What makes a ROCK / METAL BASS sound GREAT? (with Sheldon Dingwall)

[@KohleAudioKult]

Which Bass Guitars do you guys play for heavy tones and why? SHOOT! 😎

[@RyRyTheBassGuy]

Always end up going with a P bass or a J bass.

[@Uncle__Pete]

Main basses: back in my days - warwick corvette $$ (made in D) heute Spector NS Pulse II 5 String Double Humbucker activ DR Strings (black / red) auf drop b funktionieren beide mit finger oder plec. Spector 889 mensur / 24 bünde früher mit darkglass b7k v2, heute eigentlich nurnoch mit kemper player und leicht abgeänderte orange settings

[@theriffdjenerator2213]

Heavy always lands on a Dingwall. Combustion 5 string

[@playdelay]

Stingrays or P Bass into an Ampeg... granted that's not the Modern Heavy sound

[@DaskaiserreichNet78]

I built my own Bass from scratch and I loved it. But my Bass is big and heavy, and I had to fly between countries, so I had bought a cheap headless, bodyless bass from AnyGig. It will have to do until I can play my own bass again.

[@aussieb1416]

Woah. Things are start to make sense now. One of the best conversations about instruments I've ever had the pleasure to witness and it was way to short. Good job lads!

[@KohleAudioKult]

We didn’t have the room long enough. There’s so much more to talk about, I agree

[@kimseniorb]

agreed, way to snort

[@aussieb1416]

@@kimseniorb Rick James! yewwwwww

[@0421072]

Dangle Dangle!

[@KohleAudioKult]

All the way!

[@Deamonition]

As a guitar player that uses a bass for music writing and production, everything that I have ever felt annoying with a bass but couldn't quite explain... He just perfectly explained all of it and I kept saying "That's it!" while listening to this video

[@tungmiyaynusnbahls8936]

This was such an awesome interview 😎

[@guudbyenme3399]

THE best "tone wood" explanation. It's all about the player's connection to the instrument. It isn't something the listener can perceive. But the more the player connects with the instrument, the better they will play.

[@pjmtry7]

This is Awesome to hear the interview from the best!!!!

[@frankmarini5391]

Great to see Sheldon getting his major props. Great explanation of what the multiscale imparts on the ability to carve out frequencies

[@steffenwolf3200]

This guy is 1 in a million

[@cmcp975]

Awesome interview!

[@douggroulx1525]

WOW, this guy is educated and so interesting,I could listen all day. Great interview! Dingwall is Canadian, very cool!

[@bulldrumm]

Thank you

[@bobwarren4707]

That was awesome!! Thank you. I love my NG3

[@JaredMuskego4490]

Proud to live 3 hours away from Saskatoon, home of the Dingwall. Sheldon is the man! Love my D Roc 5 and I cant wait to upgrade to a custom someday!

[@the1khronohs40]

Excellent stuff, man! 🤘

[@1234drums]

This dude's points are very convincing... now I think I will need a fan fretted bass ❤

[@defmu3825]

Great interview. Thanks for that!

[@JohnMennen-ni2ev]

Great information video, thank you! Dangle dangle!

[@matthewduncan9405]

Sheldon is such a gentleman and I love his passion for sharing his thoughts! The “longer the better” went right past him 😂

[@phredbull]

I don't think it went past him, I think he's just a professional and polite kind of guy.

[@czdot]

The voice on this guy. Wow. And he makes bass guitars too. 😁

[@CarlosKTCosta]

Getting a Dingwall changed my life as a bass player. I was always looking into getting new basses, changing pickups and whatnot. After getting my Combustion that completely ended

[@DamienAllen]

I’ve tried to explain to other musicians how I like a “pianosity” to my bass & tone, that it should sound like a Grand Piano. This guy gets it and puts it into practice in manufacturing.

[@visionswords5477]

It's amazing to me that people don't understand the importance of scale length. If you go to a concert hall to see a pianist, do they play on an upright piano or a massive concert grand? Everyone knows that the massive grand piano has clearer pitch and less inharmonic information (yes, I know Grand Pianos are a little louder but that's not reason people prefer to play on them!). Why would bass and guitar strings be different?

[@stevedeyne]

Very insightful. Thank you.

