# Review of a Dingwall Afterburner II



## Sepultorture (May 20, 2014)

It's not easy trying to get your hands on anything Dingwall round these parts, even with being a Canadian luthier and his basses being quite popular, there is only one, yes ONE dealer for his stuff in Ontario, and strangely it's a Long & McQuade, but only in Markham.

being that i'd been very curious to try one of his basses since i first heard of them, that and Nolly's vids don't help much, i had planned to get out to Markham and try one out. SO, i gave them a shout last week and asked if they had one in stock, and sure enough they did, a nice Afterburner II 5 string. today i finally got out to Markham to try one out and i am soo effing glad i did.

This beast was mint to say the least, the first thing i noticed before i even touched it is how gorgeous the woods are on this. Bubinga body, with maple slice and a burled maple top, excellent figure and stain with amazing high gloss finish. the neck and fretboard all wenge, dot inlays, finish on the wood was either oil or some special treatment, still bare wood but my god smooth as .....

after eye ....ing the shit out of this long neck whore for a good 3-4 minutes it was time to sit her down and finger that slut till she sang me a pleasurable song. What i notice with this bass in hand was how amazing the neck felt, it, i dare say, shits all over the prestige ibanez necks in the comfort department, i felt like i was holding a guitar and not a bass, it was flat but not D flat, it's described on their site as medium flat C, and the name gives no justice. it's comfortable as hell, i had no hang ups on the neck anywhere, no frets popping or sharpness, just pure sleek neck sex front first to last fret.

next, the body arm carve reminded me exactly of how the Ibby RGD feels, and i love it, extremely comfortable on my arm, made playing it a pleasure.

now i have never played a fanned fret ANYTHING, never mind a bass, and i had no iisues playing this bass, didn't feel weirded out or had to stare at my fretting hand while playing, i did .... up a little here and there, but hey i've never played one before, i could see myself getting used to it in a few hours of playing no prob, felt great. The neck is a 37"-34" scale length, and i really didn't feel the extra 2 inches of scale size, i'm used to a 35" scale, and i currently play and SRT bass with 34" scale and this didn't feel any different scale wise, i actually adapted to it immediately as if it was a normal 35" scale bass.

onto the sound of this peace of masterworks goodness. unplugged it sounds great, the chambered body sounds pretty sweet, quite liked it, but nothing prepared me for the plugged in sound.

i plugged it into my fav rig setup whish is a Gallien Krueger 1001rb on a Neo 410 cab, i set everything but level at noon, then turned it on. whatever settings was o the bass i hadnt even touched yet. but the moment i hit that first note on one of my bands songs my eyes almost popped out of their sockets. it was the juiciest bass tone i ever heard, and my smile was starting to exceed the limits of my face as i played. everything was gold, but i began to tweak, and i almost left things damn near where they started, i turned the treble and high mid up a hair, the low mid down hair and left bass at noon, the horn and woofer were still at noon, presence and contour at noon, i left the one active passive treble at high, and the pickup selector i fiddled with a few spots but went back to the previous setting i started with cus it was so good, but there was one i still liked but hey i only played this bass for 45 minutes.

i jammed this beast for 40 minutes straight after tweaking a little and i was in bass heaven, never had i heard a straight bass to amp tone that was jaw droppingly good as what i was hearing.

i had to try out a couple others just for comparison. they had a peavey cirrus custom 6 string i jammed next, tweaked and tweak that arsehole for 4 minutes straight and really wasn't impressed. then i went onto a Fodera Emperor 5 string they have there ($9150 price tag, had to ask to open the case (kinda like wayne in waynes world lol)) and much better tone than the cirrus. had a brass nut and more tonal options than i've ever seen on a bass in person, and i spent another 10 minutes trying to get that sounding as good as the dingwall, excellent bass, but the tone wasn't winning me over, and the feel wasn't either.

so back to the Dingwall, and there it was again, instant sex. i slapped, popped, picked and tapped that bass till my phone rang and it was time to get home to take care of the wee ones. 

i gotta say that bass may have limited tonal options on board, but i didn't care it was immediately good sounding, with minimal effot, and if it weren't for that damn price tag ($4100) i woulda walked out with it then and there and took my ibby back to L&M that same day.

but i won't be stopped, i will have one one day.

if you guys have any questions about the bass, let me know


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## Sepultorture (May 20, 2014)

just a quick update the treble knob is just a simple tone knob

and the pickup selector positions i both like were both pickups in series AND both pickups in parallel


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## RV350ALSCYTHE (May 21, 2014)

I didn't know ANYONE carried Dingwall in store. I had to order one blind but I have no regrets.

How does the weight feel compared to the non-chambered basses you were able to compare it against?

Was there any neck dive with this chambered model?


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## Sepultorture (May 21, 2014)

body did feel lighter compared to the other solid bodies i tried, and no neck dive, sat balanced in my hand and when i played it sitting and standing

trust me i was surprised too that they even had ONE bass to try. but i'm glad they did, never have a tried a bass where i instantly clicked with the feel, playability and tone.

also tapping felt strangely easier to do on this bass, cus of fanned frets or some weird mental unblocking, i have no idea but it was a blast to play

also for anyone wanting to know, they are getting some ABZ and Combustion models in end of june, and both are vastly more affordable than the Afterburner 2, if this bass is any indication i may gun for an ABZ which is still made in canada


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## RV350ALSCYTHE (May 21, 2014)

The Banjo sized frets are probably what made tapping easier.
I find them to improve bass play-ability greatly.

I was hesitant about them at first but they really work well.

I've only tried the combustion, which is infinitely better than every other bass I've tried.
I can't imagine how much more improvement there could be in the higher end models. I'll have to wait till I can try one myself.

Thanks for the info about the new batch coming in. Last time I asked Dingwall directly they only had one ABII and it sold within a week


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## RV350ALSCYTHE (May 22, 2014)

Where is the output jack located on these?

I can't stand where it is on the Combustion.
I play everything in classical position when sitting and it's right in my way.
On top of that it's a socket jack and I can't use a 45 degree jack either


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## crg123 (May 22, 2014)

> after eye ....ing the shit out of this long neck whore for a good 3-4 minutes it was time to sit her down and finger that slut till she sang me a pleasurable song.



O________O



Edit: wow that thing is gorgeous.


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## LordCashew (May 22, 2014)

Awesome! I've been fascinated by Dingwall for a decade but still haven't had the chance to play one. The top looks like buckeye burl BTW.


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## Sepultorture (May 22, 2014)

You are correct, just got an email confirming that today

And side jack is exactly the same as this one


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