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How to Approximate an Upright w/ an Electric?

doctorwholittle

doctorwholittle

Oct 27, 2011
104
64
#1
Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass. I have a Fender Modern Player Tele bass w/ wide-range humbuckers, so I'm hoping betwixt those and whatever EQ tricks are recommended, I can at least get in the ballpark. If I can manage to keep a little of the tic-tac bass in there, so much the better, but those wide-range p'ups don't offer much hope of that.

(Before everyone jumps in, I don't play upright, never have, nor do I have the finances to buy and learn how to properly play it at this late stage in my life [almost 60], so I'll save everyone time and say any suggestions to just get one and learn to play it are off the table from the get-go.)

Thanks in advance!
 
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#4
To my ears,this comes fairly close:

EPI_VB01.jpg


The previous owner was in a country band and used it on the regular.

But there's probably a lot more info in the above-linked thread as cited.
 
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#5
Foam under the strings to mimic the decay and flatwound strings to not sound so electric. That’s about as close as you can get without buying a new bass. If you install a bridge cover on your bass you can jam the foam in there when you need the extra thump and remove it quickly enough between tunes, it can be a pain to work the foam under the strings in a hurry and retune.

I do our country and acoustic tunes on an Ibanez electric upright and it gets an extra step closer to the upright sound but still needs foam to not growl like a fretless bass. It is great for the songs I use it on and the band and crowd all really seem to enjoy when it comes out.
 
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#7
doctorwholittle said:
Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass. I have a Fender Modern Player Tele bass w/ wide-range humbuckers, so I'm hoping betwixt those and whatever EQ tricks are recommended, I can at least get in the ballpark. If I can manage to keep a little of the tic-tac bass in there, so much the better, but those wide-range p'ups don't offer much hope of that.

(Before everyone jumps in, I don't play upright, never have, nor do I have the finances to buy and learn how to properly play it at this late stage in my life [almost 60], so I'll save everyone time and say any suggestions to just get one and learn to play it are off the table from the get-go.)

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Well...
1. There is no electric bass guitar that can "duplicate" the sound of an upright bass. Supposedly, the old Ampeg AEB bass - which was intended for the task - came very, very close; but, those are very few and far between these days. Rather expensive, too.
2. The usual answer to this question is " a hollow-body, or semi-hollow body bass, with flat wound strings and maybe a mute at the bridge". I have a couple of basses that can do a... creditable... job of faking an upright. A '90s long scale Danelectro DC59 Pro with La Bella Flats, and a '90s MIK Rogue VB-100 violin bass with Roto TruBass88 Tape wounds. Those strings were created to try and duplicate an upright bass (a "true" bass), and they do a good job of it. Faking an upright wasn't why I put them on the Rogue, but they do work pretty well when I fell like doing that...
3. Assuming you don't want to buy another bass? Then, either a set of Old School flats - like La Bella 760FS's - or a set of Tapes ( I'd suggest the Roto 88's), and most definitely a foam mute under the strings at the bridge. However...
4. Probably more important than any thing else, is...HOW you play. Duplicating how people play an upright - as closely as you can - will go a very long way to getting the sound you want. I'd imagine that just doing that, with your bass as it is now? It might just surprise you...:cool:
 
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#9
The best I've heard is piezo pickup with tapewounds. I don't really agree with foam and turning the tone knob to zero - DBs have sustain and tone. The foam and no-tone sounds like 50's electric bass recordings to me, not DB. A piezo pickup, however, catches a lot of how amplified DB sounds. Piezos can make weird sounds in certain frequencies, so a good graphic or parametric EQ goes a long way to getting a usable tone.
 
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#11
doctorwholittle said:
Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass. I have a Fender Modern Player Tele bass w/ wide-range humbuckers, so I'm hoping betwixt those and whatever EQ tricks are recommended, I can at least get in the ballpark. If I can manage to keep a little of the tic-tac bass in there, so much the better, but those wide-range p'ups don't offer much hope of that.

(Before everyone jumps in, I don't play upright, never have, nor do I have the finances to buy and learn how to properly play it at this late stage in my life [almost 60], so I'll save everyone time and say any suggestions to just get one and learn to play it are off the table from the get-go.)

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Since I've played both instruments DB since 7th Grade and EB since High School, here's my take. Flatwound strings, and a foam mute (usually a piece of sponge) under the bridge will get you closer.
Tic Tack Bass was usually accomplished by doubling a Upright with a Fender Six String Bass or a Danelectro Six String. That's pretty difficult for one person to do with only two hands. :D
 
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#12
doctorwholittle said:
Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass. I have a Fender Modern Player Tele bass w/ wide-range humbuckers, so I'm hoping betwixt those and whatever EQ tricks are recommended, I can at least get in the ballpark. If I can manage to keep a little of the tic-tac bass in there, so much the better, but those wide-range p'ups don't offer much hope of that.