[@IvanBassist]

Dingwall basses rule 🤘🏽

[@TheMemo659]

I have a nice bass collection. Fender P, Fender J, Rick 4003, and a Dingwall combustion. The other three have not gotten much playing time since the Dingwall was added to my quiver. Three "classic" American basses and Dingwall's China made Squire equivalent is my current #1 bass. Suspect I'll wind up with a super J eventually, but it's far from a need. That combustion is one hell of a nice bass.

[@whosrobertseed]

The man the myth the legend.

[@DEJ915]

Not for bass but I had my old viper baritone (27") tuned to D standard and it was really clear so his explanation in the beginning makes sense.

[@AAAA-lt9hq]

A small side note as well for bass players--try different string alloys to change your sound, not just your pickups or tone settings. I use traditional nickel wrapped steel core strings for a balance of warmth and clarity, but it is amazing how much difference pure nickel vs. stainless steel makes, as does the kind of winding (flatwound, halfround, roundwound, tapewound). My guess is stainless strings would help a lot with the dangle dangle. Or even try different alloy strings on each string. Perhaps stainless steel on low strings and nickel wrapped or pure nickel on high strings?

[@SlaverTheFlagman]

I was lost for a long time when I was searching great bass guitar with huge sound, comfortable neck and ideal string spacing at the bridge. And once I had a chance to play Sandberg California TM5 and it is 13 years I have not tried to find another bass. Obviously I love Dingwall sound, but I wasn`t 100% convinced that it is the best one for me and my hands.

[@spastickitchen]

Great down to earth explanation of inharmonicity! I think Leo Fender was right to make the bass 34" scale... ...if you tune to E (or no lower than D). The first Dingwall I ever had my hands on was a real eyeopener. Honestly, though, as great as 37" is for B (and works fine for A, too), I feel like even more would be better for anything lower. I think the 37" Dingwalls are all set up with hardware that gets you the most you can get- pickups, electronics, bridge, woods, etc. But I'd like to see a 40" or 41" scale for people who go into more extended range... however, I think people will just tune down until it sounds mucky... still, I'd love to see more options.

[@inmemoryofin]

For some people the muckiness drives the desire to tune down to begin with. At least in part, or almost subconsciously. The slightly mellowed but nastier response that tuning down even a little can introduce. A need for that GHOOOOSHHHH you know? Especially on guitar. Not saying that’s everyone, or all the time. I kinda fluctuate myself. I tune my guitars to C# with 10’s or 11’s but play a 35” 5 string in standard because I prefer the tensioned sound.

[@spastickitchen]

@inmemoryofin I started playing 7 string guitars back in '97, and pretty much switched over 100%. Back then, all factory 7 string guitars were standard scale length. B sounds pretty okay, but even tuning down to A makes thinks muddy to my ears' *but* - I know exactly what you are saying. That low A on a 25.5" guitar sounds muddy in a very entertaining way... and I agree that on bass, the muddiness is different. If you think about a 34" bass versus a 25.5" guitar, you are talking 5 frets. But you are talking about tuning down 12 frets. 35" scale adds an extra 1/3 of a fret worth of length... not really a world worth of difference. Even 37" Dingwall goodness is only 1 fret longer than 34" (if you fret the first fret on a Dingwall, you have a 34" length of string). There are plenty of guitars 27" (25.5" +1fret), 28 5/8" (2 frets), and even 30" (3 frets), but for bass, 34" is already considered "long scale." There are a few 37" options, and I only know of three 40" basses (Kalium aka Knuckle Quake, Booka in Australia, and a company I can't think of the name in Greece). I saw a video of a guy who built a 40-43". Even that is less than 5 frets from a 30" baritone guitar. So very few ootions if you want to downtune a bass. Then there's the issue of strings. If I build my own 40-43" bass like the guy in the other video I saw, where do I buy strings? Even Kalium strings max out at 40 3/4" between windout and ball end... so custom made Newtones? Who is going to pay $150 for a 5 string pack? Well, if you want to push the limits, obviously you need to innovate something. I am rambling, but, all this to say I just wished extended scale basses were more normalized in this day and age.

