Thomann DBs any good as a first bass?

[Buzzy]

I'm looking to buy my first DB, I've been renting a Stentor for a couple of months. Has anyone ever bought a DB from Thomann ?
I've got a budget of around 1K and wondered if buying a Thomann for about £700 then taking it to a luthier for an upgrade would be a good idea.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Buzzy

[Marc S]

Not tried one personally, but when I was looking for my first DB
most folk on here seemed to say they were pretty good
The advice seemed to be to stay away from G4M,
but that Thomann were OK

A lot of folk on here really rate Geddo in Germany though
I've read several BC'ers who are more than pleased with their DB
and they'll set it up the way you want too

Here's a link to one of their DB's on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-Bass-redbrown-3-4-size-new-/310697743781?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Sting_Instruments&hash=item48570755a5

Good luck, and happy shopping

Marc

[Bilbo]

They are fine as starter instruments and, yes, an upgrade on bridge and strings would be a good idea. Alternatives include Gedo Musik's basses which are similarly priced (I started on one priced at around £1400 but they are perfectly credible at lower prices). If you want to hear my cheap, nasty bass (irony, it's lovely), check out 'Calypso Zoom', 'Speak Now', 'Estate', 'Wee' or 'Caravan' on my Soundccloud page.

There is a lot of what I call hysteria about cheap basses but, in my opinion, getting one looked at by a luthier and getting to the act of playing the damn thing will be more use to you than agonising over whether to spend £700 this year or wait another six months until you have £1500. The difference between the two will be irrelevant for a few years until you really get a handle on the instrument. My 'cheap' bass sounds four times better now than it did when I got it. Not because it has been modified but because I have been playing it for four years now and am much better than I was when I bought it! I cannot see how a marginally 'better' (i.e. different) bass would improve my 'thing' as convincingly.

My advice in one sentence: Just start your journey and enjoy it.

[GreeneKing]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1392804461' post='2372845']
They are fine as starter instruments and, yes, an upgrade on bridge and strings would be a good idea. Alternatives include Gedo Musik's basses which are similarly priced (I started on one priced at around £1400 but they are perfectly credible at lower prices). If you want to hear my cheap, nasty bass (irony, it's lovely), check out 'Calypso Zoom', 'Speak Now', 'Estate', 'Wee' or 'Caravan' on my Soundccloud page.

There is a lot of what I call hysteria about cheap basses but, in my opinion, getting one looked at by a luthier and getting to the act of playing the damn thing will be more use to you than agonising over whether to spend £700 this year or wait another six months until you have £1500. The difference between the two will be irrelevant for a few years until you really get a handle on the instrument. My 'cheap' bass sounds four times better now than it did when I got it. Not because it has been modified but because I have been playing it for four years now and am much better than I was when I bought it! I cannot see how a marginally 'better' (i.e. different) bass would improve my 'thing' as convincingly.

My advice in one sentence: Just start your journey and enjoy it.
[/quote]

Nice post.

[Cat Burrito]

I own the blonde European upright bass from Thomann. It was going to be them or Gedo as I did a lot of research (also heard to avoid G4M too). They set it up to my requirements and the bridge is actually alright. I did change the strings but it felt like a noticeable upgrade in quality from my entry level no brand thing I had previously. I went back and bought a gig bag from Gedo but Thomann were really helpful when I emailed them first as I was stuck between three of their basses. They were no pressure, great advice and helped me to make a good decision. I bought mine in the last 12 months.

[Bilbo]

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/93958-i-did-it-now-with-photos/page__hl__gedo+musik__fromsearch__1

[artisan]

Bought my blue burst European bass from Thomman 2 years ago.
It is infact a Strunal 50/4 & very nice it is too,built like a tank,sounds great.

[Buzzy]

Thanks, for the replies, really enjoyed the sound clips from Bilbo and Artisan (great playing guys, I'll get there one day)
I'm gonna have a good look at both Gedo and Thomann websites and try and make a decision. Any recommendations of a particular model would be welcome. I'm looking to play Blues/Country/Swing rather than Jazz or classical.

[Cat Burrito]

Contact them both with your desired budget and what you play - Thomann were really helpful and I exchanged several emails before making a purchase. Funnily enough artisan's blueburst was my 2nd choice when I bought my blonde and it came very close.

[ChrisF]

Yup... love mine ..although new strings and a set-up are a must

[EssentialTension]

I've had a Thomann 22 - made by Hora in Romania - for a couple of years. I did spend an extra £250 on strings, bridge, and set up but I'd still recommend it.

