APC acoustic bass

[Elfrasho]

Anyone know much about it? Just purchased it recently on a whim (very cheaply) and it plays so well. APC is a brand from Portugal with a massive range but can't find anything regarding this model. No electronics, but seems to be extremely high quality.  Can't say I've got much use 'live' for an acoustic bass, but this looks lovely so it can be kept in the living room as a wee show piece. 

 

Anyone got any thoughts?

[Grahambythesea]

If it has no electronics and the sound hole is on the top bout, how is an audience supposed to hear it? 

[dave moffat]

I was wondering that until I saw what looks like a cutaway on the shoulder is actually a sound hole, cool.

[Lfalex v1.1]

It's no coincidence that there's a "soundhole" on the upper shoulder- it's where many such basses have their control electronics.

Still, it saves the issue of regular acoustics protecting sound away from the player, and it may well help reduce feedback in amplified situations.

[Andyjr1515]

The similar one on Amazon shows electrics (4th picture):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/APC-BG300-MX-CW-Guitar/dp/B00KIIPXT2

They make some interesting instruments of all sorts and a number of models have closed tops, but all the ones like that I've seen also have a preamp block next to the player soundhole.

Looks nicely made, @Elfrasho. Let us know how you get on with it in the mix

[Andyjr1515]

By the way, if ever you did want to put a pickup in it, I can thoroughly recommend the K&K Pure Mini.  It is passive and has no controls. Just three small disc tranducers that fix directly on the bridge plate inside the body.  Only mod to the bass is drilling a hole for the jack.

It is not overly expensive, is simple, and returns one of the most natural acoustic sounds on the market.

[therealting]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

By the way, if ever you did want to put a pickup in it, I can thoroughly recommend the K&K Pure Mini.  It is passive and has no controls. Just three small disc tranducers that fix directly on the bridge plate inside the body.  Only mod to the bass is drilling a hole for the jack.

It is not overly expensive, is simple, and returns one of the most natural acoustic sounds on the market.

I can also vouch for the K&K Pure Mini, but have switched over to JJB pickups over the last few years as they are just as good and a fraction of the price. 

[Elfrasho]

That's interesting, and probably a retro fit I could do myself.  Saying that, I've never really needed an acoustic bass in a band setting so this will probably never see light of day !

[philw]

That's a lovely looking bass. The sound hole on the side won't make much difference in terms of what the audience hear. There's broadly two elements to the acoustic radiation of any acoustic guitar. First, the bass mostly comes out of the sound hole, but as low frequencies are radiated omni-directionally ('cause the wavelength is so long - around 9 metres at 40Hz), it doesn't really make any difference where the sound hole is positioned. The second element is the mid and high frequencies and they mostly come from resonance of the "top" panel - which is why the wood type, thickness and bracing technique are so important - and the top faces the audience so radiates towards them.

Having said all that, your lovely looking acoustic bass still, like all acoustic basses (except full size double basses), probably won't be loud enough to compete with the interminable dirge of pretty much any six string acoustic guitar.

Just had a quick look at the APC website (https://apc-instruments.com) - an interesting outfit that I had no idea even existed.

P