Bass for acoustic oriented gigs?

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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    Stick to a regular electric bass into a clean amp or a DI to a mixer.
    No one will care (or notice the difference).
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    octatonic said:
    Stick to a regular electric bass into a clean amp or a DI to a mixer.
    No one will care (or notice the difference).
    This really although if you really wanted to spend money an Ibanez SRH500 has the right vibe. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • martmart Frets: 5205
    Another thought: try a Kala U bass. Fretless, of course. They’d suit the look of an acoustic group, but can sound pretty good amplified.
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    octatonic said:
    Stick to a regular electric bass into a clean amp or a DI to a mixer.
    No one will care (or notice the difference).
    This really although if you really wanted to spend money an Ibanez SRH500 has the right vibe. 
    Lol - I have one already and it’s what I used at the weekend for rehearsal!!
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    ICBM said:
    A 4001 on the neck pickup with flatwound strings is very acoustic-sounding. Listen to Paul McCartney on any later Beatles recording for an illustration...
    ... or Graham Gouldman on 10cc stuff.


    I'm thinking of various options and wondered what others do/would do
    Is the object of this thought experiment;
    1. to serve the music
    2. to minimise logistic hassles
    3. to present the band in a manner that will not offend the more rabid acoustic music purist audiences?

    During an interview in MOJO 295, Robert Plant describes audience behaviour during his US tour with Alison Krauss. Some of them would take umbrage upon seeing a drum kit on the stage. They would brazen out a few songs before making a sharp exit.

    My point is that some audience members will expect to see an "acoustic" bass instrument - either an electro-acoustic bass guitar or yer actual contrabass. (Bridgehouse, doghouse? Nutbush City Limits.) Other people will happily accept Fender Bass. Fretless bass might provide some suggestion of upright bass but, then, you have to refrain from getting all Jaco about it and detracting from the guitars.

    I suspect that your semi-hollow Ibanez is the best compromise. A sound you can work with and a look that the audience could tolerate.

    Meanwhile, steal an idea from tc electronic. Stack 2x10 loudspeaker cabinets vertically.

    Be seeing you.
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  • BigLicks67BigLicks67 Frets: 766
    The obvious answer is get a Double Bass. 

    However, if you are not man enough for that then try one of these vintage Guilds.




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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71954
    Funkfingers said:

    My point is that some audience members will expect to see an "acoustic" bass instrument - either an electro-acoustic bass guitar or yer actual contrabass.
    This assumes that they even notice this thing called a "bass"...


    Meanwhile, steal an idea from tc electronic. Stack 2x10 loudspeaker cabinets vertically.
    Or Ampeg...

    https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v0-U4c7zysc/maxresdefault.jpg

    I just need the second cabinet!

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    @Funkfingers - partly logistics, partly getting the right sound. I’m not sure our potential audiences would notice. We will have percussion so it’s probably all in the “what bass?” Side of things.

    @BigLicks67 - not sure it’s about being man enough - more about not wanting a big heavy thing to carry about that could wreck your fingers or squash me ;)
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    ICBM said:
    Kebabkid said:

    It's downside is that it requires bespoke, Taylor strings and they cost over £40 a set!!!
    Have you ever priced double bass strings?

    Some of the better ones start at over £40 *for the G string*...

    The full set is over £200 :-O.
    I had no idea. As someone who's only been playing bass for the last couple of years, I had a shock when I had to pay £25 a set but as ICBM says, they do last and so it all levels out.

