From DB to (fretless) e-bass

[basso navo]

Hi experts,

playing double bass, I'd like to add electric bass guitar.

The idea is to have the best of two worlds: The dark voluminous sound of the DB and the edgier, more percussive sound of the electric bass.

Also, I'd like to have a fretless fingerboard, as I am used to the DB fingerboard.

Long scale, therefore, is my choice.

Does all this sound contradictory to you?

Has anybody gone this road?

Looking forward to your ideas.

bn

[Downunderwonder]

Never heard of anyone ordering up a super long scale fretless bass guitar to play with DB strings and DB fingerings. I don't think the ergonomics would be at all good. Try DB in your lap on the couch and I think you will get the idea out of your head.

 

I play both DB and FB with custom fingerings born of being self taught. FB is easy enough to use regular BG fingerings if you want to get jiggy wid it or just keep flying around using your DB fingering.

 

Scale length is easy to adopt. I realised this when I found a 21" ubass fretless to be quite natural to me.

[basso navo]

Thank you @Downunderwonder,

I didn't mean

28 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

super long scale fretless

but a long scale, as opposed to short scale.

bn

[AndyTravis]

 

I’m a predominantly electric player - some fretless and I’ve got a fretless Jazz bass which gets close - but I want something to move air in front of a microphone like a double bass would.

 

This gets close - work in progress though…

[Downunderwonder]

Kala ubass with black rubber strings gets amazingly low and thumpy so long as there's a good preamp for the piezo. Give a thwack and you got something of a slap sound as well.

[Downunderwonder]

The Precision Bass was a game changer. Then bassists wanted to change the game back to have cake and eat cake by nixing the frets. Best just pick up a fretless and play it. 

[AndyTravis]

3 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

The Precision Bass was a game changer. Then bassists wanted to change the game back to have cake and eat cake by nixing the frets. Best just pick up a fretless and play it. 

I had one of these for a bit…much preferred my jazz fretless; I also managed to get a better DB impression from it.

 

Seems counter intuitive…but 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Burns-bass]

You're actually describing the Takamine TB10. This is essentially a crossover instrument (an EB with a DB radius) that you can play as an upright bass and as an electric one. They're not cheap, but they are cool. 

 

https://www.takamine.com/TB10

 

I don't think they're made anymore, and are expensive if you can find one.

[AndyTravis]

28 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

You're actually describing the Takamine TB10. This is essentially a crossover instrument (an EB with a DB radius) that you can play as an upright bass and as an electric one. They're not cheap, but they are cool. 

 

https://www.takamine.com/TB10

 

I don't think they're made anymore, and are expensive if you can find one.

I want one. Have done for years…

 

The wallet always says no when they (rarely) come up.

[tauzero]

15 hours ago, basso navo said:

playing double bass, I'd like to add electric bass guitar.

The idea is to have the best of two worlds: The dark voluminous sound of the DB and the edgier, more percussive sound of the electric bass.

Also, I'd like to have a fretless fingerboard, as I am used to the DB fingerboard.

 

Do you mean getting a sound which is a mixture of the two you describe out of one instrument? Or do you mean you'd use the DB for the DB sound and the EB for the electric sound? If the former, you could try a fretless with a piezo bridge as well as magnetic pickups, eg Ibanez SRF700, roundwound strings, and a reverb effects pedal to add some quite short reverb to give the DB feel to it.

[Burns-bass]

4 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

I want one. Have done for years…

 

The wallet always says no when they (rarely) come up.

 

I've played one, but only once. It was(as youd expect) a beauty, although the neck got some getting used to!

 

Of course, if the OP wants an electric bass, you can get a strap for the WAV and NS basses and play those like a normal electric bass. Use a good enough pre-amp and the results aren't bad!

[AndyTravis]

8 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

 

I've played one, but only once. It was(as youd expect) a beauty, although the neck got some getting used to!

