This sounds like a great excuse to buy a double bass doesn't it? That's why I bought my first one, to go busking with a couple of guitarist friends, plenty loud enough, and everybody loves it.
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Acoustic Basses?
- Thread starter Charlie Brown
- Start date
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This guy makes amazing ones at very fair prices.
There are a number of affordable acoustic basses out there. However if you're going to play gigs - then you're going to need an amp or go through the p.a. - a sound hole cover usually reduces feedback and you could try a Bass equalizer to round out the sound to your likes
if you're in a setting where it's just a group playing acoustics in the living room or outside, playing with a pick (un plugged) will help with sound projection. you should probably try out a few to gage how you like them and to judge how they project and feel. they do play a little differently and you will probably find you have to adjust your technique a little to get the sound you like.
I love playing my acoustic bass- but there are projection issues -and it doesn't work for every situation (IMO) there is a reason earlier stand-up basses were so big.
if you're in a setting where it's just a group playing acoustics in the living room or outside, playing with a pick (un plugged) will help with sound projection. you should probably try out a few to gage how you like them and to judge how they project and feel. they do play a little differently and you will probably find you have to adjust your technique a little to get the sound you like.
I love playing my acoustic bass- but there are projection issues -and it doesn't work for every situation (IMO) there is a reason earlier stand-up basses were so big.
Eddie's Attic is a famous venue for acoustic singer songwriters. A lot of artists use Breedlove basses which are played through the PA.
I found a good deal on a Morgan Monroe AVB-500. Morgan Monroe is known for making Bluegrass instruments. It came in a nice case with a hydrometer built in!
Also experiment with strings. I prefer tapewound.
I found a good deal on a Morgan Monroe AVB-500. Morgan Monroe is known for making Bluegrass instruments. It came in a nice case with a hydrometer built in!
Also experiment with strings. I prefer tapewound.
I played a big ol' 1977 Guild B50 for several years in an acoustic trio. I had nothing but compliments on that beast. I regret selling it at times but the young fella that purchased it from me still does the odd gig with it and loves it.
If you can find one used it will do the job for you
Check out this link.
Retro-Rama : 1976 Guild B-50 | Bassplayer
If you can find one used it will do the job for you
Check out this link.
Retro-Rama : 1976 Guild B-50 | Bassplayer
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Well somebody has to step up and defend the Taylor AB1... It's a beautiful instrument and one I prefer playing sitting down w/o a strap. The trick behind this one is not only does it excel plugged in, but you need to run it through a compression pedal for best results. I found both the CM Comp/Lim and Analogman to be the real ticket here. Even more so than an FEA.
Oh and Rotosound RS44LC strings too... 45-105 sound crappy on an AEB in my experience. Go with 40-100.
Oh and Rotosound RS44LC strings too... 45-105 sound crappy on an AEB in my experience. Go with 40-100.
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I started a four piece acoustic band (perhaps I'm stretching the term as I'll describe…) that will be gigging soon. The rhythm guitarist is on an acoustic that is plugged into an amp - and (full disclosure) I do have a lead guitarist doing some electric lines in the background. That being said, I have tried my P with flats, my fretless P - researched getting an acoustic (and read so many reasons why not to) - and have settled on my traditional bass with rounds - just dialing back the EQ such that it sounds less metallic. The sustain is superior, and with the other players needing to be plugged in so that they can be heard over the vocalists' PA - why wouldn't I? Your P bass is perfect. Save the $$!
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!
I was going to ask about those hole blockers... Do they really work?
I like the sound of my Ibanez AEB10, but find feedback issues if I'm too close to my amp - which it is sometimes hard not to be
Do they still sound acoustic with the sound hole blocked?
I had a B50 and LOVED it. Sold it years ago and missed it a great deal. Then a Boulder Creek came along and I grabbed it up. I have since had an opportunity to buy back my old Guild. I A/B'd the two basses side by side and the Boulder Creek was the winner in every way. They show up on Talkbass classifieds at reasonable prices from time to time. Full scale. Decent electronics. Good volume. I'm a believer. But really---if I need to be heard I take my upright.
I bought an Ibanez AEB5 a couple of years ago. $150 at Sam Ash. It was mainly to just mess around and maybe do some recording. The recording never happened, but I did figure out how to play a bass by noodling on it a lot. I never took it anywhere, just played it unplugged at home. It was perfect.
I was asked to join an acoustic group last year, as a guitar player. Later on we added a third guitar and I was asked "Hey, you got a bass at home, right?" I became the bass player.
At first I plugged in to the PA, but it just didn't sound right. Then we used our band leaders little Epiphone guitar amp, and it was ok but a little thin even with everything turned down, tone-wise. Then I was given a Hartke HD25 and what a difference. I know it's a bass amp, but it really did make that acoustic bass come alive.
If you're looking cheap, get something like the AEB5 ($150) or the AEB10 ($200). You'll have the bass you need to practice/noodle with around the house, and you can use your existing amp when you need to plug in. Or get a Rumble 40, or something similar, to lighten the load.
I have since sold my acoustic bass, but that was only so I could fund my Squier purchase. I would have kept it if possible. It served it's purpose well.
I was asked to join an acoustic group last year, as a guitar player. Later on we added a third guitar and I was asked "Hey, you got a bass at home, right?" I became the bass player.
