Double Bass Electric Double/Standup/Upright Bass Recommendation

[Cartier76]

Also take a look at the MK basses from Italy. Similar concept to Yamaha but not the digital sound modeling, and somewhat less expensive. I enjoy mine and get to play it out more often than the acoustic DB. Neck has a heel; side wings to stand off from the body while playing, stands on a single endpin; similar posture and feel to playing the acoustic DB.

 

[Krantz]

Ditto on Cartier76. I have the MK studio which I acquired in Dec 2016 for 1400 and I recently had the pear fingerboard dressed and put in a professional quality bridge (without adjusters!) and the the instrument has the most upright feel when compared to other stick basses and makes a great backup bass or when you need to play in tight quarters (like a weekend jazz jam at a small club). You need to be a little careful about selecting either a D or Eb neck heel depending on you preference but I am used to the d neck heel, as my upright has an Eb, and I am now feeling comfortable when shifting into thumb position. Also you need a decent quality amp (and speaker) with a 10 ohm input and a high pass filter to dial in a full clear upright "like" tone. I personally use a AI Clarus series II which works great. You can also use a Piezo buffer preamp what handles a high Z input and bypass you amp preamp going into the effect loop return. As noted previously don't expect to get an exact upright tone unless you go for the Yamaha SB-300, but it's something like 4K+.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

You mean 10 MegOhms input impedance, not 10 Ohms. But this is obvious to most of us, I think.

 

[Krantz]

Correct DoubleMIDI, I meant 10 Megaohms, although I know some players and amp manufactures find success with less than 10 Megaohms. My current blender (EHB-02)pre-amp has an input impedance of 6.8 Megaohms and sounds fine. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[djp420]

I was looking for the PBass of electric uprights too and I guess it doesn't exists.

AFAIK there isn't a recognized standard as in the electric bass world. Maybe the NS or the YAMAHA, as different as they are, could be something worth checking if you're looking for something "mass" produced.

I've personally tried the NS and I didn't like it that much. It doesn't sound nor feel to me like a double bass but your mileage might vary.

Sorry for the very late response.
I finally got to experience an NS Wave 4 at Sam Ash. I had a lot of fun playing it. Everyone is right, it's not an up right but it's a great way to play and experience another bass family member. If the salesman would've let me use the restroom I would have bought it. I had time to talk myself out of buying the bass by the time I left Chipotle.

 

[freshbass]

I just entered the world of the Double Bass. Or is it an Upright Bass? Anyhow, like I said I just entered the 3/4 Upright Bass world. Or is it a Standup Bass? Never mind, what this thread is really about learning about electric Upright Bass ownership. Since I started playing the Double Bass (3/4's) I cannot put the critter down. I've been playing the Electric Bass Guitar since the early 80's and it's really my thing. I play often.

I am wondering who can share with me what Electric Double Bass would be awesome to own but won't shatter the bank? I generally play American P Bass's, a Rickenbacker 4003 and I especially love my US made G&L L2000e and El Toro Basses. I say this to demonstrate that I am not a fan of inexpensive instruments that have obstacles like how some inexpensive Fender models having sharp fret ends and so on.

I was looking at Ibanez Electric Double Basses, they seemed interesting, any thoughts?

save your money and get an ibanez srh-500f and put labella tape wounds on it 45-105, i've owned 4 eub's and it sounds more like an uporight than any of them, especially w/ both a foam bridge mute (upright bass) and a nino-mute light thump ( ampeg baby bass)

 

[freshbass]

I just entered the world of the Double Bass. Or is it an Upright Bass? Anyhow, like I said I just entered the 3/4 Upright Bass world. Or is it a Standup Bass? Never mind, what this thread is really about learning about electric Upright Bass ownership. Since I started playing the Double Bass (3/4's) I cannot put the critter down. I've been playing the Electric Bass Guitar since the early 80's and it's really my thing. I play often.

I am wondering who can share with me what Electric Double Bass would be awesome to own but won't shatter the bank? I generally play American P Bass's, a Rickenbacker 4003 and I especially love my US made G&L L2000e and El Toro Basses. I say this to demonstrate that I am not a fan of inexpensive instruments that have obstacles like how some inexpensive Fender models having sharp fret ends and so on.

I was looking at Ibanez Electric Double Basses, they seemed interesting, any thoughts?

if you want a 34" scale I think its the one to get. Build quality is excellent. You can easily emulate the upright sound w/ labella tape-wound strings and/or a bridge mute , the nino mute light thump will get even get you into ampeg baby bass territory. It also bows easily. The ibanez srh500f will also do it in a horizontal bass.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

An upright electric bass guitar is still an upright electric bass guitar.
Because it can only use BG strings it will sound closer to a BG than a DB.

Cheap DB string EUBs have design flaws and it get expensive/lot of work to get them well playable.

Often a used Yamaha or used boutique DB EUB luthier instrument are a good choice if you won’t like to pay several thousands of dollars.

The Italian MK EUBs are good, but depending on the model are not really cheap (but worth the money).

If you are used to play with an endpin and move your bass a bit with your body, only get an instrument with an endpin, not a stand. The stand fixes the instrument too much, so you need to adjust to the bass and not the bass to your body.

An EUBG is nice for BG players with back problems from the weight of the BG, but all the tricks don’t let it sound like an amped DB when using 34” BG strings.