minorkey
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Post by minorkey on Aug 31, 2020 22:17:18 GMT
Anyone play one? I'd love to play bass but I don't fancy messing with amps and stuff, plus it would be ruddy loud in an upstairs room! I'm wondering if acoustic basses are worth a punt. Or maybe a bass ukulele (Ubass)
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Aug 31, 2020 23:30:58 GMT
I have a Crafter acoustic bass - it's very old, very battered (and has a hole it shouldn't have in the side) and very crap. But I do use it really close to my Zoom recorder for multitrack recordings and it just about gets away with it. No chance of it competing acoustically with another acoustic guitar though. The best acoustic bass I've played was made by davewhite and that not only sounds great and plays well, but is loud enough to play with another couple of acoustic guitars and be easily heard, esp if played with a plectrum. The bass uke could well be an option though you would deffo a small amp. bass ukes are fun! keith
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doc
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Post by doc on Sept 1, 2020 9:02:54 GMT
davewhite ‘s bass is a cracker. As Keith said, doesn’t get lost in an ensemble and a great tone.
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Post by scorpiodog on Sept 1, 2020 10:43:47 GMT
I have an acoustic bass that I bought in a fit of enthusiasm at a folk festival. It's fine to play when sitting on one's own and it does have a piezo pickup so I have used it to play out once or twice (under protest and only when forced).
I have tried uke basses and find them incredibly hard to play because of the rubber bands they laughingly call strings.
You can often find acoustic basses second hand on Gumtree (at least you can around here) for not very much money, and if you have a hankering, I'd suggest you try one out. You'll probably be able to sell it for what you paid when you discover just how soul destroying playing a bass is.
Oh, by the way. I don't like playing bass much.
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Post by forestdweller on Sept 1, 2020 11:34:22 GMT
Spent a couple of years exploring acoustic bass. Never really got anywhere. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think anyone else did. This one is a custom brook, sold to a forum member. They can vary a lot in quality. Cheaper ones are fairly useless playing with other people (well so long as you don’t want anyone to hear you). Scale length varies- mine was standard 34” scale, but cheaper ones tend to be 30” (like many of the Fender ones). For me a good compromise is the Faith one at 32”. Strings - so many options, phosphorus bronze, flat wounds, tape wounds etc. Never did find the perfect set. Ukulele basses to my ears don’t really produce much of a bass sound, more a sort of farty thud. There is also now another option in the 26” scale length Taylor style mini basses, which to my ears are better sounding than ukulele basses, but more expensive and just as irritating to play. Guild and AnueNue do nice models.
Robbie
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minorkey
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Post by minorkey on Sept 1, 2020 13:47:18 GMT
Ah I'll just have to save up, sell the kids/my soul and get a Fender Precision Bass 😉
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Post by Matt Milton on Oct 21, 2020 22:11:38 GMT
I love playing bass, it's really good fun. I have an electric: a Danelectro 'longhorn' short-scale bass. Apparently John Entwistle was a fan of it.
The only cheap acoustic bass that seems to get quite positive reviews is the Harley Benton fretless acoustic. Once or twice I've been tempted - it's not expensive and they do a 30-day money back returns policy. It's tone sounds OK in this clip:
It's fretless though, which means that although you can get quite jazzy getting your pitch spot on becomes an issue.
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juliant
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Post by juliant on Aug 28, 2021 9:23:15 GMT
(Late to the discussion, as usual)
"I enjoyed it, but I don’t think anyone else did"
I'm going to remember that, because it's certainly true round here... "I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn"
I've got an acoustic bass and had one of the rubber-band uke basses. The acoustic is a feedback monster so not very useful live, and I'm not that much of a fretless player so it doesn't get a lot of use. If it wasn't for the fact that it's a lovely instrument and one of a kind I'd flog it and get a Fender Jazz.
(Question to self: why did you sell the 1973 Precision? Oh yes. Babies and affording somewhere to live)
The uke bass thing was... interesting. It was nice to have a portable bass, but the sound wasn't great. If I was going for ultimate portability, Brunner makes a travel bass, which if it is anything like his other instruments will be excellent, but they aren't cheap.
