NB&AD

[Grand Wazoo]

[size=3][b]The Bass: Dingwall 5 Strings ABZ[/b][/size]
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The ABZ features a satin finished swamp ash body with a maple neck and fingerboard. Its passive electronics nail the traditional ash/maple tone and then some. It’s also the lightest in weight of the entire Dingwall line.
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Dingwall made in Canada FD3-A pickups
Dingwall passive controls; volume, pickup selector (Bridge, both parallel, both series, Neck)
Dingwall USA strings
Two piece swamp ash body
Natural satin finish
Maple Fingerboard - satin finish, 34 - 37"
Banjo frets
Novax® Fanned -Fret System™
Maple neck
Hipshot ultralight tuners (black)
Custom Dingwall Bridge (Black finish)
Weight - 7.12lb/3.50kg
Manufactured in Canada
Active Electronics
Right Handed


[size=3][b]The Amp: Ibanez Promethean 1 x 10 combo[/b][/size] - take it everywhere toy amp (Oi' there's no hiss on mine unless you wack the EQ, Treble and Vibe knobs fully clockwise otherwise it's as quite as a quiet thing)

SPECS
250w Combo, 500w with Extention Cab
10" Sub rated for 250w
HF dome tweeter with passive crossover
6 band graphic EQ with bass and treble shelving tone control
Detachable head
High Quality peak limiting circuit
Vibe (Color) Control (from vintage to modern sound
Mute switch
Aux input, Headphone out, Balanced XLR output with ground lift
Tuner out
12.8W x 12.7H x 18.1D
26.8 Lbs

[size=3][b]Pics:[/b][/size]

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[size=3][b]The Bass[/b][/size]








[size=3][b]The Amp[/b][/size]

Edited August 16, 2010 by Grand Wazoo

[Musicman20]

Wow, been busy?!

Nice new collection.

[Lfalex v1.1]

New bass AND amp day?! I'd never get that past the missus!
I've always had a soft spot for Dingwalls/Fanned frets.
Liking the other basses, even if it is all a bit MM-centric! I'd have 2 of the 3 (Bongo & Anniversary/Reflex, but not the Big Al!)
As for the amp, I'd have to reserve judgement until I'd played it! Looks dinky, though. Aaaaaah!

[Grand Wazoo]

Well the Dingwall has passed the test on all accounts, it's a great lil' bass, very comfortable, plays well and records well too. This ABZ is passive but the only thing that reminds you it's a passive bass is the lack of an onboard preamp by means of Treble / Middle / Bass controls, whereas all you have is a very effective tone control which I tend to favour as close as possible to 1 or 2 max. The best sound comes from both pickup in series or the bridge soloed.

Has anyone tried one of these, I think I've found a little diamond in the dust with this bass. Really chuffed, and Alex at the Bass Gallery in Camdem made me great deal on the price, but if I tell you I'd have to kill you.

[danny-79]

Nice one, digging the look of the Dingwall beautiful looking bass, thanks for the links

[danny-79]

Its the Novax system that keeps drawing me to take a look at it,
It looks great over all but defiantly need to check one out for myself before committing to any comments about it on just looks alone. really don't no anything about them, like i just read the word passive an thought .....mmm ?? etc

[Grand Wazoo]

Well you know what, Danny, I went to the Gallery in Camdem to try some pedals, this is a true story, did not intend to go out and purchase a bass that day, I was back from my holiday 4 hours, left the missus home unpacking, ranting & raving about this that and the other I needed an escape!! Having only slept 2 hours that morning, I thought, I need some retail therapy. The last time I was in that store was 2 weeks before my holiday when I went to collect the Big Al 5, I remember seeing the 2 Ding-a-lings hanging in there but had no time to try as my car was on the meter and the traffc warden was on a mission that day. But yeah, eventually I went back there and said I'd like to try these pedals (tech-21 SVT, a Mark Bass Synth, and a Boss Loop Station) and I said can I try them with a Stingray, a P-Bass and them dingy's you've got there, so I did.

They had 2 Dingwalls a Canadian made ABZ 5 (mine now) and a made in somewhere Asian "Combustion" 5'er in a yucky lime green colour remeniscent of those ghastly ebmm Dargie delight green.

