Acoustic bass (Ibanez)

[Franticsmurf]

1 hour ago, jd56hawk said:

I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about the people who find it necessary to post "You can't really hear them unplugged" and other worthless information every time some starts a thread about acoustic basses

It's certainly not 'worthless information' and as someone who has owned an acoustic bass for 5 years, I am not 'clueless' about it. I may have a different opinion and experience of them than others here but that's ok. I chose to share my experience so that others could make an informed decision.

[lemmywinks]

Ugh....

[jd56hawk]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

Well, I appreciate that clarification, but my point still stands.  I don't think it's worthless information - it's true, isn't it?  There have been many a disappointed noob get one of these thinking they can just join in on an acoustic night armed with nothing but an acoustic bass guitar and dreams.  People tangential to this conversation read this stuff after all.  There's no need to get personal about it, and calling people "completely clueless" just because you don't like what they have to say is a bit rum, old chap.

Sure, it's true, but the same can be said about P basses, Jazz basses, Rics, Stingrays, etc...you have to plug them in.

The OP mentioned he'd be plugging in.

Maybe I shouldn't have said "clueless" but it was the first thing that popped to mind.

Edited April 17 by jd56hawk

[isteen]

On 16/04/2025 at 20:09, Raslee said:

I've got a Harley Benton Mini GS Bass (Taylor copy), arriving tomorrow. Looked at the Taylor & Guild models which look absolutely great but opted for the cheapy HB to try it out firstly…my first HB venture too. 

Hope I hear your thoughts of it when you get it

[TrevorR]

As others have said, for ensemble playing an amp (even a wee practice amp) is essential but they can sound good and different to an electric. I must confess, having the acoustic at home is great. I probably play that at home more than any of my other basses. As an example of how they work live, this is us playing an acoustic Springsteen song at our regular jam and my Faith acoustic bass holds up perfectly well…

 

 

But a couple of tips… as others have said, ditch the phosphor bronze strings for some black tapes and get a Feedback Buster soundhole plug.

[mikebass456]

31 minutes ago, TrevorR said:

As others have said, for ensemble playing an amp (even a wee practice amp) is essential but they can sound good and different to an electric. I must confess, having the acoustic at home is great. I probably play that at home more than any of my other basses. As an example of how they work live, this is us playing an acoustic Springsteen song at our regular jam and my Faith acoustic bass holds up perfectly well…

 

 

But a couple of tips… as others have said, ditch the phosphor bronze strings for some black tapes and get a Feedback Buster soundhole plug.

I've got the feedback buster fitted to my Martin shortscale now, which has pretty much sorted the feedback problem I experienced recently.  Unfortunately I can't get black tapes in 24" scale, otherwise I'd be fitting them too.....☹️

[Raslee]

On 18/04/2025 at 06:28, isteen said:

Hope I hear your thoughts of it when you get it

Sorry been away gigging, but I had played the HB for a while the other day. Quite impressed for the money, but rather expectedly its no Taylor, but it'll definitely does the trick, surprisingly loud for such a little bass.Few sharp frets but action is low, onboard eq and tuner are great. Strings are horrible. 7/10 from me. 

[lemmywinks]

1 hour ago, Raslee said:

Sorry been away gigging, but I had played the HB for a while the other day. Quite impressed for the money, but rather expectedly its no Taylor, but it'll definitely does the trick, surprisingly loud for such a little bass.Few sharp frets but action is low, onboard eq and tuner are great. Strings are horrible. 7/10 from me. 

 

What strings come stock on that bass, does it not have the D'addario nylon core ones?

 

The cheapest Ibanez (PNB something or other, stupid Ibanez and their stupid names) has them on from factory, can't imagine much else working with that scale tbh. I briefly had one but mine was very badly finished, seems like an isolated incident from what other owners said though. If you send the HB back keep an eye out for a used Ibanez AVN parlour bass, they're excellent.

Edited Saturday at 21:39 by lemmywinks

[TrevorR]

On 16/04/2025 at 17:13, mikebass456 said:

They're 23 1/2 " scale according to the specs, so should be ok for the 24" of the Martin....I'll give them a try and see how I get on with them! 🙂👍

Zoinks! 24” 😮😮😮 That really is SHORT scale! I can see why you’ve had string finding problems!