Do U-BASS? - A ukulele bass appreciation thread

[SamIAm]

I KNOW there are other U-BASS players here on BC, it would be great to hear your ukulele bass stories and some of your favorite examples 

 

Here is mine ...

My first foray into the world of bass was with a U-BASS (Ukulele Bass).

 

I was playing tenor uke in a uke band and I fancied a change ... so in 2017 I went down to GAK and walked away with my very first ever bass ... A Kala Exotic Mahogany U•BASS.  It was great fun and I made my first stumbling (very) steps getting to grips with playing bass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a four string fretted electro-acoustic bass.  Acoustically it is just loud enough to practice with solo but when playing with other instruments it really needs some umph, hence the correspondingly wee bass amp (Roland Micro Cube RX), battery powered and with enough output to allow me to be heard when playing in the band (6 acoustic ukes/vocals).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great fun and so easy to lug around.  Its (and our) most ... prestigious ... gig was when we played the main stage of the Brighton Dome.

We were rather chuffed when we were told we had the same dressing room as ABBA had used when they won the Eurovision back in 1974!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UAS is a similar disorder to GAS and in 2019 I managed to get a solid body U-BASS.  A Kala SUB.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A different tone, a bit heavier but still a feather compared to a bass guitar and with a bit more "tweakability" as it came with saddle height adjustment as well as a truss rod (The electro-acoustic just has a truss rod)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a couple of years later (Post covid) when I decided to try an electric bass to overcome some tuning and intonation challenges I was finding with the U-BASS (I've since discovered that an improvement in my playing technique has helped a lot with these).

 

I trialed an Ibanez Mikro (Pictured below in the row of Tenor Uke, Kala SUB, Ibanez, Kala electro-acoustic) but I sent it back as it was just too large to play in the band.

 

Sadly in August 2022 a fire took almost all of my musical gear, the electro-acoustic survived (As I had loaned it to a band mate) so I still have it today.

 

The thing is that I have since fallen in love with 5 strings so it was with great delight that I was offered this beauty (An early model Kala California solid body 5 string fretless) a few weeks ago (Out of the blue someone said they knew of my love of ultra short scale and they were not getting on with this one and would I like it!) I could not believe my great fortune!

 

I popped some Aquila Thunderbrowns on it (OMG!) and it has become my goto ukulele bass and will fit in brilliantly with the band when we start up again next year.

 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with ukulele bass instruments, they are ultra short scale (My electro-acoustic is 21 inch scale and the solid body is 23 inch) and they use specially formulated strings (Polyurethane are the most common tho you can get wire wound with nylon core) to allow them to be tuned the same way as a bass guitar.  Pickup wise they tend to use a piezo pickup under the bridge saddle.

 

Why do I love the U-BASS?

They are unbelievably portable being so small and light!  The ultra short scale makes it very easy to move around the fretboard. And for me, I play in a ukulele band ... it is wonderful to see people's faces when they hear the big bass sounds coming from such a wee beast!

 

Sound wise

... they do not sound quite like an electric bass, nor do they sound quite like an EUB ... they have been described as being somewhere in-between.  With my lack of a decent mic or DI (and lacking bass skills) I am not posting any sound sample of my own, but here are some from the web.

 

 

 

 

S'manth x

 

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Smanth

[Linus27]

Great post and thanks for sharing, enjoyed reading about your experiences. I spent a good few years play a U-Bass in a 50's and 60's Rock 'n' Roll band and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were doing well over 100 gigs a year and at least a third of them were where we stripped back and played acoustic and I jumped on the U-Bass. They are such great fun and I got so much attention and interest from playing one.

 

I started out with a Kala Sub bass which was really good and very well made but I wasn't a big fan on the looks.

 

 

So I then got a Kala Rumbler which I absolutely loved. It sounded fabulous and was lovely to play.

 

 

I had so much fun playing it but sadly the band stopped when Covid hit and we all moved on. I did toy with the idea of either getting a fretless or the California but as the band ended, I went the other way and sold both my Kala's. I however fancy getting another at some point and really like the look of the Kala Journeyman so maybe next year I'll start again with one.

 

Anyway, here's a little video we did of a famous song in an American dinner.

