My love hate relationship with acoustic basses

[knirirr]

13 minutes ago, casapete said:

 

If you’re after more of an upright sound, have you checked out the bass ukes? Virtually no acoustic level at all, yet (especially those with silicone strings) when amplified they can fake an uprighty tone quite well. Also the Taylor GS Mini bass does a good job with this too.

 

I tried the fretless Harley Benton bass ukulele. The tone was surprisingly good, but:

- The neck is so short that fingering is difficult, at least for me.
- It doesn't tune very well, although some plumber's crease on the nut helped quite a bit.
- Intonation is poor.
- The G string is too quiet when amplified.

Unamplified it is enough to practice with and so it will get used over the holidays whilst travelling around.
 

Edited December 17, 2018 by knirirr

[tinyd]

36 minutes ago, knirirr said:

 

I tried the fretless Harley Benton bass ukulele. The tone was surprisingly good, but:

- The neck is so short that fingering is difficult, at least for me.
- It doesn't tune very well, although some plumber's crease on the nut helped quite a bit.
- Intonation is poor.
- The G string is too quiet when amplified.

Unamplified it is enough to practice with and so it will get used over the holidays whilst travelling around.
 

I bought one recently (a Laka one) and I really like it. It's fretless as well - I find the intonation itself good (i.e. twelfth 'fret' corresponds to octave) but tuning and fingering is, like you say, a bit tricky.

I usually play DB now, but I used to own an acoustic BG and I think that the ukulele bass is a lot closer in terms of sound. Weirdly enough (given the size difference), I also find it closer in terms of playability to DB - maybe because on a BG I tend to resort to the standard BG playing style, whereas DB and ukulele both take me in a different direction. 

[casapete]

1 hour ago, knirirr said:

 

I tried the fretless Harley Benton bass ukulele. The tone was surprisingly good, but:

- The neck is so short that fingering is difficult, at least for me.
- It doesn't tune very well, although some plumber's crease on the nut helped quite a bit.
- Intonation is poor.
- The G string is too quiet when amplified.

Unamplified it is enough to practice with and so it will get used over the holidays whilst travelling around.
 

I've heard similar comments before about the HB uke basses. Mine is made by Countryman, standard fretted model, and it plays and intonates pretty well. Think it was around £150 new. The strings and short scale do take some getting used to, but the sound has that sort of short sustain / DB sound. I've used it for doing some swing stuff and it fits in really well with that style. When I bought it I also tried the Kala range and couldn't see where the extra £250+ was going to be honest. A pal of mine has the Tanglewood Traveller uke bass and he really rates that one too.

[knirirr]

The HB one could probably be useful enough to perform (if I were still competent enough to do so) assuming that the pickup volume issue could be fixed, though I don't know how to do that.
Thanks for the comments on the other models. Perhaps one day I might buy a better one!

[casapete]

29 minutes ago, knirirr said:

The HB one could probably be useful enough to perform (if I were still competent enough to do so) assuming that the pickup volume issue could be fixed, though I don't know how to do that.
Thanks for the comments on the other models. Perhaps one day I might buy a better one!

If it's a piezo/bridge pickup, sometimes they can be balanced by reseating the piezo strip or profiling the bottom of the bridge so it sits evenly in the slot. A guitar tech could do this for not a lot of money I would think ,if you're reluctant to mess with it! Cheers.

[Brook_fan]

I think a good compromise at the moment are those very short scale acoustic basses along the lines of the Taylor.  There are versions now by Anuenue (a ukulele manufacturer) and Guild. I have  tried both, and both are very nice.  As others have said , ukulele basses can suffer from poor intonation, and the very short scale necks, shorter than many acoustic guitars, actually make them tricky to play for people like me with large hands.  These new generation of short basses though use strings that have nylon cores and feel nicer, and not as “bendy” as silicone use strings.

Just to make it absolutely clear, I love playing acoustic basses, and weighing up the pros and cons, overall I am a big fan.  Many of the things I said I didn’t like are actually not that big a deal.  For instance, I just play them sat down rather than on a strap.  And having recently played a very cheap Sigma recently that I thoroughly enjoyed, as well as the Fender I am currently borrowing, there are some very good instruments out there for a reasonable price.  And yes, I think you have to accept them as acoustic bass guitars, rather than substitutes for double bass or electric bass.

