some DINGWALL confusion

The afterburner is a "standard" model so I think you can't really get custom options on it.

There's also a afterburner II availbale now but not pictured ont the site yet.

Prima and Z1 have different body woods.
Z2 has a special pickup placement.

You can get bartolini or aguilar 2 and 3 band preamps on teh Prima, Z1 and Z2.

the afterburner circuit is kinda special:

"The Afterburner is a passive bass with some very useful controls. At the heart is the 4-position rotary switch that allows both series and parallel tones without the high frequency robbing effect of a pan pot. A push/pull switch on the tone activates/de-activates the bluEQube™ for a broad selection of tones or a pre-set slap tone

bluEQube™ – Passive Mid-Contour Circuit

The bluEQube, when switched in, cuts the upper mids, providing a modern “Hi-Fi” tone with a nice open acoustic quality. This is also a great tone for slap. So you can instantly go from a great vintage fingerstyle tone to a great modern slap tone. We've been able to accomplish with a passive circuit what would normally require a specialized active system.
"

Peace, JP

PS: never heard back from you marco..

 

The Zebra has a bit more of a scooped sound to it, possibly due to the ash body. The Z1 vs Z2 should see the Z2 with a bit more of a punchy tone than the Z1 which has a bit more of a traditional tone with the neck pickup in a more normal position. The Prima has a stronger midrange sound to it. Probably due to the alder/walnut core woods. I found it to have significantly more mids than my Z2 had. Another thing to keep in mind is that my Z2 had Barts in it while my Prima has the Dingwall FD-1 pickups, which are a pretty different setup.

The Zebra and Prima are the top of the line models. The Prima tends to get more expensive as it has a matching top and back, making figured wood options more expensive.

Geoff

 

Barroso:
sorry this is so long
While the AB's are Sheldons "entry" level basses there is nothing entry level about them. You get all of Sheldon's goodies (novax board, FD-1 pickups, countersunk equipment) in a bass that 1/3 the price of top end basses. Yes he uses Maple instead of exotic tone woods and yes he only uses passive electronics, but the combo of a novax board, FD-1 pickups and passive electronics makes a great sounding bass.

My 2 AB1's (I just sold one) were both punchy (althou the FD-1 makes a huge difference), had great clarity, tremendous sustain, and sound amazing.

The FD-1's and the passive electronics sound hi-fi and active (I've had a few sound board guys tell me to turn down becuz they thought I was running actives). You can get a ton of useful tones from them and better you never have to worry about a battery. The bluecube circuit cuts the mids mainly and make the bass sound more mellow (more P-bass like). I had my fretless AB wired as V-V-T in series so it sounds very J-bass like, but the 4 way mode switch is very useful and series & parallel tones are fantastic.
Lastly, I've played a voodoo and zebra bass many moons ago and recall them being more resonant and more full in the mids than my AB1's. However, the FD-1 pickups have changed my opinion of what pickups should sound like.

As for sound if you saw Lee Sklar play w/ phil collins on "good morning america" -1 month ago or you heard the bass player from Nickelback at the Music awards you heard Dingwalls. Send an email to Sheldon i recall he has a few nashville regulars who play his basses.

JP- I think Sheldon has used up his Bartolini stock and goes primarily w/ Aggie 2 or 3 band preamps and FD-1 pickups

frank

 

Barroso:
Sheldons laminated neck should be more than sufficient for you. I live in Houston TX, believe me there is NO place on earth more humid for so long than here. Also our weather changes occur so rapidly that bass necks literaly dance.
One thing to consider for cost savings is to get his 1 piece flatsawn or quartersawn maple neck. I've had good success using my AB1 fretless here in Houston and the neck has been rock stable for more than 1 yr.
frank

 

Barroso,
Once you switch out the neck on the ABII, I am not sure how much difference that there will be between it and a Prima other than the body shape. I guess there is the electronics difference. At the point of switching out the neck, it might be the same as just going with a Zebra or a Prima.

Geoff

 

When I had my Prima I made many altitude and climate changes and the neck was solid as a rock. To my knowledge sheldon uses the same truss setup as Glenn at Fury also in saskatoon. These necks are the most stable I've ever used. My 2 fury's haven't needed adjustments in 2 years now. The P/U's in the afterburner are awesome (wound by Glenn at Fury as well) and sound great in any style. The few A/B's I've played have both been really amazing. I think prices just went up by quite a bit though. Last time I saw one it was at 3K canadian as opposed to the 2300 a couple of months ago. Unless a hipshot adds 700 bucks I think it's a tad pricier.

 

My Prima 5 is up for sale. If anyone is interested, PM me...


~S~

 

any estimates on how much a 6-string afterburner would cost? (USD)

 

Looks like the retail is about $1900. I imagine it is a bit cheaper to buy it.

http://www.basscentral.com/dingwall.html

Geoff