Electric bass that sounds like a double

[themickster]

Now and then we get asked about electric basses that sound like a DB. I heard an Epiphone Rumblekat this evening. Its hollow body and two pickups at the neck make sound almost like a DB. I was told it did, but I didn't think it would be that near.

 

[jd56hawk]

Now and then we get asked about electric basses that sound like a DB. I heard an Epiphhone Rumblekat this evening. Its hollow body and two pickups at the neck make sound almost like a DB. I was told it did, but I didn't think it would be that near.

Probably even better with tapewounds.

 

[GIBrat51]

Some electric bass guitars can get... close - to some people's ears - but, the laws of acoustics and physics are against them, from the get-go. The basses that get the closest are almost always hollow- or semi- hollow bodied; usually strung with either heavy flats, or tape wounds; and often have a mute of some kind, usually under the strings at the bridge. I have a couple, that can do a fair job of faking an upright bass. One is a long scale Dano DC59 Pro, with Fender 9050Ls and a foam mute. The other is a MIK Rogue VB-100 violin bass, with a set of medium scale Roto TruBass 88 Tape wounds. Those strings were invented to mimic the sound of an upright bass (a "true" bass), and this bass comes pretty close. It has very little sustain to begin with, so I don't need a mute... However, regardless of the bass? A lot of the upright tone comes from the way the bass is played. Plucking the strings like an upright player is, IME, half the battle. A lot of the music that I like to play was originally recorded on an upright, but... I don't spend a lot of time or effort to duplicate the tone exactly. Any bass with mostly low end strings, and a minimum of sustain - along with the right technique - will get you close enough. For Guv'mint work, anyway...

 

[themickster]

Probably even better with tapewounds.

The strings on it are two years old. The owner's been told to get D'Addario Chromes.

 

[buldog5151bass]

If you have spent much time actually listening to an upright, you know the answer is not any.

 

[themickster]

If you have spent much time actually listening to an upright, you know the answer is not any.

I've heard DBs and you haven't heard this Rumblekat.

 

[BearCave]

I've been G.A.S.'ing for an NS Designs Omni Bass. You can even get one fretted and a strap system so you can play/hold it like a standard electric bass. Everything I've heard of these, they sound just like an acoustic/double bass

Omni Bass | Extraordinary 34" Scale EUB by Ned Steinberger | NS Design

 

[Bass-Babe]

Now and then we get asked about electric basses that sound like a DB. I heard an Epiphone Rumblekat this evening. Its hollow body and two pickups at the neck make sound almost like a DB. I was told it did, but I didn't think it would be that near.

This one I built definitely has DB sound to it depending on how the onboard mixing is set to.
Note this bass now has bridge modified to 4 saddles and no diy temp headstock decal lol.(this is oldpic)

 

[Smooth_bass88]

no

 

[pbass2]

The strings on it are two years old. The owner's been told to get D'Addario Chromes.

Definitely would not choose Chromes for going for the "upright-ish" vibe with an EB. Too modern, too bright. They're the flat that sounds the most like a round (IMHO). I've had Chromes on a Jerry Jones Longhorn for about 10 years and they're still not nearly as good for the "faux upright" thang as old Labellas, or Tapewounds.
In any event, regardless of the bass it's all about old dead flats or tapes, some kind of muting to shorten the decay, and as mentioned playing like a DB player would - the phrasing, space between notes, etc--a DB takes a lot more effort than an EB, so you need to mimic that. Then in a mix, you can get a bit of the DB vibe, but it'll never really sound just like one.

 

[chazolson]

I’ve played bass guitars with tape wounds and flats. I had a Takamine TB-10, which was built to sound like an upright. I had a NS Designs Omni, built to sound like an upright. Got rid of all of that and bought an upright. You can get into the upright world without breaking the bank; go for it.

 

[themickster]

Definitely would not choose Chromes for going for the "upright-ish" vibe with an EB. Too modern, too bright. They're the flat that sounds the most like a round (IMHO). I've had Chromes on a Jerry Jones Longhorn for about 10 years and they're still not nearly as good for the "faux upright" thang as old Labellas, or Tapewounds.
In any event, regardless of the bass it's all about old dead flats or tapes, some kind of muting to shorten the decay, and as mentioned playing like a DB player would - the phrasing, space between notes, etc--a DB takes a lot more effort than an EB, so you need to mimic that. Then in a mix, you can get a bit of the DB vibe, but it'll never really sound just like one.

