Acoustic bass

[la bam]

I had a no name one years ago. Pretty useless. Bulky, hard to play and just got drowned out as soon as we started playing.

[barkin]

As somebody else said, it really depends what you want it for. I've a Tanglewood, and it's probably my most used instrument.

[casapete]

4 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I had a Fender Kingman acoustic bass, and pretty much as others have said even up against a single acoustic guitar it was virtually inaudible. But, plugged into a small practice amp it made a great sound and really complimented said acoustic guitar.

My Kingman sounds great too - use it through a Fender Rumble 100 and it seems to suit it well. You can definitely hear the ‘acousticness’ come through. Unfortunately I may have to sell it soon due to the Covid situation, as I’ll not be  able to afford the luxury of having 2 electro acoustic basses much longer. 😕

[Johnnyguru]

Thanks everyone, some serious food for thought😬

I will be doing some acoustic and recording stuff, no giging really. I play with a local community Ceilidh band but try to play the fiddle with them. Like the the look of the epiphone jack casady, be lucky to find one in my price range😂  Anyway early days yet lots to learn first. Luvin it👍

[casapete]

2 minutes ago, Johnnyguru said:

Thanks everyone, some serious food for thought😬

I will be doing some acoustic and recording stuff, no giging really. I play with a local community Ceilidh band but try to play the fiddle with them. Like the the look of the epiphone jack casady, be lucky to find one in my price range😂  Anyway early days yet lots to learn first. Luvin it👍

Just in case you’re not aware, the Epi Jack Casady is a semi hollow electric bass, so if it’s the acoustic type of sound you’re looking for it won’t nail it. Cracking basses though. 🙂

[Frank Blank]

16 minutes ago, casapete said:

Just in case you’re not aware, the Epi Jack Casady is a semi hollow electric bass, so if it’s the acoustic type of sound you’re looking for it won’t nail it. Cracking basses though. 🙂

Do you still have the Taylor Mini Bass and as I’m typing that have I asked you that before? 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Frank Blank

[casapete]

41 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

Do you still have the Taylor Mini Bass and as I’m typing that have I asked you that before? 

Hey Frank - no, and no! Although I liked the way the Taylor played, I found it a little problematic soundwise, some ‘wolf’ tones when using it on gigs that I couldn’t EQ out for some reason. Think it may have been something to do with the bridge/pickup arrangement, as a mate of mine brought his identical Taylor to a gig I was playing and that was okay. Anyway, no problems as I sold it on eBay for what I paid for it and just put it down to experience. Hope you’re okay mate, cheers. Pete.

[Frank Blank]

Just now, casapete said:

Hey Frank - no, and no! Although I liked the way the Taylor played, I found it a little problematic soundwise, some ‘wolf’ tones when using it on gigs that I couldn’t EQ out for some reason. Think it may have been something to do with the bridge/pickup arrangement, as a mate of mine brought his identical Taylor to a gig I was playing and that was okay. Anyway, no problems as I sold it on eBay for what I paid for it and just put it down to experience. Hope you’re okay mate, cheers. Pete.

Yep, I’m good, was just missing that bass reading this!

[casapete]

4 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

Yep, I’m good, was just missing that bass reading this!

Ha ha, it was an interesting thing. Mate of mine has recently bought an Ibanez short scale acoustic bass, can’t remember the model number but similar scale  to the Taylor and less than £200. He loves it. There’s also the Guild Jumbo Junior for around £400 if you’re still looking to scratch the short scale itch.

[ubit]

I have an Ibanez acoustic bass and definitely you need to put it through an amp. An acoustic guitar will drown it out and two acoustic guitars and you might as well give up.

[ubit]

On 31/05/2020 at 12:43, EdLib-3 said:

They are however, useful to have around the house as a practice instrument you can quickly pick up and work through things on. My acoustic bass has the chunkiest neck I think I've ever played so it's a bit like ba

Certainly with my Ibanez which may be a poor example. I find I can't play freely as I do on the electrics as I am having to pluck so hard to hear that all natural playing goes out the window. As I say, once its amped up, it sounds nice and acousticy especially as I have furnished it with flats.

[Bassfinger]

I've a cheap but surprisingly nice Bryce acoustic.  Not so good live unless amp'd, but great fun for quiet, casual practice or bringing a different tone to recording.  I enjoy it enough not to be too worried about its  shortcomings.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Bassfinger

[Monkey Steve]

I've got an Ortega KTSM - 5 five string acoustic - a Ken Taylor signature (he's big in Germany apparently - I had no idea who he was, but the signature version was a bit fancier than the plain alternative)

https://www.thomann.de/gb/ortega_ktsm5_ken_taylor.htm?sid=ad51d9f687f2403a333b43661c0bf11b

I don't play it anything like as much as my electrics (typically I practice unplugged at home) mainly because for an electric I tend to hit the strings very hard, and the acoustic gets neighbour-disturbingly loud if I do that, and all the clanking doesn't sound great on an acoustic. 

