# New Bass Rig - Dingwall Combustion + Ampeg



## RV350ALSCYTHE (Sep 1, 2012)

I sold all my bass gear ~4years ago. I tried an 8 string guitar and it reminded me of how fun bass was. I was also interested in trying a fanned fret neck.
Thanks to this forum I discovered Dingwall guitars. Their customer service is Great. Through email they helped me pick out what i wanted from their in-stock selection. They were always prompt with replies, which were friendly and professional. After they received payment, the bass was at my door in 10days!












Placement of the strap buttons is good. Both are positioned well for a comfortable standing position, without worry of the strap slipping off the button because of the angle.











Neck Joint is very comfortable
















The nut is done very well, I'm very pleased with it. 






I believe this bass could be improved with larger frets. The current frets are a nice width, but could be taller with a rounder crown. I find the B and E strings buzz and lose sustain fretted at the low end of the fretboard. Could be my fingering at this point, I still enjoy the feel of XJ frets personally.

I use the fretmarkers on the fretboard for visual reference and their placement is odd to me. I play a lot of BEAD on this, ignoring the highest string, which is where the fret markers are  Easily solved with vinyl stickers.







I'm not a fan of strings that taper at the nut and/or bridge saddles.
Can anyone explain the purpose of the taper?
Other than not needing to file nut/saddles for a thicker string I see no purpose.







Chinese made Ampeg Micro-CL head and matching 2x10 Cab.
After plugging into this I'm sure I could have found something with more versatility in the pricerange. Three-Band EQ gives plenty of shaping, but stays within a vintage tone. Waiting for a Boss Bass EQ pedal to arrive to give this amp more fun options to try.






I haven't touch a guitar for half a month because bass is so much more fun.
The Combustion is a very comfortable bass and very solid. Feels light and is well balanced. The hardware is of great quality. Each pickup has a volume control, plus an on/off switch for the pre-amp, which has a low and high control.

This is my first impression of fanned frets and I find more problems than solutions with the idea. In the context of standard tuned guitars and basses it seems like a better option to make the entire fretboard one scale length. In the case of the Combustion I find no reason for the fanned system. The scale should be 37" across all strings, there is no benefit to the shorter scale for the higher tuned strings (in this context). Am I missing the point of fanned frets?


----------



## Bevo (Sep 1, 2012)

Great looking gear!

The small amp has a great amount of followers, hopefully you can get your tone out of it with that pedal.

Nice guitar but I am not sure the reason of the fanned frets, they must serve a purpose which im sure the guys will chime in with.


----------



## Divinehippie (Sep 1, 2012)

awe that little ampeg is cute haha xD. hows the dingwall play? i mean besides the frets (in your opinion) being a little too small. been looking into dingwalls as they look really solid and ive been wanting to try out a FF bass. HNR(ig)D man!


----------



## TemjinStrife (Sep 1, 2012)

I like the ultra-small frets on my Dingwall... they let the action "feel" much lower because the strings are closer to the fingerboard.

The tapered strings are tapered because they are more flexible at the saddle break point. You can end up with some issues with larger-gauge strings over a saddle, since they often do not bend properly over the saddle and aren't flexible at that crucial point, causing intonation issues, tuning problems, and interfering with tone and sustain.


----------



## Mwoit (Sep 4, 2012)

How does the Combustion sound? I have a ABZ and the sounds are ridiculously versatile on it.


----------



## davisjom (Sep 8, 2012)

Bevo said:


> Great looking gear!
> 
> The small amp has a great amount of followers, hopefully you can get your tone out of it with that pedal.
> 
> Nice guitar but I am not sure the reason of the fanned frets, they must serve a purpose which im sure the guys will chime in with.



Fan frets allow for the lower strings to have a longer scale length which will give them the same tension in lower tunings, while using lighter strings, as compared to standard frets needing heavier strings.

I know it's not a very professional response, but I think you get the jist of it.
(If anyone has a better answer to give I would appreciate it  )

BTW great setup. ampeg + dingwall, I can't think of anything more epic


----------



## Winspear (Sep 8, 2012)

In other words..the perfect rig! Congrats! Super jealous, I have such GAS for an extended scale bass.



TemjinStrife said:


> The tapered strings are tapered because they are more flexible at the saddle break point. You can end up with some issues with larger-gauge strings over a saddle, since they often do not bend properly over the saddle and aren't flexible at that crucial point, causing intonation issues, tuning problems, and interfering with tone and sustain.





