Acoustic Bass Volume

Jon Lucas · #1 07-24-2011, 06:53 PM

Im planning on taking my acoustic bass on vacation and a buddy of mine who plays guitar is comin too, problem is that when we have an acoustic jam, his guitar totally dominates as far as volume and such, and i recently saw a thing from musicians friend that you stick in the sound hole and its supposed to boost your volume, does anyone know what its called or if it works? Cause i cant find it again and i think it might help, any feedback is definetely appreciated.

BlueTalon · #2 07-24-2011, 07:23 PM

This was discussed (argued) in another thread. There are a few different schools of thought. The one I subscribe to is that an acoustic bass can do just fine with an acoustic guitar if the body is big enough. I have a Dean EABC that projects as well as any acoustic guitar I have played, and the body is about 1/3 to 1/2 again bigger as most acoustic guitars.

I don't know of anything besides an amp that you would use to make your acoustic bass louder.

Martin89 · #3 07-24-2011, 07:29 PM

I think you're talking about an o-port. I just got one for mine, and it makes a little bit of a difference but not as substantial as going from finger-style to pick IMO. I mostly got it so I wouldn't have to take out a soundhole cover every time I plug or unplug. I've yet to test it's feedback reducing qualities yet. Hopefully it works out for me.

**fuzzy beard** · #4 07-24-2011, 07:29 PM

I think it is called o port or q port. They had a demo one at gc a while back and i did not see a big differance! My suggestion is to see if he has a classical guitar. My wife plays a classical and i feel at least with are guitars it is very evenly matched acousticaly. She also is not a heavy strummer on her steel string guitars either but i can hear my self falling behind when she plays them.

Joe Nerve · #5 07-24-2011, 07:29 PM

Never heard of such a thing either, but interested in seeing what it's all about, should it actually exist.

One of the best bass investments I ever made (and I've made hundreds of bass investments) was this:

Roland Bass Microcube. It's an incredibly versatile, battery powered practice amp, that has a bunch of beats in it, some truly useable effects, and awesome sound. It's light, tiny, easy to transport, and I've run it for 5 straight hours on batteries. And it still had power left (just never tried for longer). You might want to take it into consideration if the other thing doesn't exist.

Jon Lucas · #6 07-24-2011, 10:54 PM

To blue talon: thats the exact same acoustic bass i have, and it isnt that loud at all, you would think with the bigger body that it would blast guitars away but it most certainly doesnt, you must play with an incredibly quiet guitarist, and to fuzzy beard: is the difference in volume worth the price? (and im assuming gc means guitar center?)

BlueTalon · #7 07-25-2011, 12:27 AM

Well, my playing style is rather aggressive, and that can account for some of the difference. You can't expect to keep up with a strumming guitarist with a gentle mellow bass line.

Roundwounds help too.

**fuzzy beard** · #8 07-25-2011, 03:49 AM

Yes gc is guitar center. She picked the classical up at willis music for less than a hundred bucks with gig bag. She got it for camping and fooling around late at night on the porch so she woulndt mess up her nice guitars!

lpdeluxe · #9 07-25-2011, 12:41 PM

I had a couple of ABGs (Ibanez 5-string, Martin B-1) before I gave up on them. One thing that made a difference was to install LaBella Deep Talkin' nylon-tape flat wounds. The brass strings were too clangy to retain the "bass" sound.

But I'm an electric player at heart, and I've never heard a strictly acoustic ABG that projected. I have seen guys try to gig with them to accompany an acoustic player and it always has sounded pathetic. It might be all right in a room with a single guitar player, but outdoors it's going to be inaudible. YMMV.

Jon Lucas · #10 07-25-2011, 02:22 PM

So overall opinion on the O-Port for volume, yay or nay?

Martin89 · #11 07-25-2011, 02:40 PM

Overall, I'd say it has a minimal effect, it'd be better to get your guitarist to play softer and you to change your playing style... It does appear to boost mids(it was designed for accoustic guitar) so the lower frequencies(Low E) which is usually the quietest out of the bass is still lacking. I'm going to play on it some more and I'll get back to you. I think it's not a bad $20 to experiment in, especially if it's helpful for feedback while plugging in. I mean the pain of taking my soundhole cover in and out and that the bass is inaudible with it in unplugged, so far it's been great. Volume alone, it's not that impressive.

Jon Lucas · #12 07-25-2011, 11:10 PM

Alright, and too, its only 20 bucks so it couldnt hurt to at least try it, and thanks to everyone who commented on here

BlueTalon · #13 07-26-2011, 12:44 AM

What strings do you have on your ABG?

Jon Lucas · #14 07-26-2011, 03:51 PM

D'Addario Phosphor Bronze