[@AAAA-lt9hq]

Mr. Dingwall's comment about distorting bass in the overtones was *really helpful* here, as I tended to not know how much or where to distort a bass and so used a Fender clean amp sound for metal by default with maybe a bit of Sansamp edge dialed in. Further, I doubt this will happen, but *I hope Mr. Dingwall and Floyd Rose collaborate on a multiscale floating Floyd Rose bridge for 8 string guitars that can handle a high A string being pulled up to C# without breaking.* Why no F#? One is I do not like the low F#1 string on an 8 string guitar. It is around 46.25hz and usually around 50hz is when things start fighting with the bass drum. The solution is usually to make the kick drums very high and clicky with triggered samples and to dial a lot of the low end out of the bass and guitars to make them clearer and brighter in such low tunings. The bass and guitar end up in the same octave and only the timbre of their different string types differentiate them. Some djent bands get rid of bass players all together, which I think is a mistake because you lose the timbre of the bass. Eventually with all the low end dialed out, the bass clanks and sounds like a guitar, only one octave down, or the guitar sounds like a bass. Instead of going lower, I generally prefer the melodic high strings on a 6 or even 7-8 string bass if they are tuned like a guitar or drop A with a high A string on top (A E A D G B E A). Why the high A instead of F#? We are used to droning F# tones. But with high A the ear does not expect it. Sweep arpeggios sound very cool with a high A, and you cannot emulate this with a Digitech Whammy pedal because the single note comes too quickly in the sweep to isolate. Since guitar low A1 is at 55hz, the bass A0 would be an octave below that at 27.50hz. The bass drums and bass guitar still have somewhere to live in the below 50hz range, while the guitar sits just above it. The problem is now we are looking at a high open A4 on the first string with a frequency of 440hz. A5 would be 880hz at 12th fret. A6 at 24th fret would be 1660hz. This has been accomplished with the Dean Rusty Cooley RC8, which had a low B of 25.5" scale length and a high A of 23.5". But if you use the whammy bar to raise the high A6 to C#7, you are looking at an incredible 2217.46hz. The fret slant would have to be massive--probably at least 25.5" to less than 23.5". But I am hoping one day it can be done. Dimebag used to use his Digitech Whammy pedal to go to E6 at 1318.51hz and it was still very musical. Imagine if you could play those notes fretted and still have full use of a whammy bar on an 8 string. We have to get guitar up into the 7th octave and down into the 1 octave on the same instrument to push the boundaries of metal. And, we still need the bass guitar in there to play independent counterpoint lines in a different octave, something that an 8 string guitar player cannot do alone because the hand will not stretch that far. I am interested in what Mr. Kohle thinks of the idea of a fully floating high A string.

[@dubiousdaydream1695]

I"d love to hear more about the onboard preamp and eq! I was always a bit confused by the purpose of it in a metal context, as it doen'st make sense to me to eq the bass before the distortion. Aside when compensating for dead strings >_> With good strings and good pickups I prefer going into my distortion pedal first and eq afterwards. So to me the battery powered preamp feels more like a liability then anything else. But very curious what more experienced people than me think of it and use it for!

[@KohleAudioKult]

EQ can make sense before the distortion to shape how the signal „triggers“ it. I would have loved to talk much longer but we just had the room for 30 minutes. More next time!

[@SHARt_murmur]

I have 2 Dingwall’s, and have had over 10 friends &/or clients come in, play them, then go out and buy one for themselves. Incredibly made, and just have a sound and ability to get such low action, that as a tech/player I have never experienced on another bass.

[@drrodopszin]

Where I live sadly they are extremely expensive.

[@SHARt_murmur]

@ that sucks, man. Even here in the States, they’ve gone up. Can’t imagine how much they are elsewhere. I got mine back in like 2019/20, and they were pricey then, but nowhere what they are now. Hopefully that more affordable run I’ve heard rumored becomes a reality for you.

[@teddystevens6624]

I’m not even primarily a bass player but as a mix engineer I want one 😂

[@snowandcoal]

Dingwall is a name that is destined to bass

[@stevenpipes1555]

Thank you so much for that take on tonewood! That is EXACTLY the argument for tonewood that ive been trying to convey for years. Its almost like you read some of my past coments! Lol

[@vorpalblades]

That's not tonewood making any difference. It's hardware type, neck construction, strings, the setup. It's a proven fact tonewood is a fallacy.

[@Eugensson]

If it makes you want to take your instrument more often, then it's good wood.

