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Double Bass Czech-Ease

#81
There are a few small thing about it that used to bother me, it can get a little "wolfy" sounding in a few spots when played arco. The bass can get a bit hard to control feedback-wise with it's "Realist" if the volume gets crazy too. Last year I got pretty hung up in worrying about this stuff, to the point where I thought an EUB would be smarter. But not so, at least in my case. There was nothing wrong with my EUB, but at it's very best the sound and the vibe just wasn't as "real" as I had become used to with the C-E. I've been at lot happier since I got my C-E back.
I installed a Wilson PU since getting the bass back, it's real good if the band gets real loud. It's "drier" sounding than the "Realist" and very resitant to feedback. A bit pricy, but worth it. The "wolf-tones" and other little stuff that used to annoy me about the C-E's tone thru an amp at loud volumes seem to go away when using this pickup.
I'm looking forward to having an opportunty to try this bass sans pickups, just a mic. But at the venue where I am currently employed it's not a good idea at this time!
 
#83
Damon, just about every bass and bass related item that is offered for sale these days is over-priced, IMHO, except maybe those ERGOBasses you like.
My current playing situation in Asia offers my a rather high profile, I'm not the world's greatest player or anything close, but I happen to be in the house band at what's considered to be one of the top venues for jazz in China, so just about everyone who's into jazz and bass playing in China knows who I am. It's just a matter of time before one of the Chinese makers decides to produce a knock-off of my bass.
 
#84
Mike,

The things you mentioned about the "wolfy" sound with arco have been my experience, and is the main reason my Czech Ease is on consignment at Lemur's right now. In my present situation, I need to do a lot of arco, and I need a backup bass that has a good arco sound. But, missing my Czech Ease a little today.

But I never gave much thought to replacing PUs and will keep that in the back of my mind for the future. I have been using Kolstein hybrid strings on the Czech Ease. The ones they came with were awful, cannot even remember what they were. I just wondered what your experience has been with strings and what do you like to use now?
 
#85
JG, I play a lot of Sam Stewart inspired arco stuff with my Czech-Ease. It works fine. My bass came with Spiro Mittles on EAD with a Flexacore G, the Flexacore has a purple colored silk at the ends. This combo worked fine, I played it like that for 6 months and did have to give much thought to the strings issue, I just did my thing. I got the urge to try some Obligatos when I was back in LA in betweem one of my Asia trips early 2006 but didn't gig out with them. I only had them on the bass for a few days and thought they sounded a bit plasticy with the Underwood pickup I was into using at the time. I should had given them a more far trial but had more work coming up so I decided to try some Spiro Weichs instead. I've been sticking with the Weichs ever since and I can get a pretty good arco tone with them too. Got to admit though, I've still got the almost brand new Obligatos here with me and I'm quite temped to put them on soon. If I don't like them the next move is going to be a set of those new Eurosonics that KSB is offering on his site, the only thing that's stopping me is that the shipping and import duty is going to be sky-high for me, and providing all the nessasary documents to faciltate a delivery here can be a real P.I.T.A.
To tell you the truth, there's not one good reason to stop using the Weichs, I just get bored with them sometimes, and want to try out different strings.
 
#86
Mike Carr said:
Damon, just about every bass and bass related item that is offered for sale these days is over-priced, IMHO, except maybe those ERGOBasses you like.
My current playing situation in Asia offers my a rather high profile, I'm not the world's greatest player or anything close, but I happen to be in the house band at what's considered to be one of the top venues for jazz in China, so just about everyone who's into jazz and bass playing in China knows who I am. It's just a matter of time before one of the Chinese makers decides to produce a knock-off of my bass.
Click to expand...

-I actually meant over-priced by our world's standards! try to get them to make one, a Chinese knock off would be amazing. Ergos are a great value, mine + borrowing basses is working great for now.
 
#87
Damon, please don't get the idea that I'm anti-EUB, it's just that I'm taking advantage of the other option avaliable to me with the C-E.
Not too many years ago I played a few gigs in LA with your friend Jon Butcher, we played BB Kings Club, The Whisky and that other place on Sunset, (the Key Club?, can't remember) I used my old Carruthers Sub -1, and it sounded great with the acoustic blues/rock material Jon was doing at the time. This was a while ago, about 1998 or therabouts.
 
#88
OT but Mike you just made me feel very old. I remember Jon from when he was probably not much more than a teenager doing his Jimi Hendrix influenced thing. I know he states that his influences were much wider but that is how the public perceived him at the time. A friend of my family owned a club up in Lowell MA where he used to play and he also played a lot at a beachside venue right near where I used to live.

Sigh - time marches on,
S
 
#89
Mike Carr said:
I got the urge to try some Obligatos when I was back in LA in betweem one of my Asia trips early 2006 but didn't gig out with them. I only had them on the bass for a few days and thought they sounded a bit plasticy with the Underwood pickup I was into using at the time. I should had given them a more far trial but had more work coming up so I decided to try some Spiro Weichs instead. I've been sticking with the Weichs ever since and I can get a pretty good arco tone with them too.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Mike, for the info. I never considered Weichs, although they were the strings I first played on when I started playing DB until I discovered the hybrid ones. The Kolstein Statements, in my mind, are similar to the Obligatos, and maybe the Czech-Ease just doesn't bow well with hybrids. I also had the D string break in transport, but, from what I understand, these types of strings tend to break easier than others. Not that strings break often either.

Well, its on consignment now, but, if for some reason the bass doesn't sell or I change my mind, I will try to Weichs.
 