You might be surprised to learn that the Rumblekat was designed for pick-playing.

 

[pbass2]

You might be surprised to learn that the Rumblekat was designed for pick-playing.

If you mean Allen Woody was largely a pick player, then no surprise that idea went into it. Not sure what that really means though--maybe the pickup placement was thought to be more pick-friendly? In any event, I had a Rumblekat for a while. Pretty cool bass.
Interestingly, one of the EB players who actually gets the DB vibe right is Steve Swallow, and he does it with a pick on a roundwound-strung bass with piezo pickups. Not saying his tone is like an upright--he doesn't chase that--he was a well-known DB player before going electric. But (unless he's soloing) he can nail the way a DB feels in an ensemble.

 

[Spectrum]

Sounds weird, but the tiny U-Bass with those rubbery strings is the closest thing I've found to a bass guitar which cops an upright sound.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Which "double bass" does it sound like? There are many, and they are not the same.

 

[pbass2]

Sounds weird, but the tiny U-Bass with those rubbery strings is the closest thing I've found to a bass guitar which cops an upright sound.

I've been doing the pretend upright thing on EB for...decades, with a variety of basses--longscale, shorties, hollowbody, etc., different kinds of strings, various muting techniques. And you're right the U-bass gets closer than any bass guitar. Runner up would maybe be one of Rob Allen's basses like the shorty Mouse. Next in line would be Joey Spampinato playing one of his Danos or Jerry Jones (crazy how he can make it sound like rockabilly upright slap--I could never figure out how he was doing that).

 

[jamro217]

< Avatar pic is a 1978 Rickenbacker 4001 fretless. Believe it or not, this is the bass that gets closest to the typical DB sound in my collection (which includes a humbucking Telecaster, 2 fretless Js, a fretless P, a fretless Hohner P/J and a Prestige violin shaped Hofner copy). You'd never in a million years put a Ric on this list unless you heard one in action. It has Rickenbacker round wound strings on it, too. The trick is to turn the volume down (this reduces the click of the attack) and use a blend of the two pickups favoring the bridge and turn the tone almost all the way off. Using a compressor smooths out wave even more. Palm muting to taste and, voila!

 

[Turnaround]

A a player of both electric and double basses (with a decided preference of playing electric) I have to say that NOTHING has the sound and feel of a Double bass. And I've played just about every variety of ABG, EUB, U-Bass etc that this planet has to offer. And those that are reported as being close, IMO, are not really very close. You need the strong fundamental that a 40+ inch scale can deliver along with the bloom that results from a large body's resonant response coupled with the filtration effects of the wood resonance and the controlled extended damping factor of that large body/air mass. Couple that with the phase coherence of the front and back plates through the effects of the bass bar and the soundpost and you have a complex system that is not well reproduced by other instruments.

I guess that all I am saying is that however close an alternative is, it's not nearly close enough for me. There's magic in the double.

 

[buldog5151bass]

A a player of both electric and double basses (with a decided preference of playing electric) I have to say that NOTHING has the sound and feel of a Double bass. And I've played just about every variety of ABG, EUB, U-Bass etc that this planet has to offer. And those that are reported as being close, IMO, are not really very close. You need the strong fundamental that a 40+ inch scale can deliver along with the bloom that results from a large body's resonant response coupled with the filtration effects of the wood resonance and the controlled extended damping factor of that large body/air mass. Couple that with the phase coherence of the front and back plates through the effects of the bass bar and the soundpost and you have a complex system that is not well reproduced by other instruments.

I guess that all I am saying is that however close an alternative is, it's not nearly close enough for me. There's magic in the double.

Preach.

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

An electric bass can't get the same feel and swing as an acoustic upright in my opinion. The tone can be in the same ballpark if both are being amplified with a magnetic pickup, but there is more to upright bass than tone.