Kala UBass Megathread, Part 3

[Timmy-Watts]

First gig using the Fishman. Here we're my best settings:




No, that is not a mistake. I did exactly what the manual said with the clip light. Felt like it neutered my tone. Took it out of the chain after 2 songs and had VT sonic bliss the rest of the night. Every feature is redundant with something on the Baggs preamp, MXR EQ pedal, and VT Bass. I'll give it another shot next week. Then it either stays and I'll sell the Baggs or it goes up on the block.

 

[jamesczar]

Replaced D string earlier today with the one that Kala sent me as a replacement - fixed the buzzing and intonation issues. That other D was definitely bad.

And I stretched all my other strings (except for the E, which has settled in nicely). My new, best method? Vice grips, stretch to just flat of the tuned note, and then have someone else turn the tuner until I've got a couple of wraps on the post - then put the string back through the slot again (on the G, D and A).

Worked great. No knots, no twists, much easier than all other methods discussed, and I think I could do it myself next time, now that I'm comfy.

 

[scotch]

Vise grips are also my tool of choice. Just need that extra strength to hold the stretched strings!

 

[jamesczar]

Took it out of the chain after 2 songs and had VT sonic bliss the rest of the night.

I really liked Tim's sound all night. That VT is definitely a great little pedal... now I'm wanting to try one.

I've had better results with my Platinum Pro, but then again that was cleaning up the sound on my POS GK Backline 112 practice amp. Anything would make that thing sound better.

We'll see what the Fishman sounds like on the Ten2 when I get it next week, otherwise it may be going back and there might be a VT in my future.

On the otherhand... the Fishman is a bit of a swiss army knife, and I might keep it in my PA rig as a just-in-case for those never-know-when-you're-gonna-need-it eventualities. I have another older Fishman pre that I've used on different instruments/mics - like when I needed to put a kick drum mic into my small board and didn't have a preamped channel available.

 

[scotch]

First gig using the Fishman. Here we're my best settings:




No, that is not a mistake. I did exactly what the manual said with the clip light. Felt like it neutered my tone. Took it out of the chain after 2 songs and had VT sonic bliss the rest of the night. Every feature is redundant with something on the Baggs preamp, MXR EQ pedal, and VT Bass. I'll give it another shot next week. Then it either stays and I'll sell the Baggs or it goes up on the block.

Were you running the VT into the Fishman?

 

[Timmy-Watts]

Were you running the VT into the Fishman?

No, I bypassed the VT when I had the Fishman on. My best setting was flat EQ, no compression, depth almost all the way up. But it didn't sound as good as bypassing it. Of course the house rig there is an AI head into an Aggie 210. But still I could not find any improvement using the Fishman.

 

[AMJBASS]

That is interesting. I have a BII that I use in case of emergency(ie// upright/Ubass plugged into the PA). I have thought about the pro version but after reading everything you've written about the VT I think I might grab one. We basically play the same type of gigs so I'm guessing it would work well for what I am doing.

 

[GBassNorth]

No, I bypassed the VT when I had the Fishman on. My best setting was flat EQ, no compression, depth almost all the way up. But it didn't sound as good as bypassing it. Of course the house rig there is an AI head into an Aggie 210. But still I could not find any improvement using the Fishman.

My findings exactly. The fishman plat pro was a nice pre and had some neat features but just didn't do as much for my tone as the VT does, so mine went back to GC for a refund. I have one of the older VT pedals like Tim has shown in his pic, so now I'm thinking about picking up one of the new VT pedals that has multiple settings and inputs/outputs so I can easily switch between my Spector/Warwick bass, my P/MM bass and the Kala. I'm sure many will like the fishman but unfortunately I just couldn't make it work great for me.

 

[scotch]

When y'all use the VT are you going for a clean, upright-like tone or a dirtier vibe?

I still haven't tried the VT, but I hated the SansAmp bddi (just too buzzy and output was weak of you dialed mids in). Used it for years, but finally woke up to needing mids... Is the VT inherently different?

Caveat: I know many, many people love the bddi, including many pros that I know... just not my cup o' tea!

 

[Timmy-Watts]

When y'all use the VT are you going for a clean, upright-like tone or a dirtier vibe?

I still haven't tried the VT, but I hated the SansAmp bddi (just too buzzy and output was weak of you dialed mids in). Used it for years, but finally woke up to needing mids... Is the VT inherently different?

Caveat: I know many, many people love the bddi, including many pros that I know... just not my cup o' tea!