My untapered D'addario 145 was hilariously awful. My tapered Circle K 166 is great  You certainly don't want them to taper before the nut - but they don't.

The fanned frets benefit the high end because the tone will be warmer and the frets are easier to play. Basically like a normal bass. The extended low end is great for the B string of course.


----------



## VBCheeseGrater (Sep 8, 2012)

very nice bass man. I've also had problems with buzz/sustain on low string lower frets too, I always just put a ever so slight bow in the neck to clear it up, and raise the low B/E saddle if necessary after that.

My bassist in an old band used one of those micro stacks. Not something i'd want to use in a band setting but pretty cool little amps.


----------



## jephjacques (Sep 8, 2012)

That lil babby ampeg is so cute :3


----------



## Semichastny (Sep 9, 2012)

Tapered Strings are excellent for B and lower. I have a tapered .145 and honesty I can't get enough of how great the B sounds. IMO it's a great time for ERGs.


----------



## RV350ALSCYTHE (Oct 6, 2012)

It's been about 2 months now and I'm liking this bass more and more as I adjust to it. I'm using a Boss GEB-7 and my crabbiness with the low-end micro stack is gone.

I couldn't help but buy it based on it being cute.



> I like the ultra-small frets on my Dingwall... they let the action "feel" much lower because the strings are closer to the fingerboard.
> 
> The tapered strings are tapered because they are more flexible at the saddle break point. You can end up with some issues with larger-gauge strings over a saddle, since they often do not bend properly over the saddle and aren't flexible at that crucial point, causing intonation issues, tuning problems, and interfering with tone and sustain.


I'm getting used to smaller frets on bass. Your explanation of tapered strings makes sense, though I still find my B string feels like an A wrapped in a thick blanket. I like to play fast and aggressive sometimes and this tapered string doesn't stay under control as well as non-tapered strings.



> awe that little ampeg is cute haha xD. hows the dingwall play? i mean besides the frets (in your opinion) being a little too small. been looking into dingwalls as they look really solid and ive been wanting to try out a FF bass. HNR(ig)D man!


Plays like a quality made fender P-Bass with a little extra stretching. Adjusting your playing for the FF isn't difficult. For some positions it has been easier to play.



> How does the Combustion sound? I have a ABZ and the sounds are ridiculously versatile on it.


My combustion sounds very similar to a P-Bass with a rosewood neck. Sound versatility isn't very dramatic, keep in mind I'm using a low-end amp at the moment. Everything dialed maxed with the active switch on sounds like a P-Bass with a lot of punch and snap. With the active switch off it sounds very dull and deep like a Peavey Grind. I feel like I have to really attack the strings both fingerstyle and pick. I like a heavy punchy sound so I don't dial down my preamp or with the active switch off.



> very nice bass man. I've also had problems with buzz/sustain on low string lower frets too, I always just put a ever so slight bow in the neck to clear it up, and raise the low B/E saddle if necessary after that.
> 
> My bassist in an old band used one of those micro stacks. Not something i'd want to use in a band setting but pretty cool little amps.


I was expecting this COULD be used in a band setting but you're right it is surprisingly weak for 100W. Past amps with less wattage were much louder, though this is quite enough for making stuff vibrate around me.


----------



## RV350ALSCYTHE (Oct 6, 2012)

I'm considering modifying the Combustion to use non-tapered strings.
Since the bass has an extended scale of 37" and I stay in standard BEADG tuning, I shouldn't have any issues regarding untapered large gauge strings across the saddle since I would require a smaller gauge.

Correct?

Equal tension to a 135 on a 35" scale neck would be roughly a 125 at 37" scale? (rough estimate)
This seems like a viable solution to this flubby tapered B string, am I missing something here?


