I don't think he's going to be able to play arco on that thing. It is pretty much a vertical fretless bass guitar with a flat fingerboard and 34" scale.
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Double Bass Dean Pace EUB megathread
- Thread starter DaBassman
- Start date
i'm almost certain that is what it is designed for. Unless someone else on here as actually tried it out. maybe someone who was brave and had some spending cash could try some 1/4 scale strings or something of the sort, but even then I'm not sure that would work.
I recommend a drawstring around a burlap sack before throwing it off a bridge. Beyond that, you can cut any double bass strings, just solder or superglue the winding where you cut it first and unwind it after that for the tuning peg.
It was an eBay special, maple neck, passive pickup, with some cosmetic swirls and at $270 I couldn't pass it up. Have been wanting to get an EUB and this appears to be the entry level base.
I've played the Palatino and have admired the Gypsy Azeola but in these hard times I really couldn't get anything like them for this price.
I just can't imagine playing it on the tripod though. Is there an inexpensive way to change this out to an adjustable peg?
It has been modified by Pace so all the guts are out of the battery box so covering it up with a steel rod isn't a problem.
Have read a few posts on where the instrument can be placed, but in general what are the rules of thumb: how high, so you are looking at the nut?; how close to the body, so it lays on your inner left thigh when seated on a stool?; and slightly rotated toward you enough get to the E without arching your wrist, right?
Thanks for any suggestions.
I've played the Palatino and have admired the Gypsy Azeola but in these hard times I really couldn't get anything like them for this price.
I just can't imagine playing it on the tripod though. Is there an inexpensive way to change this out to an adjustable peg?
It has been modified by Pace so all the guts are out of the battery box so covering it up with a steel rod isn't a problem.
Have read a few posts on where the instrument can be placed, but in general what are the rules of thumb: how high, so you are looking at the nut?; how close to the body, so it lays on your inner left thigh when seated on a stool?; and slightly rotated toward you enough get to the E without arching your wrist, right?
Thanks for any suggestions.
I wonder how well that would work. The Pace doesn't really have a body or any extensions attached to simulate the profiles of a DB.... so if it was just standing on an endpin, it may have a tendency to spin around when you play it.
.
If you've got any doubts over this kind of stuff, go see a teacher. I'm still a newb to URB/EUB myself but every bit of advice I've read suggests this ... then you can be fairly confident you're holding and playing the bass in a way which won't lead to problems.
That said ...
Two rules of thumb to get you started on height ... the nut at eyebrow height is not a bad place to start, then you can see your first finger at the first 'fret' (half-position, I think). The other consideration for height is that you should be able to reach down and pluck the strings just below the end of the fingerboard. You won't always be playing there, but you should be able to reach it.
How close to the body may be something you have to work out for yourself with that bass. The body of a full upright will put you fairly naturally at the right distance, so see if you can figure out something from that.
But that's no substitute for working these things out with a teacher, and getting something that suits you and your bass.
Andy
I've only seen pictures of a Pace bass, so I don't know if this is possible, but if you managed to get an endpin attached, could you drill into what little bit of 'body' there is and attach some handmade extensions along the lines of the Yamaha Silent bass?
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
Interesting that this thread should pop up...
I just bought myself a Pace 5.
My payment clears tomorrow and hopefully the guy I bought it from will ship it immediately. My 4 string collects dust only because all my gigs these days call for a 5. I was starting to use it a bit though when I had gigs I could.
As soon as I get this one going I'm going to put my 4 up for grabs so if anyone is interested please let me know.
Last note - the joining of all these threads makes it look like some of us are crazy. It doesn't always make sense with the double posts and all... just want to make note that I'm not... well... if you read everything.... arite, forget it. I am actually crazy.
I just bought myself a Pace 5.
My payment clears tomorrow and hopefully the guy I bought it from will ship it immediately. My 4 string collects dust only because all my gigs these days call for a 5. I was starting to use it a bit though when I had gigs I could. As soon as I get this one going I'm going to put my 4 up for grabs so if anyone is interested please let me know.
Last note - the joining of all these threads makes it look like some of us are crazy. It doesn't always make sense with the double posts and all... just want to make note that I'm not... well... if you read everything.... arite, forget it. I am actually crazy.