I used the BDDI for years because it cleaned up honky mids when I was using crappy backline or going to the house with the upright. I sold mine this year. The VT is extremely different. The character knob is to my ears a high mid gain knob. Adds overdrive in the 800-1k range. Just to my ears. It works in conjunction with the rest of the knobs. All my youtube videos not playing 4/4 upright "swing" I have the pedal on with the pictured settings. All the Motown, Beatles, Latin, pop tunes, etc. It starts to give fullness and warmth around 9:00 on the drive knob, a little hair on the attacks around 11, where I have it. More overdrive and sustain above that. It changes my already great clean signal to warm P-like thump when I turn it on. The character knob dialed around 10-11:00 (for me) cuts honkiness but I still have the mids boosted a little (500hz) and it keeps fullness and punch. The input is already 1megOhm so there is no need for a piezo-specific buffer before it. I also have the deluxe, which has 6 presets, 2 inputs switchable for doubling. Switchable effects loop with memory for each preset, XLR out with a pad, amp out has a boost switch. And ground lift. I only use the simple one for these gigs I only need one sound and clean bypass.

But trust me, it ain't your daddy's sansamp. It has mids and the tone array is stunning. I dial in my best clean sound and the VT improves on it every time.

 

[fretno]

Hello everyone ! I have the G.A.S. for one of these fine instruments , especially after reading most of the posts , pheew... I was wondering though . I don't really see a difference in hardware with the Spruce or Hog basses , have they gone to hipshots for both on the current instruments ? I also see some with binding and some without . Do you think the newer instruments have the binding ? Lastly about the truss rods , is it as simple as newer ones having it , older ones don't or some do some don't ? Perhaps as a future buyer of a ubass one could indentify a new one by binding that has a trussrod ? Please share your thoughts , Cheers

 

[GBassNorth]

I used the BDDI for years because it cleaned up honky mids when I was using crappy backline or going to the house with the upright. I sold mine this year. The VT is extremely different. The character knob is to my ears a high mid gain knob. Adds overdrive in the 800-1k range. Just to my ears. It works in conjunction with the rest of the knobs. All my youtube videos not playing 4/4 upright "swing" I have the pedal on with the pictured settings. All the Motown, Beatles, Latin, pop tunes, etc. It starts to give fullness and warmth around 9:00 on the drive knob, a little hair on the attacks around 11, where I have it. More overdrive and sustain above that. It changes my already great clean signal to warm P-like thump when I turn it on. The character knob dialed around 10-11:00 (for me) cuts honkiness but I still have the mids boosted a little (500hz) and it keeps fullness and punch. The input is already 1megOhm so there is no need for a piezo-specific buffer before it. I also have the deluxe, which has 6 presets, 2 inputs switchable for doubling. Switchable effects loop with memory for each preset, XLR out with a pad, amp out has a boost switch. And ground lift. I only use the simple one for these gigs I only need one sound and clean bypass.

But trust me, it ain't your daddy's sansamp. It has mids and the tone array is stunning. I dial in my best clean sound and the VT improves on it every time.

That pretty much sums it all up. When I'm using the VT with my Kala I'm going for a more DB tone, not shooting for overdrive or grit or distortion, and I'm also trying to EQ the inherent piezo right hand finger "swoosh" out of the bass as well.
I do find the knobs on the VT to all be VERY interactive, a small adjustment on one knob will frequently result in the need for a small offsetting adjustment on one of the other knobs. If I had limited funds and wasn't sure which pedal to buy for my Kala I'd start with the VT, chances are it will do everything you need (except phantom power, XLR out and polarity shift - which the fishman does but I really didn't need). Plus the VT can be used with all your other basses (and guitars) for some of the best sounding and most useable tone tweaking in any pedal I've ever tried.

 

[GBassNorth]

Hello everyone ! I have the G.A.S. for one of these fine instruments , especially after reading most of the posts , pheew... I was wondering though . I don't really see a difference in hardware with the Spruce or Hog basses , have they gone to hipshots for both on the current instruments ? I also see some with binding and some without . Do you think the newer instruments have the binding ? Lastly about the truss rods , is it as simple as newer ones having it , older ones don't or some do some don't ? Perhaps as a future buyer of a ubass one could indentify a new one by binding that has a trussrod ? Please share your thoughts , Cheers

I don't know it as a fact, but it sure appears Kala has made a lot of updates and revisions on the fly with the Ubass. I bought my Mahogany hollowbody new in October of 2011, the first day it arrived in the store and it does not have the truss rod or binding but does have the magnetic access plate in the back (I've seen some earlier ones with screws). In just the few months I've had mine they've come out with truss rods, binding, upgraded tuners for the spruce top, new strings, a flamed Koa version and who knows what else. All the changes seem to be improvements as best I can tell. I can't wait to see what's next. I do intend to buy another one but will go fretless on the next purchase and may consider a custom build by the luthier at Roadtoad.
If they can think of a way to continue improving on the product and keep the cost in the sub $600 bracket they've got a winner. Of course I'd pay a little more for it if it had an onboard preamp but it's a darn nice gig machine for the price as is.

