Best EUB for Arco

bdengler · #1 01-15-2006, 10:05 AM

Our church is so big that I need to amp my double bass, even when I bow it. All other instruments (including piano) are amplified. Rather than lug the dog-house, I'm thinking of getting an EUB. Could any of you recommend an EUB that works well for arco? I use to own an NS Design and a Zeta Crossover. As much as I loved the NS Design for pizz work, I didn't think it was a very good arco instrument. I didn't like the Zeta at all for any purpose. I would appreciate your recommendations. Also, I would also appreciate if you have had experiences with any shorter scale instruments for bass arco. Again, thanks for your recommendations.

Brian

dalimus-thaden · #2 01-15-2006, 01:50 PM

Arco sounds great on my Eminence. It is a very nice sounding EUB. If you decide to buy one you will not be disappointed. PM me if you think you are interested in one.

Jonesy4fnk · #3 01-16-2006, 04:23 PM

I dig my Clevinger Deluxe 5 arco tone....I've actually been using it more in the studio than my acoustic Kay....which is where you notice the EUB vs acoustic tone the most. I run it through a Demeter HBP-1 or whatever tube preamp is in the studio. The long scale of the Deluxe feels like my acoustic too. I'm in the process of putting some new Pirastro Obligato strings on it, so hopefully it'll get even better for arco....good luck in the hunt.

anonymous0726 · #4 01-16-2006, 07:21 PM

I still stand by the Alter Ego.

greitzer · #5 01-16-2006, 07:25 PM

Brian -- I agree with Dalimus about the Eminence being a good choice for you to consider. It's not an EUB, it's a very thin, shallow, lightweight acoustic bass that comes equipped with a Realist pickup. And, therefore, it's much better for arco than any of the EUBs that I've tried. Due to its lightweight, it shouldn't be as much of a "lug-around" as your DB.

MarkRubin · #6 01-16-2006, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greitzer

Brian -- I agree with Dalimus about the Eminence being a good choice for you to consider. It's not an EUB, it's a very thin, shallow, lightweight acoustic bass that comes equipped with a Realist pickup. And, therefore, it's much better for arco than any of the EUBs that I've tried. Due to its lightweight, it shouldn't be as much of a "lug-around" as your DB.

I'll chime in to say that there's no comparison with the Eminence. It's the Gold Standard for arco EUB.

anonymous0726 · #7 01-17-2006, 01:16 AM

Have you guys played the Alter Ego? I A/B'ed these two the most and the AE was head and shoulders above the Eminence for my money.

Johnny L · #8 01-17-2006, 03:18 PM

I've seen a guy play an Eminence in concert (a bass professor from Colorado) and it sounded great with the bow.

Blindfolded, I wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't a doublebass with a pickup played through an amp.

but then I've heard recordings of the Alter Ego on their website and it sounds great too

thejimfactor · #9 01-17-2006, 05:37 PM

Surely there must be an Azola player out there that can chime in, too.

hensonbass · #10 01-18-2006, 12:46 AM

This link will take you to a myspace page and if you click on the song "Precious Thing Live" you can hear me play an arco solo on an Eminence EUB. Try to listen past the chorus effect to mask my out of tune notes

http://www.myspace.com/telegram

**dkpawlowski** · #11 01-18-2006, 07:34 AM

I had a chance last year to play the Emminence, NS Design, BSX Allegro, and my floating top Azola Bugbass all against one another at the same test session at Bass Central. I was mostly interested in the arco sound- to my ear, most EUB's sound OK pizz. To me,for arco, the NS was the worst, while the Emminence and BSX were the best and sounded similar to each other. The Azola was in between. I've found it necessary to EQ out the freq of about 1500 Hz in order to reduce the raspiness from the bow. All the basses had that raspiness. My gear was bass>Baggs pre-amp>G-K MB150. I think a pre-amp is necessary to EQ out the raspiness for arco even on the BSX which has a built-in preamp. May not be necessary for pizz only, though.

bdengler · #12 01-19-2006, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkpawlowski

I had a chance last year to play the Emminence, NS Design, BSX Allegro, and my floating top Azola Bugbass all against one another at the same test session at Bass Central. I was mostly interested in the arco sound- to my ear, most EUB's sound OK pizz. To me,for arco, the NS was the worst, while the Emminence and BSX were the best and sounded similar to each other. The Azola was in between. I've found it necessary to EQ out the freq of about 1500 Hz in order to reduce the raspiness from the bow. All the basses had that raspiness. My gear was bass>Baggs pre-amp>G-K MB150. I think a pre-amp is necessary to EQ out the raspiness for arco even on the BSX which has a built-in preamp. May not be necessary for pizz only, though.

From time to time, I owned a NS Design, Emminence, Azola Bug, BSX, and Zeta (Student model) EUBS. I came to the same conclusion as you did, with the exception that I thought the Zeta bowed a bit better than the Emminence, but the reason may be that the Emminence had Helicore Hybrids (which I think are awful strings for bowing) and the Zeta had standard Helicore orchestras. I thought the NS Design sounded more like a fretless electric guitar with a lot more "boom" because of the longer string length. The raspiness was the most frustrating problem with all the EUBs. I believe I EQ'd the Baggs pre-amp to lower the treble almost to zero, the mid-range about a quarter of the way up, and the bass about halfway (or I'd get too much bottom and not enough top if the bass setting was too high) in order to get rid of the raspiness. I also found that you needed a lot more bow pressure to get a good sound (it's almost as if it took longer for the string to speak when amplified). I'm reaching the conclusion that the only way to get a good sound is to use a real upright and use a mike. In fact, I found that a plywood bass almost worked better in an amplified setting than a fully carved orchestra bass.

Brian

**dkpawlowski** · #13 01-19-2006, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian

I'm reaching the conclusion that the only way to get a good sound is to use a real upright and use a mike. In fact, I found that a plywood bass almost worked better in an amplified setting than a fully carved orchestra bass.

A couple of years ago I was doing an "acoustic" duo gig (pizz only) with a 12 string player/singer. I started off using my Kay ply with a bass-max PU and G-K 150. Just for fun I switched to a fully carved Rubner, and the difference was amazing. I never went back to the Kay. Mic'ed it might be different, but with a piezo PU the fully carved was much better.

D.A.R.K. · #14 01-20-2006, 03:49 AM

interesting thread....
huh. i've had the best success so far with an ns cr5m with helicore hybrid strings

i previously owned carruthers and clevinger eubs...
i've had to use the least amount of eq and gotten the most even response so far...
granted, i'm not trying to get it to sound exactly like an acoustic db....
imho no eub does.
just my .02, ime etc....
cheers
doug