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Bass uke, solid body Vs hollow acoustic style?


zonular
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I've got the 5-string version of the Kala SUB - it's a nice instrument, can't think of any cons to it. I don't have any experience of the HB bass uke, but my experience of other HBs (guitars and basses) has been positive.

 

Just get both.

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I have an acoustic 4er and a solid 5er (Both by Kala).  I prefer the size of the solid.

It's difficult to comment on the difference in sound as my solid 5er is fretless, the 4er is fretted (I prefer fretless ... easier to accommodate the intonation challenges).

 

You can find some reviews/info here https://playubass.com/

And this Welsh ukulele and ubass player has some amazing content that might help inform a choice.

 

Sam x

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33 minutes ago, SamIAm said:

I have an acoustic 4er and a solid 5er (Both by Kala).  I prefer the size of the solid.

It's difficult to comment on the difference in sound as my solid 5er is fretless, the 4er is fretted (I prefer fretless ... easier to accommodate the intonation challenges).

 

You can find some reviews/info here https://playubass.com/

And this Welsh ukulele and ubass player has some amazing content that might help inform a choice.

 

Sam x

Do u prefer the solid size as it's bigger or smaller?

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27 minutes ago, zonular said:

Do u prefer the solid size as it's bigger or smaller?

Because the body is thinner (less than half the thickness) and it is more weighty so hangs on the strap better; in addition it has a 23.5 inch scale instead of 21 ish.

 

Comparison ...

IMG_0721Large.thumb.jpeg.19bcb75e1a527407dbad75abb0012868.jpeg

IMG_0724Large.thumb.jpeg.9e9d4b0b80cb86ae86a06a59343b1b4b.jpeg

Sam x

Edited by SamIAm
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1 hour ago, zonular said:

I have to compliment your photos, lovely shots!.

 

That five string looks like it could be great fun!

Thank you.

Yes the 5er is brilliant fun, I've got Aquila Thunderbrown strings on it, they are not sticky like some ubass strings an be and have a lovely thuddy sound.

Sam x

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15 minutes ago, zonular said:

Oh no I might have to see if I can pick one up, I take it's a piezo pickup too?

Both of mine (and a 4er solid body Kala I lost in my fire) are piezo ... many ubass use piezo pickups IME.

Kala do one with mag pickups (and they are not insanely expensive) ...

https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/ukulele/kala-solid-body-5-string-fretted-u-bass-tobacco-burst-with-gig-bag

or

https://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/kala-ka-sb-bk-fs-5-5-string-solid-body-u-bass-ukulele-bass-w-gigbag

 

Flight do a 4er split mag pickup (But is is a 20 inch scale)

https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/ukulele/flight-rock-series-mini-bass-ukulele-transparent-blue-solid-body-electric-bass-ukulele-with-gig-bag

 

Some great info on what affects ubass sound ...

 

Sam x

Edited by SamIAm
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I prefer the sound of the acoustic but as with all acoustic guitars I dislike the shape, the sharp edge, the depth of the body, I find it much harder to move my plucking hand around and be comfortable even with an added shaped arm rest, but with the Galli strings on it sounds great

IMG_10521.thumb.JPG.649be2ff26426e366753cbf26d3b63c9.JPG

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1 minute ago, Aidan63 said:

I prefer the sound of the acoustic

With my acoustic, the 'acoustic' volume was just sufficient for practice at home but was drowned out in the presence of any other instruments or vocals and needed to be plugged in to be heard ... do you find the same?

Sam x

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51 minutes ago, SamIAm said:

With my acoustic, the 'acoustic' volume was just sufficient for practice at home but was drowned out in the presence of any other instruments or vocals and needed to be plugged in to be heard ... do you find the same?

Sam x

Morning Sam,

 

Question for you please: my acoustic Kala has a problem with lack of volume from the E string compared to the other three. Have you experienced this with your bass?

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32 minutes ago, snorkie635 said:

Morning Sam,

 

Question for you please: my acoustic Kala has a problem with lack of volume from the E string compared to the other three. Have you experienced this with your bass?

