mode too.

 

The Super P will do retro all day long.

But don’t give up on the long scale combustion just yet. Try some Payson flats, or TI jazz flats.

I ran all my Dingwalls that had preamps passive 95% of the time.

The Ptone pickup was a must for any of my Dingwalls that didn’t already have one. I was on the fence with an AB-1 five string, but a Ptone was a game changer.

Good suggestions above for further mods.

 

I love my Dingwall but on some gigs I just get what I want quicker with a Fender. If "thump" is what I need my go-to is I an inexpensive P with flats. I would certainly not say that the P bass is better in any way (actually I would say the Dingwall is better in a number of ways ) but sometimes it's just easier to dial in.

YMMV but I feel more and more that the best way to get a specific sound is to play a bass with that sound baked in. I wouldn't get rid of the Dingwall though, they're just too cool.

 

Maybe a Kiesel JB5? You can one that is strictly passive.