Acoustic Basses worth it?

[FlashBazbo]

I once owned a CB10 (pre-Fender) Tacoma Thunderchief. It was a fun practice instrument. For acoustic jams . . . it was adequate if the acoustic guitarists were few in number (two or less) and showed restraint. Otherwise, when playing with other instruments, the Thunderchief was loud enough for me to hear myself. I'm not sure anyone else could hear it.

 

[Liko]

looking for an acoustic bass loud enough to compete with a guitar/violin player at a bonfire so far haven't found anything. It's a pain bringing a double bass just for fun little jam sessions thanks in advance.

You're not the first to look for an ABG that can stand up to unplugged acoustic guitars and you probably won't be the last. The company that actually figures it out at a reasonable pricepoint will likely corner the market.

However, that should be enough to tell you that you can spend a lot of money on an ABG and not get what you need to be heard at a bonfire without a plug, transistor or speaker cone for miles around. I stopped looking a long time ago, fairly quickly disillusioned with the entire concept. But, the ones I found that came closest to being useful totally unplugged were the Tacoma CB10 Thunderchief (pre-Fender), and the Taylor AB1/AB2.

Both of these are now out of production; Taylor stopped making the ABs in 2003, and in the Tacoma's case pretty much anything made after Fender bought the brand in 2004 is going to be of significantly lower build and sound quality, so in either situation you will be looking for a 15-year-old instrument, neither of which changes hands often.

Breedlove still actively makes a few tiers of acoustic bass. Definitely try before you buy, but I like what the company does in general so I can at least point you to them as an option. However, as a "traditional" style jumbo body with a bass neck, I would not be at all surprised if they just don't have the volume and projection you're going to need. Dozens of luthiers have gone that route, and it usually just produces an instrument that looks the part at a low-volume coffeehouse gig, plugged into the PA or a small bass amp for reinforcement.

 

[SidNitzerglobin]

Only one I've had is my Guild Jumbo Jr.

Love this thing for noodling/practice & I find it keeps up w/ a single moderately loud concert/parlor guitar well enough if not strummed too heavy handedly. Probably one of the most fun instruments I've owned all around, but it would almost certainly need reinforcement for a bigger outside acoustic jam (luckily I've liked the stock Fishman in there too so far).

 

[Altitude]

I love my acoustic bass(s). But full disclaimer, they are totally piles of crap, equal parts awesome and junk.
One is a Guild B30 and the other is a Kramer Ferrington (from the hair era). Yours will be a pile of crap too, even if you get an expensive one. But get it for the right reason and you won't care.
Get one:
Super convenient, grab and go, pull it off the wall and play on the sofa, play to the rain on the porch, jam with your friend who sells insurance but brings his guitar to every party. You can even record with one, there is a unique sound that can be quite useful in studio. Be prepared for when "Unplugged" is a thing again.
Don't get one:
Not loud enough, either spring-tastic twangy (rounds) or nearly inaudible thud rubber bandy (flats/tapes). Feel heavier then they are due to the reach, somewhat uncomfortable to play. The narrowest of mine (Ferrington) is 3 1/2" deep. Reach? Hmmm, 7 1/2" from the body to the E string, 6 1/2" from the back to the bridge. Compare that to what you are currently playing and you'll know what I mean.

So what I'm saying as an owner of 2, go in prepared with realistic expectations. Your arm isn't bendy enough to make it as comfortable as an acoustic guitar and physics defy the volume reaching the level of a guitar under any circumstance. Be amused by the next handful of posts that say "my ___ is really loud with tapes and easy to play". That's BS. But understandable BS because we all love our instruments. So if if you choose to believe BS, that's your choice. But still, get one because of the reasons above. So much fun anyway.

Hint, if I play with an acoustic guitarist I use a pick, it is much louder even if that isn't your preferred style.
Other hint, bronze wounds feel terrible in bass gauge but they are louder than whatever someone in the next post says.

In conclusion:
Totally worth it, piece of crap, not loud, most fun.
p.s. if you still can't pair with a guitarist look at the Blackstar Fly Bass, 3W mini amp that can run on batteries. It's loud enough to play an electric bass with an acoustic guitar at the fire. Fits in gig bag.

