I'm thinking about getting an acoustic bass for unplugged gigs. Don't know much about the instrument. I've been playing a Fender Precision Electric for about 10 years but have no experience with acoustics. I can afford to spend a few bucks but don't want to break the bank. Anybody with suggestions?
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Acoustic Basses?
- Thread starter Charlie Brown
- Start date
- Apr 2, 2014
- 485
- 390
- 47
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Conklin Basses, Ashdown Amplifiers, Morley Pedals
A good one for a good price would be the Ibanez AEB10. Used one at GC for $249.
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If you want to spend some good money, check out the Warwick Alien.
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If you want to spend some good money, check out the Warwick Alien.
If you want an acoustic bass guitar that can be heard acoustically, you need to be thinking both big and expensive. Last I checked, there was a very nice Ernie Ball Earthwood on ebay for $3K. Under $1K, you won't find much that'll be heard acoustically with guitars or much of anything else. Without an amp, most ABGs <$1K (and a good percentage of them over $1K) are only useful for bedroom solo practicing.
I think MTV confused a lot of bass players when they presented bands playing acoustic instruments and called it "unplugged". If you're under the impression that you can play the acoustic bass in a band and not use an amp, you're mistaken. If you're prepared to plug in, there's lots of suggestions. Telling us your budget is a good place to start.
I have a Takamine EG512 that can be heard around a campfire with ten people, two finger picking guitars and quiet singing. It has also been heard in adjacent campsites ~60+ feet away. Maybe I had the wind!? Ran me $350.00 on the bay, w/HSC.
I also have another ABG which I use on 98% of my gigs. I know it won't be heard over the piano, drums, horn, so I plug it in. It's all about the tone, and no slab sounds like it.
I also have another ABG which I use on 98% of my gigs. I know it won't be heard over the piano, drums, horn, so I plug it in. It's all about the tone, and no slab sounds like it.
You'll hear quite a few suggestions, a very important one will be: "You won't be heard without an amp."
For the most part, this is true. Even if you find the biggest jumbo body bass ever made, it's hard to be heard over a few acoustic guitars when they really start getting into it. I play my bass with my buddy who has a Guild 12-string. Even when I was nearly destroying my strings in my acoustic...a jumbo body that was almost too big to play...I just wasn't satisfied. I couldn't really express myself properly. I couldn't do justice to what the song called for. I couldn't really be heard.
Whatever way you state it, it comes down to one thing...get a battery-powered amp! There are more battery-powered amps available now then ever before...several made specifically for bass.
I've used the old standby Pignose 7-100 a number of times recently playing outside. Is it as good as the Roland Micro Cube Bass Amp? Not even close. Was it better than nearly ripping the strings off my old acoustic bass trying to be heard? Yes, 10 times better.
Sure, you can always get yourself an upright and lug it around, you can even make your own acoustic bass out of an old bass drum and a fender Jazz bass neck.
Or you can find a nice acoustic bass (there are quite a few) and do what they do on MTV's Unplugged...plug in!
Here are my basses.
Guess which one sounds the best.
For anything acoustic, I use my Gold Tone Microbass which I restrung with Road Toad Pahoehoe strings and Fender Rumble 40 amp. My amp is close to weightless, but is not battery run as the Roland cube or Pignose mentioned above. Since you have to amp it anyway, why bother with a large, acoustic bass. I had an Ibanez AEB5. It went when the Microbass arrived.
It's only for looks!
I used to own the Taylor/Klein half acoustic bass, the fist one AB1, i e an acoustic with a piezo pickup stuck into it, and it was unbelievably expensive. I thought I could make something acoustic out of it. But no, the worst ergonomics I've tried on any bass (neck dived like hell). POS. And not any low note heard by any stretch. The only thing that works acoustically is the Mexican Guitarrón. It looks like you're wearing a small bath tub on you. The low A can be detected faintly, but the low E NO! That was the root for Ernie Ball to produce these stupenduous things. Tacoma and Earthwood and whatever they're called.