Newbie alert - I haven't posted here before!I've had a Pace for a year or so, coming from a fretless (not upright) background. So I like it - apart from the build quality of the electrics, which is distinctly cheesy. The sound is great, and it's easy yet interestingly different to play. The upright guys are a bit sniffy about it, because they say it's really just a fretless - but they're upright guys, so how would they know! For me, it neither plays nor sounds like a fretless.
But I'm surprised to find so many folks here saying that they like the case. As soon as I got confident enough to play the Pace at gigs, and throwing it in the back of the car a couple of times a week, the very lightweight polystyrene dividers in the case just fell to bits under the weight of the instrument - completely hopeless design. The outside nylon bit is fine, but it needs something more robust protecting the instrument inside.
I'm wondering if anyone else has had that problem, and maybe come up with a solution? I'm thinking of buying a second case as a temporary stopgap (cheapest I can find is 60 pounds, just over US$100), and "repairing" the innards of the original case with something stronger - perhaps some plywood covered in some kind of foam.
But I'm a beginner at flightcasing - any advice out there? Or can anyone in the UK knock up a sensible hard or hard-ish case for a decent price?
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
The case on my 4 string fell apart also after a handful of gigs, but I sold it and bought a 5 string so now I have a new case. At the time I purchased the first one I remember seeing hard shell cases that were available for them. You might want to do a search and see if you can find one of those.
At the time I purchased the first one I remember seeing hard shell cases that were available for them. You might want to do a search and see if you can find one of those.
Hey everyone,
I started playing upright bass a few months ago. Im renting an acoustic upright bass, but im thinking I might save up and buy this...having not played it yet I was wondering if any of you have and what your opinions are,of course ill play it before I buy it but I just would like some feedback.
Thanks!
I started playing upright bass a few months ago. Im renting an acoustic upright bass, but im thinking I might save up and buy this...having not played it yet I was wondering if any of you have and what your opinions are,of course ill play it before I buy it but I just would like some feedback.
Thanks!
I played it briefly. If you want a bass guitar on a stick, this is your bass. It bears absolutely no resemblance or kinship to the double bass, or even a more conventional EUB for that matter, other than the fact that it points at the sky.
That's what I've heard about the Dean, that it doesn't sound much like an upright at all. I'm not an upright player, but I'd imagine that it has quite a bit to do with the fact that it's a 35" scale, instead of the full upright scale length.
I doesn't sound like an upright, it sounds like a mid-level fretless bass guitar, which is what it is after all. The fingerboard's not radiused either, so no arco.
There's a big megathread about it here, but I would not recommend it to anyone who is already playing a real double bass.
There's a big megathread about it here, but I would not recommend it to anyone who is already playing a real double bass.
Mick Donner, who designed the Pace Bass while working for Dean Guitars, is very frank that one of the corners that Dean Guitars cut on the Pace was to put a cheaper set of electronics in the original active version.
Mick designed the bass around the Graphtech Ghost pickup/electronics system. I don't remember if Dean went for cheaper piezo pickups as well as cheaper electronics; it seems to me that Mick said both were replaced to hit the lower price points that Dean desired.
Later on, the cheap electronics started failing and Dean got tired of replacing parts, so the cheap active electronics were taken out completely and the Pace Bass became, and still is, a passive piezo system.
Mick also has told me that the Pace Bass with the complete Graphtech system has much more of a real EUB sound that borders on close to upright.
The upgrade can be done by any good guitar technician. Mick was considering doing the upgrades on a custom order basis. I have not talked with him in a while, so I don't know if he would still do these. I suspect he would, now that he is no longer working for Dean.
Mick was visiting Talkbass here and there at one time, but I don't know if he's here these days. I'll shoot him an email and ask him to opine.
Mick designed the bass around the Graphtech Ghost pickup/electronics system. I don't remember if Dean went for cheaper piezo pickups as well as cheaper electronics; it seems to me that Mick said both were replaced to hit the lower price points that Dean desired.
Later on, the cheap electronics started failing and Dean got tired of replacing parts, so the cheap active electronics were taken out completely and the Pace Bass became, and still is, a passive piezo system.
Mick also has told me that the Pace Bass with the complete Graphtech system has much more of a real EUB sound that borders on close to upright.
The upgrade can be done by any good guitar technician. Mick was considering doing the upgrades on a custom order basis. I have not talked with him in a while, so I don't know if he would still do these. I suspect he would, now that he is no longer working for Dean.
