Double Bass YAMAHA EUB Megathread

I'd like to try one myself. I asked about it a local string shop in Toronto who carries the silent violins, violas and cellos and the clerk flatly replied that Yamaha didn't make a bass version. I then mentioned that I had just seen it profiled in a recent Bass Player Mag. Did I mention that I don't much care for that particular store?


[Edited by Rob W on 11-17-2000 at 10:36 PM]

Hey Rob, sounds like you were dealing with SHAR!

Originally posted by Rob W
I'd like to try one myself. I asked about it a local string shop in Toronto who carries the silent violins, violas and cellos and the dumba$$ flatly replied that Yamaha didn't make a bass version. I then mentioned that I had just seen it profiled in a recent Bass Player Mag. Did I mention that I don't much care for that particular store?

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Give 'em a break, it was just introduced. Yamaha dealers around Boston don't have them either.

The cellos sell (at discount) for almost $2000 so the bass aint going to be cheap and with that weird body contour it won't be as transportable as a "stick" bass, either.

Output jacks are 1/8" stereo (!!!) since it's main application is a practice instrument (used with phones...it even has onboard reverb!!!).

Originally posted by brianrost

The cellos sell (at discount) for almost $2000 so the bass aint going to be cheap and with that weird body contour it won't be as transportable as a "stick" bass, either.

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The body contour is removable, at least on the bass.
Get a look here:
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DAMN, I LOVE THAT THING!!!

It certainly looks good. I suspect the arco tone will be quite good since it is similar in design to the Silent Violin and Cello which would certainly be designed for mostly arco playing. That would certinaly be very important to me since I hardly ever play without my bow.

You probably won't find a dealer that currently carries them in North America as, according to Yamaha-USA, the "Official Release Date" will not occur until after January 2001. The info specs are from Yamaha-Japan). Yamaha-USA only has a "press release." (Might as well leave it off your Christmas Wish List this year.)

Actually, I just stumbled across one in another Toronto store (Long & McSomething-or-other) just as they were first taking it out of the box to put it on display. I had the honour of being both the first person in the store to play it and the first one to be disappointed by it...
Ok, so it may have been due to the fact that they didn't have decent headphones to play it through, or a decent bow to play with (and of course the personal suckage factor always comes into play...) but the poor thing sounded like the greenest piece of wood that has just floated across the Pacific. Really nasaly with a sharp cutting high-end. Plus they're trying to push it for $4000, sheesh...
I went in a couple of weeks later and asked why it hadn't sold yet and they admitted that it doesn't give a very good sound. Maybe that's why Yamaha is so late in adding it to their silent instrument line. Or maybe it is a good instrument and the silly store doesn't know what to play it through. Let's all hope for the latter...

It was reviewed in the current Bass Player magazine-- they were highly critical of its sound.

I have a Silent Cello, and it's good for one thing only IMHO..to practice without waking up the rest of the family. Given its design, it comes close to feeling like a real cello. So I'd assume that the Silent Bass probably suits the same needs but doesn't really fit the bill as the end all EUB that's intended to replicate the actual sound of a UB.

Originally posted by brianrost
Give 'em a break, it was just introduced. Yamaha dealers around Boston don't have them either.
[/B]

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i belive the Mars Music in Natick MA on rte.9 has one of these at least they have some thing that looks alot like it.
i don't play DB so i didn't look that close but that place loves Yamaha
give them a call
15086502071
unless the number gets deleted because i posted a phone number, in that case the number would be 411

The first thing to do with it is strip of the Super Sensitive strings and put on something like Tomastiks. I also run mine through a SansAmp Bass DI which really helps. Its otherwise a great instrument to play if you like the URB feel. Also its does'nt play well through most electric bass amps, although it sounds good through and SWR California Blonde. I use an Acoustic Image Contra and that sounds pretty good. The sansamp tube emulation and a little drive makes it quite woody. I never would have bought it for 4000, I paid 3000 Canadian, but Yamaha had to repair shipping damage so I got it a dealer's cost...I still am not completely convinced this is the axe for me, but at that price I can probably sell it. The soft case I bought for it is really crappy...

[Edited by archtop on 12-17-2000 at 03:12 PM]

Originally posted by Bob Gollihur
It was reviewed in the current Bass Player magazine-- they were highly critical of its sound.

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I played all the eub's offered at the last winter NAMM and thought the Yamaha instrument was the least of them all. The sound to my ears was kinda compressed in a very un-alive way. Considering what they want for one of these and the ever increasing number of other eub's available (some for A LOT less $$$) I'd recommed giving this one the pass. I'd rather bite down on a file and rip it outta my mouth than crack a BP Mag these days but they are right to be crital of the Silent Bass's sound.