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Linus27

[naxos10]

The wife bought me a Kala Nomad from gerryc of this parish for my birthday. I mainly use it for practicing new numbers before moving to my short scale bass.

Hopefully one day I will suprise my bandmates and gig with it😁

[SamIAm]

@Linus27great to hear from you ...  Loved that video!

S'manth x

[SamIAm]

12 minutes ago, naxos10 said:

Hopefully one day I will suprise my bandmates and gig with it😁

Ahhhhhh ...

 

S'manth x

[Len_derby]

I’ve got a Countryman, that I bought off Basschat a couple of years ago. Countryman are at the lower price point of Uke basses but it does all I need it to.

I take it as my back-up bass at venues with tight space. I also take it to jam nights and open mics for a bit of fun. Fuzzy phone pic from a jam night playing rock n’ roll with a scratch band. A shout-out for my 33 year-old jumper too. 

[tauzero]

I started playing rubber string basses with a Guild Ashbory.

 

 

Sounded good but I hated the banjo-type tuners, and upgraded to a DeArmond Ashbory with proper tuners. I used that with a ceilidh band, switching between the 18" scale Ashbory, a 34" scale Warwick Thumb fretless, and a 42" scale NS WAV-4 EUB which was fun.

 

I also bought an Ashbory Mk2 - one of 73 made. However, it's got a dreadful hum which I haven't diagnosed - it's part of my project pile for my retirement, which started today.

 

 

Because I like 5-strings, I bought a Kala SUB 5-string - I'd rather an unfretted one but the SUBs didn't have a fretless 5-string option, and a Cali would have cost about five times as much. This one isn't mine but it looks the same, apart from the untrimmed but better spaced strings on mine.

 

 

And finally, I've bought a Batmanking electroacoustic 4-string which I haven't used electrically yet but which seems a pretty good buy for under a ton. Again, the photo's not mine but apart from an extra turn or two of the A string round the tuner, there's no difference.

 

[josie]

I don't play one myself, but a friend does, and I'm always impressed by the quality of sound he gets from it. Over the years I've known him, due to arthritis, he's gone from a Jazz to a viola-bass to the u-bass - or he would have had to stop playing. So that's another advantage.

[Ralf1e]

So great to see this thread this morning. My first ubas was a Kala Rumbler which I have never been able to get an even sound level across the strings with despite trying several different sets.

Then I got my sticky little mitts on a Kala SUB 5 string that has a neck repair for silly low money. They even put a set of pyramid metal wound strings on it for me as I said if the thing stays in tune with those strings on I would buy it. They tried it out left it overnight, reported  back to me it was good. Job done they shipped it to me from Germany complete with the expensive strings still on it.

It does sound better with the original strings for anyone thinking about it. The metal wound strings don't generate enough downforce to make the piezio give off enough volume. Didn't on mine anyway.

Finally the hero of my baby basses is a hollow body, similar to the rumbler sold under the Donner brand for about £130. Theft they cried!

Sorry I didn't set the price, they did and I recently found out they had dropped it from the range.

It is the best sounding and best playing of the 3 by far although I had to do the dissect the bridge and separate the segments trick to get equal down pressure of the strings to get nice even volume across all the strings.

(Not tried that on the Rumbler? The bridge is made differently)

It might not look as fancy but it does the job best for me.

Photos later it's still dark.

[msb]

I first picked up an Ashbory , and later , found a cheap uke on kijiji. Couldn’t resist.

 

serious fun to horse around with

[Owen]

Everyone should have a Ukebass. I have been through 4. I do favour the hollow ones for that dull thud I crave. I would love a hollow 5 string fretted one. The guy who built my WeeUB would do me one, but other things would have to be sold. I am considering it though. 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Owen

[Owen]

Double post. Amateur. 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Owen

[Ralf1e]

11 minutes ago, Owen said:

Everyone should have a Ukebass. I have been through 4. I do favour the hollow ones for that dull thud I crave. I would love a hollow 5 string fretted one. The guy who built my WeeUB would do me one, but other things would have to be sold. I am considering it though. 

Sorry to be honest but I cant see the value especially when the string retainer holes are cut at least 2mm out of line. Cheap hype.

Necks not in line with the body either. That's what you get if you are not OCD.

