NEUBD NS Design Content.

[ezbass]

Santa has come early to Ez Towers.
 

 

 

I’ve wanted a DB for absolutely ages, but none ever came up for sale that suited. Then I moved 500+ miles north and suddenly a good number of proper uprights and EUBs appeared back down south where I could’ve gone and tried/collected. Harrumph! 😤

 

 

I decided that an EUB would be the most sensible way forward, but didn’t want to spend a fortune. I saw a Stagg EUB 2nd hand at a well known bass purveyor, phoned up but sold. However, “We have KK Baby Bass,” they said. Hmm, 3 times more than the Stagg, thought required. Thought about it for a day or 2 and then phoned up to buy it; sold! Then, a few days later, they had a 2nd hand NS WAV advertised on FB, phoned the next morning; sold again! I could’ve gone down the Harley Benton route, but opinions varied and the strings would have to be replaced to get closer to that DB sound in my head. That was it, for the extra few quid (still way more than I started off wanting to spend) than 2nd hand or a lesser instrument, I decided to buy new from the distributor. Phoned up, “We’ve just had an NS delivery,” they say and I wait for the negative report about that delivery. But no, they have the very one I want (NS WAV 4 in honeyburst). Trigger pulled straight away (I didn’t want to be stung for a 4th time). UPS delivery info received, scheduled for tomorrow, but no, it arrived at 5:30 today! Happy days. Needs a bit adjustment action wise (for me anyway) but I’ll leave that for tomorrow once it’s warmed up properly (poor thing has been in vans and warehouses since it arrived down south only to go through it all again to get to me). However, had to test it just to make sure it was working and as I use Phil Jones gear, it should be just the ticket and it is. Sounds properly fine straight into the amp, but put it through my Sadowsky preamp pedal and it sounds even better (I understand the more expensive NS EUBs have active circuitry, but are really way above my budget, so the addition of a preamp makes sense). Now to learn to play the bugger!

 

Ooh, I almost forgot. Thanks and blame must go to the folk who unknowingly influenced me in the final hurdle of this venture, namely, our own @NancyJohnson, David Swift and Tony Levin. And props to Barry at The Bass Centre for making it happen so quickly and easily.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by ezbass

[DaveFry]

Congrats , and you could have tried my NXT when you were down this way !

[ezbass]

2 minutes ago, DaveFry said:

Congrats , and you could have tried my NXT when you were down this way !

I was looking of photos from our last Jersey visit and wondering when we might return. That was autumn 2020, so a try out might not have been appropriate given the Covid restrictions back then, but I appreciate the belated offer.

[NancyJohnson]

Congratulations on the acquisition!

 

It's been an odd year since I got mine!  Put in a lot of hours initially, then we had a couple of months of building work, swiftly followed by a torn meniscus and knee surgery (which made standing a bit painful for long periods).

 

I've been back on it recently, still enjoy it immensely.  I'm unsure whether I'd ever be able to integrate it into any band tbh but it's hugely enjoyable to just noodle on it.

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

 

I've been back on it recently, still enjoy it immensely.  I'm unsure whether I'd ever be able to integrate it into any band tbh but it's hugely enjoyable to just noodle on it.

Probably the same for me, it’s very much a personal indulgence, without any thought of gigging with it. Today’s task, along with action adjustment, will be to work out an initial height and angle for playing comfort.

[NancyJohnson]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

Probably the same for me, it’s very much a personal indulgence, without any thought of gigging with it. Today’s task, along with action adjustment, will be to work out an initial height and angle for playing comfort.

 

I think part of the joy is that it's an instrument I wanted to be able to play and in general, I've achieved that.  I'm never going to be brilliant on it, but I feel I have the confidence to be able to play it anywhere if prompted.

[JPJ]

Congratulations - I am still considering/pondering/procrastinating over buying a WAV myself so I will be particularly interested to hear how you get on.

[ezbass]

9 hours ago, JPJ said:

Congratulations - I am still considering/pondering/procrastinating over buying a WAV myself so I will be particularly interested to hear how you get on.

