Kala SUB bass

Before describing this instrument I must tell that I really like it. However I haven't had the opportunity to use it on different places besides my bedroom (like gigs, tours or studio recordings). Once that's clear, here it is:

KALA SUB BASS, a particular instrument wich offers a new perspective of what basses are. The result of a combination of thick-plastic (some sort of polyuretane* IDK if it's written correctly); an Ukelele and a bass guitar. This bass has a huge sound, don't let its size tricks you 'cause it has a fat sound. Due to its thick strings it has an amazing attack (with a lack of bright tones) wich can shake your stomach's fibers when it's plugged into a big amp.

The sensation of the strings its very strange because as they're basically made of plastic, the texture and the thickness of the string will be very different from the common nickel strings that we're used to play. Besides that, as they're not made of some sort of metal, they don't present as much tension as a regular bass. Bending the string to get 1/2 or a little less to change the pitch is an issue that you might face at the beginning because it will occur more ofthen than you think. It's important to mention that when you're playing any note after the 12th fret the sound wil be slightly different and not as pleasent as playing arround the first nine frets.

The body is very small and confortable to carry when you're traveling. But finding the correct position to feel 100% confortable when playing, normally is easy, but can be challenging. The weight is perfect, as ligh as a feather, you can play for hours without have back-aches or something similar.The appearance is very nice and the finish of the painting is very good, at least on the one that I have.

One of the facts that I didn't like about it is the price, but why? Well, it costs between $450 to $540 (depending on the store) and it's made in china. I'm not saying its crafting/quality is poor, because it isn't, but I will fell way better if it's price were around $350 to $400 like most of the common and decent basses you can find on the market that are made in China.

Best uses in terms of musical genres will be: Jazz, Bosa-nova, Folk music, latin music, Rockabilly/psycobilly*, Reggae and similars. Mainly musical genres where the bass is oriented to provide a solid base instead of giving a hearable melody.

Slap technique, chords, taping and very high melodic solos are possible with this instrument, however the sound you'll get will be not as confortable as the one that you'll get from a normal bass.