Dood

I'm not sure what I have done with my diagrams, but I created a 6 way switching system when I was a Dingwall tester. (Prior to the aftermarket switches becoming available). I tested the prototype SF2 and FDV's before they went to production along with swapping out the P-Tone, FD3-A and FD3-N pickups on my basses. Interestingly the 'All On' and 'Middle Only' selections came from my own configurations and recordings! Sheldon really liked them! I also rewired coils for parallel and series winding to see what I liked best and, for the most part, option paralysis started taking over, or, some configuration changes were so subtle it wasn't worth it. As mentioned above, I think the selections Dingwall have come up with are tried and tested and the best of the bunch. My own favourite settings were: All three pickups, series wound and in series with each other. BONKERS! I think that was using the SF2 and ran in to a Glockenklang 3 band with the mids slightly attenuated. Absolutely monsterous sound! P-Tone (series coils by default) in parallel with Middle and Bridge wired in series (series coils). Again the Glock preamplifer was necessary to offer impedance buffering as well as keeping those mids under control.

They're coming for our jobs! Well, not yet maybe as every single A.I assisted (ehem.. written) review I've read lacks any tangible technical understanding. 9/10 the technical specification and marketing blurb has been dumped in to the "writers" AI of choice and then it is asked to write a magazine review based on that information. Some are good and aren't too painful to read, but, none pull on years of deep learning and experience, rather regurgitate what it can copy from elsewhere. I suspect even my own reviews have been used! Gosh, if only there were a magazine that was free to read and subscribe to, run by knowledgeable bassists who record high quality videos to demonstrate equipment accurately!

Unless you’re playing massive stages, don’t waste money on a wireless set up. Hardwire. Redirect that money towards a better set of moulded IEMs, and better quality kit to improve the in-ear mix for you & everyone. Doing it properly is often expensive. Doing it on the cheap in my experience has frustrated more musicians than the issues it tried to solve. Never run with just one ear piece in and any IEM you do wear should be seated, sealed and ran as quietly as you can get by with. If the band have little or no experience of professional mixing or efficient IEM set up, I’d get someone in to set stuff up, including providing yourself with an ambient system to make up for the disconnect suffered by IEMs (rightly) doing their job of attenuating the stage level. oh and finally, sadly it’s a luxury to have on cheaper digital mixers, but if you can monitor mix in stereo (properly) it is so much easier to hear everything in the performance rather than banging all instruments in mono towards the centre of your skull.

The aluminium driver speakers in, for example, the XL cabinets (of which I have owned many) are far from flat response. They’re not even hifi. They have peaks and troughs in the response on and off axis that are a veritable rollercoaster ride in audio. Either by design or by accident, it just happens that those peaks and troughs (and great low end extension in the case of a pair of 4.5XLs) work well with bass guitar. Another superb facet of the design is that our tiny GAS driven brains find those peaks and troughs in the response to sound better (less..flat sounding haaarrr) than flat response comparisons. The 4.5XL always sounded great up at a decent volume for its ability to underpin the low end, cut through with the classic peak in the lower treble frequencies but it also had a big scoop in the mids, perfect for guitars to sit alongside in the mix too. That scoop and peak combination is what makes the cabinet sound bright. The 4.5XL also included the benefit of a 5” upper midrange/treble driver in the centre which I always thought was a brilliant idea for modern bass guitar. They are heavy cabinets and at 99dB/m aren’t necessarily the most sensitive and you wouldn’t want to push them beyond their limits when they stop getting any louder. But.. playing tag team with the “how many watts do I need” thread, I ran a pair with an SVT 2 for donkeys years, a combination that was a great match for everything from prog metal to acoustic rock. I’ve always had a soft spot for them and enjoyed many a chat with Larry as a long time endorser of their products.

Here's 320 of my gear review videos, there's a few amp and cabinet combinations in there to have a look at! I hope this helps! Save the playlist

Absolutely, I'd definitely suggest try-before-you-buy, though in the UK for example, its actually quite difficult to audition even just a few heads together up at a comparable volume in any shop. I agree with you that Watts is not a measure of SPL and I've said that many times, however, when we are limited to what "specifications" manufacturers give us, a rough ball-park figure is better than nothing at all. Or, to put it another way, using reasoning, a ≤ pub-band novice is more likely* to find something suitable if we start with "500W RMS and a 2x12" from nearly all of the current well known brands.

