Eminence vs Czech Ease

Pat Harris · #1 09-16-2009, 09:44 AM

I've done some searching and haven't found what I'm looking for, so here goes:

Has anybody been able to play and Eminence and a Czech Ease bass to A/B them? I'm in the market for something that I can fly with, and having not yet played either, I'm leaning towards the Czech Ease just because I've seen more bassists in concert using it with great results (Dave Holland, Chris Wood). Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

-Pat

paddydukes · #2 09-16-2009, 03:51 PM

I have never played the Czech ease myself, but I do have an eminence, and I like it very much, that being said however it is funny "feeling" when you play it you feel like you are playing a skinny little bass, not a real upright. They give you a little arm that comes off it to make it feel a bit more real but it still is kind of a funny sensation. On the flip side of the funnyness the thing is great as far as portability is concerned i think the eminenve will win because it is skinnier. So if you are looking to fly, you are looking to check it so that probably won't make that much difference to you.

I love my eminence, but from time to time i miss the "bigness" of an actual bass. Let me know what happens, now I am curious, let me know if I should get the czech ease too!

hdiddy · #3 09-16-2009, 07:03 PM

I've played the Eminence and I wasn't at all impressed. It torques easily to string pull, resting arm or not. It feels like a toy. Physically bigger, you're going to get a more serious DB feel from the CE. I've also played Kolstein's travel bass and it's actually not bad in both terms of sound and feel.

IMO, if you're looking for something in terms of sound and feel, the CE or Kolstein Travel bass would do. If you're looking for convenience for travels... maybe look at AlterEgo. I have a Yamaha Silent Bass myself. The feel is decent but the sound leaves alot to desire.

Jeremy Darrow · #4 09-16-2009, 07:46 PM

I haven't played a CE, but I like my Eminence (full disclosure, I'm a sponsored artist) a lot. The last I heard, the CE was overweight in it's flight case. That could or could not be trouble at check-in.

Good luck in the hunt.

jgbass · #5 09-16-2009, 09:46 PM

I had a Czech-Ease for awhile. I was not doing any traveling, and did not have the hard travel case, but I was thinking along the lines of something that was easier than a regular bass to transport to local rehearsals, gigs, etc.

But, I sold it. As far as for my purposes, I did not find any big difference in portability between a 3/4 bass or a Czech-Ease for what I was doing musically at the time. I think the biggest draw of the Czech-Ease is that is can technically slip through airport baggage as a regular, more cello-size, item without all the problem inherent in transporting a DB as an oversize item.

In my opinion, unless you want the Czech-Ease and travel case for traveling, which sounds like a good option, I would stay with the Eminence, and if you do not play a regular DB, put your money into that.

Pat Harris · #6 09-17-2009, 09:11 AM

Thanks for all of the info everyone. It's all great stuff to know.

-Pat

Mike Carr · #7 09-19-2009, 04:30 AM

I've owned both and have done quite a bit of traveling with them. They are useful basses and both well made. The body brace and the "steady-foot" end-pin that The Eminence features worked just fine for me, after a short time one gets used to it. The Eminence was great for plane trips, just as easy to check in with as one could imagine. It sounded just fine when amplified. I sold mine to a fellow here in Hong Kong several years ago who still playes it and is apparently quite happy with it. If you want a quality EUB I think it will work for you.
The C-E is a bit closer to a normal double bass, it shares both the bennefits and challenges that come with playing and traveling with a double bass, but is easier and cheaper at the airport. Sometimes it flys free, sometimes not, depends mostly on the person checking you in!
I sold it a few years ago to entertain a brief flirtation with an Azola Lightning Bug (thats me, always trying something new, that's a fine EUB too, BTW) but wound up buying it back after a few months. I just didn't get enough of the real double bass vibe with the Azola that I had become used to from the Czech-Ease.
I ended up moving to Hong Kong a couple years ago, I now roll around town with the C-E on a KC Strings Bass Buggy. On the subway and in the back seats of cabs it's easy! Never get anything but good comments from the people I play with about it's sound. Some folks I play with prefer it's amplified sound to my carved basses amplified sound, who would have thought??!! I put a Wilson on mine, Mwaw for days, the Realist sounds just fine too.

Bret Higgins · #8 01-04-2010, 03:46 PM

How come not many people are discussing the Kolstein travel instrument along with the Emenince and Czech-Eased? I am curious about people's experience with the Kolstein. Does it sound good? How does it rate with the other two? Any travel issues with any of the three instruments? Extra baggage costs ever?

damonsmith · #9 01-04-2010, 11:18 PM

I don't like any of them better than having the promoter find me a bass. I have an EUB if I really need "my" bass on a out of town gig.

Czech-ease is nice in that you can play it acoustic, I did a recording on one I was fine with - it was Reuben Radding's and he was on it playing his full size bass.
You can hear it here for free, scroll down to September:
http://reubenradding.com/12.html

It really just depends on how much you are touring, how much you WANT to tour and who is paying the freight!
The Kolstein sounds good, but IMO the short scale just isn't worth it.

Mike Carr · #10 01-05-2010, 04:36 AM

Having owned both I can honestly say that one is not better or worse than the other. Just depends on what you are looking for. The C-E certainly feels more like a regular DB and gives more of a DB vibe and sound than the Emmi. The Emmi will give you a very good EUB tone, that's very close to the real thing, but not as close as the C-E simply because it's body is so much smaller. It's pretty much useless unless you plug in, save for practice purposes. You can do all the things with the C-E that a regular DB does, play no-amp, use a mic or a pickup. Mine's for sale by the way!