Kala UBass Megathread, Part 3

[Timmy-Watts]

Thank you VERY much for that photo. I think that little modification needs to be standard. Playing in your living room or studio is one thing, but i like the headstock raised...makes a big difference.

One last question...what strap buttons did you use? I'm going to do this little operation at home, and I want to get it right.

I bought cheap strap buttons. Maybe Dunlop? I think this one is actually nylon. I drilled about 45 degrees an screwed it in. The angle is important IMO because when the bass is angled up how I like it the strap button is straight. If I had put it straight on the end of the heel, it would want to pull out of the strap standing up.

 

[hopturn]

Great. Thanks. That's been my only difficulty with the Ubass live so far...finding that position that will allow me access to the whole neck.

 

[GBassNorth]

If you're not one to drill holes in your Ubass you can use one of these along with a regular guitar strap. It works great for me and allows the Ubass to hang at any angle I want. It's kind of a throw back to the early days of electric bass where the stap attached to the back of the headstock, so if you're not into that look you might want to go the drill and strap button route. I just didn't want to risk splitting the heel on the Ubass and this was a cheap but good looking solution. The Martin logo can be positioned on the back side of the strap if you don't want that to show.
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[Timmy-Watts]

With the right drill bit and delicate technique the heel should be fine. I definitely prefer that as a strap point. It puts the bass exactly like I need it to access every note.

 

[SBassman]

I've had a couple days with the solid body UBass and I'm a bit torn. I dig the size, the feel, and the tone, but I'm having a hard time finding a match between the bass and the price. The sum total of the materials falls well short of the $1k price tag so I would expect the balance to be made up in workmanship. The very basic satin finish with some flaws, chipped holes for the screws and strings, and a misaligned tuner aren't helping to sell the workmanship aspect.

I really wish the fretless mahogany acoustic had been in stock...I could handle a few flaws at that price point. Considering what else is available for $1000, this just isn't getting me excited.

I don't disagree with you. On one hand, I have had a ton of fun with UBasses. On the other hand, I think they are Really pushing their luck with the price points. It's only a matter of time before one or more other manufacturers figure the cash cow out and offer alternatives at lower prices.

We're getting hit hard - because we are early adopters.

The acoustics should be about - half the price of what they are now.

The SUB is semi reasonably priced, but the U.S. Cali models are completely dysfunctionally priced. Even if I had the dollars, there's no way I would pay that amount for the Calis. It's an insult.

Ok, I said it. Shoot me. But it's reality.

 

[Sub41]

The solid body is going back.

I stopped at my local store today and they had a fretless spruce top on the wall. I ended up buying it and can't see a reason to keep the solid body. They also have a fretless mahogany at their other location in a nearby town. He had it sent over so I can try it after work Monday, and if I like it better than the spruce I can trade out.

Much happier now with the acoustic version. And boy was it overwound...first thing I did when I got home was to rewind the strings and cut off the excess.

 

[caeman]

I am neither delicate nor careful with a drill. I opted to tie the strap to the head stock.

 

[GBassNorth]

I am neither delicate nor careful with a drill. I opted to tie the strap to the head stock.

I'm in the same boat. Another strap tip, I also enlarged the hole on the strap at the pin jack end of the bass. This eliminated the ultra tight strap fit which was loosening my pin jack. The strap is still perfectly secure but no longer wrenches the jack around.

An update on the Fishman Pro-EQ Bass Preamp that I purchased to tame the Ubass Hollowbody pickup and provide a bit of DB type sound. I've returned it to GC (had it for nearly 30 days). I really wanted it to work better than it did and gave it every chance to stay in the family but at the end of the day I get just as good a tone out of my Tech 21 VT pedal and it has a lot more tonal flexibility than the Fishman. The Fishman got to about 90% of where I wanted to go but the VT goes all the way and still works well with all my other basses to boot.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

First set break. The ThunderGuts are coming off tomorrow. I think I'll play my new P-Bass the rest of the night. If it ain't broke...

Also...I will never EVER patronize the US postal service. After 8 days I am still waiting on my new Stingray and they don't have any clue where the hell it is! The bass I traded got there last Monday morning in California after shipping it from Ohio parcel post Friday! Mine was shipped the same day and time according to the tracking number but no further activity. I also confirmed the address is correct.

Lessons learned the hard way will never have to be learned again. Gonna go back and take anger out on the P-Bass.

 

[caeman]

I'm in the same boat. Another strap tip, I also enlarged the hole on the strap at the pin jack end of the bass. This eliminated the ultra tight strap fit which was loosening my pin jack. The strap is still perfectly secure but no longer wrenches the jack around.