Mick was visiting Talkbass here and there at one time, but I don't know if he's here these days. I'll shoot him an email and ask him to opine.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
I'm sure this has been posted somewhere in this thread, but I missed it. I owned my 4 string for a few years and never knew it had tone controls. 
When I bought the bass it came with no owners manuals and I accepted it as it was - and loved the sound. Lots of mwah, not all that DB like. When I bought the 5 it sounded waaay different and had a much thumpier upright sound. It also had 2 holes in the back plate for the tone controls. I took the plate off the 4 and lo and behold.
Anyhow, I may be the only idiot here that didn't know these things had tone controls, but just in case I'm not I figured I'd post this. The older ones don't have holes in the screw on plate in the back for access. You have to remove the plate to adjust it. I'm assuming my 5 string is a newer version. Both DO however have bass and treble controls. With the EQ rolled down bass gets lots of mwah, with the EQs up it gets thump. Pretty versatile actually.
When I bought the bass it came with no owners manuals and I accepted it as it was - and loved the sound. Lots of mwah, not all that DB like. When I bought the 5 it sounded waaay different and had a much thumpier upright sound. It also had 2 holes in the back plate for the tone controls. I took the plate off the 4 and lo and behold.Anyhow, I may be the only idiot here that didn't know these things had tone controls, but just in case I'm not I figured I'd post this. The older ones don't have holes in the screw on plate in the back for access. You have to remove the plate to adjust it. I'm assuming my 5 string is a newer version. Both DO however have bass and treble controls. With the EQ rolled down bass gets lots of mwah, with the EQs up it gets thump. Pretty versatile actually.
I just picked up a 5 string pace at a great deal. I am having an issue with hum. At the house the bass is dead quiet played through my zoom B2.1u or amp. But when I go to Church it starts to hum.
It must be picking up something. When I first start playing at Church it is quiet but then starts to hum when light, screens, and other items are plugged in or turned on.
I tried powering down items and it appears it might be the lights. I have switched ground lift and tried moving the bass to other areas of the stage.
Funny thing is that if I do not touch the strings it is quiet. But as my hands get nearer to the strings the buzz starts to get louder. Touching the strings just makes it buzz.
It must be picking up something. When I first start playing at Church it is quiet but then starts to hum when light, screens, and other items are plugged in or turned on.
I tried powering down items and it appears it might be the lights. I have switched ground lift and tried moving the bass to other areas of the stage.
Funny thing is that if I do not touch the strings it is quiet. But as my hands get nearer to the strings the buzz starts to get louder. Touching the strings just makes it buzz.
I am an Italian bass. SOS!!!!!!!!!!!
My peace 5 has a problem of distortion.
Mick D. has mounted the Ghost with good results.
Do you have any advice?
"...I actually have a Dean Pace 5 and a few different fretless basses. True, the Pace doesn't really sound much like an upright but I must say that it's a lot more convenient to haul to gigs than my doghouse. The Pace really doesn't sound like any of my fretless basses either. I have a some custom stuff that's J and MM based. The Pace really has a voice of its own and it either works or doesn't work for your particular situation.
It's pretty solidly built and the stand makes perfect sense if you set it up right (no pun). There's very little to it so there isn't much to go wrong. If there is a weak spot, it's the electronics. I replaced mine with the Graphtech Ghost system and it made a huge improvement in both sound and reliability. I heard that Dean's solution to the electronic problems was to eliminate the preamp this year. That means that it's now just a piezo bridge going through a volume control to a jack. I hope they lower the price enough to make adding an outboard buffer preamp feasable.........."
My peace 5 has a problem of distortion.
Mick D. has mounted the Ghost with good results.
Do you have any advice?
"...I actually have a Dean Pace 5 and a few different fretless basses. True, the Pace doesn't really sound much like an upright but I must say that it's a lot more convenient to haul to gigs than my doghouse. The Pace really doesn't sound like any of my fretless basses either. I have a some custom stuff that's J and MM based. The Pace really has a voice of its own and it either works or doesn't work for your particular situation.
It's pretty solidly built and the stand makes perfect sense if you set it up right (no pun). There's very little to it so there isn't much to go wrong. If there is a weak spot, it's the electronics. I replaced mine with the Graphtech Ghost system and it made a huge improvement in both sound and reliability. I heard that Dean's solution to the electronic problems was to eliminate the preamp this year. That means that it's now just a piezo bridge going through a volume control to a jack. I hope they lower the price enough to make adding an outboard buffer preamp feasable.........."
