We partnered with Darkglass Electronics, Dark Horse Comics, and bassist Rob van der Loo from Epica to create the D-Roc “Hellboy” Limited Edition. The Hellboy has a custom Darkglass onboard distortion circuit as well as licensed graphics to coincide with the 2019 Hellboy movie.
The Hellboy follows the D-Roc body template, with a sizable cutaway to allow extended access to the upper-range frets. As with the D-Roc Standard, the body has been built using khaya, an African mahogany, and a five-piece maple neck with a pau ferro fingerboard.
To facilitate the Hellboy graphic on the body, the raised central portion of the body, as seen on the D-Roc Standard model, has been replaced with a smoother integration that doesn’t interfere with the graphic.
We designed a downsized tribute headstock with Hipshot Licenced Ultralite tuners. The results are excellent balance and solid performance.
Custom Darkglass onboard distortion
The Hellboy comes fitted with a Darkglass distortion circuit, so there’s no need for pedals, effect modeling, or bass amp tinkering – the Hellboy can be made to rip and tear into any band mix with the turn of a control.
The controls follow the same layout as the D-Roc Standard, with volume and tone controls and a four-way rotary pickup selector, but with an extra push/pull facility on the volume pot and an extra distortion level control. With the volume control up, the bass remains passive and the Darkglass circuitry is inactive, but push the volume control down and the full might of the drive circuit is unleashed.
“Kicking the Darkglass circuit into play adds a whole other tonal dimension. We suggest you secure the crockery, because this circuit may well shake the foundations. In basic terms, it’s brutal. If distorted bass tones are your thing, you may just have found sonic nirvana in this instrument.”
We started with an available bridge/saddle system that met our requirements for lock-down solid performance and great tone. Then we improved on it by designing a custom riser system to provide an increased range of action adjustability.
For more than 30 years, Dingwall Guitars have been committed to shaping the sound of the most exciting and forward-thinking bass players on the planet.
Dingwall created the first string sets optimized for multi-scale. Dingwall strings have been meticulously designed and tested to maximize the ability of our high-performance instruments to create a tone that blends effortlessly into any style of music.
Dingwall strings provide the evenest tension for the most balanced feel and tone, letting you experience the warmest highs and the tightest lows possible.
Note: basses are shipped with Dingwall Nickel Strings
Our ready-to-play models provide the ultimate combination of performance and value due to our hybrid manufacturing approach. We start with high-quality North American sourced hardwoods, then combine the efficiencies of Dingwall’s Far Eastern manufacturing with final production, quality control, and setup done in Canada by our skilled team of artisans.