You are right, there aren't any videos (that I am aware of anyway) that do this. The reason, I suspect, is that pretty much nobody would want to emulate the "standard" ABG sound (with its nasal highs and scratchy finger tone). There are plenty of videos showing "piezo electric emulating upright bass", because that is a more attractive thing to do from most people's perspective. If I were going to attempt it (and I'm not, because I don't like the tone), I'd start with a fully hollow electric (or an electric with no sound holes but a big chamber), put some "zingy" strings on it, and then play with the EQ until I got something close.
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Is an Acoustic bass worth it
- Thread starter Kalsarikannit
- Start date
You are right, there aren't any videos (that I am aware of anyway) that do this. The reason, I suspect, is that pretty much nobody would want to emulate the "standard" ABG sound (with its nasal highs and scratchy finger tone). There are plenty of videos showing "piezo electric emulating upright bass", because that is a more attractive thing to do from most people's perspective. If I were going to attempt it (and I'm not, because I don't like the tone), I'd start with a fully hollow electric (or an electric with no sound holes but a big chamber), put some "zingy" strings on it, and then play with the EQ until I got something close.
Yeah, I agree that volume, or lack thereof, can be an issue for many. In my case, I never play unamplified unless it's just in my personal space, so I don't really care about the loudness factor. But I do get sonic properties that are not available from any solid or semi-hollow body bass, or at least not from any of those types of basses that I've ever encountered. Since I can no longer play DB, an ABG is as close to the DB sound that I've gotten.
That is interesting, because while I was looking for "electric bass with piezo emulating ABG" videos, I found a number of "electric bass with piezo emulating DB" videos, some of which got pretty close tone wise (although none of those involved "budget" basses). Perhaps there is another thread in that.
hey zenbassie, are you ever try stoll? I can definitely say This abg is something else acousticly.is not for everyone because the big sizes, but I'm feel pretty ok with it because I'm also big 
. I can play with more three guitars and people around can hear me .[/QUOTE]
. I can play with more three guitars and people around can hear me .[/QUOTE]Hadn't even heard of them until 5 minutes ago, but I have just googled! You are not wrong about the "big sizes"!
I guess that's the impression many folks do have, since I see it referred to so often, and that's likely thanks to the manufacturers tendency to put on el cheapo bronze strings as a stock item. It's tough to get a good tone out of any ABG straight off the store wall, whereas you can get a decent P tone from almost any electric bass regardless of price point. IMO, most ABG's require some real fine tuning to get it set up right. Although I'm pretty sure a Balor is good right from the start
I just checked out the Stoll website that yonatan1991 referred to! There are some very interesting things on there!
Magnetic pickups largely sense the vibration in the string. A piezo is much more dynamic and senses the vibration of that instrument. The subtle construction differences in an instrument are much more noticeable with a piezo.
Perhaps you can't hear the difference. In which case it is unlikely that you would sense any instrument subtleties. You'd likely tell a Martin enthusiast that a D-18 and a D-28 are redundant, and sound identical. To you, they might. But most acoustic players can pick out the subtle differences between the two in a heartbeat.
Harptones are very loud, but not the loudest. The volume of an ABG has a lot to do with right hand attack, string choice and action height. Harptones have intentionally high actions, allowing the player to dig in when they want more volume.
Yep, those phosphor bronze strings never help. You will see that I have tapewounds on my Guild B-30. Fractionally less loud, immeasurably greater tone.
All three examples I linked you are vastly different musical styles and settings.....and absolutely none of those three could be duplicated on an electric slab bass, of a semi-hollow electric.
You don't want to accept that your playing style and musical choices left YOU without any unique uses for an ABG. But many others clearly can utilize them in a way that an electric bass can't cover.
No reason it couldn't do that in a hollow body electric. After Ed Goode's comment, I did a bit of searching, and found some videos of hollow body or chambered electrics that got a good DB sound. There were a few, although they were high-end instruments from Rob Allen and Veilette.
Maybe, but the "laws of physics" come into it, as the guys in that video made clear. Plus, an DB resonates from both the front and the back, whereas the back of an ABG is of course muffled by the player's belly.
You've been linked numerous examples of professionals using ABG's in a way that could never be duplicated on a conventional electric. Actual art being produced by these instruments kinda trump this guy's "opinions".
I own ABG's and I own a Rob Allen Deep 4 (the hollowest of the Rob Allens). Not even remotely the same. The Rob Allen yields a much punchier, defined note because the body is less hollow, with fewer overtones, and less ring.
Neither of them sound like a double bass.
An apple....and an orange.
What it does is prove this guy shouid stick to bass fishing, not bass playing.
I admit that the "percussive" soundboard thing couldn't really be duplicated on an electric. Other than that, I don't agree with your statement. In fact, my recent researches have convinced me that a well designed, set up and amplified electric can essentially duplicate a DB.
They sound enough like a double bass to fool 98% of people. That's probably good enough to sell the van that you need to transport the DB around.
Maybe he should hang the diploma transversely.
An ABG is not a DB.....nor is it intended to be.
I posted you three links of ABG's being used by pros that resulted in 3 different, incredibly unique voices. You could never duplicate any of those voices with a traditional electric.
Your complaint now seems to be that the ABG voice isn't the same voice of a double bass; which is silly. You car isn't a pickup truck, but you probably don't sit around complaining that your car isn't a pickup truck.
Let's agree to disagree on that, and wonder where the word "traditional" crept in (I never said you could get those tones on a P-bass).
To the extent that I have a "complaint" about ABGs, it is that they aren't very loud, and anything they can do can be done by an appropriately set up and amplified electric (note that the word "traditional" doesn't appear in this sentence).