Sorta, I had a G string that was quieter than the others.  First thing I checked was that the piezo transducer went all the way across the strings, depending on which string it enters the saddle, it might be a very tiny bit short at the end for the other string.  Mine looked OK.

 

The things I tried that helped was ensuring the saddle moved freely, this video illustrates one thing (albeit on a larger bass)

 

I had to use something like this route in the end, my saddle just came out without having to remove the entire assembly but the concept of having the sadle divided into 4 unconnected elements is the same.

 

Sam x

Edited by SamIAm
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I prefer the look of the piezo solid body's. I know I should be going after sound and feel over looks but I feel if I'm springing for a ubass with a split coil Im nearly at just get a short scale territory.

 

@SamIAm are they fretted or fretless?

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4 minutes ago, zonular said:

@SamIAm are they fretted or fretless?

Mine? Fretted 4 and fretless 5, it has a lined fingerboard so difficult to tell from the pix.

Sam x

Edited by SamIAm
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4 hours ago, SamIAm said:

With my acoustic, the 'acoustic' volume was just sufficient for practice at home but was drowned out in the presence of any other instruments or vocals and needed to be plugged in to be heard ... do you find the same?

Sam x

even noodling in a quiet environment it's not really useable, especially the E string, you can feel it but there's little projection, so yes it needs to be plugged in, when it is immense and the colour of the acoustic does come through, even more so with a Bodyrez pedal which adds heft - but the solid body ( I had a made in China Sub, sold it, then bought a used very early Sub/? Made in Korea made model with the better preamp same as in your California) but I find without the acoustic element it is a bit lifeless - which is probably why a magnetic pick up and steel strings as now being sold is maybe better.

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Applying a little reverb to the solid bodied rubber string basses gives a more upright sound (just emulating the reverb that a hollow body gives).

 

If you only want 4 strings, there's also the Ashbory to consider. Lined fretless, 18" scale. The earliest ones (by Guild) had ukulele tuners which are a PITA, the later Fender/DeArmond ones have conventional tuners. And there was the 22" scale Mk II (I think three of us on BC own these), and the very very rare Mk IIb - one on Ebay at the moment but I value every part of my anatomy too much to risk Mrs Zero's wrath if I should buy it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235693470683

 

The Bass Centre has been issuing further Ashbory derivatives too - https://www.basscentre.com/bass-centre-ashbory-bass.html

Edited by tauzero
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3 minutes ago, tauzero said:

Applying a little reverb to the solid bodied rubber string basses gives a more upright sound

Interesting!

I go through a 3 Sigma Upright IR and it sounds rather nice.

Sam x

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I have a Batking hollow (20") and a GoldTone solid body (23"). Both fretless.

The Batking looks great but the small size and lack of weight doesn't make it that comfortable to play well. I much prefer the GoldTone, for ergonomics and sound. The slightly longer scale seems to help a lot getting the intonation... I was going to say right but who am I kidding, I'll say "close enough" :D

 

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18 minutes ago, mcnach said:

I have a Batking hollow (20") and a GoldTone solid body (23"). Both fretless.

The Batking looks great but the small size and lack of weight doesn't make it that comfortable to play well. I much prefer the GoldTone, for ergonomics and sound. The slightly longer scale seems to help a lot getting the intonation... I was going to say right but who am I kidding, I'll say "close enough" :D

 

I had tried to order the batking but it doesnt seem to want to deliver to Ireland, I will have to stick to thomann or local second hand ads

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7 hours ago, SamIAm said:

Sorta, I had a G string that was quieter than the others.  First thing I checked was that the piezo transducer went all the way across the strings, depending on which string it enters the saddle, it might be a very tiny bit short at the end for the other string.  Mine looked OK.

 

The things I tried that helped was ensuring the saddle moved freely, this video illustrates one thing (albeit on a larger bass)

 

I had to use something like this route in the end, my saddle just came out without having to remove the entire assembly but the concept of having the sadle divided into 4 unconnected elements is the same.

 

Sam x

Thanks very much for this Sam. Will let you know how it goes. 👍

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