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Acoustic bass guitars, GET EM LOUDER!?!?!

D

DrooNed

Feb 16, 2011
2
0
#1
So, I think the idea of having an acoustic bass guitar is pretty cool, but the problem is they're just not loud enough! I love the sound of my upright bass, but lets face it, it's not the most portable thing in the world. I'd like to get an acoustic bass guitar to jam along with a guitarist or two, but they seem to overpower the bass. All the ones I've played in music stores have to be played higher to be heard (I.E. notes below the open D are difficult to hear). What are my options? Anyone have experience with this problem before?

Is there a brand of strings that is particularly loud?
I was thinking about getting an O-port
one of these...
http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Waves-PW-OPBKL-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/B003SZLJ40

they claim to boost volume, anyone tried it? I've also heard that using heavier gauge strings at standard tuning will result in a louder sound, but I have no idea. I was thinking maybe a combination of specific heavy guage strings, an o-port, and a felt pick will get the volume significantly louder, but I want to hear from you guys before I make such an investment.

A few other questions, I'd really prefer a fretless (I want it to sound as similar to an upright as possible) does the lack of frets reduce the volume?

Anyone have good suggestions for acoustic basses? I've played a few, I like a 8 hundo breedlove but that's damn expensive. I actually thought that those cheap dean acoustic basses sound great for the money, but I also liked the ibanez ones too...

Haha, I dunno, any help/advice/suggestions would be great, thanks :D
 
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#3
There's a reason the double bass (upright, string, doghouse, whatever you call it) is the size it is. The physical demands of getting high volume, low pitches, and any kind of muscular authority on the low end demands moving a lot of air, no way around it. That's why almost every ABG is utterly pointless unless you're going to use an amp anyway. And that's valid if you want the sound of an amplified ABG. But if you want a real acoustic bass guitar sound, in my experience there are only two choices with a distant third that MIGHT be viable. The two real deal ones are the old Ernie Ball Earthwood, and the much better made and designed Guilds (B-30 and B-50, NOT the B-4 which is a small bodied one like most of the other toys out there). The distant third is the Tacoma Thunderchief, which might work depending on how loud your acoustic guitarists are. I don't know about the Earthwood, but Guild pretty much always had the B-30/B-50 available fretless. Unfortunately, none of these are in production so you have to find them used. The Earthwoods seem to be rather expensive for what they are, but that's based on very limited production, collector status, and lack of availability. The Guilds are out there if you look hard enough and are generally pretty reasonably priced when you consider that they're American made high-quality instruments with solid tops, and the most stable wooden necks I've experienced. The Tacoma was discontinued when FMIC decided that salvaging Tacoma's QC issues wasn't going to be profitable. They still turn up pretty often and should be good choices, but I do understand that towards the end of their private ownership and into FMIC's ownership there were some real problems with consistency in the company's products. I don't know how much that affected the Thunderchief, but I'd want to play it myself before I bought one. But that's what I'd do with any acoustic instrument anyway.

John
 
#4
Bump the string height to roughly 1/4"+ off the board at the octave, and play the thing as you play your DB.
If your guitar player friends are knuckle bleeders, stuck on 11, well that's another issue...

Takamine G Series w/ LaBella Tape Wounds work for me.
 
#7
Pilgrim said:
You want loud?

1) Get an upright bass - which will get you PART of the way

2) Add amplification - the real solution

No other options exist.
Click to expand...

That's not entirely true. Mariachi bass players use a guitarron which can be very loud and is acoustic. It's not exactly a direct substitute for a bass guitar but it might do in a pinch. The price isn't bad and they're not hard to get.

http://www.amazon.com/Lucida-LG-GR1-Guitarron-with-Bag/dp/B001VOBZFI
 
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#8
O port = plastic junk. it might help a regular guitar but not you.

What you are fighting is physics. Find a way around that and NASA will make you a multimillionaire.

Use a little amp, coz heck, even my small 3/4 upright struggles to produce fundamentals under C on the A string.

Fretless takes away some of the top freqs so hearing it is harder. Try playing one a hard rock band = fail

These are all the reasons I never bought an acoustic bass guitar.
 
#9
Not to mention heavier strings will increase tension, which is the death blow to an ABG. The top can't handle the stress and the bridge begins to lift. (This tends to happen eventually even with light guage strings)

The Tacoma thundercheif is the ABG with the most acoustic volume, but even it doesn't really cut it in an acoustic band situation without plugging in. I forgot about the guitarron, you never see those! It's pretty huge though!

Unfortunately, it's a dilema with no real answer. If ABG's worked as a strictly acoustic instrument, every bass player would own one. But they don't so they don't.
 