    Another consideration is a Fretless. I saw  'Folkstress', Christine Collister, in the 90s with an acoustic trio and her bassist, the wonderful Rory McFarlane, used a Fretless into a v.small GK amp and just added the occasional octaver and it sat so sonically well in the mix of acoustic instruments.
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  • JezWyndJezWynd Frets: 6021
    edited May 2018
    You can mimic a double bass sound very accurately using a Pog2. Add some lower octave and a touch of delayed attack. Incredibly natural sounding as opposed to an OC-2 which gives that synthy effect, plus it works down to bottom E. Can't speak highly enough of Pog2 for bass; it has applications beyond the organ/strings that it's usually associated with.
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  • BigLicks67BigLicks67 Frets: 766

    @BigLicks67 - not sure it’s about being man enough - more about not wanting a big heavy thing to carry about that could wreck your fingers or squash me ;)
    Fair enough, I thought I was a red meat eating real man when I got mine years ago, turns out 4 years later I realised I was cheese eating surrender monkey, at which point I sold it. : >
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578

    @BigLicks67 - not sure it’s about being man enough - more about not wanting a big heavy thing to carry about that could wreck your fingers or squash me ;)
    Fair enough, I thought I was a red meat eating real man when I got mine years ago, turns out 4 years later I realised I was cheese eating surrender monkey, at which point I sold it. : >
    Hah! I’m happy to avoid having to prove manliness if it means my poor back won’t suffer :D
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71954
    I'm not even close to manly enough...

    I tried playing a double bass in public for the first time at a folk jam a couple of years ago - all the guitars were taken already, and the chap in charge asked what else I played, so I said 'bass'... and was handed a double bass that was taller than me (I think). I really struggled to get anything even vaguely musical out of it - it was like playing a tree with telegraph wires on, the neck was about 2" from front to back and I could barely hold down the strings.

    Leo Fender: the greatest musical instrument genius who ever lived.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • GSPBASSESGSPBASSES Frets: 2335
    tFB Trader
    I suggest, you put a fretless neck on your chambered 52 P-Bass, preferably with a rosewood fingerboard, low action so you get a bit of rattle ( the equivalent of fret buzz ). This will give you a pretty good imitation of a double bass, couple with a Pog2. Seymour Duncan do an on-board preamp specifically for fretless basses that have magnetic pickups. And if you're really brave go for a 35" long scale neck.

    Your life will improve when you realise it’s better to be alone than chase people who do not really care about you. Saying YES to happiness means learning to say NO to things and people that stress you out.

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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    GSPBASSES said:
    I suggest, you put a fretless neck on your chambered 52 P-Bass, preferably with a rosewood fingerboard, low action so you get a bit of rattle ( the equivalent of fret buzz ). This will give you a pretty good imitation of a double bass, couple with a Pog2. Seymour Duncan do an on-board preamp specifically for fretless basses that have magnetic pickups. And if you're really brave go for a 35" long scale neck.
    That would require some serious man-trouser wearing!! So I’d need someone to make a 35” scale lined fretless neck.... hmmm.... 
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  • pintspillerpintspiller Frets: 994
    I would continue to use what you've already done. I find rolling back on the tone knob on the bass can sometimes sound more like a double bass.

    Although a acoustic bass might look the part, I don't like the sound.
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    I think a Mark Bass or Hartke combo or small head and one cab would suit all options.  Or an old Gallien Kruger - they seem popular with upright/acoustic bassists.

    I have a tatty GK MB100, to go with my Yamaha BEX4 (pickup & piezo) for occasional forays into bass playing - with Django/Swing acoustic players.



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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71954
    Another thing that's worth trying is to *play* the bass like an upright - Bill Wyman style :). That might sound odd, but try it... hold the bass as near to upright as you can, and play over the end of the fingerboard with your thumb on the side of the neck. I'm not sure if it's because of the picking position or the way the strings resonate differently when they're vertical rather than horizontal, but it really does change the sound - even on a fretted bass.

    That's why old Fender basses have a strap button on the back of the headstock.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    edited May 2018
    ICBM said:
    That's why old Fender basses have a strap button on the back of the headstock.
    This suggestion pretty much obliges Bridgehouse to play his old Fender Precision ... which is probably what he was going to do all along. :-p 
    Be seeing you.
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    I would continue to use what you've already done. I find rolling back on the tone knob on the bass can sometimes sound more like a double bass.

    Although a acoustic bass might look the part, I don't like the sound.
    The Ibanez does the job (except for a small combo for when not going through the PA) so I guess I’m checking options just in case
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