(Before everyone jumps in, I don't play upright, never have, nor do I have the finances to buy and learn how to properly play it at this late stage in my life [almost 60], so I'll save everyone time and say any suggestions to just get one and learn to play it are off the table from the get-go.)

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
My typical recipe is:
-neck or middle position pickup, single coil preferable
-tone down some amount, depending on how dark your bass is naturally
-flatwounds
-string dampener
-play "like" an upright player, both in terms of plucking position (way up on the neck), technique, and in terms of note choice.

In my experience trying to sound like an upright, the most important elements are the pickup, the string dampener, and the technique part. Sometimes I even apply this method to a bass with rounds and get a decent sound--remember, not all upright strings are flatwound. Gut and nylon upright strings are often roundwound.

For a dampener, I use a Nordstrand Audio NordyMute. It's a nice little piece. To me, its primary draw is the foam it's made of-- it's durable and it sounds great, which are two issues I've had with other types of purchased and DIY mutes in the past. I've owned cheaper mutes that use velcro as the dampening material, and you can hear it. That always bugged me. If I could get my hand on whatever kind of rubber foam they use for the NordyMute, I'd probably just make my own.

As far as EQ... remember, EQ is not a typical feature of acoustic basses. So, any EQ you apply should besubtle, and oriented to getting a neutral, "natural" sound.
 
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#13
doctorwholittle said:
Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass. I have a Fender Modern Player Tele bass w/ wide-range humbuckers, so I'm hoping betwixt those and whatever EQ tricks are recommended, I can at least get in the ballpark. If I can manage to keep a little of the tic-tac bass in there, so much the better, but those wide-range p'ups don't offer much hope of that.

(Before everyone jumps in, I don't play upright, never have, nor do I have the finances to buy and learn how to properly play it at this late stage in my life [almost 60], so I'll save everyone time and say any suggestions to just get one and learn to play it are off the table from the get-go.)

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
 
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#17
I know you say you are 60 and you do not have the funds, but its for one never too late to learn tons of people on here learn at that age, and you can always rent our buy a cheaper upright from some trusted places. But I understand still if you do not want to.

For me, there are many things that can be done. A cool bass is a Takamine TB10, but its the price of an upright and has a more unique sound, and still is an electric bass at the end of the day. Similar fretless acoustic exist, a foam can get close but that is super subjective.

Other than that, I say flats or tapes, foam bridge, playing the bass a very upright style, even plucking on the fretboard.

Sorry for being that user, but is sounding like an upright a requirement? You know Steve Swallow thought Uprights were going to be things the past, he quickly switch to electric bass and he is a serious jazz player. He plays a unique custom bass (but started on a fender I think) a copper pick, plucks very up his bass on the frets, uses only a high C five string. My point is, he is consider one of the best jazz bassist, and the music he plays is very, just bebop style I would say and his solos are never showy or overplay. I can personally tell its an electric but I think his playing is very Upright-ish... Anyway after listening to him a lot and enjoying his work I somewhat accepted the view to play your electric bass like an Upright not so much emulate it.

Again my tone guide for my personally best results is a decent acoustic bass, fretless, flats, foam. But at the end of the day I still would use a normal electric. Also most of the options like a Rob Allen, or Takamine. An Aria FEB is pretty close to a cheaper alternative. Anyway good luck, sorry if I wasn't much help, this is all just my opinion at the end of the day.
 
#18
doctorwholittle said:
Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass. I have a Fender Modern Player Tele bass w/ wide-range humbuckers, so I'm hoping betwixt those and whatever EQ tricks are recommended, I can at least get in the ballpark. If I can manage to keep a little of the tic-tac bass in there, so much the better, but those wide-range p'ups don't offer much hope of that.

(Before everyone jumps in, I don't play upright, never have, nor do I have the finances to buy and learn how to properly play it at this late stage in my life [almost 60], so I'll save everyone time and say any suggestions to just get one and learn to play it are off the table from the get-go.)

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
The best advice I heard on this when I aksed the same question a while back (except for jazz not cw) was that playing in the idiom and style of those original players is what matters most.
 
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#19
A lot of trying to get an upright sound out of a slab electric has to do with touch. Also slightly muting the strings with your left hand will get you part of the way. Find some upright players that you like and play along with tunes that they're on. It's a lot about feel. As others have already said a foam mute by the bridge helps too. This takes some experimentation. How high and how wide to make the foam? Keep testing until you get a tone and a feel that you like.
 
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#20
1. TI Jazz Flats
2. High pass filter at about 100hz
3. Low pass filter at about 6-800 hz
4. Find mellow location for right hand, probably at the end of the neck.
5. Light touch right hand.
6. Left hand muting; release pressure on the string but don’t lose contact with the string
 

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