Thomann 111 double bass

TenorClef · #1 06-13-2009, 04:03 PM

Well i've been without a double bass for some time now and as a fathers day present my well meaning wife has just bought me a Thomann 111 double bass see picture attached.

Also I've just ordered a set of nylon La Bella 'Supernils' as the bass has a rosewood fingerboard in the hope that-

1.does'nt wear out the finger board

2.does'nt wear out my fingers

It has'nt arrived yet but when it does i'd like to offer some thoughts on the quality of this bass for my needs which is mainly pizzicato type stuff such as jazz/folk/gospel/doodlin type stuff.

**Freddels** · #2 06-13-2009, 04:47 PM

I had an Englehardt with a rosewood board for years and the the fingerboard never wore out. So long as the strings are flatwound there shouldn't be a problem with fingerboard wear.

bassist14 · #3 06-13-2009, 04:50 PM

congrats to having a wife who buys you a bass!

bass_snake · #4 06-13-2009, 05:03 PM

Wow, congrats! I wish my wife would buy me one too for father' s day.

Fred

therealting · #5 06-14-2009, 05:06 AM

Never played one - but that sure is a purty bass!

Andrew McGregor · #6 06-14-2009, 05:27 AM

Rosewood wears imperceptibly more than ebony... I've had mine 20 years, played it professionally (orchestra work) for 15 of those, and it has needed smoothed once. It was strung with Spirocore Weichs for most of that time. Not bad.

TenorClef · #7 06-14-2009, 12:37 PM

Acoustically, i'm not expecting this bass to deliver much but i have a K&K bass max pickup and providing the rosewood finger board is straight & playable it'll probably work fine through my bass amp and PA. Again i reserve judgment until the bass arrives from Germany and I have had time to try it out. My friend is a pretty decent jazz bassist so he'll probably give me an honest low down on it too. Thomann are a pretty decent company to deal with and they have always packed extremely well for international deliveries. Actually I bought a Clavinova from them once with no problems so i'm confident the bass will arrive in one piece. I'm just hoping its not a BSO.

TenorClef · #8 06-19-2009, 01:47 PM

Kool, Thomann sent me a text today to say they've set up my bass for jazz and that its now on route for delivery to the UK. Looking forward to recieving it. I figure i should have it within seven days and i'll do a quick review, i figure this bass may be of interest to those who maybe don't want to commit a lot of money into a first bass or those who like myself intend to just play for occasional fun nothing to serious. I have however in the not to distant past completed the Royal School of Music foundation certificates (Grades 1-3) in classical music performance on double bass so i figure i'll know if the bass is suitable for my current needs or not.

jazzbassmm · #9 06-21-2009, 01:25 AM

I am looking forward for your review....I wish to buy exactly the same DB!
If you can post also some pics would be wonderful!

Thanks!

therealting · #10 06-21-2009, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TenorClef

i figure this bass may be of interest to those who maybe don't want to commit a lot of money into a first bass or those who like myself intend to just play for occasional fun nothing to serious.

Or someone like me who has a carved bass but would like a cheap laminated bass to use with a pickup for amplified gigs.

TenorClef · #11 06-21-2009, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by therealting

Or someone like me who has a carved bass but would like a cheap laminated bass to use with a pickup for amplified gigs.

Absolutely! My friend also has a semi-laminated work horse double bass, it has various scrapes, knocks and dents from not gaging door entries from various gigs he has done and other travel obstacles, the bass only cost him £500 so no big deal and does the job for his current needs perfectly. I can't imagine any one would want to take an expensive carved solid wood bass to small regular paying gigs. I'm sure some people do though.

TenorClef · #12 06-24-2009, 05:01 AM

Ok so the bass arrived today, here's the lowdown-

Thomann 111 Double Bass

Features
The bass comes supplied with a gig bag with several useful pockets and is slightly padded. Also included is a bow, which I won’t use, but nice extra if you intend to use one, also bow rosin. The bass as mentioned previously has a solid rosewood fingerboard, the body being laminated woods with a metal painted black tailpiece. I guess I could upgrade that at some point.

Sound
Ok, I can only reference the sound to the basses I have played previously. I have owned a Boosey & Hawkes Paesold bass and currently have a Tacoma ABG. The sound compares to my previous upright bass favourably, perhaps a little quieter and brighter but has much more bottom end presence and volume than my Tacoma ABG (no surprise their its 3 times as big!) No doubt the La Bella Supernil nylon strings have some positive impact on the punchy bottom end sound. The only other strings i can reference which i have used before are Clef Guts, Eurosonics Light and Thomastiks Superflexibles. The Supernil strings lean more to Clef Gut strings in character, so the sound is darker, boomy and flexible. I found steel strings to be more focussed and edgy.

Action, Fit, & Finish
The bridge was set up to fit the body perfectly, this was done by the string dept at Thomann, you can chose to have the bridge fitted to suit either jazz, rockabilly or classical. I opted for jazz and whilst the action is a little high, it helps aid projection and the nylon strings make the playing experience softer on the hands. Talking of fitting, the guys at Thomann pre-fitted my Supernil strings and even ensured that the nut was filed to fit them correctly which has saved me a job. Finish, generally very good, typical celluose laquer type finish, sort of cremona orrange in style. If the top had a more pretty grained finish i would have applied a tin of paint stripper and covered the front with about a dozen coats of shellac and then sanded it back a bit. You get a really cool look when you do this.

