MaGrOtTeN Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 [quote name='Gazza 2905' timestamp='1392043103' post='2363912'] Spacecowboys Combustion II I believe? You won't regret it! [/quote] Right you are. Looking at your stockpile that's quite re-assuring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaGrOtTeN Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) Loving my new Dingwall Combustion: great range of tones available and the consistency across the strings is superb and unlike anything I've experienced before. Mine is giving me lots of harmonics when I'm muting in-between notes - is this the strings or maybe bad technique on my part due to inexperience with a high end 'resonant' bass? Edited February 13, 2014 by MaGrOtTeN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 OK, Might as well jump in here, I am getting quite interested in the dingwalls, and maybe if I sell my Gibson (which is on eBay at the moment) I will be able to get a second hand combustion. Problem is there is almost no chance of being able to play one first, they are not very common! I get that the combustions are cheaper as they are made in China, is there any dropoff because of that, any quality difference or is it just the cost of doing the work? If that case why do people with combustions seem to want to upgrade to the canadian ones? The fan frets seem a good idea but that leaves you with a 37" B string, and presumably > 35" E string - my fingers have a bit of a trouble at the low end of the E at the best of times, would this not make it worse? Are there any plus / minus points on the fan frets? Is there not an issue with the nut being at an angle as half of the string has more nut than the other half? Thanks for any info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosebreath Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 I'm a bit late to the buffet here but here goes. I have been playing a long scale Traben 5 for a while now and love it. Plays like butter, sounds good. Smaller body so a bit of neck dive, which I corrected. I saw Lee Sklar and his Dingwall and immediately went on a search and distroy to learn everything I could about them. What I found out about them and the fan fret concept just made sense. A month later I was ready but most were above my pay grade. Finally found one 50 miles away, in Tampa. It was 10 years old. Afterburner 2, 5 string in showroom condition. Played it for 3 minutes and stuffed $2,100.00 USD in the guys hand and hit the road. Took it to a class A luthier and had him do a set up. I am so in love with this bass. There is nothing about it I would change. The fan frets were never an issue although I have been told if you play with the neck horizontal the optics are weird but I dont so no worries. The build is the best I have ever played and it plays as good as my Traben but is more powerful and punchier. This is my first bolt on neck. I have always had neck thru for the sustain, which is noticable sometimes. I just like them. The sustain on the Dingwall is in outer space. You cant touch this without a sustain box. Trust me. This is my last bass unless I become filthy, stinking rich and order a custom Dingwall. I dont think I can beat this thing. 10 out of 10. Not many used ones in America. I have been on Craigs List in several cities just looking and found maybe 3. If you run onto one, make the stretch ($) and get it. No regrets, I promise. PS. Between sets you will be explaining to folks what the hell it is. Cudos from Florida!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I bought a Dingwall NG2 last month and found it so easy to play. Someone stated somewhere that its the type of bass that makes you want to keep playing it. I compared against Combustion but preferred the more mid punch the NG2 produced aall from the slightly different pick up position. (using it on passive mode you can hear the diff) I also compared on the day i bought it with few other basses incl Sandberg & Spector but the Dingwall just seemed to be the natural feel of a bass. The neck and set up was spot on perfect. I've changed nothing which is odd for me because i like tweaking to be honest. As mentioned before string tone and tension is very even across all 5 strings. I keep the bass tone flat and use "in series" mode and it just sounds amazing. I've used it thru Markbass combo, Ampeg SVT4 or GK 1001RBi with Berg HT322 cab and it sounds fantastic with them all. At £1200 its incredible value for money and i've got everything from Custom Overwaters to Warwick Thumb to Fender and Jaydee. This bass beats them all fro feel. You will not be disappointed with a Dingwall. Fan-fret as mentioned before is seriously not an isue and if you don't think about it you won't even notice. Official photo and mine taking centre stage in the bass cave [attachment=202901:Dingwall NG2 5.jpg] [attachment=202902:bass room 001.JPG] Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I had a combustion, I really enjoyed playing it, it was a nice bass to play and it was a thing of beauty. However, somehow for me the sound just didn't inspire, and I couldn't seem to modify it in a way that changed that. It just seemed.. I don't know, too polite for what I wanted to do. The band also didn't go for the sound, so I changed it for my ibanez which suited me more. I still think the dingwall was one of the nicest basses to play, and I certainly wouldn't be against trying a different model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 [quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1445109763' post='2888911'] I had a combustion, I really enjoyed playing it, it was a nice bass to play and it was a thing of beauty. However, somehow for me the sound just didn't inspire, and I couldn't seem to modify it in a way that changed that. It just seemed.. I don't know, too polite for what I wanted to do. The band also didn't go for the sound, so I changed it for my ibanez which suited me more. I still think the dingwall was one of the nicest basses to play, and I certainly wouldn't be against trying a different model. [/quote] That was my only issue with the ones I tried. The tone just wasn't up my street. Everything else - playability, build - was exceptional. And Sheldon is a gent, friendly and very enthusiatic about his basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musashimonkey Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 I really wanted to like them, personally I loved the tone and build quality. But I really couldn't get on with the fanned fret system. Maybe I needed longer to really adjust... I only had around 20 mins admittedly, shame, as they look great too. 