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Acoustic Basses

M

Met_ill_death

Oct 1, 2000
4
0
#1
Sup Ya'll,

I have a question conserning Acoustic Basses. Now I was lookin' into maybe purcasing one but they seem pretty rare. I mean,I haven't seen anybody playin' them around here, so I was wonderin if any of you guys & gals had one, or if you've played one before. If so, how do the play?, Do they have a good sound? & what company's make the best ones?. I don't wanna go blowing my money jar away for nothing, thax, lata!

~Trip
 
#2
part of the reason why not to many people play is since they aren't loud enough acoustically. thats part of the reason why an upright is so huge so that the lower frequencies can be reproduced. I've seen 2 Fender A/E basses, 2 epiphones. that's all
 
#3
I've played a couple and am gonna get one for travel in the near future. Fenders aren't worth it. they just don't sound that good. To tell you the truth, the best ones i've tried were a Warwick and a C.Robelli. Go with Warwick if you get one, but i'll admit that the C.Robelli aint bad and has a nice sound too, definatly better than the fenders.
 
#4
I think FJC is right that they are never loud enough to play in any siutations and when you amplify them, there are usually horrendous feedback problems. All those I have seen have looked very fragile and easily damaged, at least those that look like acoustic guitars. All in all, more hassle than they are worth unless you are already a big name star with a large road crew and mega-pa system.

The question is why you want one, what do you feel it could give you? All those I ahve heard, haven't sounded very good either - "woofy" rather than bassy and indistinct. That's unless you class the Godins in this category, but then they don't really look the same and don't have sound holes in the same way. The Godins sound better, but I can't imagine anyone using them acoustically without amplification.
 
#5
Well, I really wanted it for travel mostly, & I thought maybe it would complment an acoustic guitar better. My electric base drawns out my guitar player's sound too much when preforming acoustic songs such as "Nothin else matters" by Metallica. But mostly, I'd like it for travel cuz I do alot of that and I always miss my bass, and I sure as hell can't travel with one of those mother stand ups! Thank you all for the advice thus far, ya'll rule!
 
#6
I know this might sound weird but have you ever thought of just getting a regular acoustic guitar then stringing it BEADGC so that it'd be like an extremely short scale 6 string bass? Uprights are kinda hard to take any where when you don't have about 8ft of horizontal space [give or take a few feet]. I have no idea if the retuning idea would work or not since i dunno much bout acoustics. That's all Good Luck in finding one that sounds right. [not a smart @$$ comment]
 
#8
If what you want is an upright bass sound and portability, what about an Ashbory bass (can't get more portable than that) and a small combo amp? The Danelectro Nifty 70 has a very deep tone and is fairly small. Even better (but more money) would be a used G&K combo, the one with the pair of 6 1/2 inch speakers. This combination should compliment an acoustic guitar quite well.
 
#11
Get a martin ABG. They are the best unplugged. But how much travel? Though they are nice to play in the park, taking one on a plane would scare the bejesus out of me because they are expensive and baggage handlers are mean.
 
#13
Tacoma makes a darn fine acoustic bass.

I did a big study on these not too long ago... these were my opinions after an exhaustive search:

Martin: a jumbo guitar with a bass neck - just didn't cut it

Taylor: not a bad bass for $2000+ (too bad it's $2000+)

Epiphone: rather inconsistent, but the El Capitan had some moments

Guild: discontinued, and a little quiet, but nice players if you can find 'em

Fender: no tone

Ovation: surprising (if you can find one), but a little sterile

Warwick: the new Alien Stage Acoustic was unavailable when I was shopping, but I hear for around $1350 you're not TOTALLY out of range... but last & not least:

TACOMA: the hands down winner for the cash, 4 string fretless or fretted, solid spruce top & maahogany back/sides, straight acoustic are in the $750-$800 ballpark, with a Fishman just under $1000, also available with Baggs EQ/onboard preamp. Most of all, the low E puts out a nice subsonic pump to it- the "A" is a beefy round tone you'd expect from a much bigger bass (Mariachi anyone?)

 
#15
Well guys,thanks for all the great advice, I went to one my local guitar shops to get a tone up on my bass yesterday, and I tried a couple of acoustic basses . I tryed a EPI- El Segundo and I agree with ya'll that it lacks in tone depth, but I'll tell you the price was right!, only $500 can. So it wouldn't blow my money jar if I decide to get it...But I'm still a lil' sketchy on purcusing it. If any of you got any useful info on Epiphone's Acoustic bass lines it whould be much apecated. Adam Z brought up the El Capitan by EPI, how does that compare to the El Segundo? I also tryed a Taylor AB-1 and although it was an xtremely ugly ass bass it played tight, also it cost $2750!

~Trip
 
#17
I always thought I wanted to add an acoustic bass to my arsenal - but never felt they were worth the bucks. They all pretty much felt and sounded like garbage, even the really expesive ones. THEN... I picked up a floor model of a Carlo Robelli for $150.00 (I actually won it - but it's a long story). It was tagged at $199.00. I swear this bass feels better, plays louder acoustically, and has a cleaner sound than any other one I ever played. It even has perfect intonation. I have it for over a year now - it's been to the beach, camping, the bathroom, all over the place. I absolutely love this bass. I also have a pignose HOG 30 which makes a perfect partner. The amplification is needed outdoors to really keep up with an acoustic guitar, but indoors it holds up without.

I think every bass player should own one of these basses - and unless someone's got money to burn, I couldn't see dropping more than this amount on an acoustic. This one really does the job. And I don't work for Carlo Robelli either - in fact I kind of hate the rest of their line...

Peace.
 

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