Double Bass Equivilent?

[bassman_al]

Friday night I was lucky enough to be able to gig from 7:30-10:30 in DC then walk across U Street and take in the late set of a fantastic local guitarist, Paul Pieper, who had local bassist Gavin Fallow in his group. Gavin plays upright bass. I play Fender P, J and fretless J. That night served as a wonderful reminder that an upright is simply a different instrument. It has its own sound, and an electric, no matter how close it can get, will always be an electric bass guitar. I love them both.

[CJAtheBassman]

You could try the Kala U-Bass. I don't personally own one, but from the videos I've seen on it, it sounds close to an upright bass. The solid-body U-Basses sound more upright-like than the acoustic ones (for whatever reason), but either one will work.

[mccartneyman]

Stagg makes an affordable Electric Upright Bass that sound pretty good and is a heck of lot easier to haul than an upright. Same scale, same strings. But no "stick" bass will ever sound like an upright simply because there's no "box" to give it resonance. The hollowbody Kala does offer a good compromise, too.

[chadds]

Originally Posted by bassman_al

before I recently sold my LMII and bought a GB Shuttle 6.0, the former drummer in my jazz group remarked that my fretless J-bass tone, which I had been tinkering with much during a 6 month time period that he had been on medical absence from the band, now sounded "Great!" He added, "You sound just like a trombone!" I thought that comment was funny, particularly since that is not the tone I was going for. I was also very amused by his comment since my dad plays trombone, so despite being very familiar with the trombone tone, I never once thought that my bass tone was anything like a trombone! I went back to some recordings I had made and sure enough, it really did sound like a trombone!

The Shuttle gets a different type of sound, and I EQ it a little differently, so no more trombone, but now I find that the tone reminds me a little of tuba! And I like that. Still, its all kind of funny since I initially was going for a Jaco-style burp tone. Got some of that, but also got some tuba as well!

And if I want a more DB-ish tone, the P-bass gives a nice "DB tribute" kind of tone. In that neighborhood, but not close enough for anyone to think I am trying to completely mimic a DB tone. The P-bass has GHS Brite Flats, by the way, which I really like a lot.

Back in high school guitarist Bill in whose house we were practicing bought a new Mosrite fuzz tone. When we came up for lunch his mother and aunt both said the fuzz made the guitar sound like a sax in Rock n Roll. I've been thinking "oh yeah" ever since.

If you start with touch and your intention to bring out that upright sound it can be had. The Ashbory does it really well. There are a couple of bassists here who find that a '51 P reissue/original/Tele with single coil sounds very much like an upright.

[pdshane]

This sounds really close to my ear.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7A28...elated&search=

[thewildest]

Check put Edwin Paanakker and his convolution bass, amazing db tone. If you are up for a surprise, check fbass acc (ac classic fretless nylon string model, which to me groups the best of both worlds

[Ben Rose]

I've always thought this clip sounded very upright-ish, especially when he is walking at the end. So much so that I went to MF Lutherie in Montreal to check out the bass.

I think a big part of the sound of that bass is the bridge and tailpiece. In person, it sounded great. It could definitely get a tone like what is heard in the clip, but it was also a big instrument with a pretty thick neck. Not as easy to play as a Rob Allen or F Bass, but very good acoustic tone. You don't get something for nothing.

http://youtu.be/9kZH5O7pRvs