Robbie

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, Brook_fan said:

I think a good compromise at the moment are those very short scale acoustic basses along the lines of the Taylor.  There are versions now by Anuenue (a ukulele manufacturer) and Guild. I have  tried both, and both are very nice.  As others have said , ukulele basses can suffer from poor intonation, and the very short scale necks, shorter than many acoustic guitars, actually make them tricky to play for people like me with large hands.  These new generation of short basses though use strings that have nylon cores and feel nicer, and not as “bendy” as silicone use strings.

Just to make it absolutely clear, I love playing acoustic basses, and weighing up the pros and cons, overall I am a big fan.  Many of the things I said I didn’t like are actually not that big a deal.  For instance, I just play them sat down rather than on a strap.  And having recently played a very cheap Sigma recently that I thoroughly enjoyed, as well as the Fender I am currently borrowing, there are some very good instruments out there for a reasonable price.  And yes, I think you have to accept them as acoustic bass guitars, rather than substitutes for double bass or electric bass.

Robbie

I agree, I had a Taylor GS Mini Bass that I’m actually beginning to rather regret having moved on! 

[Bilbo]

I had one of these suckers bought for me for Christmas. Sounds great acoustically but I haven't gigged it yet. Harley Benton. Always great for exploring options. 

 

 

[knirirr]

17 hours ago, Brook_fan said:

 There are versions now by Anuenue (a ukulele manufacturer) and Guild. I have  tried both, and both are very nice.

 

Is this the one of which you're thinking? If so, do you have any idea of price and availability? There don't seem to be any prices on their site:
http://www.anuenue-uke.com/en/products/one/93/251
This looks like it might be quite nice if the strings could be replaced with flatwounds of some sort.

[casapete]

Looks like they are £799, with the Guild coming in at £429. https://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/shop-by-size/bass/

The Ibanez small basses are great value too.  https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Ibanez-PNB14E-Electro-Acoustic-2018-Open-Pore-Natural/28RM

[Brook_fan]

4 hours ago, casapete said:

Looks like they are £799, with the Guild coming in at £429. https://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/shop-by-size/bass/

The Ibanez small basses are great value too.  https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Ibanez-PNB14E-Electro-Acoustic-2018-Open-Pore-Natural/28RM

Yep, that’s the one.  Southern Ukulele store are good to deal with, The Anuenue is extremely well made.

Robbie

[Pinball]

Hi, for info here's a review of my Sigma that I mentioned above. I'm very happy with it.

 

 

[Newfoundfreedom]

On 18/12/2018 at 09:04, Bilbo said:

I had one of these suckers bought for me for Christmas. Sounds great acoustically but I haven't gigged it yet. Harley Benton. Always great for exploring options. 

 

 

This is on my to buy list for noodling around in the house. But I want the black version. My wife has the black Applause Uke that this is based on so we'll be sad and have his and hers matching instruments. 😋

[Brook_fan]

On 18/12/2018 at 07:04, Bilbo said:

I had one of these suckers bought for me for Christmas. Sounds great acoustically but I haven't gigged it yet. Harley Benton. Always great for exploring options. 

 

 

I like the look of the Ovation version of this, but how easy is it to hold?  I find bowl back acoustic guitars just slide off my leg, and the shape of the back doesnkt exactly fit easily with my bear belly!

Robbie

[T-Bay]

I have a cheap one I bought second hand. It’s great for a noodle here and there but haven’t found any strings that work well for it yet.

[Telebass]

I've had a couple. A very expensive Warwick Alien, and a relatively cheap Fender Kingman. The Kingman blew the Warwick away in every respect, including unplugged sound/tone.

No acoustic bass I've ever heard sounds sufficiently different to a solid to make it worth bothering, except when using the usually-supplied phosphor-bronze horror strings, which universally sound lousy. In other words, they are largely a for-the-look-of-it instrument boosted into the mainstream years ago by MTV Unplugged.

Want to sound like a double bass? Play one. I love the sound of an upright, but it's not remotely sufficient to overecome the sheer un-ease of playing one.

I can no longer play either acoustic instrument, due to shoulder injury, but the above conclusion was reached long before that. With a little luck, shoulder replacement will enable to play an acoustic guitar again, but I'll never bother with an ABG.