Reliability/Durability
The bass is laminated so it should in theory be capable of handling outdoor gigs and be sturdy enough for the road. Heck the bass cost a poxy £300 so what do I care if it gets damaged at a gig, I’d just buy another one for that price.

Overall Rating
Having been worried that this bass would be unplayable and would arrive damaged I’ve been really surprised and the instrument is indeed very playable. The bass came pre set up, the courier even let me remove all the boxes/packaging to completely inspect the bass for damage, he even took away the large double bass cardboard boxes with him to dispose. I am quite simply amazed that Thomann can produce a perfectly functional double bass that sounds this good acoustically at this price. Simply put I’m delighted with this cheap laminated bass which I will use for fun, maybe some jamming around the home with friends or possibly even at the odd gig.

TenorClef · #13 07-12-2009, 02:58 PM

Well just a quick revisit on this bass, the strings are finally starting to stay more or less in tune and i used the bass tonight at my Big Band. Every one said it sounded and looked great. I played it through the bands portable 100Watt PA/Keyboard amp with my K&K Bass Max, no problems being heard over the other 16 musicians that evening. The laminate construction seems to be a plus in this type of music. The only change i've made to my bass was to replace the cheap metal tailpiece with a black wooden one i purchased off ebay and one of those Bob Golihur rubber ball end pins. I'm also waiting on a gut G & D string which i want to try with the La Bella Supernil wrapped E & A to see how that will sound. Really diggin my bass. I'm now starting to get GAS and i'm looking at this related Thomann Bass, pretty cool no?

MIKMAN · #14 07-13-2009, 03:57 AM

Well friends, yesterday i tried a Thomann 111 in my town, purchased as a backup bass by one of my students. The bass came with decent distances in the nut and a rather bridge, strung with La Bella Supernils. I immediately started the proper set up and after two hours it was shape. My impression is that it represents an astonishing value for money instrument. I replaced immediately the tailpiece with an ebony one, i readjusted the sounpost and i tried one of my KC endpins (CF rod, wooden pin). The string distances from the FB were set in 6, 7, 8, 9 mm (GDAE).
I could set them lower but the soft strings made me cautious. The bass delivers a warm, dark sound with good fundamentals. The difference in volume is more than obvious with the KC endpin. The separate tuning machines are working perfectly. I put on my K&K pick up and my K&K preamp and the instrument produced a deep sound, the sound heard in old American jazz records.
My opinion is the same one, like TenorClef's. The bass has a value significantly higher than the 389 euros it costs. The fact remains that it is a cheap Chinese bass and i don't know if and when it is going to produce problems of any sort, but my first impression is a favourable one.
I'll keep you posted for any possible problems, since it's going to be used in hard conditions.
Mike

TenorClef · #15 07-20-2009, 03:42 PM

Just a quick update, so having had the bass now about one month, the first thing i'd have to say, and maybe this is strange but it sounds actually louder than it did when i first got it. I recall thinking it was very quiet for such a big instrument but for some reason it has increased in volume. It may be the gut G & D strings have contributed to the increase in volume? I'm thinking i may also add the plain gut E & A strings, just to see if that makes any further changes. Really enjoying the bass, no wonder Thomann has sold 1000+ of these basses! Great fun :-)

abaguer · #16 07-20-2009, 09:46 PM

Congrats on the bass. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't supernil G and D roundwould strings? I played my friends hybrid bass with supernils couple years ago and they were not flatwound. Curious if they changed their surface.

TenorClef · #17 07-21-2009, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abaguer

Congrats on the bass. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't supernil G and D roundwould strings? I played my friends hybrid bass with supernils couple years ago and they were not flatwound. Curious if they changed their surface.

The Supernil are all nylon strings and all strings have round windings, the E & A strings have metal windings and the D & G have nylon round windings. However i bought a cheap set of Emerson Gut strings off ebay for £60 and i've put the D & G on and they are starting to stabilise now and have a lovely feel and dark sound, slightly darker and less focussed than the Supernils and lighter tension. I'm going to try the E & A today if i get time, however past experience (Clef Gut) tells me they may not work as they can be to dark, certainly in the case of the low E to get much pitch definition. I guess i'll find out soon enough.

Yup, as i thought the E gut was a waste of time, after tuning it in which was a hell of a job it was to quiet and just did'nt have much definition to be of any use so pulled it straight off and binned it. The A string was just about ok, i'm going to hold off taking the A string off just to see how it turns out with some time to settle in and stretch, but initially it seems a little to slack which means it can boing a bit and rattle. The D & G are good, i see that Emerson sell just the D & G strings on their own which makes sense as these do actually work, if i get sufficient useage out of them i'd probably just buy the D & G pack next time and stick with La Bella Supernil for the E & A strings. They do have a nice clarity to them whilst giving a solid reliable bottom end.

TenorClef · #18 11-30-2009, 04:26 PM

I keep getting PM's from time to time asking for updates on my Thomann 111, so update 30th Nov 2009- after buying my DIY Bass in the Box from China via ebay, i no longer had room for two basses so the Thomann 111 was passed along to another local gigging musician who uses it in his local blues band. Nothing wrong with the Thomann 111, as mentioned previously works great through a PA or bass amp and gives a decent enough sound, acoustically a little quieter and less bass'y than my DIY bass which has been a costly project but worth it in the end as its one loud bass.