The first one I tried was in fact the ABZ as I was drawn by the fact it had a maple board (which I prefer to rosewood) and I was immediately shocked that it weighed less than my son's Ibanez Jem guitar, 7.1lbs!!! I thought how can a bass be this light and still sound good, but then once plugged in, it was incredibly responsive and I had never tried a bass with such thin neck and low action before in my life, infact I am used to a normal action on my other ordinary basses that my first reaction was to dig hard on the strings and make a racket, but with that bass you only need a very light approach to get a big sound, slapping it's effortless, which suits me and my 4.5 digits right hand perfectly (I've lost half my r/h thumb in a motorcycle accident 2 years ago so I am still recovering from re-adapting my playing technique due to the lack of the top end of my thumb) click here ---> [url="http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/?action=view&current=04062008016.flv"]http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt...04062008016.flv[/url]

The pickup combinations and controls are dead easy to understand, there's two humbuckers, Volume / Tone and a 4 position rotary pickup selector 1) bridge alone, 2) Both in Parallel, 3) Both in Series, 4) neck alone.

All 4 sounded are wicked, you'd never think it was a passive bass until you reminded yourself of it, and I just couldn't put that bass down in the shop, eventually I tried the Asian Combustion and thought..... bleeaagh, not even an hair on the ABZ's @rse, it was £200 cheaper than the ABZ and miles away in quality, sound, was a lot heavier and the neck didn't feel as good as the other.

But all this time, you have to realize I am playing for the first time in my life an instrument with these new fanned frets malarchy and never even noticed it? I've had to stop and go... oh yeah, the fanned frets, I forgot about it, felt immediately natural to me except that I had to remeber to look at the fret markers for the first 2 minutes to remind me where I was on the neck and the only other problem was fretting in the low position between frets 1, 2 and 3 where on the lower strings you have to remember to stretch your hand a bit more otherwise you get the wrong notes but believe me it becomes immediately natural once you get the hang of it, it's never an hinderance but instead an easy transposition and I think that is what makes these basses very clever, they are immediately intuitive and I can ensure you that if a dumbo like me with 9 and a half fingers can adapt to this, so can anyone else with better skills than mine.

I went back to the shop manager and said right. this is mine, do me a deal and I'll take it now, as a long time frequent customer I can now admit he gave me a very tasty discount and wnt from £1499 down to £1250. You only live once, and ftw!

10 basses in my arsenal (Two PRS in storage never to be used again) 7 of them at home and one on the ship which travels with me, you can guess which one. Yep the ABZ 5.

Edited September 20, 2010 by Grand Wazoo

[charic]

Stop It! I have enough GAS. I want a white dingwall super J 5 or 6 with black scratchplate, maple neck, black blocks

And a new amp.

Right I need lotto tickets!!

Wish me luck! If I win... basschat party!!

[ezbass]

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='930274' date='Aug 19 2010, 08:38 PM']it's a great lil' bass,[/quote]

37" scale little? Seriously though, nice scores there and good to see The Gallery getting the plaudits it deserves, Alex has always been very helpful and willing to "do a deal" when I've gone there. I want to try a Dingwall myself but reckon it might have an adverse effect on my wallet.

[Grand Wazoo]

[quote name='ezbass' post='961824' date='Sep 20 2010, 08:36 AM']37" scale little? Seriously though, nice scores there and good to see The Gallery getting the plaudits it deserves, Alex has always been very helpful and willing to "do a deal" when I've gone there. I want to try a Dingwall myself but reckon it might have an adverse effect on my wallet.[/quote]

Absolutely, Alex is the man and... my god hasn't he got some chops? Have you seen him playing? Scary!

[ezbass]

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='961884' date='Sep 20 2010, 09:41 AM']Absolutely, Alex is the man and... my god hasn't he got some chops? Have you seen him playing? Scary![/quote]
I've heard him play a bit and yes, but fortunately he doesn't lord it up like the staff in some other emporiums with their stock flash licks that they get to practice all day long.