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minorkey
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Post by minorkey on Aug 30, 2021 19:36:40 GMT
I quite like the idea of a fretless bass as per that video above!
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Martin
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Post by Martin on Aug 31, 2021 6:22:40 GMT
I love bass - I'd like a decent acoustic bass, but the louder ones tend to be MASSIVE (at least according to the 10 million forum posts I've read on the subject) and the consensus seems to be that in most cases you'd need to mic it up anyway, which kind of defeats the purpose for me. I'd still like a Fender T-Bucket Bass (looks cool). I've had a few electrics, starting with an uber-cheapo Tanglewood Rebel 4K that I got on Gumtree. I was quickly smitten with the Chinese-made Fender Jaguar Modern Player bass, so got that one (and brought it to Halifax, some unfortunate fellow members may recall, unless trauma prevents it). That was then moved on and I got a really nifty electric uke bass that I loved, but it caused my little amp no end of farty problems, so it left the building. Couple of years ago I got a lovely Yamaha BB434 Broadbass in a cracking deal at a local dealer, but again sold it through lack of use I recently got the bug again so acquired a really nice second-hand Fender Precision (Highway One) and a small MarkBass practice amp. I love playing it, but the reality is that I spend very little time with it. It'll probably be back on sale soon enough...
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minorkey
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Too many instruments, too little time
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My main instrument is: hurting my fingers!
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Post by minorkey on Aug 31, 2021 21:06:01 GMT
Here's me playing an upright bass...
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juliant
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Post by juliant on Sept 1, 2021 21:40:52 GMT
If anyone is after an acoustic bass, there's someone selling a Warwick on Facebook at the minute.
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douglas
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Post by douglas on Sept 4, 2021 8:17:56 GMT
I've heard good reports of the Aria - very affordable, on-board piezo, appears to be fretless only: www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Aria-FEB-F2-FL-Acoustic-Bass-Flame-Nato-Natural/3GJQ?origin=product-ads&gclid=Cj0KCQjwssyJBhDXARIsAK98ITSBU0Zdm_UjJZSVoPkByzs4LOLQCK21Mzi0KFZQP4ioiXG0A4om1H4aAkNcEALw_wcBDon't expect wonders of the piezo, but that's a universal truth. And how good that they don't put lines on the fingerboard... marks for that. I've played a few acoustic basses, always struggle with serious lack of volume, and ergonomics. The trad full body required to get the low frequencies at usable volume makes it a huge lump to hold and handle, especially sitting. I've never heard (or heard anyone claim) a true upright bass sound from a guitar-based form, but a fretless with nylon flats on can get quite close and has a very pleasing sound anyway. There are a few demo vids on YT of the Aria - I think it stands out as an entry priced semi-acoustic so may be worth a look. And btw, I think they should all be called semi-acoustics anyway, because they are 'acoustic' but only just.
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leoroberts
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Post by leoroberts on Sept 4, 2021 11:19:08 GMT
davewhite made a pretty cool 'skeleton' upright double bass for one of his daughters. Sounded really good. It was a few years ago, though, and I can't be bothered looking through the archives to find the details
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douglas
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Post by douglas on Sept 5, 2021 12:51:24 GMT
I feel an urge to mention Rob Allen basses - for owners here of Collings, Lowden etc. this may be the semi / fretless equivalent. His fretless semi-acoustic basses set THE bar. The 'Mouse' is the 30.5" scale, the MB2 is the 34". Very hard to find second-hand, owners seem to become keepers but a guide new is approx $4500 depending on exact spec. Couple that with an AER bass combo (around £1300) or a PJB 'Suitcase' combo (around £850) and absolute excellence is yours. For lower levels the PJB Briefcase is brilliant (but still £800). I happen to have a Briefcase - just need the job to go with it. Nice to see Rob Allen is currently sold out of everything, but here he is anyway: www.roballenguitars.com/new-products
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