If find all of these instruments immensely excessive and over the top redundant. Think of it: It is the only instrument which is a copy of an instrument that was an electric copy of an acoustic upright in the first place! You did the electric bass as a copy of an acoustic (as you did with guitar) but then you did an acoustic version of that electric one again....
Never ever heard such baloney before. You must plug it in but that counters everyhing it's supposed to do. If you turn it up the slightest, it will feed back in the lowest frequencies, and then just must EQ so much all bottom is gone anyway. Frankly, these instruments are the most one out there, that leaves me with the largest question mark upon my face. Why? I e when considering "gadgets in music industry that one thinks are absolutely useless".
Get a proper acoustic upright, or a Bajo Sexto/Guitarron OR keep your electric bass as it is. Preferably the latter. You'll save a bunch of money anyway.
It would only have some merit if it sounded just exactly like an upright when plugged in, but not even that it manages.
The Klein/Taylor:
The Mexican Guitarrón:
I used to own the Taylor/Klein half acoustic bass, the fist one AB1, i e an acoustic with a piezo pickup stuck into it, and it was unbelievably expensive. I thought I could make something acoustic out of it. But no, the worst ergonomics I've tried on any bass (neck dived like hell). POS. And not any low note heard by any stretch. The only thing that works acoustically is the Mexican Guitarrón. It looks like you're wearing a small bath tub on you. The low A can be detected faintly, but the low E NO! That was the root for Ernie Ball to produce these stupenduous things. Tacoma and Earthwood and whatever they're called.
If find all of these instruments immensely excessive and over the top redundant. Think of it: It is the only instrument which is a copy of an instrument that was an electric copy of an acoustic upright in the first place! You did the electric bass as a copy of an acoustic (as you did with guitar) but then you did an acoustic version of that electric one again....
Never ever heard such baloney before. You must plug it in but that counters everyhing it's supposed to do. If you turn it up the slightest, it will feed back in the lowest frequencies, and then just must EQ so much all bottom is gone anyway. Frankly, these instruments are the most one out there, that leaves me with the largest question mark upon my face. Why? I e when considering "gadgets in music industry that one thinks are absolutely useless".Get a proper acoustic upright, or a Bajo Sexto/Guitarron OR keep your electric bass as it is. Preferably the latter. You'll save a bunch of money anyway.
It would only have some merit if it sounded just exactly like an upright when plugged in, but not even that it manages.
The Klein/Taylor:
The Mexican Guitarrón:
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+1. This mr OP. This! Orangeclawhammr is dead on. I made my mistake, and learned it the hardest way. That one (Taylor AB1) was supposed to be the cream of the crop back in the 90's. Everyone I know of now, they're wall hangers, conversation pieces, or just have sold them or traded them in. It's the basses that lasts the shortest amount of time in any collection.
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Oh, it's possible, most definitely possible, it's just not cheap, and one will generally have to sacrifice playing comfort as well as a bunch of $s (the ABGs big enough to be heard have huge bodies).
Sure, you can play a giant bodied acoustic with mile high action and a pick as hard as you can and you'll be heard somewhat. It's gonna sound aweful and gonna feel aweful to play. Noodling at home, around a campfire, have at it. That's a different story. But unplugged acoustic basses are useless in a band setting with a guitar player and a drummer.
That doesn't mean they're useless. They can sound great with an amp. It's a unique tone works in an acoustic setting, but ya gotta plug in. It's the way of the world.
A Ubass or Goldtone microbass is a great bet. Goldtone makes both 23" and 25" scale now. Strung with
Roadtoads Paehoehoe strings and a small amp you would be good to go. I don't think anything acoustic is going to work well enough without some type of amplification. I own both Goldtone and Ubass and they sound incredible. I like the sound better than any metal string acoustic i've tried. Just something else to consider.
I've been down this road. I bought a Michael Kelly Dragonfly 5-string ABG on here for $350 (I think). It sounded and played great.
