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Originally Posted by oldicer  Hey Low Enders!
Doe's anyone know any thing about the Carvin AC40 acoustic eletric bass? broke my back recently and am healing well, but four hours with my Fender does'nt feel so good and want a light weight bass I can afford will this cut the mustard?
Thanks 
Old |
Depends. I own the AC50. No question, it is about the LIGHTEST bass you'll ever play! You will be in love! Carvin quality is simply impeccable on this bass. You can't go wrong. Plus, you get to hit all the options in the Carvin list (got everything I wanted) for a bass customized to your desires at a fraction the boutique price. Mine is fretless and it's great and one of these days I'm going to get a fretted one too!
Tone-wise it tends to sound like huge folk guitar unless you want to go for an upright imitation. That is best achieved with a piece of foam under the strings at the bridge (angle it). It does a really nice upright imitation. In it's folk tone, the piezo makes it quite percussive sounding. (plus picks up fingering noise) You can use that percussive quality very advantageously in music. And another plus is the semi-hollow feature that gives you an acoustic sound without any nasty feedback problems that you get from standard acoustic bass guitars.
Sounds perfect? No? Well, yes, but... My biggest gripe about it is that it does NOT have a magnetic neck pickup to mix in. I have played a similar bass (don't know who made it) that did have the piezo bridge plus magnetic neck pickups and it was JUST what you wanted! That would give you a total range from normal bass guitar sounds to the acoustic and upright. Would be too cool for words! One day I MUST do that mod!
There is a guy here on TB that I corresponded with who got the saw out and actually moded his AC40 to have a magnetic neck pickup to mix in. I usually freak out at the thought of taking a saws-all to a $1000 like-new bass. But I have been toying with the idea of adding a sound-hole pickup of some kind. I have done that to some guitars (not bass) I own and it worked out very nicely.
So that's the story. You decide!
