I purchased an Azola Gypsy this past summer. I love this bass. You can carry it on an airplane and put it in the overhead compartment. What could be more portable than that. As for sound and construction, you will find that the gypsy will create wonderful, unique and diverse tones. Now, the solid body gypsy will not create the full overtone series of harmonics that a full sized acoustic will, but it will create wonderful sounds for a great variety of musical applications, which is to say you will have a fat sound that will cut through the mix and be heard with much greater ease than most acoustic double basses. if you are looking for a more acoustic sound, i would recommend checking out the acoustic bugbass, or one of the other hollow body models. i own the acoustic bug, and it is a simply amazing bass. every gig i play with it, somebody wants to take it home with them, or they comment that it should be in a museum, or that it is the most pristine sound they have heard, or something of that ilk. do not underestimate the power of the fully armed and operational Azola pickup/preamp. if you leave it flat, you will get a tone for jazz that in an amplified setting, trumps the sound of almost all acoustic basses. or you can bump up the bass, and get a ridiculous reggae sound, and then if you cut back the highs you have a very cool tumbao. to sum up and not wax all day, the gypsy and the acoustic bug are two totally different basses, and both wonderfully made (durable and trouble free, much thought and engineering seems to have gone into the gig-worthy stability of their designs). if portability is the premium, go with the gypsy, if acoustic tone the premium go with the acoustic series. either way you will be happy. They are also excellent value, and from two of my favorite people, Steve and Jill Azola. In this world, that counts for something.