[TheRev]

The Thomann 2 basses are Czech Strunals, the Thomann 22 basses are Romanina Horas.
One of the local jazz dudes uses a Thomann Strunal 2W TN (the solid top, Tineo wood back and sides) and it sounds pretty good to me . I was all set up to order one myself but then I found a solid Romanian bass locally.

Both the Strunals and the Horas are good quality basses, which one you prefer is down to personal taste.

[Lazybirdpete]

I have one of the dreaded G4M basses which I picked up very cheaply (£250) and then spent £300 odd getting a new sound post, bridge and work on the nut and fretboard. New strings and It now sounds great and is easy to play. My guess is that any cheap mass produced bass will need money spent on it.

[Owencf]

[quote name='Lazybirdpete' timestamp='1392837153' post='2373369']
I have one of the dreaded G4M basses which I picked up very cheaply (£250) and then spent £300 odd getting a new sound post, bridge and work on the nut and fretboard. New strings and It now sounds great and is easy to play. My guess is that any cheap mass produced bass will need money spent on it.
[/quote]

Bad experiences from G4M are common, and you ended up spending about the same as a cheap second hand preloved bass
I was looking at the basses on G4M and got advice from this very helpful forum and found a Bass going on the Classified section here

[timbo1978]

Keeping a portion of your budget for luthier is a wise idea. I play a bosey & hawks laminate that cost me £600 15 years ago. A new bridge, strings, a preamp (if your gigging), makes a major difference.

Owning a double bass is a beautiful thing

[TheRev]

[quote name='Buzzy' timestamp='1392821457' post='2373098']
Any recommendations of a particular model would be welcome. I'm looking to play Blues/Country/Swing rather than Jazz or classical.
[/quote]

The Thomann 2W TN is very good value for money, but would take up most of your budget. Having said that, as long as you let the guys at Thomann know what you want in tems of setup when you prder, then your new bass should be playable right ot of the box without having to take it to a luthier first.

You will eventually need to try new strings, but that's the sort of thing that you take time over - allow the strings to settle in and give them some proper playing time before you decide if they suit the bass or not. There are always plenty of second hand strings available on the for sale forums so you can experiment without having to shell out £150 each time.

If you have 1K just for the bass, then my choice would be the Thomann 2W TN. Or, if you want to go ply, the Thomann 2 TN. The tineo wood (TN) back and sides apparntly give the bass more resonance than you would normally get from laminated maple.
If your grand needs to cover the bass, pickup and a preamp then I'd be looking at the Thomann 1E (probably the blonde, cos, well, you would, wouldn't you?) which would leave enough of your budget for a Fishman Plat Pro and a K&K Bassmax pickup.

Obviously it's not ideal to buy a bass without trying if first and you'd get better value for money if you hunted around for a nice old (50s or 60s) second hand ply bass, but you could be waiting a long time for one to turn up and then you'd need to know what to look for in terms of damage to make sure you didn't end up with something that was just fire wood waiting to happen.
If you want a decent bass now, then you should be OK with the Thomann 2/Strunal basses -I've not read any bad reports about them during my search for information.

[Lazybirdpete]

[quote name='Owencf' timestamp='1392838222' post='2373386']
Bad experiences from G4M are common, and you ended up spending about the same as a cheap second hand preloved bass
I was looking at the basses on G4M and got advice from this very helpful forum and found a Bass going on the Classified section here
[/quote]

I wasn't really trying to make out that it was any cheaper in the end but that G4M basses can end up playing well if they are set up correctly

[AndyBass]

I'm another Strunal 50/4 owner, which as mentioned above is one of the European Thomann-badged basses.

Its a great bass, and you'll find a lot of positive stuff said about them across all the DB forums. They're extremely robust and give a good sound with a variety of different strings in my experience.

I bought mine from Strunal direct as I was having a few custom bits done, so I changed out the bridge and strings at point of production, but it seems pretty consistent feedback that you'd want to do that. I opted for an adjustable bridge, which I also had on my previous and first DB - a Strunal-built Boosey & Hawkes 400 - and would totally recommend if you're new to DB and are therefore unsure of the height you'll want for your evolving playing style. I'd also suggest that eventually you'd want to change the endpin as its a bit like balancing a tank on a toothpick, but that said the stock one has yet to fail me.

If you're getting a bass from outside the UK you're likely to want to have the soundpost adjusted as a minimum. To my knowledge they tend to be shipped slightly longer than optimally to ensure they hold their place in transit (based on experience of 2 basses purchased from mainland Europe).

