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Warwick or Dingwall?!

D

Drnonsense

Jan 14, 2013
1
0
#1
Straight and simple, I'm buying one of these basses and I need help choosing. Hit me with your thoughts and thanks in advance!

5 String Bolt On Warwick Thumb- $1600 used (mint condition)

or

5 String Dingwall Combustion - $1440 at L and M. (New)

Looking for a djenty bass in the vien of Periphery, Monuments, and Tesseract. Need a solid low end and the option to drop tune to a full step.

Love you all,
Luke
 
#4
baba said:
Have you tried fanned frets?

The B string on the Dingwall will be better for sure.

If it were me it would be no contest due to just about every metric - Dingwall.
Click to expand...

Arguable. I have a Warwick Corvette $$ 6er tuned to drop G. Note that's two whole steps below B on a standard 34" scale. Granted, I have it loaded up with a Circle K .182 balanced set. Point being, you don't always need longer scales or fanned frets to have a good low B, just good strings made to have equal tension instead of almost linear descending gauges.

I do also have a fanned fret bass and I love the feel of it. Not hard to get used to, and definitely more comfortable and ergonomic than standard parallel frets.

Ultimately, get what you like best based on looks, and then load it up with Circle K's ;)
 
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#8
Hmm, fanned frets or neck dive? To be honest I only played a Dignwall once and I don't remember anything about it (other than the fact that the frets didn't throw me as much as I'd expected they would). I have played a bunch of Thumbs, however (4s and 5s, BO and NT). The two times I bought BO Thumb 5s I took them back to the shop. I really wanted to like those basses but between the U necks and the neck dive I just couldn't do it. I did play a 4 string Thumb BO for a couple of years. It was a nice bass. Not my favourite neck profile but more manageable than the 5 string version (and better balance on a strap).
 
#9
They both sound great for djent but the big difference is in tone and in feel man. But the best that I can help with is that the Combustions to my ear from listening to tons of tracks sound like Jazz bass but just with the Dingwall touch, while the thumb sounds way different.

It'll come down to tone and which neck style you prefer.
 
#11
bass12 said:
Hmm, fanned frets or neck dive? To be honest I only played a Dignwall once and I don't remember anything about it (other than the fact that the frets didn't throw me as much as I'd expected they would). I have played a bunch of Thumbs, however (4s and 5s, BO and NT). The two times I bought BO Thumb 5s I took them back to the shop. I really wanted to like those basses but between the U necks and the neck dive I just couldn't do it. I did play a 4 string Thumb BO for a couple of years. It was a nice bass. Not my favourite neck profile but more manageable than the 5 string version (and better balance on a strap).
Click to expand...

It's not so much tricking yourself about the frets as it is tricking yourself about the sound. Your ear is used to equal temperament tuning. Telling it the Dingwall is right is the hard part.
 
#16
i have a DW AB, super P, and recently bought a warwick thumb 6 BO
i have had 5 6ers including a DW AB1 6 and i have settled on the thumb
i was a DW fanboi from the beginning thinking that it could only be DW's but i realized for me, a parallel fret bass in a 6 string config was for me and my style
there are pros and cons for each and are very different basses.
warwicks are probably the best deal on the used market whereas dingwalls hold their value better
 
#17
Love my combustion 5 in drop A. Also have a Spector Euro 5LX and it gets most of my playing time, the dingwall has a KILLER low B, sounds thunderous. Still on stock string, switching to higher guage circle K's next week on both basses.

Also considering picking up a Warwick FNA Jazzman 5 just to have something a little bit different, but out of the two you picked, I'd go Dingwall for what you're playing.
 
#18
I really think there's some confusion about terms here. A dingwall may intonate up and down the neck better but there's nothing about them to make me believe they're not playing ET intervals i.e. wide 3rds and narrow 5ths as compared to just intonation. there's a noticeable difference between just and ET. String players are used to adjusting for it when playing with pianos and fretted instruments. How would a Dingwall player perform the same adjustment?
 
#20
my DW super P is never going anywhere but i am considering selling the AB to fund a thumb NT
i kinda have ww fever these days- the sound of wood...
although from a practical standpoint, an 8 lb bass is very appealing when you just had hand surgery...
love em both.
 

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