It’s a revelation so far. I’ve got the action where it’s comfortable (for a value of comfortable for what is really an entirely new and different instrument) and I’m trying to get to grips with the ergonomics and relax. I’ve watched a couple of beginner videos for height and left hand position to make sure I’m not ingraining bad habits from the get go. I’m slightly frustrated when my intonation is way off, which isn’t actually intonation, it’s totally the wrong the place on the board 😂. Trying to relax is an issue and I find I’m clenching my jaw a lot when I’m trying to play things from my normal bass repertoire (this is probably a mistake). However, this all falls away when I play something slower and incorporate open strings (which, I believe, you’re supposed to do more of with DB anyway) and that DB growl kicks in, then I can’t help grinning. I’m finding the static tripod a bit of a challenge and can see me investing in the end pin + frame that NS sell if I don’t learn to work with the supplied stand.

[JPJ]

8 hours ago, ezbass said:

It’s a revelation so far. I’ve got the action where it’s comfortable (for a value of comfortable for what is really an entirely new and different instrument) and I’m trying to get to grips with the ergonomics and relax. I’ve watched a couple of beginner videos for height and left hand position to make sure I’m not ingraining bad habits from the get go. I’m slightly frustrated when my intonation is way off, which isn’t actually intonation, it’s totally the wrong the place on the board 😂. Trying to relax is an issue and I find I’m clenching my jaw a lot when I’m trying to play things from my normal bass repertoire (this is probably a mistake). However, this all falls away when I play something slower and incorporate open strings (which, I believe, you’re supposed to do more of with DB anyway) and that DB growl kicks in, then I can’t help grinning. I’m finding the static tripod a bit of a challenge and can see me investing in the end pin + frame that NS sell if I don’t learn to work with the supplied stand.

It’s actually the stand that attracts me! I used to find that with my KK the weight of the instrument was resting in my left hand which made it awkward to play standing up. The weight plus poor left hand technique on my part caused me issues with my thumb which stemmed from a dislocation in a motorcycle accident thirty years ago. 

[ezbass]

My current dilemma is that I have a bright, shiny, new EUB to play, but I suddenly have an audition/rehearsal in the first week of January and 22 songs to learn, only one of which I already know, so the WAV is receiving quite as much love as it normally would. However, this probably isn’t such a bad thing as I’ll hopefully avoid too many new aches and pains. It has received some love today, nonetheless. I tried playing it with one of the adjustments loose, allowing some back to front movement, aah! Much better. Quite pleased with my rendition of Africa and Cornflake Girl.

[petebassist]

2 hours ago, JPJ said:

It’s actually the stand that attracts me! I used to find that with my KK the weight of the instrument was resting in my left hand which made it awkward to play standing up. The weight plus poor left hand technique on my part caused me issues with my thumb which stemmed from a dislocation in a motorcycle accident thirty years ago. 

I've not played a KK but the ones I've seen didn't have extensions to mimic the upper bouts of a double bass (maybe not as much of an issue with the biggest model but still), so like you said it's awkward for the LH to take the strain of stablizing the KK and trying to move up and down at the same time to hold the different positions.  Hope you get more enjoyment out of using the stand. 

[ezbass]

Starting to gel with the beast at last. It would’ve happened sooner I think, but I’ve also just landed a position with a new band and have been woodshedding their set list.

[Lowhead]

Hello ezbass , I am about to join the club, had notice today that my new WAV4 is on its way!!

I'm a latecomer to bass, been playing bass guitar for about 6 years, and have found myself playing jazz and folk largely, so have given way to temptation and gone for exactly the same EUB. So I expect I'll be on here too, with questions about the new girl in my collection, and will be following your progress with interest. exciting weekend coming up if the WAV gets to me here in the sticks on time...

[ezbass]

@Lowhead Congrats on your new acquisition, let the fun begin! The thing I seemed to spend a lot of time getting right was the height of the thing. Because of it being fixed on the tripod, there’s none of the pulling it towards you and cosying up to it like you would do with a DB (I tried it ‘floating’ for a bit, but have gone back to fixed) However, once I got it right for me (I suspect everyone will be different in this respect), it became easier to play and my intonation improved. Altering my fingering from where I would play mid neck on an EB, to more towards the nut on the WAV and incorporating more open strings has been another step forward. I was initially a bit disappointed with my progress, but I’m a lot happier now and think that the WAV (or at least the move to upright) is a keeper. I tend to play with the switch in the up position (which I believe is primarily for arco), having the tone control halfway and scooping the low mids on my amp. This gives me the sound I’m looking for and sounds more DB than fretless EB to my ears and produces a nice thump on the note. 