 

Of course, if the OP wants an electric bass, you can get a strap for the WAV and NS basses and play those like a normal electric bass. Use a good enough pre-amp and the results aren't bad!

 I played one at the short lived Bass Centre in Deansgate Locks.

 

The guy barked at me for touching it - I was “just a kid”, but he’d forgotten that I’d bought a fairly expensive Spector there the month before. 

 

Agh. Not a shock it went bump.

[JPJ]

If I’ve read the OP correctly, I think the question is does anybody else double between DB and fretless electric bass. If I’m right, then I do this every gig with my country/Americana band, albeit the DB is an NS EUB but 42” scale. I have no problem transitioning between the two, just make sure the side dots on the fretless bass are ‘on the frets’ as against between the frets which you can see on some defretted basses. 

[basso navo]

17 minutes ago, JPJ said:

make sure the side dots on the fretless bass are ‘on the frets’ as against between the frets which you can see on some defretted basses. 

Thank you. This is a real helpful hint which wouldn't have occured to me.

[tauzero]

Lined fretless boards also have dot markers where fretted markers would be.

[pete.young]

 @basso navo wht you say makes perfect sense to me.

 

The question for you is whether a fretless will be edgy and percussive enough for the sound you want to make. If you're thinking of playing slap you're probably going to need a fretted bass. Not saying it's impossible, but there aren't many people doing it, 64 million flies argument I know.

[petebassist]

I like the tone that this guy gets on a Marcustio - don't know what the signal chain is, but the mids & highs sound great - lows lack the DB frequencies.

 

 

[tinyd]

2 hours ago, petebassist said:

I like the tone that this guy gets on a Marcustio - don't know what the signal chain is, but the mids & highs sound great - lows lack the DB frequencies.

 

 

I was going to reply to the thread something along the lines of "you'll never get a BG to sound _that_ much like a DB but with the right strings, action and EQ you can at least get a good thumpy tone that will sit in the mix in a similar way"....but this video of the Marcustico bass is pretty impressive!

[tauzero]

Or there's the Variax bass, here emulating a Kay upright:

 

 

[NickA]

I went from cello to eBass to double bass. I play them as separate instruments, tho there is some read across between them.

 

You can use simandl on electric, but it seems a waste of a finger, so I play dB simandle+, eBass one finger one fret (or lack of fret) and cello ...like a cello (quite different).  The other change is the lack of position reference when you lose the D (or Eflat) reference at the neck; the eBass fingerboard just goes on and on so it's easy to get lost; I do need the occasional glance at my left hand to check where I am.  Then again,you don't need to go into thumb position.  Other than that, the transition shouldn't be too hard.

 

Get a cheapo electric and try it ...tho finding a cheap fretless is harder ( I made my own with pliers and wood filler at first!

 

I still struggle with frets.

Edited January 9, 2024 by NickA

[dclaassen]

My Spectracore does pretty well….added bonus is the ability to blend between the piezo and soap bar.

 

[basso navo]

On 04/01/2024 at 15:55, tauzero said:

do you mean you'd use the DB for the DB sound and the EB for the electric sound?

Yes.

[basso navo]

1 hour ago, dclaassen said:

soap bar

What is that?

[tauzero]

In that case, ignore all the stuff about emulating a DB with an EB. I used to swap between EUB, fretless EB, and Ashbory (silicone strung 19" scale bass) when playing with a ceilidh band - just played whichever one I felt like on any tune. Just find an EB that suits you. If you're not too far from Thomann's showroom (https://www.thomann.de/gb/compinfo_route.html) you could go there and try some of their fretlesses.

[basso navo]

Dear all who advised me,

 

here is a pic of my recently acquired fretless: Warwick RockBass Streamer Standard.

I replaced the original roundwounds with LaBella flats.

The neck is rather thin compared to that of my DB, so I have to get used to that.

The instrument is rather light-weight, at 3.7 kilos.

I was able to bargain it down to 630 €, so am quite happy.