In terms of pickups and preamps, I've been using the same K&K RAB system for about 2 and a half years now, which I picked up for about £80 second hand. So just remember you can get perfectly servicable kit second hand, and if you buy it from one of the forums then its probably also been well looked after.

Good luck, have fun and let us know what you go for.

[Marc S]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1392804461' post='2372845']
They are fine as starter instruments and, yes, an upgrade on bridge and strings would be a good idea. Alternatives include Gedo Musik's basses which are similarly priced (I started on one priced at around £1400 but they are perfectly credible at lower prices). If you want to hear my cheap, nasty bass (irony, it's lovely), check out 'Calypso Zoom', 'Speak Now', 'Estate', 'Wee' or 'Caravan' on my Soundccloud page.

There is a lot of what I call hysteria about cheap basses but, in my opinion, getting one looked at by a luthier and getting to the act of playing the damn thing will be more use to you than agonising over whether to spend £700 this year or wait another six months until you have £1500. The difference between the two will be irrelevant for a few years until you really get a handle on the instrument. My 'cheap' bass sounds four times better now than it did when I got it. Not because it has been modified but because I have been playing it for four years now and am much better than I was when I bought it! I cannot see how a marginally 'better' (i.e. different) bass would improve my 'thing' as convincingly.

My advice in one sentence: Just start your journey and enjoy it.
[/quote]

So well put
Good advice

Marc

[Buzzy]

Thanks for the replies, I'll be sending some emails to Thomann and Gedo this weekend, will keep you posted.

[Buzzy]

I've emailed Thomann with my budget and they recommend the following :
22 3/4 European DB [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_22_02.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_22_02.htm[/url]
Presto Nylon wound strings [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/presto_nylonwound_ultralight.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/presto_nylonwound_ultralight.htm[/url]
K&K Bass Max [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/kk_bass_max.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/kk_bass_max.htm[/url]

They said this would be a good set up if you don't want to play much slap bass, also said that with the K&K there's no need for a pre-amp.

Any opinions ??

[TheRev]

You don't necessarily need a preamp with the bassmax but you might find you prefer the sound with one. I find it a bit honky without a preamp.

[ubassman]

[quote name='Buzzy' timestamp='1393264462' post='2377979']

They said this would be a good set up if you don't want to play much slap bass, also said that with the K&K there's no need for a pre-amp.

Any opinions ??
[/quote]

The set up may well need tweaking and it would be good to budget maybe £100 to have the bridge and sound post adjusted by a luthier so that the set up is perfect for your needs and the sound is optimised .

Slappers usually like a nice high action, Orchestral players vary, many players have a medium string height as its easier on the fingers, jazzers often like a low setting - Thomann supply the bass with the factory set up which is usually high so that there is scope to tweak downwards .

[artisan]

[quote name='TheRev' timestamp='1393276194' post='2378231']
You don't necessarily need a preamp with the bassmax but you might find you prefer the sound with one. I find it a bit honky without a preamp.
[/quote]
+1
If you din't have a preamp you could run it through an eq pedal which will help you with any feedback problems too.
This is what i used to do but a good preamp is a better bet,the Fishman Pro Platinum being a popular choice.

[jrixn1]

I've had the same K&K Bass Max for about 10 years, and you do not necessarily need a pre-amp. I've used it with different basses and different amps and never had a problem. I had the matching K&K pre-amp for a while but realised it didn't make a difference, so I sold it. It will be fine if your amp has an input impedance of 1 M-ohm -- check your manual.

I previously had a Strunal 5/35 (i.e. a "Thomann 2") which I was happy with, although it is a five-string bass and as it turned out I subsequently wanted to return to four strings. So another bass model to consider is a Christopher -- I currently play a Christopher 304 Busetto (again from Thomann) which was £1,400, but there is the 103 model at £875 which is within your budget. One thing which is cool is that it comes with an adjustable bridge, which is useful to experiment with what action works best for you.

I am using my bass pretty much as it came "out of the box" from Thomann. It did not need setting up or taking to a luthier. I use the stock bridge, tailpiece, endpin, and E/A steel strings. The only change is that I switched to Golden Slaps for the D/G strings -- as a personal preference, rather than there being anything wrong with the stock ones.

As an aside, I really recommend the Golden Slaps! Easy to play and sound great (I'm playing jazz, swing, folk). I moved over after many years of using Spirocores.

Here's a clip wth a swing band: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coj9JczuV-o"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coj9JczuV-o[/url]
Christopher > Bass Max > Streamliner > Barefaced Compact.
Recorded with a Zoom Q2HD.