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double bass sound in a bass guitar?

#21
Sorry to hear about the arthritis.

I play both upright and DB. I have a Veillette fretless and it's a really nice bass. Strung with LaBella black flat tapewounds, you get a sound that is very good for jazz. I can't say it really duplicates a DB, though - not the same initial thump. Oddly, in the one band where I switch basses around, the band says my Fender 51 RI P with Chrome flats sounds a lot like the DB. So go figure.
 
#22
My experience with the Godin A4 and with an older Godin Acoutibass has been positive. Doesn't sound like a DB but has some of the same characteristics when it comes to the attack and decay. They inspire you to construct lines in a more db like manner is my take on it. Certainly they sound closer than the typical EB does. No question there. I find that the fretted versions actually come a little closer to the db ting. My guess is that the string / fret interface, rather than fret fingerboard interface transfers more of the fundamental to the piezo. The fundamental on these is huge.

I started playing mine with a bunch of blue grasser/ django fan boys. Compliments abound for them in that crowd - after noting that it is an EB afer all ...
 
#23
dmusic148 said:
Hmm. Check out Steve Swallow. Huge, DB like tone from a fretted hollowbody. With a pick.
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I've been checking out Steve Swallow for 40 years as I'm a Gary Burton fan going back to the '60s. Steve gets a big, round sound that blends with the quartet somewhat like an upright. I heard him live with Gary Burton in 1976. I also have some Gary Burton albums where he's playing a Gibson EB-2. I've also heard Ray Brown live and have scores of well-recorded records with Brown, Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Chuck Rainey, Swallow, Orsted-Pedersen, and others, playing uprights recorded with a free-air mic or a contact pickup, and electric basses. It's easy to tell the difference between the free air Neumann and a contact pickup. I play these recordings through a couple of fairly high resolution audio systems. And I've got to say my ASAT semihollow fretless is surprisingly competitive in sounding like an upright (with the right strings and pickup settings), and more real than a real upright amplified by a contact transducer--at least the ones used in the '70s, and more real than some electric uprights I've heard. I agree about the pick; it has less influence on getting a hollowbody sound than you might think. It's rather pick- and technique-dependent. Can't explain it but there it is.

Edited to add:

This thread piqued my curiosity, so I put the TI Jazz Flatwounds back on the ASAT semihollow fretless. Now we're cookin' with gas. With other strings, the upright sound doesn't really kick in until the 7th fret position or thereabouts. With the TI's, it sounds very uprighty all the way up & down the fingerboard, even on open strings. I get the most realistic setting by using the neck pickup set to parallel mode, and with the onboard preamp's boost (but not treble boost) engaged. Vol, Treb. and Bass controls are all all the way up.
 
#24
Many thanks everybody. An impressive amount of really useful stuff there. The Epiphone Zenithsounds very interesting indeed,(think it`s called the Triumph 11 over here in the UK) and is much cheaper than the others, apart from the Ashbory. Has anyone actually had a chance to play the Epiphone? Surprised there hasn`t been too much comment on the full sized acoustics like the Breedlove. Is that because of potential feedback problems, or just because the sound is too different?
 
#25
i would suggest a godin a4. with flats it has a real db type of sound. also check out the tacoma ABG. i had one with frets and it had a great sound and i think it might sound really good fretless. also have you considered one of the electric uprights ( kydd etc. ) they may allow you to adjust the action enough so that it wouldn't bother your hands as much.
 
#27
jibreel said:
You also may want to keep an eye out for when the new Epiphone Zenith comes out. The natural-topped one is fretless.

N_1624a.jpg


Any word on when these are coming out ? Cost ?

I am really interested in their pickup system.
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I did a little searching and it looks like they're 30-60 days away and around $975. I'm looking forward to trying one out.
 
#30
Paul Warner said:
Surprised there hasn`t been too much comment on the full sized acoustics like the Breedlove. Is that because of potential feedback problems, or just because the sound is too different?
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I have a fretted Breedlove and it's my URB substitute. I get a lot of positive comments on its upright-like sound. I put GHS Precision flatwounds on it and pluck up near the fingerboard. We don't play very loud so I have had no problems with feedback. I'm having a good time playing it. Plus, I can fit all of my gear in my Miata. :)
 
#33
I get a nice tone from my acoustic/electric Tacoma Thunderchief (D'Addario round wound strings) by playing it right at the end of the fretboard. I also have a Fender Jazz strung with DR HiBeam flat wound strings, and with the neck p/u and the right touch, it sounds respectably acoustic.

I bring either one to gigs when the bother of schlepping the bass up three flights of stairs becomes too much to bear. Or when I need to haul four people in the car.
 
#35
kayakbass said:
Agreed! Godin with flats! Thick, warm and filling...like a good bread pudding!
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+1.
I use a Godin A4 w/nylon tapewounds in an ensemble w/cello, violin, flutes, etc. and it blends really nicely. A used one would probably be a bargain.If money were no object, I'd check out the Rob Allens as well; the Mouse would be even smaller and easier on you, while still sounding fantastic.
 
#37
The Godin with LaBella tapes is going to sound fairly close to a Rob Allen, but the Rob Allen will have an amazing feel. Godin's top horn needs to be longer in my humble opinion.

The Mouse 30 will do an amazing job, but so will an MB2 if you can see if Rob will sell you a 2 band EQ. My 6 string has the 2 band EQ and sounds extremely close to the Mouse 30, perhaps more upright if you A/B them.
 
#39
spade2you said:
The Godin with LaBella tapes is going to sound fairly close to a Rob Allen, but the Rob Allen will have an amazing feel. Godin's top horn needs to be longer in my humble opinion.

The Mouse 30 will do an amazing job, but so will an MB2 if you can see if Rob will sell you a 2 band EQ. My 6 string has the 2 band EQ and sounds extremely close to the Mouse 30, perhaps more upright if you A/B them.
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I tried the labaella tapes, took 'em off after a couple of weeks and moved back to Fenders. The LaBella's were more lively - that translates well on a fretless J where they now reside - I'm sure that they are a better string. The individual saddles of my A4/Sa seem to like the 'dead quality' of the Fenders better.

Everything other bass I own is strung with some form of Thomastic - including a 90's Godin Acoustibass with the LR Baggs piezo setup. You could say I was suprised to find that I liked the Fender strings better... Fender makes strings ? really ? was my previous mind set...
 

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