Well like I said the first thing to do is to get rid of the SuperSensitive strings. I mean what is a EUB anyway? Its either a stick with a smallish hollow curvy box thing on the end, which presumably gives it a chance to have a woody sound, or its some kind of a stick with strings. The on- board electronics if there are any can make it or break it perhaps. But I don't think the sound of the preamp on the Yamaha Silent Bass is so bad actually, the nasally sound originates with the strings supplied with the bass. They say the NS Designs CR4 has a fairly woody sound for a stick, but I have'nt heard it first hand yet. The Yamaha is overpriced for its sound, but the sound can be tweaked, its just nobody has given it a fair trial yet I guess. Still, for that kind of money you would think it would be a contender right out of the cheap cardboard box they ship it in....

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Dear bassfriends !
Sorry, but I have to ask...

Are you looking at these creatures only because
they are easier to handle and have less feedback ?
Or is there something still unrevealed to me ?

IMHO these EUB are just to uggly. Never would
such a creature cross my doorstep as the world is
full of "nice girls" (read real upright bases).

Kind regards,
CV
don´t kill me ;-))

Well, I am somewhat interested in them because I'm interested in having a incredibly even yet natural LOUD double bass sound - especially arco.

I have to admit to being quite a snob when it comes to the prospect of amplifying my own double bass. I'm so absolutely in love and in tune with its purely acoustic tone, I hate more than anything to amplify it because it never comes close to sounding as good as it does acoustically.

As someone who is also an avid electric bass (guitar) player, I appreciate the much more consistent and controllable tone avilable from electric basses. I have great faith that the answer to ultimately achieving great, even amplified double bass tone lies in exploring and developing electric double basses.

I was initially excited over the Yamaha Silent Bass since it appeared that it was definitely geared toward essentially classically trained bass players who were looking for a very arco friendly electric bass. Reports haven't been great so far, but since I haven't played one myself, I can't say for sure until I do. Even then, as a few people have mentioned, maybe some tinkering with string brands, setup and amplifiers may substantially improve the results.

Hello RobW
thanks for your reply ! I believe that makes us two snobs at this forum....
the pure acoustic tone vs the electryfied...

Just a few thoughts after reading the Yamaha sitepage.

I believe this is only the "second" generation of EUB and not the final developement.
The Yamaha presents some interesting and useful solutions with the pre amp.

Would´nt the ultimate solution be a MIDI pick-up that is combined
with a special sampler ? I believe so.
The Yamaha is trying to create a tone wich it realy does not posess in it´s
own construction of the wood.

Can you imagine a soundbank in the sampler with most of the great instruments such as Testore, Goffriller etc. You could also sample your own acoustic bass !
These samples could be posted and downloaded on the Internet.
And then reedited in the following PC program. You could combine
different basses (samples) let say the EA string from a Testore with
the DG strings form an old English masterbass. It wuld also be
possible to use only the attack from one bass while the actual tone came from
an other instrument.
Of course all kind of sounds could be combined into "new" creative layers of
sound with endless combinations.

If I look at my own rather simple MIDI studio most of the technical inventions are
already there. My synth (Korg Triton) has 640 user programs, 64 drum kits and
a wast range of effects such as reverb, chorus, echo, phaser, flanger. The internal
sampler offers 48khz, 16 Mbytes of stereo sampling.......I could go on.

We also have today a good range of multi effect processor such as the Pod.
So, who will be the first to offer bassplayers the "future" ?
a EUB Midi pick up....or does it already excist ?
Maybe Yamaha will as they already have sampler and synths in theire productrange
or maybe Roland as they already have Midi pick ups in production ?

IMHO a brilliant idea.

Kind regards;
Christian V

C.VELTMAN: After reading Your last post I decided to introduce to world the first Silent Jazz Band. Yamaha has silent brasses & reeds, drums can be played with MIDI pads, keyboard is not a problem, and now when we got the silent bass, the whole band can be put together.
In our first gig we will play our silent instruments, us wearing headphones so only we the members of the Silent Jazz Band can hear what we actually play. The audience ( who gives a s**t anyway ) can listen to Miles´ kind of blue from a record and be happy.
The next gig will introduce The Chaos Personal Mixer, so everybody can bring their instruments, plug them into the mixing tagle and jam with the others, of course through MIDI, so they can sound like PC, Miles, Coltrane and whoever they like.
The third and the last gig will introduce The Silent Jazz Band consert without the band. The audience can plug their headsets, instruments and own soundbanks through the internet to our homes, where we sit and and drink beer.
____________________
I´ve seen The Future of The Jazz