Acoustic Basses Volume, Tone and Wow!

[GretschWretch]

1/2 size won't do without amplification. You need 3/4, which is actually the standard.

If you want a low, small acoustic bass instrument, try a cello. Doesn't go quite as low as a bass, but it can serve the bass function and will be loud enough if played with a bow, maybe even without the bow.

Both double bass and cello are instruments requiring large amounts of practice to master, but if you want to play 3-chord tunes in keys with open strings, and that is it, you can get enough technique together easily.

You don't need a half-size, and I do not see how you can recommend a cello over a half-size when the half-size has a much larger body. One of these will do:

It's a 1/4 size DB, and I know from experience that it can fill a falrly large coffee house even when the two guitars and two vocalists are miked and it is not.

 

[emjazz]

Agreed. To me, an ABG is a different tonal option - but it doesn't mean I can put my amp away.

Perfectly said.

 

[Mustang Surly]

"This is why it is better to defenestrate the banjo player."

Is that anything like nutting a hog?

 

[Elmarito]

Guitarron, albeit a rather different instrument. Takes a little work to learn to play it but fits perfectly well with guitars etc. Looks and sounds amazing. ( I have three and I am not Mexican)

 

[jd56hawk]

Why would someone want to match the tone of a cheap P-bass copy with and ABG?

The most expensive, rarest Fender in the world cannot match the tone of a cheap ABG w bronze strings, and the tone is why we play them. Gorgeous, woody, airy, acoustic tone.

No, we canna defy the laws of physics! But we can bend them. That's where the ABG comes in, especially close-mic'd.

I say this in every ABG thread: you don't know ABG until you've close mic'd one for a recording.

There's only so much you can get out of an acoustic bass without amplification. Sure, you can move your hand closer to the bridge or neck, you can play with your fingers or a polished stone pick, but the tone is still limited…just like a P bass with no tone control.

I always play my acoustic plugged in because it puts any unplugged acoustic to shame…in fact, it has more tonal variety than my old P bass or Jazz bass.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Try one of these:

 

[Florinda4]

Guitarron anyone?

 

[wesonbass]

Had to Google defenestrate

 

[B-Mac]

I have three acoustic bass ukes and although I can practice at home without an amp, with anyone, they need to be amped. Here's my rig for small acoustic gigs (in this case UCLA/Mattel Children's hospital with 5 ukuleles in conjunction with The Ukulele Kids Club); a Rondomusic.com Hadean walnut bass uke and Blackstar Fly 3 Bass that I attached together and added a shoulder strap.

View attachment 3088869

God Bless you, man

 

[wesonbass]

Willie Nelson's definition of a perfect pitch. Someone throws away an accordion and it lands on a banjo

 

[B-Mac]

There's only so much you can get out of an acoustic bass without amplification…a P bass has a tone control and a variety of tones you can't get unplugged.
That's why I don't play my acoustic unplugged, it puts any unplugged acoustic to shame...3-band equalizer, phase control, Aural Exciter with Big Bottom Sound. You can't get that variety of tone out of an acoustic by just moving your hand closer to the bridge or neck.

JDHAWK be talkin' bout this:

 

[Sparkl]

Hey ya all bass folk! Can any of you recommend an acoustic bass guitar that has Volume, Tone and what I call Wow!? Amplifying it is totally secondary. What I am looking for an acoustic bass that can hold it's own in an acoustic jam with no amp, several guitars and hand drums. Is there one?

For what you need you should look into uprights.

 

[Pterandactula]

Maybe a mandobass?
Eddie Van Halen's short scale Gibson mando-bass

 

[fretlessguy]

No. Throw a banjo in the mix and you won't hear the acoustic guitars either

There is a joke among Bluegrass players that the definition of a gentleman is a banjo player who prefers not to play.

 

[jd56hawk]

JDHAWK be talkin' bout this:
View attachment 3088955

Exactly!

 

[InhumanResource]

how about a 1/2 upright...think that might cut it?

Only if half the volume is your goal!

 

[guestOU812]

For what you need you should look into uprights.

It's the size of the Double Bass that murders me!! I live in a small NYC apartment.

 

[bassdude51]

This about what you are looking for.....................

 

[Jeff Scott]

It's the size of the Double Bass that murders me!! I live in a small NYC apartment.

Ron Carter probably does, too.

 

[CapnSev]

Thank you! I was hoping someone somewhere came up with something for us to take to the camp fires and parks.

Well, they did come up with something a very, very long time ago: the double-bass. Unfortunately, it takes something that big to reproduce bass frequencies without amplification. Even a 1/2 size upright bass gets buried at your local acoustic or bluegrass jam.