 

[caeman]

The U-Bass went over well at church this morning. I got a call to fill in this morning. Straight to PA, the Fishman gave me the tone control I needed. I am loving this little bass more and more every day.

 

[slaerts]

Hey guys,
Recieved my mahogany kala this morning. Those strings do have a lot of give in them don't they.
Bought it primarily for convenients sake. Will mostly be playing worship at my church and school and a bit of folk/bluegrass with my mad uncle.
Hers's a pic with my custom 6'er/.

I've a l.r. baggs paracoustic pre-di and a fishman pro-eq di bass. I'm hoping one of those can subdue the string noise.

After reading through some previous threads about options this one has a rear access plate (havent opened it yet), black binding around the body and has the truss rod.

 

[dougness]

Hello everyone ! I have the G.A.S. for one of these fine instruments , especially after reading most of the posts , pheew... I was wondering though . I don't really see a difference in hardware with the Spruce or Hog basses , have they gone to hipshots for both on the current instruments ? I also see some with binding and some without . Do you think the newer instruments have the binding ? Lastly about the truss rods , is it as simple as newer ones having it , older ones don't or some do some don't ? Perhaps as a future buyer of a ubass one could indentify a new one by binding that has a trussrod ? Please share your thoughts , Cheers

All of your questions are answered in the Ubass megathreads. If you're really thinking of buying a Ubass, it's worth your time to read them.

 

[caeman]

Allow me summarize thousands of posts into just one: Buy a fretless acoustic u-bass, you will not regret it. If you do, then you are clearly insane. Ignore all of the details about binding, posts, etc. Just buy one.

 

[cultrvultr]

+1. Fretless is the way to go. Even if you've never played a fretless before. It's much easier to play fretless on this short scale and avoids the intonation issues the fretted ones have.

 

[jamesczar]

Like I said earlier, I got the replacement D string from Kala, and the bass is working great now. So I had my first full bluegrass rehearsal with the UBass...

AMAZING! I LOVE this thing - more than I ever thought I would. I think this is my new favorite bass... it's a real toss-up between this and my Warwick $$ (totally different, but I can't decide which I like playing more). It's possible the Kala might win out... soon.

I used the Platinum Pro, and I really like it. It's creating exactly the sound I'm looking for (an upright substitute). I'm open to consider the VT or other pedals, but I think for the Kala, I'm happy with just the PP. If feel like if I want to really groove, I'll switch to my Warwick anyway.

We'll see, with playing out mileage, I may have a different feeling.

The bluegrass group loves the sound. They're sold on this being the instrument that I play with them. And I can't wait to play it out with them.

Once I fully settle into the scale, I know I'll be even happier.

My favorite part of the evening was when a friend of the band stopped by and just stared for a whole song, confounded by what he saw and how it didn't jive with what he heard. After the song he said, "Is that really you making that sound?" Priceless.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

Hey guys,
Recieved my mahogany kala this morning. Those strings do have a lot of give in them don't they.
Bought it primarily for convenients sake. Will mostly be playing worship at my church and school and a bit of folk/bluegrass with my mad uncle.
Hers's a pic with my custom 6'er/.

[BOLD]I've a l.r. baggs paracoustic pre-di [/BOLD] and a fishman pro-eq di bass. I'm hoping one of those can subdue the string noise.

After reading through some previous threads about options this one has a rear access plate (havent opened it yet), black binding around the body and has the truss rod.

+1 on the Baggs para-EQ. At this early juncture with the Fishman the Baggs is a clear winner IMO. I like the features a lot. I set it flat bass. Notch boost about 2:00 at 120hz (9-10:00), mid 10:00@ 1.3hz (3:00), presence all the way down, treble 11:00. Maybe start there. Dot be afraid to turn those knobs. I find the biggest problem areas at ~ 1k-4k. A high bass boost gives great thump too.