😕 One day I'll have to give one a real run for its money..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameronj279 Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 [quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1445163673' post='2889169'] That was my only issue with the ones I tried. The tone just wasn't up my street. Everything else - playability, build - was exceptional. [/quote] I found this with the Canadian models I played (AN1 and Z3) but find the NG-2 is great tone-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 They're undoubtably great basses. I've played one, but I like to play chords, so they don't work for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1445208772' post='2889689'] They're undoubtably great basses. I've played one, but I like to play chords, so they don't work for me. [/quote] chords Fortunately they work for me but then I only play chords on my mandolin and acoustic guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosebreath Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Dingwalls are top shelf basses but not for everyone. The guy I got my AB 2 from had it a year and just couldn't get use to the sound. It wasn't HIS sound. Went back to his jazz bass, which he never really left, and thats fine. Not a lot of em on this side of the pond considering how many other kinds are out there. Never ran into another one or many that have ever touched one. The thought behind the fan fret just made sense to me and the action and sound, for me, is second to none. You can have my Dingbat when you can pry my cold, dead fingers from around it!! Untill then I will take no prisoners and eat the wounded! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattbass6 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I had 2 Dingwall basses, an AB16 and ABZ6. They were stunning. Even though the wonky fret thing was easy to get used to, up the dusty end when playing any sort of chordal stuff became really quite difficult for me. That says more about my playing probably! I did gig with them too but they just weren't cutting it for me live. They were too polite. I really did miss the "normal" frets though and in the end, they had to go. Great basses, wonderful construction, amazing feel. If anyone is thinking of getting one, do it! You'll probably have more luck than me but glad I tried them out. A great experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosebreath Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Just a bit of info here and try to impress everyone with my wealth of knowledge. My 10 year old AB 2 plays awesome and smooth but the bass side had a lot of growl to it. Overly strong bass sound and the and the G and D strings or treble side was quite weak. When playing those strings I had to really nail them to get enough sound and never could match the timber or dynamic's of the bottom 3. That problem really showed up at a gig last friday. I found the spec's for, I think, all dingwall guitars as far as string height from the pickups. Mine were too far away on the treble side and too close on the bass side which, obviously made the bass side overpowering and the treble side way under powered. So, the specs say 3/32 inch gap on treble side and twice that or 3/16 inch on the bass side. I set mine up that way and that evened everything out and brought the sound in line perfectly. All the strings now have damn near the same dynamic's. Sounds excellent. You can dial it in closer or further away as you see fit but those are the spec's. Worked wonderfully for me anyway. Carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispn Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 I'm in the fortunate position to own a combustion and a Super PZ5 and they're both wonderful. The P5 has a really comfortable neck profile, it's lightweight and has a great p bass sound for what I do. The combustion is equally as comfortable and the neck again feels fantastic. The longer scale length is noticeable but not in a bad way and the resulting clarity is pretty impressive. The pick up and switching system offer a great range of tones and the eq really allows you to change things up to suit the tune. My combi is for sale purely as the Super P is more suited to what I do and I'm more inclined to that p bass tone. I will say that the choir gig I have fits the Combi really well where I can change tones to suit a myriad of styles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Whenever I go to BassDirect there are no NG2s in stock . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Thats because they are all for sale here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amnesia Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 [quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1445866202' post='2894812'] Thats because they are all for sale here! [/quote] It is true. I waited more than 5 months for mine (collected in July) but BD seem to be operating a 'running order' with regular NG-2 deliveries so if you time it right you could drop on with no wait time. Keep 'em peeled for deliveries to BD - or just pop into the For Sale thread and pick one up from there! ps...mine is rare...in that it's not for sale here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameronj279 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 [quote name='amnesia' timestamp='1445950628' post='2895611'] I waited more than 5 months for mine (collected in July) but BD seem to be operating a 'running order' with regular NG-2 deliveries so if you time it right you could drop on with no wait time. [/quote] This is what I done. There seemed to be a few there for quite a while was looking last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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