If you're looking for some reference articles aimed at the beginner to intermediate player covering most bass related needs, here's a big pile I wrote for Bass Player Magazine: - https://www.guitarworld.com/author/dan-veall

Hi Luiz! Well, there's so many variables involved from the size or amount of speakers you are using, the type of amplifier, even down to how 'honest' the manufacturer is with their ratings. I'd suggest, as a sort of 'capture all' that 300W RMS is a minimum with 500W RMS being a good place to head for. I also suggest that in most cases adding more speakers (e.g an extra matching cabinet) to be more effective than going from say, 500W to 600W output power. My favourite set up for most gigs is a high quality 2x12 with a 500W RMS+ amplifier on top and this seems to be a good match for the bands I am currently playing with, as anything larger, I'd run my bass in to the PA as well. (Then there's the IEM discussion to be had.. lol)

What's interesting about fan frets is that 'technically' each string scale length is separate to each other. Of course, you'd want them laid out in such a way that you can still use straight frets and this creates the 'fan' design. The angle of the fan (whilst still using straight frets) isn't set in stone and can be manipulated. So, although it might create more problems that it solves, it would be possible to rotate the bridge angle in a more vertical direction, pushing the bass strings further away and the treble strings towards the player body. This would change the angle of all the frets across the board and, at a push, the more treble frets could be aligned to make 'parallel chord positions' up the dusty end easier to play. (That is perpendicular). IIRC, Dingwall basses' 6th fret is the most perpendicular to the neck length, the LTD multiscale looks more like the 12th or 13th. Now, if we dispense with fretboard wide frets altogether, or use a design inspired by True Temperament or Micro-Tonal instruments....

United Plugins still have a sale on. Some really good plugins in the sale I use often: https://unitedplugins.com/discounts

And a fretless..

Finances definitely don’t allow and probably won’t for many years now sadly, but: I have a bass and a guitar that need routs for new pickups One bass that needs routing and I want to refinish it in my “signature colours” .. flip paint, you know me! Another bass that I’d love to customise with a new finish.. flip paint! Two basses that need refrets/dressing. A pick guard designed for a bass. A new neck for my Tokai maybe.. I want a Candy Apple Red / Candy Cola body or respray for my Strat. For gig tools, I’d love an active FRFR solution, the ole Barefaced FR800 would suit for guitar and bass needs I think, but I might be looking at a combo or PA cab. Failing that I could use a passive 1x12” with my Berg head when my big cab is OTT. I’d love to get a custom PJ bass made, I seem to be playing way more 4 strings at the moment and something for the bass magazine to use in every review would be super cool. I quite fancy a little guitar valve combo too, like a Laney LC for tinkering around with..

I remember picking one up for the first time and finding the overall adjustment time incredibly short - my review of that very bass on the very day is still on YouTube. It was, for me at least, an easy transition, but I will agree that for some things adjustments are necessary. Jonathan Herrera has recently made a video of his first experience with a Dingwall bass, in the shape of the John Taylor Signature. He noted the same example as me, playing Minor 7th chords around the 15th fret and higher difficult (R b7 b3 or even R 5 b7 b3 arrangement) - that's easier on parallel frets I think. Most other techniques seemed to transfer easily - I was actually surprised that fast tapping was not that much more difficult, I thought I'd miss frets, but again, a small adjustment - and practice got me there. I liken it to getting a new car, a new, different car. Everything is in a different place, the brakes are sharper, the biting point on the clutch may feel different, the gate on the gears is tighter, buttons and switches are in a different place - it's frustrating and sometimes annoying, but we get over it and muscle memory kicks in quite quickly.

Not gonna lie, I love this bass sooo much! I remember playing it at the London Bass Show and falling in love with it then and there, but sadly my pockets aren't deep enough for even a tuning peg these days. How's it getting on? Still playing beautifully I am sure!

And the witty answer… (Shuker Series 2 Elite Custom)

Early 70’s TV Script Fender P with nickel (tall stem) tuners. Just something so “right” to my eye.

I also like headless basses, prog and "too many strings" and will happily play Jean-Michel Jarre, Gojira and Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia on the same playlist 🤷🏻.

"There's somthing wrong with the left phalangeee"

Aside from the technical benefits that a well designed HPF would have, it would ultimately be down to how the marketing department translates that in to layman's terms. "Removes the bass from your bass.." big no. "Protects your valuable speakers from sub-sonic transients and aids efficiency." Much better. "A High-Pass filter removes sub-sonic frequencies that most speakers can't reproduce. These frequencies waste amplifer energy, affect speaker excursion and can lead to early driver failure. Using an HPF can improve bass tone." I think I'd write something like this ha ha!

I've just been alerted to the existence of this cool gadget. It's a VST player: https://octavetech.eu

At the moment they are hand made by a small team and are knocking out about two a day, so very much a boutique build right now. They, or rather Wilson, doesn't have the same manaufacturing power as, say, Line 6 or Neural. Mentioning those in regard to flawed execution, there are plenty of pedals and devices on the market that use the same or weaker power connections. I'd like to see the same as the Line 6 LT etc that has a proper IEC power socket. 'Wall warts' and 'laptop' type power supplies and virtually every single USB connector available to the consumer market just isn't gig worthy. Well, although I agree, I don't use a separate pedal board (at the moment) for my Quad Cortex, there's plenty of people who do mount it to a board along with other devices, so I can't see why this would be flawed if it were also on a board? What's your thinking there?

P.s, Wilson seems like a really knowledgeable and friendly guy. I wanna meet him!