#10
Use a little amp, coz heck, even my small 3/4 upright struggles to produce fundamentals under C on the A string.
Click to expand...

Well you see, that's what I'm trying to avoid, I'd love to be able to play bass without the hassle of worrying about a powersupply. Battery powered bass amps just don't cut it, those little 4" speakers cannot acurately reproduce the requencies, they have to be played so quietly before they begin to distort, and when played quietly enough to avoid distortion, they arn't much louder than the low end acoustics I've played.

:/ dilemmas dilemmas...

The two real deal ones are the old Ernie Ball Earthwood, and the much better made and designed Guilds (B-30 and B-50, NOT the B-4 which is a small bodied one like most of the other toys out there). The distant third is the Tacoma Thunderchief, which might work depending on how loud your acoustic guitarists are. I don't know about the Earthwood, but Guild pretty much always had the B-30/B-50 available fretless.
Click to expand...

The earthwood is too damn big IMO. Those guild basses look pretty sweet, but at 1k a pop they're too rich for my blood right now. I appreciate the suggestions though, because those basses seem like pretty good options (if not for the price, but hey, you get what you pay for).

Fretless takes away some of the top freqs so hearing it is harder. Try playing one a hard rock band = fail
Click to expand...

true, but who plays acoustic basses in hard rock bands to begin with?

You want loud?

1) Get an upright bass - which will get you PART of the way

2) Add amplification - the real solution

No other options exist.
Click to expand...

have an upright which is more than loud enough when played with an acoustic guitar, the problem is it's so unportable. I also have amplification, but again, the solution I'm looking for is something portable at this point, and amps are heavy and large.

since amps seem to be the only alternative...anyone have suggestions for actually good battery powered bass amps? the micro crate bass doesn't cut it for me. I've seen battery powered pignose amps with 8" speakers which would definately work, but I dunno how long the battery lasts. hmm...
 
#11
You need to move air.

If you only want to move a tiny amount of air and be buried in the mix - play unplugged.

If you want to move a little bit more air - use an 8" driver and pray that the guitarist left his instrument cord at home.

If the guitarist actually brought his cord AND an amp and you want to be heard - get a bass amp with some larger drivers since the 'being heard' part requires moving air.

That ↑ won't realistically happen until you get some Wattage - and I use a 600Watt amp and some seriously larger/multiple drivers.

I push my Ibanez AEB through the same head/cab or combo as my solid body basses ---- and that's what it takes.

Anyone who says differently is deluding themselves; an AEB is NOT gonna cut it on a bandstand against electrified instruments.

For someone to say that a box under so many cubic resonant feet in size is gonna be heard without an amp, needs some couch time.

Since I like to play music and I like to play my AEB, then I am more than willing to carry the gear in-out and enjoy myself.

The ABSOLUTE MINIMUM size amp/cab I play in a quiet Wine/Cheese Tasting venue is 200Watts and a 115.

But we need to talk about Volume knobs since they can both go UP and DOWN.

I just man-up and do what is necessary.

YRWV*




Your Results Won't Vary.
 
#15
reverendrally said:
O port = plastic junk. it might help a regular guitar but not you...
Click to expand...

Disagree
Installed one last night into my Fender Kingman A/E bass:
I wasn't expecting much, but for 17 dollars... Was going to record a before and after, but there was no need to. The difference was immediate, and it does what it's supposed to:1) louder, 2) more clarity of tone across all ranges, 3) and harmonics now jump right out of the hole with a defined brightness. The strings on are about 1.5 year old D'Add half-wounds.

I want to now see the difference with the feed back improvement mentioned. I have a sound hole plug I also use. So, next practice.

Now, its not suddenly amplified or anything, but the improvement was easily noticeable. Louder and better sound. So your "junk" comment is wrong.
 
#16
At $17 it seems like a nice addition.

I haven't played or even seen one in person but [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] may match the need for a larger bodied fretless, still in production. They come with good preamps--that I do know--so if a small combo is inescapable at least these have the ability to plug in. If only I could afford one.
 
#19
i'm with JTE on this one.

the only ones that had any acoustic balls were the guild and the tacoma. (never got to try an earthwood, but listen to early violent femmes to hear what one sounds like at least.)

the tacoma in particular was a standout for me; i had the chance to compare one with that crazy klein-engineered taylor years ago, the expensive one with the flying buttress braces and non-parallel back; at half the price tag, the tacoma was just plain louder.

also, you can't pluck these things like electric basses and expect to get anything; you need to use a pick and drive them, the way bluegrass guitar players drive their flattops to try and hang with the banjo player.

they're really more like giant acoustic guitars than they are like little upright bases.
 

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