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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 2

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#621
kerryg said:
Tim, was your replacement done to repair something, or did you upgrade your bridge and/or pickup?

Just one of those ideas that occurred to me as i play this more (I'm curious about putting an onboard preamp in my Ubass too).
Click to expand...

Kerryg,
My D and G would get static and lose signal during solos. A sound guy I know that tends to correctly diagnose problems said it sounds like the pickup is not making full contact. It was a horrible sound. A shake and tap would temporarily fix it sometimes.

I emailed Owen Holt, who I got it from. He got right back to me and said Kala is shipping me a new pickup/bridge assembly and it is easy to replace myself. I got it in a day or two and replaced it. Problem fixed!

The old bridge is intonation compensated. The new one is straight across. It sounds better, and seems more in tune. Go figure.
 
#622
Re: onboard preamps

I know it would be awesome. But my humble opinion is this: the hollow ubass's character is great passive. For the same reason a vintage P-Bass is. I like leaving it that way for several reasons:
1. I am an upright player. Adjusting sounds is a great way to be creative by changing your touch, and for me, makes my approach more well-rounded and versatile.
2. Putting an onboard preamp in there means battery and inherently smooths out that thump. I want that thump. I don't want something else that will not work without a battery.
3. There are a lot of great preamps out there and I can pick and choose depending on the music, room, amp, instrument, etc. I like the l. R. Baggs para EQ. Small box I can use with any of my instruments. And only $169 new.
4. The solid body has a preamp. It is built in and works great. It smooths out the attack, giving me a totally different feel than my passive hollow body. But the output level is about the same.
 
#623
SBassman said:
If you haven't read the thread, you should. It has a Ton of information about stringing. Also watch Kala / Mike Upton's tuning video online.

The black rubber strings are very unlikely to break. The tuning posts are another story. You want to watch while tuning, ensuring the tuner is not binding up. You want no more than 3 wraps or so on the tuning posts. Otherwise, start over with the string and pull it more before starting to tune.

It's going to take some elbow grease to bring the bass alive, but it's worth the effort.
Click to expand...

thanks Frank, i have tried but lots of post here, i was concerned becaus of the sound i got while trying to tune. and as it turned out i was right:hmm: after playing i needed to redo the process while LOOSENING the post the g's washer popped out and no longer works and the d"s stripped out.:eek: Kala's service rep was great and is sending a couple of new ones out. sooner the better I just loved playing it for the short time I could.
 
#626
I have mail out to Kala from earlier in the weekend asking if the higher end Hipshots will fit on the acoustic spruce models.

I have some vague memory of someone earlier in this thread getting a replacement tuner and saying the first one they sent was the "wrong one", leading me to believe the two types of tuners do not have the same dimensions.

Does anyone know this answer? If the tuners are the same dimensions, at some point I'm just going to break down and buy two Hipshots sets and be done with the die cast tuners.
 
#628
I know it's too late for a lot of you, but unfortunately it seems way more worth it to spring the extra $100 and get a mahogany. Is there anyone here that has ha tuner problems on a mahogany or acacia hollow or a California solid? It seems those spruce and imported solid bodied basses are riddled with tuner problems. I have had zero problems with mine (knock knock).

Gonna try to work in the hollow at the big band gig tonight :-)
 
#631
TimWatson said:
I know it's too late for a lot of you, but unfortunately it seems way more worth it to spring the extra $100 and get a mahogany. Is there anyone here that has ha tuner problems on a mahogany or acacia hollow or a California solid? It seems those spruce and imported solid bodied basses are riddled with tuner problems. I have had zero problems with mine (knock knock).

Gonna try to work in the hollow at the big band gig tonight :-)
Click to expand...

If I would have paid attention to the fact that the Mahogany ones had the Hipshots, that would have put me over the edge to spring for one. By the time I'm done upgrading my tuners, I'll be up to the Mahogany price anyway.
 
#632
Gear observations.

Several random experiences, some related to the ubass. Last night subbing at a big band gig: the club recently moved, and the new location is live sounding. My trusty Walter woods and 210 has served me well for over 15 years and has always sounded good with the upright. Just last week that rig was perfect in that room with the ubass and my fretless with almost no processing. But I just could not get the sound I wanted. I tried all my acoustic preamps and straight in and...nothing would do it. On the break I plugged in the VTBass and VOILA! Instant gratification and perfect tone on the upright!

Then today I brought the ubass to the store and got to test a genz Benz shuttle 6.0 and streamliner 600 through the shuttle 210 cab. They say the tubey-ness of the Streamliner is too much for acoustic instruments and the clearer, more hi-fi shuttle is better. I could not disagree more. Even at maximum overdrive and at tonal extremes. I liked the sound of my ubass through that amp. The shuttle sounded too sterile and I had to tweak a lot to get a tone I liked. This is just all to my ears, but IMO it seems going tube for any bass instrument gives a better tone. I know it is just my opinion.

At that store they just got in a back ordered mahogany ubass yesterday. It had the truss rod and binding. I did like the binding. I would not have a problem with it. I A/B'd it with mine. Wow. A huge difference. It had less output and a fatter rounder neck than mine! Maybe it is just because mine is broken in and had older strings and that one is new and fretted. But there was definitely a fatter neck than mine. Interesting.

So my biggest dilemma is: get the VTBass deluxe and have it all taken care of using my $2000 power amp (the Woods), or drop several hundred on the best sounding head I have heard... I'll be awake thinking about this...

Sorry so long.
 
#633
Yeah, that's a happy match for me - I have the Streamliner 900 and a Berg HT/ER stack and the UBass was just immediately jaw-dropping through that. I use a "cross-eyed" EQ setting on the SL900 - bass at 3:00, mids (@500) at 9:00 - and tweak from there. I love how that Streamliner is just "drop on the cab, plug in and go".

First gig with a different (and hugely fun) group last night - same story as always, initial amused skepticism then WOW...
 
#634
Kerryg,

Yeah my favorite settings time the time I was in there was:

Gain switch in (those tubes sound awesome!)
Gain1:00
Volume 11:00
Bass 2:00
Mid 10:00 @ 600 -or- 2k
Treble 10:30
level 9:00 was shaking the room

Cab tweeter level at 25%.
 
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