#90
I think we have our John Butchers confused: Invalid Link Removed
The one I played with is a British saxophone innovator.
I think the Czech-ease I played had Spirocore Orchestras. I was able to get a good arco sound out of it. My guess is it will do better with more "live" strings like Spiros.
I am not anti-Czech-ease either. I generally play acoustic so I love that possibility.
The EUB serves me a little better for now because I am not traveling much and it is more useful for local gigs than Czech-ease would be.
 
#92
I put a Fishman full circle on my czech ease and it works great. There is still one wolf tone (the b on the d string, less so on the g string), but it's OK. The Fishman full circle (not to be confused with the terrible bp-100) works well at high volumes. I play pretty loud, arco and pizz. The czech ease is a pretty acceptable solution to the challenges of flying these days, but I wish they would fix a couple things...

It's top heavy, doesn't sit on it's side well.
It's quite funny looking...
Then end pin is not fixed to the bass- it can come out
I would love to get a bow quiver to work with it...

I would never mic it, it's kind of quiet
 
#93
Hi Nate,

Cannot understand why the endpin is coming out. That has always been in there rock solid for me. There's supposed to be a metal piece inside that makes it almost impossible to pull it out. I had a different endpin assembly put in, and the luthier really struggled to pull it out. Maybe you could ask David Gage. They are accessible and answer questions.

I found a quiver that seems to work well with the Czech Ease. Check out Kolstein's website. Their quivers are a little smaller and fit almost perfectly between the bridge and endpin area.

BassBot,

Yes the neck takes some getting used to. I ended up having mind shaved down to a size I like. Quick and easy job for a bass luthier to do.
 
#94
well, i guess I meant the piece of wood the endpin goes in. Forgive my nomenclaturous ignorance. On "normal" basses, held in by the wire, you know?

Mine seems like it took a lot of shaving to get the fingerboard plane- it's pretty thing near the nut. Neck is mostly ok. Overall, better than the plywood bass I played for years.
 
#95
I really need to get mine to a luthier to get the neck shaved down. It is too chunky and top heavy. So it is awkward to pick up sometimes. I actually fell over once on a large quiet stage trying to pick it up. I lost my balance and then my dignity on that one. Nate, It was actually at the Aladdin Theater in Portland.

The quiver problem is something I think about everyday since I'm back on tour with it. I'll check out that Kolstein one. Thanks for the suggestion jgbass!


John

EDIT: I just ordered the quiver.
 
#96
And, not to harp, but the foot/stopper thing sucks. Wore through right away. I've taken two off of my guitar stand, first one also got worn away. I know these are little things, but you know, $5000 and you think this would be dialed.

Might write the gage shop and see if they have solved these issues. Or maybe I am the only one...

I was just at the aladdin a couple weeks ago. Nice place.
 
#97
Nate,

I have been successful calling the shop and getting some assistance. I talked with David Gage once on the phone as well. I think he or they would be interested in the problems you are having with your bass and maybe they have some solutions.
 
#98
Hey This is a great thread. :)It seems to me that this is the main CE thread so I'll resurrect it.

...as of Oct 2015 the bass still is $4500 with bag and the flight trunk is $1600.
Is that what you all paid back in 2006ish?
Are you all still playing the Czech Ease?

I do a lot of duets with acoustic and classical guitar players and it's really nice to be sitting on the same level as them.
I spoke with somebody at Gage and he said it plays fine sitting in a standard chair.
Do any of you play that way? All the pics and video I see are of standing bass players.

After thoroughly reading through this thread the CE seems like it would really work out for me.
Does anybody want to sell theres ? I'm in Southern Oregon.
Have any of you used it in small acoustic settings (no amps)with guitar and or mandolin . What about Banjo?:woot:
 
#99
I think sitting with it would be fine. At worst, you might want a stool. It was cheaper back in the day, but they have made some very good improvements. I wouldn't recommend it in an acoustic setting. It's not a ton quieter, fine for rehearsal, but bummer for a gig (same with chadwick) if unplugged.

good luck
 
#100
ispider6 said:
Had an interesting night tonight. I went to see the Tord Gustavsen Trio at Merkin Hall in NYC. I must say they were terrific and they have a new record out on ECM called "The Ground." Y'all should check it out. Anyway, the bassist, Harald Johnsen, was playing a Czech-Ease because his bass was severely damaged on a Lufthansa flight (the neck broke completely off). He took the bass to David Gage and Gage totally hooked him up at the last minute. I have to commend him for that. Unfortunately, my first experience with a Czech-Ease was not a good one. The bassist is a decent player but the Czech-Ease left much to be desired in terms of sound. After all the positive posts here, I expected to be blown away. To its credit, it does sound okay given the fact that its lower bout is less than half the normal size of a regular DB. And in my book, it still sounds better than EUB. I'm pretty sure Harald was using Velvet strings (expensive gut) but there just wasn't much meat or sustain to the sound. Granted, there are many other factors involved in why it sounded the way it did so I don't want to be too unfair to Gage but after all the hype I was just a little disappointed. I guess I'll have to wait until I try one myself to judge whether their worth their weight in gold.
Click to expand...

Found this post, and have to add this (11 years later): Harald did use Velvet strings, yes. And: He ended up bying the Czech Ease from that concert. Unfortunately, Harald died in 2011, and I have this bass now (the one in my profile picture). I bought it from his brother, a great (amateur) trombone player. I'm a beginner on double bass, but I have received compliments about the tone from the bass.
 
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