[@stevenpipes1555]

@vorpalblades Yeah, so you all on that side keep saying. Just because you keep on saying it though, doesn't make it true!

[@honigdachs.]

@@vorpalblades Repeat the mantra - repeat the mantra - repeat the mantra - repeat ...

[@josku5]

People here in the comments don’t seem to realize that it’s not TONEwood. It’s just wood that makes you feel good. It doesn’t affect the TONE and SOUND of the instrument, but it can effect the overall feel of the instrument. We should prolly start calling it feelwood from now on 😂

[@alrecks619]

just came after Nolly's The Bad Thing playthrough, the clarity of lower strings are unparalleled.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Dingwall and Spector are the champions league of Dängle!

[@mjlagerwerf]

I have an Ibanez SR premium with nordstrand pickups... Those pickups also bring in the dängle dängle 🔥

[@KohleAudioKult]

Which ones are you using?

[@mjlagerwerf]

@KohleAudioKult SR1305SB with the Nordstrand Big Break. I do not have to do much processing the tone, it sits almost perfectly in the mix 💪

[@lydfar2392]

It has always been a thickness of your guitar Strings vs. Scale length. They both gets a better tension

[@justinreynolds3935]

Duff Mckagen had the of clank tone. Not so much distorted but def had that clank.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Anthrax and Overkill are my favorite examples for clank without much distortion

[@justinreynolds3935]

@ yes I forgot about DD from overkill!!! Absolutely clank tone before it was a thing!!

[@marcblum5348]

The core issue is the stiffness of the string. A string does not vibrate in an ideal manner because it is build out of actual material and because is has a diameter >0. Which leads to a certain stiffness. This is what renders the overtone series out of tune. You can lessen this effect by a) using a thinner string, or b) extending the scale length. There you go.

[@AAAA-lt9hq]

I like clank bass for some songs, but this is a signature sound of only a few bands to me--like Overkill. It is their signature sound as much as the high tuned snare is to Helmet. My ideal bass tone is still Steve Harris's tone from the 80s until 1992 when Martin Birch stopped doing their albums. Warm and fat, but still bright enough to cut through the mix even with fingers and flatwound strings. That said the guitars are very turned down and thin to compensate for his increased loudness in the mix. Fredrik Nordstrom's bass sound on the Dark Tranquillity album "Projector" I also like. I am guessing this is a mid scooped sound. When I emailed about it, Martin Henriksson told me he recorded with an Ibanez bass (I am guessing J or dual soapbar style), a Peavey Mark VIII amp, and a 4x10 cabinet I think. These old heads can be found dirt cheap used. I liked David Ellefson's tone as well, but I am growing tired of dual soapbar pickups for everything because they are too scooped and sound uninteresting despite the wiring options you can get from the passive variety. The Musicman Stingray style pickups especially are really versatile. Lately I am having luck with 4 string bolt on PJs, both active and passive, in cutting through and sitting in the mix. I do not like the neck sound of a J bass so I do not use them much. Thru necks sustain more and are great for fretless but I think they are too warm. Fretless Steve DiGiorgio style bass popular with tech death bands like Obscura can kind of disappear and reappear in the mix. The fills and slides sound great but underneath the guitars the fretless can disappear unless really compressed or the fingerstyle player is really consistent. I use rather low output traditional Fender 62 reissue pickups because they are clearer with a tighter bottom end. Any boost I need I do through the amp or plugins. It is only when I am using a type of bass like 6 strings that I use a specific type of pickup I dislike, usually a J or soapbar, because those basses tend to use that pickup form factor. Lately, I have seen some KZbinrs like Leon Todd use semi hollows for heavy tones. I am considering semi hollow and hollow short scale basses to experiment with tones.

[@KohleAudioKult]

I agree about Overkill! The tone I got for Dave Ellefson when I tracked his new band was quite different though: Check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaKwYnl3orh9p80si=pdo5DNAInqk1TmSv

[@AAAA-lt9hq]

@@KohleAudioKult Thank you, Mr. Kohle!

[@KryZehk]

Just wish these type of instruments are made available for everyone, I don't think dingwall will do it, but maybe other brands could start using the same logic.

