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Double Bass Gigging with an EUB

#44
Ray, you're gonna have a really good laugh one day! Guess I'm pullin your leg a little to hard. Trust me please, its all in the fun of being a good player. My compliments to your teaching talents, by the way.
 
#45
How do the two compare in sound?... tone-wise if you compare the two in a full-up band setting where everybody's jamming along, can you really tell the difference?
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I was actually quite surprised when I got my Bugbass, at how much better it sounded than I expected. No, it's not completely like a URB, but it's a very useable tone. When you get right down to it, once the amp and pickup gets involved, the playing field levels considerably. If I had to rate the amplified sound of my Azola on a scale of 1 (P-bass) to 10 (amplified URB), I'd call it an 8.5....no kidding. I have had few complaints about the EUB tone, and many compliments.

I'll tell you another story as well: If you live/work in a world of highly mediocre project studios, as I do, you'll find a good EUB has it's own advantages over an URB. I've cut 3 full-length CDs with my band now, each time slaving terribly to get a good miked URB sound (and still not really getting there). I recently had to go back into the same studio to cut a jingle for a radio/tv ad and had to use the Azola, as my Cleveland was in for repair. Ran the thing straight into the board via a Sansamp Acoustic DI and had a fine sound within 3 mins. I realize that a lot of this was due to the shortcomings of the studio, but you have to equip yourself for the environment where you exist... My world has crappy studios, lots of outdoor gigs in miserable weather, and wallpaper music performed on tiny stages. An EUB is a winner in all those cases.
 
#46
I own & play a DB & an EUB - trying to compare them is an exercise in futility. It's like trying to compare a stratocaster & a Taylor acoustic. And I really don't care if either is "accepted" - there are certain gigs where you would maybe prefer one or the other because it's correct or traditional thing to do. You'd obviously try to use the instrument best suited to what you're doing, but if you're a good player you're gonna get the job done anyway.

I love my EUB because it has a low "B" & sounds awesome through a loud SVT with effects. I love my upright too - especially in the studio. Apples & oranges.

That being said - I think you need to talk to the people you're working with (gig, session, whatever) and make sure you're giving them what they want...if you want to keep getting the calls. ;)

I
 
#47
Since I don't do sessions, and nobody around plays URB/EUB, I get plenty of "wow" appeal when the 'Bug shows up. Nobody else does anything like it, so getting/keeping that gig is sort of a moot point. There ain't no gig like that in my world. Like I said previously, I'm thinking about branching into bluegrass, but right now when I'm gigging, it's 3-4 piece lounge stuff to classic rock, blues, and country. J-Bass/MTD/Cirrus/P-Bass/StingRay and all fivers is where I live right now. And they all fit fine. Since I carry two [usually very different]basses, I've got a wide variety of tones for what I'm doing. It's what I'm considering getting into that I'm concerned with. But it sounds like the Azola will get me pretty darn close. At least, I'll sound as good as that craptastic Chinese bass with a SM-58 wrapped in a rag and stuffed under the tailpiece that showed up at our local festival last year!

Mike, glad to hear your praise for the SansAmp Acoustic Driver. That's what I'm using to drive the 'Bug for impedence matching into my amp. Bought mine years ago over the Bass Driver because the sweepable mid seemed like it would be more useful in a variety of settings.

Thanks to all for the info!

dcr
 
#48
mchildree said:
If I had to rate the amplified sound of my Azola on a scale of 1 (P-bass) to 10 (amplified URB), I'd call it an 8.5....no kidding.
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Having had a Bug for several years part of me wants to agree wholeheartedly and another part wants to scream not to be so quick to compare apples and oranges. In the time I had mine I found that I and other bass players were by far the hardest critics in comparing it to the "real" bass, that other players and the audience were very often happy that it sounded good, looked cool and left it at that.

Like Ed was pointing to earlier in this thread I did eventually decide that my voice needed an acoustic instrument (helped along by a spectacularly horrible repair by Brian Hoover) and being fundamentally monogamous where basses are concerned I sold it.

jeff
van.bc.ca
 
#49
Just to set things straight:

Around 1971 or so Weber found a battered Grazioso Arco EUB (a Framus Triumph lookalike made in Prague ca 1960) in an antiques/curious shop. He bought it, had it refinished, converted to 5-string (high C - he´s a cellist originally) and added a better magnetic pickup and an Underwood. When this bass broke down, he had Munich violinmaker Paul Lijsen make him a replica, however improved, with a.o. a Wlson pickup. Some ten years ago, prior to a gig in Tel Aviv, Weber´s Lijsen bass got damaged by the airline so he took it to Israeli luthier Eyal Vodnizky for a quick fix. Thus, Eyal offered to build Weber a new and better bass, which he did. The Eyal bass, also a 5-string, has a semi-hollow body, the Wilson pickup and a custom-made magnetic pickup.

Weber uses a number of digital FX units, W Woods amps (two for stereo) and home made cabinets with JBL 15" speakers.