----------



## Winspear (Oct 8, 2012)

I can't say I've found untapered strings to sound better than tapered. Quite the opposite. But worth a try! 
I must say I'm quite surprised you are finding a string less than 140 or so dull on that scale length! 
I don't know what strings you're using but try Circle K. Their 166 sounds better than my old D'addario 145 haha! (Though I still need a longer scale length than 35" for a gauge like that) Check out the later half of this review which has a comparison clip - you can hear the flubbyness dissapear. This is going from a 145 untapered D'addario to a 166 tapered CK
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/ba...le-k-bass-strings-review-clips-f-content.html


----------



## RV350ALSCYTHE (Oct 8, 2012)

EtherealEntity said:


> I can't say I've found untapered strings to sound better than tapered. Quite the opposite. But worth a try!
> I must say I'm quite surprised you are finding a string less than 140 or so dull on that scale length!
> I don't know what strings you're using but try Circle K. Their 166 sounds better than my old D'addario 145 haha! (Though I still need a longer scale length than 35" for a gauge like that) Check out the later half of this review which has a comparison clip - you can hear the flubbyness dissapear. This is going from a 145 untapered D'addario to a 166 tapered CK
> http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/ba...le-k-bass-strings-review-clips-f-content.html




My point is that I prefer the feel of the untapered, i'm not refuting whether one sounds better than the other. I just dislike how loose a tapered feels compared to non-tapered. I don't feel I'm getting as tight an attack as I did on shorter scale basses with a 135. Sure the note rings out clearly with more sustain but the string can't keep up with shredding and triplets, just turns into a loose mess (Compared to shorter scales using standard string sets).


This is the stringset currently on the bass, sadly I have two more packs of em 

Dingwall Custom Bass String
Round: Medium-Light
045, 058, 075 tapered, 098 tapered and 127 tapered

I tune BEADG, and part-time tune up to C or down to A. Tuned to C is closer to the tension I remember working for me in B.

The string is a Dingwall brand 127. I can't Fathom how switching to an un-tapered ~127 will take away anything noticeable in sound as you suggest.

Correct me on this if I am missing something or wrong anywhere.

Thanks for the link to your soundclip, the CK strings sound much more dynamic and punchy than the string brand I would probably end up using if you didn't suggest CK. I'll definitely check them out once I get my string needs narrowed down.


----------



## Winspear (Oct 8, 2012)

I can't draw a straight comparison on untapered vs tapered soundwise - when I said I've found taper to sound better there are other things at play such as gauge and brand. But usually I've found they intonate better for a start and seem to sound clearer to me. 

I'm inclined to say the problem is with your gauges. 

len 34"

G2 .045 nw == 42.21#

len 34.75

D2 .058 nw == 41.81#

len 35.5 

A1 .075 nw == 40.12#

len 36.25

E1 .098 nw == 37.45#

len 37

B0 .127 nw == 32.13#

Despite the fanned frets, that set still loosens off toward the low end, and coupled with the flexibility of tapered strings 32lb is pretty freaking loose in B - let alone tuning to A. Like using a 90 for E on 35"
Note that the numbers above are based on D'addario construction. Yours might well be tighter or looser depending on string weight. Circle K's are quite a bit heavier and would get you 42lb of tension with just a 130, and 4lb more with the 98, as you will see below.

I'd suggest you put together a matched set from Circle K that will give you a good even response. I think with good tension on the tapered bass you will be very happy. 

I've looked at Circle K's tensions and applied it to your fan. I suggest you try a set from them as follows:
130
98
76
57
43

That will give you ~41-43lb on every string and should have a great response. I might even suggest stepping up the low strings one more gauge to accommodate for your drop tuning.

If you do order from them, make sure to measure up and get the right lengths http://circlekstrings.com/CKSIMAGES/CircleKspecs.pdf
They offer 3 lengths and you don't want the taper coming up wrong dependent on your hardware. 

I might end up wrong and you could be one of the people that don't like tapered strings, but I think without trying it with much higher tension you really can't draw a conclusion yet. I think you'll be really impressed with the feel and tone of CK's too


----------



## Winspear (Oct 8, 2012)

Oops - just remembered the calculator I used to find your tensions at the top of my post doesn't work with D'addarios bass strings, rather the guitar string construction. So the results I posted are wrongly loose.

D'addarios construction would give about 35lb with a 127 - not 32. I don't know about Dingwalls. Still, it's not going to be over 40lb and I think that's where your problem lies.
I would actually go heavier than I suggested so that tuning to A is still acceptable. Perhaps 133


----------



## RV350ALSCYTHE (Oct 8, 2012)

Thanks for the informative responses. Seeing the tension numbers really helps. Every string feels good except the B.

You've provided an excellent starting point for me to find appropriate strings for my situation.

I'll update after I give Circle K a try!


----------