Great post; I agree with all of it. My crappy acoustic is an ESP Ltd TL-5. I string mine E-C so I can pretend I'm Janek Gwizdala.

I'll only add that double basses aren't really loud enough to compete with guitars and violins either, unless you have crazy callouses and know how to coax maximum volume out of the instrument. Once upon a time I showed up for a jazz gig at an historic home just off 25th & Guadalupe in Austin. The place didn't have traditional power so I had to go commando on the double bass with a brush drummer and a trumpet player. I was playing daily at the time, and I still destroyed my right hand and had to stop for about a week!

 

[Plain Old Barry]

I picked up an Ibanez ABG a few years ago pretty cheap on Craigslist. It's fun to play, but it definitely isn't loud acoustically, which I probably made worse by swapping bronze rounds for Chromes. The Fishman electronics work well. I'll normally plug it into a Bass Micro Cube with acoustic guitars, or my smaller electric rigs if a DI is not available. Quite often, I'll simply play electric, in the past a fretless, with a small amp during "acoustic" sets.

It's worth pointing out that with the bronze rounds, it seemed like finger squeaks were louder than the fundamental tones while unplugged.

I've noticed that ABG's I've seen that are loud enough to keep up with guitars usually have huge bodies, almost a cello with a strap. I normally only see them with Mariachi bands.

I do enjoy playing the ABG for a finger workout and solo fun though, so it'll be here a while.

 

[Ostie]

I had a Dean AE Bass for a while but got rid of it for all the reasons mentioned. I figured if I had to plug it in to hear it, I might as well play one of my electric basses.

 

[IBJammin]

I got a few ABGs. Ibanez AEB5 with bronze strings and the O-Port from D'Addario/Planet Waves keeps up with a couple acoustic guitars. Also, I restored the saddle to get back to the original factory height. People (ie guitarists) complain the action is "high", but that is part of the "deal" to get louder sound out of it. Action is definately higher than my electrics. Think of the action of an upright bass - there is a reason for that.
I got black tapes on another for a different sound, but that doesn't keep up without amplification.

 

[JohnnyChatter]

To be honest... Na, not worth it. I always wanted one. Traded a wonderful bass for a very nice one. Never played the thing. Barely louder than an unplugged electric and the body shape killed my arm.

 

[jwoiton]

I have an Epiphone El Segundo acoustic bass. I brought it to an Open Carry Guitar Rally in Dallas. It held up okay with the jams that were going on. I had to pop the strings pretty hard but I was heard. I would not consider my acoustic bass one of the loudest.

 

[micguy]

It's a novelty instrument, and needs to be plugged in to be practical. So, it has no advantages over a standard solid body electric, except maybe that it looks "acoustic". On the negative side, feedback can be a very real issue.

 

[bassbully]

Nope played allot of them they all sound like crap.

 

[jd56hawk]

looking for an acoustic bass loud enough to compete with a guitar/violin player at a bonfire so far haven't found anything. It's a pain bringing a double bass just for fun little jam sessions thanks in advance.

People will tell you there are several that can be easily heard in an acoustic setting, but unless you're sitting right in front of the crowd, and your bass has those horrible bronze-wounds and your ripping the hell out of them with a stone pick and whoever's playing the acoustic guitar is sitting twenty feet behind you, it's an uphill battle.
We're bassists, it's all about tone and there's only so much tonal variety you can get out of an unplugged acoustic bass.
Now, using a battery-powered amp, is an entirely different thing. The Roland Micro Cube will really get the job done...it's a good little practice amp, too, and the Joyo is small enough to wear strapped to your back. Then, you'll be able to put a nice set of D'Addario black tapewounds on your bass.
And you know what?
They both have volume knobs!

Camping out, bonfire on the beach, street-corner jam, whatever...just buy one of these.
I did and I'm more than pleased.
$59...you can't go wrong.

As for the "If you have to plug in, why not just use a P bass?" arguement...
Seriously?
Again, we're bassists. It's all about tone.
Hell, I have a G&L L2000 but it can quite replicate the tone my Dean Exotica can produce.