[@michaelblaney4461]

Well others do similar things with fan frets , Ibanez BTB, Spectors . The frets on the dingwall are too short and thin for my tastes . Almost $3k for a Chinese made bass put me off a little. I also think the down tuning BS has gone to far already , its almost non-musical to me 😮

[@KryZehk]

@michaelblaney4461 Yeah, I know about the other brands, but a BTB MS is 1200-1300€. That's not affordable for most of us

[@MikeNevill3]

How can I guy with no money get a bass from them .. they are amazing. I do play and have some vids

[@EndTimesNowNow]

P bass is the best❤

[@ChernobylAudio666]

Däääääääääääääääääääääääääääääääääääängle!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@KohleAudioKult]

💋

[@jd-tg1ox]

Answer: the player

[@AAAA-lt9hq]

What makes a great rock and metal bass tone? *You can hear it.*

[@PastryMagicYT]

DengWall

[@niteshades_promise]

Egyptian harp? tabs? 🍻

[@JohnStone616]

The longee the bettee

[@erikarko]

12:14 🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@IvanBassist]

YES!

[@drrodopszin]

The thing I don't get after many years of playing guitar is that what happens to a string when you can't really tune it. You pluck it then it goes over the intended pitch and slowly goes below the pitch. How the hell are you supposed to tune that string?

[@crabbubbles1161]

Are your pickups too high? That might be it.

[@vorpalblades]

​@@crabbubbles1161 magnetic string pull is a fallacy.

[@3AwesomeLetsPlayers]

Tune to the transient of the note while hitting the string as you would when playing normally, rather than the decay

[@crabbubbles1161]

@@vorpalblades Maybe but pickup magnets definitely do what magnets do. Also it might be the pickup selection as bridge pickups are not in my experience as accurate when tuning as neck pickups, probably because string vibration is less over bridge pickups.

[@SamBrockmann]

If it's longer, it dangles better. If it dangles better, I like it more.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Wise words!

[@ggates2500]

Amazes me, but mine's over 20yrs old now. It's like putting on pants.

[@davevalkering7791]

Put Bass loud in the mix. Like Korn, Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins, your not playing for nothing.

[@KohleAudioKult]

It’s about finding a bass tone that sits right in the mix. Not so much the actual level. It’s the “Dängle“ of the bass tone that makes the bass cut through, hence the discussion about overtones.

[@hegemonycricket2182]

​@@KohleAudioKultThe angle of the dangle should be directly proportional to the heat of the meat.

[@hegemonycricket2182]

Some examples of excellent bass tone and level sitting perfectly in a mix: Rage Against The Machine (any album really) Stone Temple Pilots (Core) Red Hot Chili Peppers (BloodSugarSexMagick) Everything sounds perfectly mixed on these albums imo, but the bass is prominent and detailed...ferocious and nuanced, and indispensible to the overall sound.

[@mr.k905]

Since I hate metal and especially that rattling foundationless unmanly weak and sterile tone of bass guitar in metal, now I know what not to do to get a good sound. Thank you!!

[@ramonzeira]

Condor

[@whatskraken3886]

It sucks to see people still discussing tonewood when over and over and over again it's been shown that the differences are meaningless

[@recordlabeldao7820]

Honestly i hate multiscale basses ive tried one dislike them. I am a warwick user

[@SenseiKreese]

There's still some epic bullshit in here. Now we've gone from the wood won't change your tone to it will change your performance. I feel like asking people whose entire lives are invested in selling stuff, especially very expensive stuff like him - aren't the best people to debunk myths with - to say the least and be polite.

[@MichaelIppersiel]

Fair point @SenseiKreese. Sheldon does illustrate by talking about how different people interact with the instrument and how it 'feels' right or not. I don't remember him saying that there was necessarily a price point attached to what feels right or better. To me he was saying it was an individual thing. If you had 5 - 10 basses that were identical in almost every way - one or two would likely 'feel better' to you than the rest. Would they always be the most expensive of the bunch? Probably not, especially with the rise in quality of import basses these days. Will you play better if the bass feels better to you? I think most would say yes. Will a bass that feels better to you suddenly make you sound like Jaco, Flea or Victor Wooten without any practice? Nah, not gonna happen.

[@me5ponk454]

I could never bring myself to spend that kind of money on a made in China bass. I can get those kind of tones with a $700 Ibanze Sound Gear