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Acoustic bass


Kevin Dean

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On 22/11/2018 at 08:06, JohnDaBass said:

+1 for Fender Kingman. Lovely Jazz neck with a body large enough to produce a decent acoustic output to keep up with  most mandolins. Great Fender branded preamp with on-board tuner, notch filters & quick change battery compartment. 

I just can't get used to the standard Fender style headstock on an acoustic bass/guitar. It wouldn't stop me playing one but it just looks odd. 

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I took my Tenson Jumbo acoustic bass to band practice last week - a 4-piece folk group playing with no amplification in a living room. I normally use an electric through a 25w Marshall practice amp.

I had to move up the other end of the room so as to not drown everyone out! They were shocked by how loud it is.

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A Rick Turner would be my weapon of choice. No acoustic value, but looks the part, doesn’t have the fat uncomfortable body and they sound amazing. 

Second hand should be in your budget but might take a while for one to pop up. 

If you do go acoustic you’ll possibly go through the ring of string choices. From my experience don’t fall for the Phospher Bronze acoustic strings! Scratchy noisy things. Much preferred flats and tape wounds but that’s only my opinion. 

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I own a Fender Kingman with a Fishman preamp and has a great Jazz style neck, but I found that it didn't really cut it volume wise acoustically along side a quiet drummer and an acoustic guitar.I think that you would have to fork out more than £1k for an acoustic Bass that pumps out good volume in a small acoustic set..

 

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18 hours ago, RedVee said:

I own a Fender Kingman with a Fishman preamp and has a great Jazz style neck, but I found that it didn't really cut it volume wise acoustically along side a quiet drummer and an acoustic guitar.I think that you would have to fork out more than £1k for an acoustic Bass that pumps out good volume in a small acoustic set..

You would need to buy a double bass. There's a reason why the DB body is so big.

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On 04/12/2018 at 17:33, Dazed said:

 

If you do go acoustic you’ll possibly go through the ring of string choices. From my experience don’t fall for the Phospher Bronze acoustic strings! Scratchy noisy things. Much preferred flats and tape wounds but that’s only my opinion. 

Completely agree! I don't understand why bronze rounds are recommended for acoustic basses. Feel and sound harsh imho. Flats for a tighter sound, and tapes if you want to sound like a db. 

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I've got a Tanglewood "Rosewood Reserve" got it off ebay for about £300.  I tried whatever I could find in shops and liked the Tanglewoods better than anything else I could find.  The Fender kingman was nice to play (had a jazz bass neck) but it was very quiet without an amp and suffered neck dive (big headstock, small body).

Back in the dim and distant I tried a proper American Ovation (the model with the traditional round sound hole) and that was very nice played acoustic; also an Ovation "Celebrity" that was nice amplified but otherwise rather "thin" sounding.

Why?  Home noodling, folk sessions where they turn up their noses at anything electric, much much more portable than a double bass (and you can sit down in the pub whilst playing it).

BUT:  it IS quiet, a couple of guitars and a fiddle or two and you may as well not be playing .. so I hide a pjb flightcase under the table and boost it a bit ;¬)  still sounds acoustic and some people don't even twig there's an amp there.

NB regarding strings, do I gather that people are just using electric bass strings on their acoustics?  I've been using elite acoustic bass strings .. and they are not great.

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On 19/11/2018 at 17:39, yorks5stringer said:

Warwick Alien

Love mine. £350 secondhand. Plays lovely. It’s a 32in scale and suites it brilliantly, bit limited getting strings for it though, (Fender are the only ones I’ve found in a 32 scale,) I’ve got Elixirs on mine, little bit long on the E but dosent affect it fortunately) the 5string version is 34in I believe

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16 hours ago, NickA said:

 

NB regarding strings, do I gather that people are just using electric bass strings on their acoustics?  I've been using elite acoustic bass strings .. and they are not great.

My Alien is 32in so acoustic strings are limited. I have a set of Acoustic Elixirs on it, (just live with the E being a bit long on the post, dosent affect it) they are a bit pricey but last years. For the amount I play it anyways they have lasted still going strong now. Got an acoustic gig next week (third this year so not much use) highly recommend them if it’s a sharp crisp sound your after 

Edited by danny-79
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I've had several acoustic basses and as far as I can tell the bronze strings are 'for acoustics' because they're the loudest strings out there, but loudest in terms of the played notes and finger noise, fret clatter and every other unwanted noise. I'm happy to sacrifice volume for sound quality and have settled on Fender tapewounds (9120), nice slick feel, very little unwanted noise and sound great both plugged and unplugged. 

I really don't like the sound or feel of bronze strings. 

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" fret clatter and every other unwanted noise" ........indeed

I actually meant to say I have Elixir (nanoweb) acoustic bass strings (not Elites).  I'm not that enamored with them tbh, the nanowebby stuff comes off in little tendrils and the sound is (whilst better than the bronze things that came on the bass) not exactly subtle or very loud.  But there is not much available unless you go to electric bass strings instead and I wondered if the tension in those might break the guitar.  I guess there is a limit to what you can get out of an acoustic bass guitar (especially a factory made one) so probably shouldn't get that hopeful!

Edited by NickA
had a thought
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17 hours ago, NickA said:

" fret clatter and every other unwanted noise" ........indeed

I actually meant to say I have Elixir (nanoweb) acoustic bass strings (not Elites).  I'm not that enamored with them tbh, the nanowebby stuff comes off in little tendrils and the sound is (whilst better than the bronze things that came on the bass) not exactly subtle or very loud.  But there is not much available unless you go to electric bass strings instead and I wondered if the tension in those might break the guitar.  I guess there is a limit to what you can get out of an acoustic bass guitar (especially a factory made one) so probably shouldn't get that hopeful!

I quit like my bronze Elixirs. Just wish they did them in a 32in scale (be nice if there was a bigger range of bass string gauges full stop) but I do keep emailing and bugging them 🤪

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