Edited January 1, 2023 by Ralf1e

[SamIAm]

A rather nice rendition of A-Train by the amazing Magnus Sjöquist

 

 

[iamtheelvy]

Nice to see some other examples around. Pic is my Ortega Guitars LZZY bass. Been a bit too long since one last went out - main gig changed from folk to rock and pop, so not as much call at the mo…

Edited January 10, 2023 by iamtheelvy

[uncle psychosis]

I can't imagine myself ever playing in a scenario where I'd need one of these but they're fascinating instruments. 

 

Are they really tuned and pitched the same as a 34" electric? That's wild. 

 

As for that cover of Kiss in the first post 🤯🤩

[SamIAm]

8 minutes ago, uncle psychosis said:

Are they really tuned and pitched the same as a 34" electric? That's wild. 

Yes they are and … yes it is wild!

Despite Engineer Scott’s best efforts tho, the way they achieve this is with special materials in the strings (which are quite costly)

And the Kiss snippet … I’m now trying to figure out a practical way to put a slap thingie on my fretless UBASS! 🤣

S’manth x

Edited January 9, 2023 by Smanth

[naxos10]

Slap u-bass now there's a thought😁

[JPJ]

Here’s my 21.5” fretless Harley Benton Uke bass. Bought on a whim a couple of years ago, and restrung with Aquila Thunderblack strings.

just took it out of its gig bag for the first time in ages and it was only a couple of cents off being in tune.

 

[bass_dinger]

On 01/01/2023 at 07:33, Ralf1e said:

I have never been able to get an even sound level across the strings with despite trying several different sets.

Cut the bridge in half. Then, the bridge can fully rest on the piezo, with no arching to leave a gap between bridge and piezo)

 

Or have the bottom slot recut so that it is flat.

 

Or make sure that the bottom of the bridge is flat.

[Owen]

On 12/01/2023 at 09:37, JPJ said:

 

just took it out of its gig bag for the first time in ages and it was only a couple of cents off being in tune.

 

 

This is obviously not a proper uke bass. 

[Ralf1e]

11 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

Cut the bridge in half. Then, the bridge can fully rest on the piezo, with no arching to leave a gap between bridge and piezo)

 

Or have the bottom slot recut so that it is flat.

 

Or make sure that the bottom of the bridge is flat.

The design of my Kala bridges are the black plastic ones with the piezo molded into the bottom of the plastic in one piece. Don't favour trying to cut one of those in half so I will investigate what I can do with the other methods. I might make up a jig and very gently run a router along the slot to make sure its level. Or maybe hand scrape it flat. I have hand scraped lathe beds in the past so I can't be that inaccurate. Amazing how you remember forgotten skills in your later years.🤔

[bass_dinger]

8 minutes ago, Ralf1e said:

The design of my Kala bridges are the black plastic ones with the piezo molded into the bottom of the plastic in one piece. Don't favour trying to cut one of those in half

Apologies.  I had assumed that bridges and piezos were always separate.  My lack of knowledge resulted in some poor advice. 

[Ralf1e]

13 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

Apologies.  I had assumed that bridges and piezos were always separate.  My lack of knowledge resulted in some poor advice. 

I'll get one out and put a photo on if I find time. Got a busy day today and guitarist friend coming round for a jam this evening.

[casapete]

I have a Ukulele bass - it's a Countryman, bought it about 4 or 5 years ago when they first appeared.

Tried a few, and couldn't see how the Kala models were nearly 3 times the price when the sound and 

quality were so similar so I went for the Countryman. (on the right in the first pic)

Used it quite a lot at first, and had so many people interested in it at gigs. Sounds great in my acoustic

duo, with a nod to an upright bass kind of noise! The strings did take some getting used to, as well as

the scale length but with a bit of use it gets more familiar. Great little thing though.

 

Couple of years ago a friend of mine got an Ibanez PNB141E short scale, and I instantly loved it.

Bought one straight away, and it's now taken over as my main bass in the duo (see 2nd pic).

It's 24.7" scale length, and combined with my Fender Rumble 100v3 makes for a great gigging 

combination. Strings are the same as on the Taylor GS mini bass (which I also had but prefer

the Ibanez).