That being said, plan on having a small amp to run your ABG through. The only acoustic bass that will stand up to even a small coffeehouse-type noise level is that thing fashioned from a bass drum.
I recommend the Phil Jones Bass Cub; 100 watts, two 5" speakers, lightweight, compact, and comes with a shoulder bag. They can be found used for around $400.
That being said, plan on having a small amp to run your ABG through. The only acoustic bass that will stand up to even a small coffeehouse-type noise level is that thing fashioned from a bass drum.
I recommend the Phil Jones Bass Cub; 100 watts, two 5" speakers, lightweight, compact, and comes with a shoulder bag. They can be found used for around $400.
Ubass will work plugged in with its "rubber" string. If you want a dead stop un-sustaining note with a short decay. Or if you go the other way Godin A-series, but they are electric, almost, with their thin hollow bodies. But I agree, STEEL strings on an acoustic bass guitar isn't advised. You still have to plug it in, so why bother?
The U-basses (ukulele basses) mentioned above are really cool, very upright character in a small package with those funky rubbery strings - silicon maybe? I tried them out and liked most everything about them. Only thing for me was that I like slides and bends and side-to-side vibrato - those strings just rolled under my fingers on the fret board, as well as snagged up my slides. --they'd take me a bit of readjusting how I play, but if you're a straight up player adapting will be easy, and adapting new methods of vibrato and slides no doubt can be found. -- I don't own one, but I do like them. -- I ended up with a used Ovation for a 3rd of the price
My Dean Exotica is an acoustic with one of the best preamps you can find in an acoustic bass...not the cheap passive electronics found in the budget Dean acoustics.
Mine is active with the Aphex Aural Exciter with Big Bottom circuitry and a phase switch. While I can play other active basses with the volume dialed full on, I have to keep this at halfway or less playing at the same amp setting.
Regardless, feedback is not an issue as some might expect...for a simple reason.
..
If you want an acoustic, I'm not going to talk you out of it...I'm not going to say it's uncomfortable (seems people say that about Rics, too, right?), I'm not going to tell you to just use your Precision (mine can't sound like my Exotica!) and I'm not going to suggest ANYTHING else.
I'm just telling you when I play out, more people compliment me on the tone of my acoustic bass than any other bass.
By the way...black nylon tapewounds!
Mine is active with the Aphex Aural Exciter with Big Bottom circuitry and a phase switch. While I can play other active basses with the volume dialed full on, I have to keep this at halfway or less playing at the same amp setting.
Regardless, feedback is not an issue as some might expect...for a simple reason.
If you want an acoustic, I'm not going to talk you out of it...I'm not going to say it's uncomfortable (seems people say that about Rics, too, right?), I'm not going to tell you to just use your Precision (mine can't sound like my Exotica!) and I'm not going to suggest ANYTHING else.
I'm just telling you when I play out, more people compliment me on the tone of my acoustic bass than any other bass.
By the way...black nylon tapewounds!
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I perform at a lot of acoustic unplugged gigs and having an acoustic bass has really been a wonderful addition to the other acoustic instruments. I get tons of compliments on the sound quality. I bought a carlo robelli electric/acoustic for under $300 and another used for under $100. These are really loud when not plugged in with the right strings, but mainly play plugged into a PA. I only wish I had the money for an electric double bass (upright standup).
I guarantee you my Earthwood (named Ernie, of course) does not have "mile high action" and I don't need to pluck as hard as physically possible to be heard and heard well. It sounds very, very nice, and is nice to play, though yeah, the body is big. But it can keep up with just about any other stringed acoustic instrument in terms of acoustic volume. There are others as well.
It is possible, just not cheap. I don't find the ergonomic challenges to be as much of a problem as some might, though, granted. Then again, I'm rather large-bodied myself.
What I'd really like is a clone of Jack Casady's Ribbecke "Diana" bass (well, without the lock of her hair built in, of course, that's kinda personal).