[danny-79]

Thanks for the further GAS attack Fran lol
Keep coming back an taking a look at it, then looking them up on other pages an gotta say that it has my attention, one question that i had that you have answered was about hand positioning being different with the frets being in different positions but from what you have said sounds like its not that much of a problem or should i say its not much of hassle re adjusting to it.
Only other issue I'm thinking is with it being passive, haven't owned a passive bass in ??? long as everything i own is active but the simplicity of just having tone-volume-selector is again something else, cant wait to try one out for myself , who knows

(I'm one end of the scale to the other here, just started a thread asking about John East pre-amps )

[danny-79]

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='961794' date='Sep 20 2010, 05:45 AM'](I've lost half my r/h thumb in a motorcycle accident 2 years ago so I am still recovering from re-adapting my playing technique due to the lack of the top end of my thumb) click here ---> [url="http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/?action=view&current=04062008016.flv"]http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt...04062008016.flv[/url][/quote]

Ouch !!! i remember you saying that you had damaged your had in a rta but didn't think was that bad

[rOB]

what are your thoughts on the promethean? The videos, clips and reviews I've seen all seem to be quite positive.

lovely Dingwall by the way

[Grand Wazoo]

[quote name='rOB' post='962567' date='Sep 20 2010, 07:09 PM']what are your thoughts on the promethean? The videos, clips and reviews I've seen all seem to be quite positive.

lovely Dingwall by the way[/quote]

I think the Promethean is actually a great amp, I have bought the 1x10" combo and on gigging level the speaker doesn't give it full justice, however I have tried the head with different cabs, a 2 x 10" and even a 4 x 10" and that it's when that head comes alive, it's every bit as good and as warm, punchy, loud as they said it is. The reason I have bought it in a 1 x 10" combo was for portability and to enable me to take it on board my ship (not mine, where I work) when sailing.

[Grand Wazoo]

[quote name='danny-79' post='962518' date='Sep 20 2010, 06:38 PM']Thanks for the further GAS attack Fran lol
Keep coming back an taking a look at it, then looking them up on other pages an gotta say that it has my attention, one question that i had that you have answered was about hand positioning being different with the frets being in different positions but from what you have said sounds like its not that much of a problem or should i say its not much of hassle re adjusting to it.
Only other issue I'm thinking is with it being passive, haven't owned a passive bass in ??? long as everything i own is active but the simplicity of just having tone-volume-selector is again something else, cant wait to try one out for myself , who knows

(I'm one end of the scale to the other here, just started a thread asking about John East pre-amps )[/quote]

You want Dingwall gas? Look here: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=613421"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=613421[/url]

As for frets, I would have not paid the cash if I wasn't immediately at home with the Novax system.

Regarding the fact that this bass is passive, just think about this forum, there is a LARGE continget of Fender lovers in this forum, myself included, and as you know 90% of P's and J's are passive, and they still kick ass. The pickups in the Dingwalls are very souped up for a passive bass, so much that if I unplug a Music Man and plug the Dingwall I don't need to turn the gain up on the amp to make up for loss of volume, on the contrary I need to take it down a notch!! Go figure?

[danny-79]

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='963405' date='Sep 21 2010, 03:28 PM']You want Dingwall gas? Look here: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=613421"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=613421[/url][/quote]

OK im slowly (very quickly to be exact) getting hooked on these (GAS attack "dag nam it!!" <insert Cartman voice)

[EdwardHimself]

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='961794' date='Sep 20 2010, 05:45 AM']The first one I tried was in fact the ABZ as I was drawn by the fact it had a maple board (which I prefer to rosewood) and I was immediately shocked that it weighed less than my son's Ibanez Jem guitar, 7.1lbs!!! I thought how can a bass be this light and still sound good, but then once plugged in, it was incredibly responsive and I had never tried a bass with such thin neck and low action before in my life, infact I am used to a normal action on my other ordinary basses that my first reaction was to dig hard on the strings and make a racket, but with that bass you only need a very light approach to get a big sound, slapping it's effortless, which suits me and my 4.5 digits right hand perfectly (I've lost half my r/h thumb in a motorcycle accident 2 years ago so I am still recovering from re-adapting my playing technique due to the lack of the top end of my thumb) click here ---> [url="http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/?action=view&current=04062008016.flv"]http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt...04062008016.flv[/url][/quote]

Nasty!

[Grand Wazoo]

Here is a man enjoying his new instrument, as caught on iPhone camera by a friend.



Even a friend of mine loved it so much he never tried a bass before in his life but he was making musical sounds with it, without knowing a single note against a drum loop (ok he was stoned but hey ho)