 

[Matty Koff]

I don't own an ABG, probably never will.. but I have an Ibanez SRH series bass, and while it requires amplification, the combination of the piezo pickup system and the semi-hollow construction gives its amplified signal a bit of an accoustic feel in the way string noise and overtones get through. I think it's mostly the piezo pickup, but it certainly lets you know when your technique is sloppy.

 

[Killing Floor]

Get one, they are fun. If you are drowning with a guitar use a pick and you'll be close enough.
They are very useful in studio either with a good transducer or even a mic. They are also conducive to hanging around drinking.

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

meh, I had one about 20 years ago, I didn't like it, sold it, bought an upright bass, and never looked back.

 

[Smith357]

To get the low bass frequencies acoustically at any real volume you need a very large body. Think of the Guitarrone in a mariachi band. Those can easily be heard with guitars and trumpets, but they are played almost face up due to the very large and deep body. Maybe put a bass neck on an old guitarron body??? I almost bought a beat up cello once to try putting a bass neck on.

 

[mattj1stc]

Based on the OP, I see this as good news/bad news. The good news is that he's already using a double bass. The bad news is that it would be unusual for an ABG to be able to generate significant volume unamplified for most purposes. I've owned a very large bodied Breedlove ABG that played great and sounded great both amplified and unplugged. It was great for what it was, but it was no equivalent to other acoustic instruments unplugged. It comes down to lower frequencies needing more amplification, so that's why I've always ended up either going DB or using an amp. Basically, most ABGs are significantly louder unplugged than a solid body BG, so for practice, they can be very effective. Once you amplify them, they can also sound good, buy can also suffer from feedback issues. Probably also good for studio work or the old MTV unplugged series.

 

[B-Mac]

looking for an acoustic bass loud enough to compete with a guitar/violin player at a bonfire so far haven't found anything. It's a pain bringing a double bass just for fun little jam sessions thanks in advance.

I kind of like them, but hey, that's just me...

30", 32", 34", 4 string, 5 string, fretted, fretless.
Dean, Takamine, Stagg, Michael Kelly, Samick, Jay Turser, Epiphone
The loudest of the bunch unplugged is the very first one, The Dean EABC.
The body is close to the dimensions of the Tacoma Thunderchief.
The Takamine and the Dean Performer 34" Quilt Maple come in a 2nd place tie for unplugged loudness followed by the Dean Supreme and Epi El Capitan.

Plugged in, nothing, I mean nothing beats the Deans that have the Aphex Aural Exciter with Big Bottom Circuitry...not even a top of line Fishman. @jd56hawk can back me up on that too.

It all comes down to expectations and how you approach playing one of these. If you can't play a bass without an extremely low action and a light touch you'll never be heard on one of these unplugged when playing with an acoustic guitar accompaniment. Strings on an ABG need to be on the high side so they are free to really vibrate and make the top wood resonate and get air moving out of the sound hole. @mikeoso will attest to that. He gigs his ABGs regularly unplugged and plugged in, of course he has much higher quality ABGs than I do which helps. A solid wood top really does make a difference with unplugged playing.

An Acoustic Guitar player doesn't play an electric guitar the same way he/she plays an acoustic....why wouldn't a bassist?

I remember reading an interview with Eric Clapton saying how he had to relearn to play acoustic guitar for his famous unplugged live series of concerts after playing his Strat for so long. You just can't do the low action light touch approach on an ABG and expect to be loud.

Even plugged in they still have their own sound. I don't get the 'if I have to plug in I might as well play my slab-o-wood bass'.... Makes no sense to me as they still sound different.

Playing with a pick helps. Experimenting with strings helps. @wintremute got me into GHS pressure wound phosphor-bronze strings for louder less squeaky unplugged sound. @jd56hawk got me into using tape wounds for plugged in. @McG gigs with his ABG plugged in.

They are what they are.

I have solid body, hollow body, semi-hollow body and chambered body electrics. They all do their own thing. Why can't an ABG do its own thing? Why is it expected to be something it isn't? Enjoy it for what it is.

 

[Pings Bass]

I'm curious if any of y'all have tried a guitarrón. They're huge and unwieldy, and the tuning is a whole next level mind blower, but they can produce some volume.

 

[DavC]

worth it ... for me = No

still needs an amp .. so why bother .?!