The Super J is our interpretation of the Classic J-style bass. We deconstructed the original design, kept what worked, and improved everything else.
The look and feel lean toward the traditional, but the tone and performance are everything you’d expect from a Dingwall. We downsized the scale 2” from our standard scale range. The results are great clarity on the B and E-strings with a big and warm quality to the D and G-strings.
Available in:
-4 and 5 strings
Alder provides a traditional warm tone. We build the body slightly thinner than standard to reduce weight and provide a bit more resonance.
Optional upgrade – Swamp Ash
Swamp Ash is an excellent option for those who would like a little less mid-presence in their tone. It has a very distinctive grain pattern.
I watched an endorser receive a bass from another company once. His tech brought it to him; he strapped it on, took his hands off it, jumped up and down a bit, then said, “It’s too heavy; send it back.” He never played a note.
Not everyone is this extreme, but it taught me a good lesson on the importance of balance.
The Super J headstock was designed not only to look great and fit with the body design but to be the lightest traditional design headstock available.
The most distinctive feature of the Super J headstock is the scallop. The scallop serves two functions. 1. It reduces headstock mass slightly. 2. It defines a three-dimensional Hot Rod style flame on the bottom edge of the headstock. The Super J follows the spirit of the original American Hot Rods. Strip it down to its raw components and build it back up to perform better than the original designers envisioned.
We designed and manufactured our custom string tree. It’s milled from a phenolic and features smooth and rounded string paths for snag-free tuning.
Designed to be “set & forget” simple and featuring a slotted string anchor system for fast and straightforward string changes.
The Super P bridge borrows the simple yet great-sounding stainless steel riser screw system used in our high-end bridges.
We reduced the complexity of the saddles to a minimum and then designed a unique base plate system to hold them rigidly in place. Using stainless steel riser screws and a tough Teflon coating on the bridge ensures long-term corrosion-free performance
The double expanding truss-rod style is one of the industry standards. However, our installation method – taught to us by Glenn McDougall of Fury Guitars, involves gluing the truss rod into the neck under almost 1000-LB of pressure. This creates a coupling of steel to wood, increasing both sustain and harmonic content.
“While repairing guitars, I found that many guitars had either stripped or missing truss rod cover plate screws. I found it frustrating that it usually took longer to remove and replace the cover plate than it did to make the actual adjustment.”
The truss rod is the most commonly adjusted component on most guitars, so access to the truss rod adjustment should be as easy as possible.
All Dingwall basses feature easy-to-access truss-rod adjustments.
The standard passive system includes volume, tone and the versatility of our four position Quad-tone pickup selector
We offer series/parallel toggle switches for each pickup to further expand tone-shaping options.
If you want even more tone shaping at your fingertips, we have two options of 3 band pre-amps.
Darkglass Tone Capsule:
The Tone Capsule is a new, unusual take on onboard preamplifiers. It’s designed to respect your instrument’s natural character while expanding exponentially the tonal possibilities. The Tone Capsule is unique in the way that it doesn’t have a Treble control. The idea was Sheldon Dingwall’s: he thought that making a Bass-Mid-Treble was too normal for his liking because everyone does it that way, so he suggested including a second mid control instead. We loved the idea! Specially because the second control could be configured to operate at the higher end of the spectrum, offering all the benefits a standard Treble control (increased clarity and definition when boosting) but with a more natural, less-harsh and noiseless operation.
Glockenklang 3-band:
What we like about the Glockenklang pre-amps is the smooth and subtle tone shaping and the Active/Passive treble control. Our focus of perfecting the natural tone of our basses so that they don’t need a lot of tone adjustment is why we feel the Glockenklang fits so well with this philosophy. The Active treble boosts and cuts as expected in active mode, but when the pre-amp is switched to passive mode, the control acts as a passive cut control.
We looked for years to find a control knob we were happy with. We eventually decided to design and manufacture our control knobs in-house. These knobs are exclusive to Dingwall guitars and feature a sleek design that blends perfectly with the overall design language of our basses and matches the pickup shells perfectly. They feature a soft-touch formula for extra comfort and grip.
Dingwall strings have been meticulously tested to maximize performance and deliver a tone that blends effortlessly with any style of music. We were the first company to design strings specifically for multi-scale instruments. Available in both nickel and stainless steel, our strings provide an even tension for optimal balance, letting you experience the warmest highs and the tightest lows possible.
Note: basses are shipped with Dingwall Nickel Strings
