NBD: Dingwall John Taylor 5

[dub_junkie]

I've wanted one of these since they first appeared so seeing a used one at Guitar Guitar the other day I had to have it. Anyway the bass arrived at tea time and I took it straight to band rehearsal and unsurprisingly it acquitted itself brilliantly.

What a bass - tonally its right up my street and the Neve 2EQ sounds terrific - though GG shipped it with a couple of dud batteries so I noodled around on it in passive mode till I could put 2 x9v in there. Love the magnetic battery cover btw! 

Love the neck too - and the fit and finish is top drawer. 

Whats not to like? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lozz196]

Nice, looks great

[HeadlessBassist]

Now that looks amazing, DJ. Congratulations on your lovely new bass! I was only playing along with "Rio" & "Hungry Like The Wolf" on my GB the other day.  Enjoy!

[Grezza 1]

Very nice my friend…very nice!👌

[Machines]

Superb basses - I had one for a bit (white) and it was awesome, the Neve preamp is great. 

[krispn]

Was this the one in the Edinburgh shop? I was planning on having a rip on that this weekend 😀

[RichT]

I don't really play anything other than short scale these days but doesn't stop me lusting after one of these. It looks amazing, congrats!

[police squad]

I fancy a 4 string like this. But I'd probably not use it enough to justify the expense

[dub_junkie]

18 hours ago, krispn said:

Was this the one in the Edinburgh shop? I was planning on having a rip on that this weekend 😀

Yes it did come from the Edinburgh store.  

[Geek99]

Is it just the photo or does the green stripe look wonky? Nice though 👍

[RichT]

4 hours ago, Geek99 said:

Is it just the photo or does the green stripe look wonky? Nice though 👍

 

Yes it's wonky, deliberately so to echo the Rio album artwork 🙂

 

Edited October 5 by RichT

[Geek99]

Sorry - for some reason I didn’t recall it well enough to remember they were wonky 

[Kev]

On 01/10/2025 at 00:44, dub_junkie said:

 

Whats not to like? 

 

The stripes....but that's just me!

 

Bet its a lovely bass with that pre, would love to hear a straight comparison tone wise between this and an NG.

[krispn]

They have a stealth version. 
 

How’s that eq sounding @dub_junkie have you tried previous Dingwall models to compare? I think many of us are dying to hear how that neve bass boost sounds! 

[dub_junkie]

I think the Neve on the John Taylor 5 sounds absolutely brilliant especially with the master tone control there to tailor (taylor🤪) the overall tone further. Preamp sounds strong/full bodied with no unusable extremes.  Dont know the frequencies but wouldn't be surprised if these were kept secret.

 

Unfortunately I haven't owned a Dingwall NG or Combustion to compare it to but Waynesworld on here lives local to me and he has just bought an NG3 five string so I will hopefully be doing a comparison over the coming days. 

 

I feel I have been very late to Dingwall but better late than never as these basses are sooooo good!!

[krispn]

I gigged a Super P for about 5 yrs and loved it. Just a wonderfully made and exquisite bass to play. 

[kwmlondon]

I honestly think the Neve is the most usable preamp I’ve ever had. Brilliant thing. 

[franzbassist]

I have one of the limited edition JT4 basses and also a JT5 which I added the six way rotary to.  It’s made a fantastic sounding bass even better.

 

I actually run my basses passive a lot of the time, but the Neve preamp really is very good when you kick it in.  My 5 is pretty light, balances very well and sustains for days too.  It’s become my main bass for gigging.

 

My JT5

My JT4 (18 of only 82 worldwide)

 

Pickup settings for the six way.  It really expands the range of sounds.

Last Friday’s setup with my beloved Franz bass and the quite incredible GR Bass rig.

Edited October 6 by franzbassist

[franzbassist]

I have swapped to a white scratchplate though.

 

[kwmlondon]

39 minutes ago, franzbassist said:

I have one of the limited edition JT4 basses and also a JT5 which I added the six way rotary to.  It’s made a fantastic sounding bass even better.

 

I actually run my basses passive a lot of the time, but the Neve preamp really is very good when you kick it in.  My 5 is pretty light, balances very well and sustains for days too.  It’s become my main bass for gigging.

 

My JT5

My JT4 (18 of only 82 worldwide)

 

Pickup settings for the six way.  It really expands the range of sounds.

Last Friday’s setup with my beloved Franz bass and the quite incredible GR Bass rig.

Yup. I had a combustion and I just didn't like the EMG preamp. I took the batteries out and used the passive/active as a mute switch. And very handy it was too. Since I got my ABZ though I find the passive tone incredibly useful, and the bass and treble on the Never are so usable - I'd say I use the onboard preamp about 20% of the time, passive the rest.

 

In terms of options though, I'd be fascinated to try out the six-position but as it is I think I'm better off with 4. It's like compression - the best system I used had an on/off switch that worked. As soon as I start to get too much choice I feel like I'm wasting time faffing and give up!

[franzbassist]

16 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

In terms of options though, I'd be fascinated to try out the six-position but as it is I think I'm better off with 4. It's like compression - the best system I used had an on/off switch that worked. As soon as I start to get too much choice I feel like I'm wasting time faffing and give up!

I really like the addition of middle solo, and bridge and middle in parallel, so it was a good swap for me.