But if I apply the right technique it's great, no problem with volume at all acoustically (if anything I tend to be quite light on it, because, as above, it gets to neighbour annoying volume quite easily), and while I haven't played it on stage, it does have a peizo, which retains the acoustic sound when plugged in - more so than the video on the Thomann page would have you believe

[jacko]

On 31/05/2020 at 12:43, EdLib-3 said:

an acoustic bass guitar will always be the least useful bass you own

They are however, useful to have around the house as a practice instrument 

That second sentence suggests that in fact an acoustic bass is probably the MOST useful instrument to have. Certainly in my house, my kelly Dragonfly gets played a lot more often than any other as I don't have the faff of having to plug it in (and the amps all live in an outhouse anyway). Add a bung in the soundhole and the piezo on it means it will hold it's own against 2 guitarists when we do an acoustic set.  

[synthaside]

I have an Old Aria AMB-50 , they are really cheap to pick up used and are ovation knock offs , with the ABS back  , i've got it strung with Black Nylons  and its more than loud enough to keep up with accoustic guitars ...  in fact that thing projects so much you  feel it 😉

 

Oops turns out they are bit more money these days   https://thebassgallery.com/products/aria-amb-50b-5

Edited June 2, 2020 by synthaside

[EdLib-3]

2 hours ago, jacko said:

That second sentence suggests that in fact an acoustic bass is probably the MOST useful instrument to have. Certainly in my house, my kelly Dragonfly gets played a lot more often than any other as I don't have the faff of having to plug it in (and the amps all live in an outhouse anyway). Add a bung in the soundhole and the piezo on it means it will hold it's own against 2 guitarists when we do an acoustic set.  

My most useful instrument by some margin is my Jazz Bass, which I also use to practise on. Each to their own of course, but I've never found acoustic basses to sound very good once you run them through an amp - you have to work hard to not get a thin, clackety tone when you plug them in - most of the ones I've owned or played in my price range have come with a very underwhelming built in EQ and preamp. So what we've got is a bass that is too quiet to be played acoustically with most other instruments and sounds a lot worse (in my view) than an electric bass when plugged in. Doesn't sound that useful when you look at it that way. I would concede that your situation is a more unique one where all your amps are in an outhouse so not so easy to switch on and plug into.

[lemmywinks]

On 01/06/2020 at 10:42, Brook_fan said:

....  Phosphour bronze are sometimes the main issue with acoustic basses I have found- too many other harmonics and overtones that swamp out the fundamental.  Too much scraping noise as well. PB strings are also fairly useless playing with other acoustic instruments, again due to the overtones, noise, and a tonality that is too similar to instruments such as acoustic guitars and mandolins.

 

This, I switched to black nylons ages ago (an old set I had lying around, not even sure on the brand) and it turned a clanky bass with overbearing string noise into a great sounding instrument that offered something a bit different. The smooth sound it has now suits the music I want to play on it far more than the bronze nasties.

 

I love my acoustic bass, bought it 21 years ago and it's been everywhere with me with plenty of battle scars to show for it. Dunno why they get so much hate really, if you want to play in an acoustic group then they are definitely worth looking into. Personally I've always found mine really useful,

[synthaside]

That was my exact reason why i moved off metal strings on it " it its doing enough to amplify the sound in the body , having  steel strings  sound like  cats fighting on  a trampoline every time you move your left hand.

Dump the bronze ... sound like the Fonze ???  no thats crap .....

[lemmywinks]

IMO acoustic basses are sold with two things that really prevent them from being at their best - bronze strings and frets!

[ubit]

There is a reason that double basses are so big. Thats what you need for the acoustics to work. An acoustic bass needs mic'd which flies in the face of why I bought one. I wanted to join in the Friday acoustic jam that my mates used to have. At the time I was a lot less adept on a six string as I am now, so I couldn't keep up to join in.

[louisthebass]

I've got a Crafter 5 string acoustic bass which needs to be amplified when in the company of other acoustics guitars. The only acoustic bass guitars I'm aware of that might be able to hold their own in a truly acoustic situation are the ones made by Earthwood and Emerald Guitars in Ireland?

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Tanglewood acoustic, holds its own with an acoustic guitar or a couple of ukeleles, but obviously designed to work unamplified.

That said, I immediately fitted a pickup/preamp combo to it.

[4000]

4 hours ago, EdLib-3 said:

My most useful instrument by some margin is my Jazz Bass, which I also use to practise on. Each to their own of course, but I've never found acoustic basses to sound very good once you run them through an amp - you have to work hard to not get a thin, clackety tone when you plug them in - most of the ones I've owned or played in my price range have come with a very underwhelming built in EQ and preamp. So what we've got is a bass that is too quiet to be played acoustically with most other instruments and sounds a lot worse (in my view) than an electric bass when plugged in. Doesn't sound that useful when you look at it that way. I would concede that your situation is a more unique one where all your amps are in an outhouse so not so easy to switch on and plug into.

My amps are all under the stairs so it’s a bit of a faff getting them out to play, and my opportunities to play plugged in at home are few and far between anyway. I tend to just play my electrics unplugged at home, but the acoustic gets easily as much use as my electrics do plugged in. Acoustically, I find it really useful for working stuff out on. I’ve also just done a socially distanced acoustic rehearsal in my mate’s yard and I could hear it fine.

[lemmywinks]

Always loved the sound Adrian Maruszczyk gets here from the Svoboda fretless, some lovely playing too:

 

[ubit]

8 hours ago, 4000 said:

I’ve also just done a socially distanced acoustic rehearsal in my mate’s yard and I could hear it fine.

Yeah but I bet he couldn't hear you.