 

[fleabag]

The NS design EUB's are very nice.  I used to own the NS NXT4 and loved it.  I stuck round wounds on mine.

Couldnt justify hanging on to it, as it didnt fit the music i ended playing

[Lowhead]

My new bass arrived yesterday so I'm starting to come to terms with the changes from bass guitar.

I'm sure I will love this instrument once we get to know one another better...

I have played a fretless for some time, and find this helps with the intonation, being used to listening and sliding slightly if necessary to hit the note aimed for. 

Next step to get the setup feeing right and watch instruction vids etc. Bass chat is so great for finding advice on this sort of thing!

[ezbass]

Bit of zombie thread time 🧟‍♂️

 

I've enjoyed owning the NS WAV, but don't play it as much as I should, mainly down to it not having any place in the band I'm in (Mod, Ska, Northern Soul, etc), where I almost exclusively play my JMJ Mustang. All this means that I've had thoughts of selling the EUB, so that it at least gets played by someone. However, today, I started playing around with an old, live recorded, track I did years ago on fretless (Tori Amos' Cornflake Girl). I dropped it into GarageBand, remixed it a bit and played along, first with my Rob Allen MB2 and then with the WAV. Tonally, the basses weren't a million miles apart (those MB2s are amazing for that almost DB tone), but I had way more fun playing the WAV, almost dancing whilst recording. So it looks like the EUB might be hanging around a bit longer, I just need to play it more.

 

That is all.

[NancyJohnson]

51 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Bit of zombie thread time 🧟‍♂️

 

I've enjoyed owning the NS WAV, but don't play it as much as I should, mainly down to it not having any place in the band I'm in (Mod, Ska, Northern Soul, etc), where I almost exclusively play my JMJ Mustang. All this means that I've had thoughts of selling the EUB, so that it at least gets played by someone. However, today, I started playing around with an old, live recorded, track I did years ago on fretless (Tori Amos' Cornflake Girl). I dropped it into GarageBand, remixed it a bit and played along, first with my Rob Allen MB2 and then with the WAV. Tonally, the basses weren't a million miles apart (those MB2s are amazing for that almost DB tone), but I had way more fun playing the WAV, almost dancing whilst recording. So it looks like the EUB might be hanging around a bit longer, I just need to play it more.

 

That is all.

 

I'll admit that lack of appropriate band drew me along the same lines; it gets about a half hour use a week I reckon - I'll just fire it up when dinner is on the make or when someone says, 'Ooh, what the hell is that?'

[TorturedSaints]

I’m using my NS Wav about 3 times a week at the moment for different concert bands.  Just a tip, because this happened to me last week, the nuts inside the base of the stand work loose and the stand then collapses.  The easy remedy is to replace them with M6 nyloc locking nuts from a hardware store. 

[Marc S]

Hi @ezbass
Good to hear that you are using the NS at least some times. Due to bands changing, and some venues not having much space, I have been through periods where I didn't play upright much. However, I "weaved" EUB into one of the bands - just to keep playing upright in a gig situation. Following that, a fiddle player joined another band I'm in, and it just seemed to immediately suit the sound a bit more. Plus, if I'm being honest, it made me a little less lazy about carting both EUB and Bass Guitar to some gigs. 

 

Then I joined another band, and they specifically wanted me to play upright - so Bingo! I was glad I had kept my hand in, so to speak. So you never know, there might just be a project out there for you, which involves more of you playing EUB. I also have to say, I get more comments when I play EUB than I ever do playing BG, or even when I play acoustic upright - EUB's are rather cool-looking instruments, it seems. Cheers now - enjoy your NS... they are cracking instruments.

[ezbass]

6 hours ago, Marc S said:

there might just be a project out there for you, which involves more of you playing EUB.

That would be great if it happens, some Americana would be spot on for me.