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Double Bass Dean Pace EUB megathread

#221
I played one today when EUB shopping, I didn't like it I'm afriad (I bought a Stagg EDB in the end, out of the two it sounded the better!).

It feels too much like a fretless bass held upright, the fretboard is standard bass guitar size and if I'm not mistaken actually uses bass guitar strings instead of double bass strings! The wood for the neck looked more sturdy than the Staggs in its fairness though. You definately can't bow with this either, the bridge is a standard bass guitar one, no arch in it for bowing.

If you're only looking for pizz and are new to double bass I'd recommend, but if you're a double bassisy like myself I wouldn't recommend.
 
#222
I use a Boss Bass EQ pedal with my Pace EUB and it seems to help a little. I had to make some tweaks on the string height, volume knob, zipper replace on the case and removing the sleeve to set the height of the bass to match my eye level. I understand it is not an upright acoustic but offers a cost-effective introduction to the posture required for DB and for playing with the side of your finger instead of the end.
I set it up with the stand and use it for ballads, slow swing and Bossa tunes right now. I could see doing bluegrass and such in certain venues. Right now I am playing it through a Fender Rumber 60 amp but am looking for an amp that might allow a migration path to amplifying a 1/2 to 3/4 DB in the near future.
 
#223
tomtowle said:
I use a Boss Bass EQ pedal with my Pace EUB and it seems to help a little. I had to make some tweaks on the string height, volume knob, zipper replace on the case and removing the sleeve to set the height of the bass to match my eye level. I understand it is not an upright acoustic but offers a cost-effective introduction to the posture required for DB and for playing with the side of your finger instead of the end.
I set it up with the stand and use it for ballads, slow swing and Bossa tunes right now. I could see doing bluegrass and such in certain venues. Right now I am playing it through a Fender Rumber 60 amp but am looking for an amp that might allow a migration path to amplifying a 1/2 to 3/4 DB in the near future.
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In my opinion, the dean doesn't really help with posture since it doesn't have a body to lean against...also, the fact that it has the scale of an electric bass is very misleading as well. When I had one, I set the bridge up with the a and the d higher than the e and the g...and could bow it, though not well or easily. The bass itself sounds good, but not really like an upright.
 
#225
hey all,

i just got a dean pace bass off ebay, and i have a potentially silly question: where are the batteries? i've read it takes 2 9V batteries but when i unscrewed the cover on the rear, that's just the housing for the electronics and has no leads for batteries. am i missing something?

thanks!
 
#226
Any new reviews for the Dean EUB? I'm considering buying one to use with my jazz combo instead of the fender-style bass I'm now playing, at least for some tunes like ballads and bossa-novas. I don't want to cough up 2g's+ for a real high end unit like the Ray Ramirez models until I've seen myself conquer the expanded and fretless neck.

Any suggestions or pointers would be much appreciated. Thanks to any who reply.
 
#228
The Pace basses continue to sell. There must be some market for them, or Dean would discontinue them. I checked several of the big online stores, and all are still stocking Paces. Anybody buy one lately?
 
#229
MichaelVee said:
The Pace basses continue to sell. There must be some market for them, or Dean would discontinue them. I checked several of the big online stores, and all are still stocking Paces. Anybody buy one lately?
Click to expand...

Just got mine last night! I decided to go with the Pace to get into playing upright. Some have said its not a true upright, and they may be correct, but, I thought it would be the easiest transition coming from many years of playing EBG. In many ways it is.

After taking it through the motions for a while.... My first thought of the sound was not much to be desired. I thought there might have been an active pickup as I searched for somewhere to plug a 9volt battery into....Didnt see anything. After playing with the amp's eq (Actually VLE/VPF knobs on the MarkBass) I started to get somewhat of an improved sound. Hey, for a $500 bass, I wasn't expecting miracles.....but, when I then plugged my American P into the amp just to see the sound quality difference, boy I was blown away....

Anyway, I'm 5'10" and the bass does stand a little on the high side w/o being able to adjust much.

I also noticed a slight buzz on the A string when I played about halfway up the fingerboard.... Something that could hopefully be adjusted. Good thing is it the intonation sounded right when you use the dots on the side of the fingerboard. Something I'm thankful for being new to the UB world...