At first I plugged in to the PA, but it just didn't sound right. Then we used our band leaders little Epiphone guitar amp, and it was ok but a little thin even with everything turned down, tone-wise. Then I was given a Hartke HD25 and what a difference. I know it's a bass amp, but it really did make that acoustic bass come alive.
If you're looking cheap, get something like the AEB5 ($150) or the AEB10 ($200). You'll have the bass you need to practice/noodle with around the house, and you can use your existing amp when you need to plug in. Or get a Rumble 40, or something similar, to lighten the load.
I have since sold my acoustic bass, but that was only so I could fund my Squier purchase. I would have kept it if possible. It served it's purpose well.
I love my fretless Boulder Creek 5, especially with the compression wound bronze strings I have on it now, but it still only qualifies as "acoustically loud enough for solo practice only" - which is fine, since I got it for that purpose. It does sound great plugged in, too, now, with these strings.
Still not acoustic or unplugged by any means. And I said - as others already has acknowledged too - the Mexican Guitarrón will be your best bet as of yet. THAT is the true original, since Ernie Ball got "inspired" from that one. And as for pluggin it in at all, ask jazz bass great Steve Swallow, Bob Cranshaw about the same thing then, see what kind of reply you'll get. Please don't tell me that any ABG should be as different just as it is from any electric or acoustic guitar. Just as that if you plugged it in, you'd get an ACOUSTIC UPRIGHT BASS SOUND all of a sudden. Never ever heard of such baloney. It is purely in acoustic terms I AM talking about here.
Yes, and if James Taylor equipped his/that Les Paul with GHOST system and piezo mics, and a Fishman Aura, I think you'd be hard pressed in that audience of which was which. However, the feel of it when you're playing may be entirely different, of course. I think you'd be even better off equipping your solid body bass with a piezo equipped bridge, and suitable processing to follow that. You'd be hard pressed - in a blindfold test - to pick out which was which.
Second, AFTER the Mexican Guitarrón would probably be the U-bass. There are very few of the ABG's that have been sold without ANY piezo system. However more so, within the acoustic guitar.
While the guitarron was one of the influences of the Earthwood, it's not the only one, and it's really quite a completely different instrument, with far more ergonomic challenges than the Earthwood, for not much, if any, more volume.
I have to assume you've never actually played an Earthwood. I'll keep repeating as long as people keep claiming they don't exist: acoustically competitive ABGs do exist, but they are expensive and large with no exceptions that I know of. I'll keep repeating it as long as anyone keeps denying it.
I can't really hear any loss of volume playing unplugged, but I'd have to imagine there must be some very slight difference in the overall tone. However, not only does it drastically cut down feedback (if I'm too close to my amp I sometimes notice a tiny bit of noise if I take both hands off my bass) but it improves my plugged-in tone. My bass actually sounds better with it in!I was going to ask about those hole blockers... Do they really work?
I like the sound of my Ibanez AEB10, but find feedback issues if I'm too close to my amp - which it is sometimes hard not to be
Do they still sound acoustic with the sound hole blocked?
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My acoustic basses are a Tacoma Thunderchief (CB10e) and a Guild B-50 (with JJB pickup installed by me). I give the Tacoma the nod for playability, and the Guild for tone. I love 'em both, and they will someday be part of my estate (ie, I ain't ever gonna sell 'em). I also have a Strunal 50/4 upright bass that I use for bluegrass jams and such.
Assumptions about tone have been rampant throughout this thread. But if one seeks an acoustic bass instrument that is
1) loud enough to hold its own in a truly unplugged situation;
2) portable;
3) relatively easy to obtain;
4) affordable;
then IMO a quarter-sized DB meets more of these criteria than many of the other suggestions offered. But, true, it will not sound like a bass GUITAR. And it will be fretless.
Player's choice.
I'm having a hard time understanding your point, other than hating on ABG's for for the sake of it. But, I'll try to take them on point by point, as best I understand them.
1.) The idea that ABG's come from Guitarron's doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. It seems pretty clear that they were inspired by flat top acoustic guitars. I'm not saying that the Guitarron wasn't a factor inspiring Ernie Ball's design. But, that's just one example of the whole genre of instruments.
2.) I don't know what you're trying to get at when you reference Steve Swallow and Bob Cranshaw. Do you realize that Steve Swallow actually has his own model of ABG?
3.) I never asserted that ABG's sound like uprights. That's not the tone that most people are going for with an ABG, hence why they have copper strings. There certainly are some people who use them as a more portable alternative to an upright. These people usually use tapewound strings and fretless fingerboards. But, again they are a very specific subset.
4.) Your assertion that a solid body instrument with a piezo pick up sounds the same as an acoustic instrument that has been plugged into an amp just doesn't jive with my reality.
5.) After the Guitarron, the U-bass would be second.....in what? Acoustic volume?
6.) Yes, a lot of guitars are sold without pickups. I'm not sure what you point is. We've never stated that ABG's were as loud as acoustic guitars.
I get that you don't like ABG's. Cool. But, a lot of folks do like them. And we don't like them because they are loud.....because they aren't. We like them because they have their own distinct tone, they are light, portable, and don't need an amp to practice.
