Acoustic Bass

personalnadir

Had a little play with an amazing Taylor GS Mini Bass today. Loads of fun - took me completely by surprise, made me think about picking up an acoustic bass for noodling around with.

 Has anyone else gotten themselves an acoustic bass and if so how have you gotten one with it? 

Funkfingers

To work in an ensemble context, it REALLY needs to be an electro-acoustic bass guitar. Without amplification, an acoustic bass guitar will always be too quiet. You would find yourself overplaying in a desperate attempt to be heard.

personalnadir

I’ve got an old Dean Rhapsody for playing with others - might use an acoustic bass for playing with a quiet acoustic guitar, but mostly for home noodling and recording 

Reggaebass

I’ve got a Lindo electro acoustic bass with flats, really nice sound both plugged and unplugged, but I find the body quite big depth wise for me, I’ll probably move it on for a slimmer one which is a bit more comfortable for noodling around with, the Ibanez SRH looks nice 

personalnadir

Reggaebass said:

I’ve got a Lindo electro acoustic bass with flats, really nice sound both plugged and unplugged, but I find the body quite big depth wise for me, I’ll probably move it on for a slimmer one which is a bit more comfortable for noodling around with, the Ibanez SRH looks nice 

Those SRH look fantastic, thanks 

Reggaebass

personalnadir said:

Reggaebass said:

I’ve got a Lindo electro acoustic bass with flats, really nice sound both plugged and unplugged, but I find the body quite big depth wise for me, I’ll probably move it on for a slimmer one which is a bit more comfortable for noodling around with, the Ibanez SRH looks nice 

Those SRH look fantastic, thanks 

They do come up now and again and normally at a very reasonable price, it’s worth keeping an eye out, they seem to get very good reviews 

Kebabkid

personalnadir said:

Had a little play with an amazing Taylor GS Mini Bass today. Loads of fun - took me completely by surprise, made me think about picking up an acoustic bass for noodling around with.

 Has anyone else gotten themselves an acoustic bass and if so how have you gotten one with it? 


I, too, like the Taylor but if this was in the running for you, just be aware that the strings for this are very expensive (@£34) - I'm not sure about the last sentence

The Taylor GS Mini Bass features custom strings that were designed exclusively for the unique properties of this instrument. The strings are D’Addario GS Mini Bass Custom Light (.037-.050-.062-.090”), featuring a multifilament core wound with D’Addario’s EXP-coated phosphor bronze wrap wire for long-lasting tone and projection. Because of the shorter scale length (23.5 inches) and other proprietary design features, no other strings can be used. Doing so could potentially damage the instrument.

Funkfingers

Reggaebass said:

personalnadir said:

Reggaebass said:

the Ibanez SRH looks nice 

Those SRH look fantastic, thanks 

They do come up now and again and, normally, at a very reasonable price, it’s worth keeping an eye out, they seem to get very good reviews 

@Bridgehouse had an SRH-500F. He seemed to rate it BEFORE he invested in the cooler Shuker. 

diap

Kebabkid said:

I, too, like the Taylor but if this was in the running for you, just be aware that the strings for this are very expensive (@£34) - I'm not sure about the last sentence

The Taylor GS Mini Bass features custom strings that were designed exclusively for the unique properties of this instrument. The strings are D’Addario GS Mini Bass Custom Light (.037-.050-.062-.090”), featuring a multifilament core wound with D’Addario’s EXP-coated phosphor bronze wrap wire for long-lasting tone and projection. Because of the shorter scale length (23.5 inches) and other proprietary design features, no other strings can be used. Doing so could potentially damage the instrument.

You seen the price of flats for a regular electric?

EricTheWeary

My friend gigs with some kind of ukulele bass in a folk rock kinda thing. Same friend who used to gig with a 70s Les Paul so he's doing something kinder for his back now! Not necessarily the most versatile instrument and presumably at high volumes would feedback like buggery but works for what they do. 

TheMadMick

I've a Washburn for sale in Bass£ if you'd be interested?

Bridgehouse

Funkfingers said:

Reggaebass said:

personalnadir said:

Reggaebass said:

the Ibanez SRH looks nice 

Those SRH look fantastic, thanks 

They do come up now and again and, normally, at a very reasonable price, it’s worth keeping an eye out, they seem to get very good reviews 

@Bridgehouse had an SRH-500F. He seemed to rate it BEFORE he invested in the cooler Shuker. 

I did. It was very nice. Good piezo. It went when the Shuker got all the love

GuyR

Acoustic basses are perfect for noodling at home, but little else. I have two, a Washburn AB10, which is entry level but very playable and a Godin A5 fretless which has the best sound of any fretless I have played, as well as having a fast, flat, wide fretboard which is perfect for me.
They are great for writing and working parts out and as a stand alone instrument, but in a band context where amplification is required, you might as well use your regular bass

Kristo

I’ve just listed my Guild Junior Jumbo bass in the classifieds if it’s of interest. 

personalnadir

Grabbed a second hand Taylor GS Mini from BassBros. Been a lot of fun to play, have been using with acoustic guitar and kalimba with a looper which has been a really nice change of tone from the synths and electrics I usually use.

Stuckfast

Maybe I'm missing something but these acoustic basses have always struck me as the most pointless instruments ever. Unless you plug them in they are completely inaudible and have no bass to speak of, so why wouldn't you just use an electric bass?

personalnadir

Stuckfast said:

Maybe I'm missing something but these acoustic basses have always struck me as the most pointless instruments ever. Unless you plug them in they are completely inaudible and have no bass to speak of, so why wouldn't you just use an electric bass?

Sounds fab, looks cool and is fun to play, same reason for buying any instrument. That's all subjective obviously.

Using it plugged in I actually prefer the sounds from the acoustic over the electrical. It has a different tone and sits out in the mix better. I'm planning to jam with a friend with an acoustic guitar this or next week and I think I'm getting enough volume out of it to be able to do so without needing to plug it in.

Using a DB meter app (which I accept may not be the best test, but is easy to do) my acoustic guitar and acoustic bass are both hitting 85-91. Don't think you could tell the difference looking at the output. Obviously the guitar is clearer due to the frequencies, and if you were doing much more than a living room jam you'd need an amp.

ICBM

Stuckfast said:

Maybe I'm missing something but these acoustic basses have always struck me as the most pointless instruments ever. Unless you plug them in they are completely inaudible and have no bass to speak of, so why wouldn't you just use an electric bass?

Because sometimes the management take offence at something that looks like an "electric guitar" when they thought they had booked an acoustic act. "That's not acoustic" etc... even if the end result is the same volume.

And what personalnadir said - you can use them for their own sound even if you have to plug them in for it to be really useful in most situations.

Keefy

Maybe consider a Kala U-Bass or similar - thumpy amplified acoustic bass sound in a convenient small package.

mart

Keefy said:

Maybe consider a Kala U-Bass or similar - thumpy amplified acoustic bass sound in a convenient small package.

I saw Dave Pegg playing one of those a few years back and his sound was fantastic. But they must feel odd to play.

Keefy

mart said:

Keefy said:

Maybe consider a Kala U-Bass or similar - thumpy amplified acoustic bass sound in a convenient small package.

I saw Dave Pegg playing one of those a few years back and his sound was fantastic. But they must feel odd to play.

Yes, in two ways. First, the scale length is so short that I have to look at the fretboard the whole time otherwise I continually play a fret too high. Second, the rubbery strings feel better to play when your fingers are wet so I sometimes lick them while I’m playing - my fingers that is, not the strings.