Mikael
 
#51
I saw Eberhard Weber recently (23 November 2004) with Jan Garbarek's quartet and I was sitting in the front row, right in the middle - right in front of him!!

So I was able to get a very good view of his bass, which looked fairly old and had the distinctive Double Bass neck and scroll joined to a newer body - it looked exactly like the photos of his bass on the ECM recordings I own!

I assumed it was the original, but I suppose it's the replica made for him?
 
#52
Well, I haven´t talked to Eberhard in a while. But if the bass you saw was solid, it´s the Lijsen bass, if it was hollowbody and had a small soundhole under the strings, it´s the Vodnizky. Perhaps the newer bass is in for service, so he took out his old bass.
I can add that Eberhard isn´t picky when it comes to strings. When Eyal asked him what strings he wanted on the new bass, he didn´t know what he had on his old bass! So Eyal went for a set of Spirocores, which Eberhard was apparently happy with!
 
#53
mikjans said:
I can add that Eberhard isn´t picky when it comes to strings. When Eyal asked him what strings he wanted on the new bass, he didn´t know what he had on his old bass! So Eyal went for a set of Spirocores, which Eberhard was apparently happy with!
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That's interesting! Seems like once you get a good set of strings that handle favorably, you can use 'em 'til they just about break if you like.....One of the benefits of using high quality URB strings that last a long time, and good/flexable electronics.
:)
 
#54
Well - all these details are "interesting" - but actually irrelevant to the point I was making!! ;)

So,my point was that I doubt anybody is saying to Eberhard Weber - .."you need to be more versatile - you need to play a "proper" DB as well!! That way you'll get more gigs!! :D
 
#55
Didn't he play a bit of DB on the "Little Movements" record? It least it sounded that way to me at the time it was released, and it sounded darn good as I recall. Maybe my memory is failing. :cool:
________________________________________________
There are only two kinds of music, Country, and Western ;)
 
#56
Here's an interesting quote from a 2002 interview :


"Interviewer:
Tell me about the factors in your decision to transition from double bass to the electric upright.

Eberhard Weber:

The regular bass doesn't have many possibilities. The reason I switched to electric bass is because music became very loud in the late '60s and the double bass couldn't be heard anymore. I realized I could put pick-ups on my double bass, but found out when you play at a certain volume, you suffer from feedback because of resonance from the body. So, it was only logical to find an instrument which has no feedback. There was a solid body I saw in an antique shop. It was totally broken but I got it repaired. I added a pick-up and thought "From now on, this is my instrument." I discovered that it was absolutely wrong because I still played the way I played on the double bass.

Initially, I didn't change the attitude with the electric bass. It took one year before I felt comfortable on this kind of instrument. I found you are a different bass player because now you can lead. You can tell people where to go onstage which you couldn't do before. The drummer and trumpeter could always lead, but the bass player couldn't simply because of volume. But even though you can put an amplifier on double bass and it can play loud, it still cannot lead because it still has this kind of background-ish sound that is not meant to lead. But with the instrument I have, you can play background, in the middle or foreground. Whatever you do, it can be heard. So they have to deal with you. Many musicians don't like that, certainly not the conservative ones.

Frankly spoken, the bass is kind of a silly instrument. How can someone pick an instrument that is not meant to play solos or be a leader? Even Charlie Mingus—he was an excellent bass player, but he didn't lead from his bass, but from himself, from his ego. And of course, after I had discovered the kind of electrical bass I use now, I noticed that I can also lead acoustically in terms of sound with the bass, in a way that even Mingus couldn't. When someone played full force in his time with the bass, you couldn't hear it. Nowadays, you can do whatever you want on the bass or any instrument. Sometimes, when I play with a German all-star group which does a sort of jazzy music, the front line complains about my volume because they're not used to hearing the bass. So, I'm in between the lines or in between the seats as they say in Germany. [laughs]"
 
#57
Bruce Lindfield said:
Eberhard Weber's excerpt:
Sometimes, when I play with a German all-star group which does a sort of jazzy music, the front line complains about my volume because they're not used to hearing the bass. So, I'm in between the lines or in between the seats as they say in Germany. [laughs]"
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I guess he was refering to the Invalid Link Removed here.
I think this ensemble ended in 2002.
At the end, Dave King was the bass player instead of Eberhard.
More info anyone?
 
#58
mrpc said:
Didn't he play a bit of DB on the "Little Movements" record? It least it sounded that way to me at the time it was released, and it sounded darn good as I recall. Maybe my memory is failing.
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If you want to hear some smoking DB from Weber, check out Intercontinental, a classic Joe Pass side. It's actual jazz by any likely definition, IMO.
 
#60
francois said:
Indeed a fantastic record!
Eberhard in a style he doesn't play anymore since a long time!
Whan was this recorded? Mid-70's I guess?
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1970. I actually was listening to this album a few years before I became aware of Weber, and was surprised to find out it was the same guy who played on all those ECM sides.
 

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