I have no idea how it will sound live. I will be using this bass for a rockabilly trio that I have just joined..... Hopefully it works out the way I intended.

I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this bass...
 
#231
Hey I am having problems with my pace. First I had a problem with a loud intermittent buzz/hum that seemed to only occur when I really wanted to play it. I opened it up, looked at the guts with it still plugged in (because of the intermittent nature of the buzz, I thought I could adjust the grounding wire and listen to see if it was just a grounding issue), and then all of a suddenI got nothing but buzz. The buzz gets louder when I touch the strings. Yes I checked the wires and solders-its all fine. Any help?
 
#232
I've pretty well given up on my Dean Pace. I liked it at first but mine has a bunch of issues and I've found they're all too common.

1) I got the buzzing which gets louder when you touch the strings - I found if I take the bridge off, move the ground wire under the bridge, then reattach the bridge it goes away for a short while then returns, and I have to repeat the whole remove/reattach thing. After a couple of times the novelty of having to do this wears off.

2) A tuner snapped off. They're crap metal and I was planning to replace 'em anyway, but still...

3) One of the bridge saddles started rattling, and as it's a piezo bridge it was quite audible through the amp.

What's sad is I like the Pace when everything is working, but I couldn't in honesty recommend it to anyone.

I've ended up getting an Aria SWB-lite BIS; hopefully it'll work out better.

p.s. Here I am with Pace when it's working:

 
#234
There have been many posts in this thread saying that the Paces are not good for this, and not good for that.

What I'd like to know is if there are Pace owners out there who really like theirs and for what music they are playing, they feel the Pace is well-suited.
 
#235
MichaelVee said:
There have been many posts in this thread saying that the Paces are not good for this, and not good for that.

What I'd like to know is if there are Pace owners out there who really like theirs and for what music they are playing, they feel the Pace is well-suited.
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See above. Yes; I liked my Pace when it was functioning, and gigged it regularly and enjoyed playing it. It just let me down reliability-wise.
 
#236
So I bought the Dean Pace EUB and was wondering how I can optimize it to sound like a DB. Like different strings? I heard that makes a world of a difference, what kind of strings should I get? I think I may have made a mistake in purchasing it as it doesn't sound like an upright bass at all but i got for pretty cheap on craigslist.
 
#237
Hello everyone. I am new to this forum. It is great to read all the posts regarding the Dean Pace5. I just got it and love it so far. I have found that (as mentioned earlier) the scale length really makes me relearn my hand positioning since it is very different from my upright. But I love it .. it is just another instrument in the arsenal.

1. I removed 4 screws and looked for the batteries.. nothing in there but 1/4" out and one pot. Thankfully, I had a Fishmann Transducer bass preamp and it really makes it sound as it should. It sounds, honestly, way better than I imagined it would.

2. The strings are not electric bass strings. I do not know for sure, but they may be similar to NS Electric Contemporary Bass Set by D'Addario. I realized this when I tried to play the B string and had no notes and barely any articulation. I checked what was different from the other strings and the B string and found the B string was too large when riding the saddle. It was not sitting on the saddle and then not getting picked up either. I tried a few other bass B strings I had and the ones with an exposed core sat where it should and allowed the production of notes on the B string. I used my dremel and shaved just a bit off of the saddle and now the string fits well and matches the other strings in the set. I am guessing they are a new addition to what Dean is sending out since it is clearly a problem using the gage they did and it not fitting correctly.

One final note, I did not get the stand with my bass. Dean is getting a new version of the stand and shipping me the stand by the end of the month. I currently have an old ride cymbal stand doing ok... but will be very happy when I can position the bass correctly.
 
#238
my wifes cousin just got a dean pace 4.. I was under the impression that these had a buffer preamp.. is that internal? or external.. you open up the back and it has just one black wire going to the input jack and gives a almost fuzz face sound to it..

It this correct for the back space being empty?

Thanks for the help!
 
#239
jdwilliams said:
my wifes cousin just got a dean pace 4.. I was under the impression that these had a buffer preamp.. is that internal? or external.. you open up the back and it has just one black wire going to the input jack and gives a almost fuzz face sound to it..

It this correct for the back space being empty?

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

Hi.
I suggest you read this megathread. (merged your question here)

Did you plug into an appropriate preamp with a high input impedance and got that fuzzy tone?
 

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