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Best way to get upright sound?

#23
Stick_Player said:
Very nice playing. But doesn't sound at all like a DB. :rollno:
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I agree with this. Don't confuse note choice with note shape and tone. His note choices are very tasty and might be what a DB player would choose. That makes it "sound like jazz" for a lot of people. But the shape and the tone of the notes are not like a DB at all. DB's have "bloom" in the shape of the notes that BGs do not, and BGs (including in that clip) sustain in a way that DBs do not.
 
#24
thudfromafar said:
Yeah, why doesn't he just learn the upright (even though he said he has a $400 budget and doesn't want to learn a whole new instrument) instead of approximating the sound on EB... :meh:
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Maybe spend the $400 on lessons as to how to walk on bass on his current BG, and otherwise make jazz style note choices, rather than worrying about a sonic problem that is difficult if not impossible to solve.
 
#25
Someone needs lo build a compromise bass, maybe 42" scale, radiused fretboard, hollow body, wooden bridge- possibly a squat double bass style.

The first time I played double bass it was some crazy 10,000$ German deal, the owner looked shocked when I sat down and played it over my knee. But I did, and it was easier for me to play it that way. I have had a few acoustic basses that sounded close, especially with extra high action, but really there is no substitute. Even electric double basses don't really sound right imo.
 
#27
I just play my fretless P with a chunk of neoprene by the bridge, roll the tone back, and pluck with the side of my fingers around the 16th fret. I've tried it with with my Jaguar with only the neck pickup too, sounds convincing enough to the untrained ear. UB technique also has a lot to do with it's sound so transfer some of that over appropriately and the tone will come through.
 
#29
How about an electric upright (more expensive, but less space taken up)? I get a very nice upright sound from my Zeta (now out of business, but you can pick 'em up used around $1K). Then there's Electric Yamahas and other types too. Thumbnail below shows the Zeta fretless -center- strung with TI Flats (with masking tape fret markers);

Here's what it sounds like (This in NOT me);



Cheers,
Neal.
 

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#30
You can hunt for a good deal on a decent electric upright, though for $400 it could take a while.

I mostly play DB, used to own a few electric uprights, and IME you can't really sound like a DB with a bass guitar, but you can get a sound which has many of the same elements that make the DB appealing. I do it with a bass guitar that has dead old flatwound strings, very high action, and is plugged into a PA instead of a bass amp. The bass in my avatar, actually, which used to be an Ibanez BTB-400 before I Vuittonized it, so it has a 35" scale and 3-band EQ with sweepable mids, but I just used the neck pickup and leave the EQ flat, then cut treble at the mixer. The strings are Chromes, about ten years old by now.

I once even brought it to a big church choir rehearsal where I was supposed to play DB to substitute for a cello in a string quartet, and the choir director said he was worried that it wouldn't sound good, but was surprised it sounds "like pizzicato". So, I guess it works. It's also good for folky thump, not sure about jazz. I actually set the bass up that way for Invalid Link Removed.
 
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#31
Most DB-like without a full size DB I've heard so far is the Eminence EUB, but that is in essence a DB with smaller body, and of course a lot more money than most would like to spend for the occasional DB-like sound.

Other than that I think you need to look at fretless, muting technique and flatwounds. And maybe a hollowbody or semi hollowbody bass.
 
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#32
i play a samick remington bass that I defretted. It has labella nylon wound flats and came equipped with an LR bagg preamp. The action is set on the higher side and I pluck high around where the neck attaches to the body. It sustains more than the uprights I've played, but the overall tone is remarkably close to what I have experienced from uprights.

it's a poor man's Godin.
2mo1fy9.jpg
 
#33
There is no way to make a bass guitar sound like a double bass. Even an electric upright fails to fully capture the acoustic properties of an upright. The notes on an upright bloom in a way that a 34" scale instrument simply cannot copy.

So you are left with 2 options: either get a double bass (which you've already stated is out of the question) or learn to play jazz on an electric bass.

When you are playing nice long, sweeping lines, using well chosen passing tones and interesting intervals, nobody listening is going to care what you are playing it on.
 
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#34
pklima said:
You can hunt for a good deal on a decent electric upright, though for $400 it could take a while.

I mostly play DB, used to own a few electric uprights, and IME you can't really sound like a DB with a bass guitar, but you can get a sound which has many of the same elements that make the DB appealing. I do it with a bass guitar that has dead old flatwound strings, very high action, and is plugged into a PA instead of a bass amp. The bass in my avatar, actually, which used to be an Ibanez BTB-400 before I Vuittonized it, so it has a 35" scale and 3-band EQ with sweepable mids, but I just used the neck pickup and leave the EQ flat, then cut treble at the mixer. The strings are Chromes, about ten years old by now.

I once even brought it to a big church choir rehearsal where I was supposed to play DB to substitute for a cello in a string quartet, and the choir director said he was worried that it wouldn't sound good, but was surprised it sounds "like pizzicato". So, I guess it works. It's also good for folky thump, not sure about jazz. I actually set the bass up that way for Invalid Link Removed.
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Sorry, I missed the 'tight budget' part in the original post. My bad.

Neal.
 
#40
As some have mentioned, you can get a very passable upright sound from an electric bass. You can do the foam/cloth over the bridge, but generally you can achieve it with left hand muting and playing over the end of the fingerboard, making sure your tone/treble is turned down.

The Kala U-Bass does sound so upright like it's almost unreal. I played one the other week and it's astounding.
 

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