An update on the Fishman Pro-EQ Bass Preamp that I purchased to tame the Ubass Hollowbody pickup and provide a bit of DB type sound. I've returned it to GC (had it for nearly 30 days). I really wanted it to work better than it did and gave it every chance to stay in the family but at the end of the day I get just as good a tone out of my Tech 21 VT pedal and it has a lot more tonal flexibility than the Fishman. The Fishman got to about 90% of where I wanted to go but the VT goes all the way and still works well with all my other basses to boot.

It sounds like the drive section of the VT is what was giving you the sound you wanted. The Fishman was strictly for a clean sounds.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

It sounds like the drive section of the VT is what was giving you the sound you wanted. The Fishman was strictly for a clean sounds.

The drive is awesome, but the VT is magical clean, furry, thumpy, facemelting, and everything in between. I set mine on furry, I. E. barely driven and warm. Drive 10:30-11:00, character 10:00, bass noon, mid 1:00, treble 8:00, level straight up. Even without overdrive, the character knob seems to tweak that natural curve you would want from a good clean acoustic preamp.

 

[bryanspkr]

First set break. The ThunderGuts are coming off tomorrow. I think I'll play my new P-Bass the rest of the night. If it ain't broke...

Also...I will never EVER patronize the US postal service. After 8 days I am still waiting on my new Stingray and they don't have any clue where the hell it is! The bass I traded got there last Monday morning in California after shipping it from Ohio parcel post Friday! Mine was shipped the same day and time according to the tracking number but no further activity. I also confirmed the address is correct.

Lessons learned the hard way will never have to be learned again. Gonna go back and take anger out on the P-Bass.

I had a feeling you wouldn't like the thundergut.
Maybe you can tell us exactly why you are taking them off?

Good luck with the stingray. Horrible story. Small consolation but at least its not a bass that you have already lived with. Things could always be worse. Was it insured?

 

[Timmy-Watts]

I had a feeling you wouldn't like the thundergut.
Maybe you can tell us exactly why you are taking them off?

Good luck with the stingray. Horrible story. Small consolation but at least its not a bass that you have already lived with. Things could always be worse. Was it insured?

Can't decide if I will actually post a video because my mind was more on the disparity of tone coming from my duo-string setup last night.

The ThunderGuts are great, at least the D and G. Acoustically, they are tighter and brighter. One poster says, you can EQ that even. True to a point. The white strings are missing that undertone, or subharmonic part of the note. The black strings are great at that. Not this extreme, but it's like playing lower notes on an upright and upper notes through a high pass filter set at 80hz on a Jaco jazz fretless. More definition, sustain. Not "mwah" Pre se, but definitely more mids put out from the string sustaining against the wood. They are loud and have more singing quality up high than the blacks, but are missing that thump. I can see totally using these if my U-Bass were being used in place of an electric bass, as many on here are. The white strings would be perfect. But I am using it primarily instead of my upright. And on last night's gig specifically, instead of both. But I tend to prefer that open, airy, thumpy upright sound with low sub harmonics filling in the attacks "under" the notes. Does that make sense?

about the Ray.
Yeah, I have a fretted Ray 5. I'm getting a Ray 4 fretless. So not exactly the same, but I was really hoping to use it a little last night. It is insured. I'd rather have the bass, though.

 

[bryanspkr]

Can't decide if I will actually post a video because my mind was more on the disparity of tone coming from my duo-string setup last night.

The ThunderGuts are great, at least the D and G. Acoustically, they are tighter and brighter. One poster says, you can EQ that even. True to a point. The white strings are missing that undertone, or subharmonic part of the note. The black strings are great at that. Not this extreme, but it's like playing lower notes on an upright and upper notes through a high pass filter set at 80hz on a Jaco jazz fretless. More definition, sustain. Not "mwah" Pre se, but definitely more mids put out from the string sustaining against the wood. They are loud and have more singing quality up high than the blacks, but are missing that thump. I can see totally using these if my U-Bass were being used in place of an electric bass, as many on here are. The white strings would be perfect. But I am using it primarily instead of my upright. And on last night's gig specifically, instead of both. But I tend to prefer that open, airy, thumpy upright sound with low sub harmonics filling in the attacks "under" the notes. Does that make sense?

about the Ray.
Yeah, I have a fretted Ray 5. I'm getting a Ray 4 fretless. So not exactly the same, but I was really hoping to use it a little last night. It is insured. I'd rather have the bass, though.

I agree about the sound quality. I like almost everything but the sound quality. and thats the most important thing. I had the thunderguts tuned down a whole step (2 semis) for a while before taking them off. Try tuning down your D and G and let me know how they compare to the rest of the set in volume sound and feel.

 

[scotch]

I wonder why my experience with Thunderguts has been different regarding the low end content? The side by side comparison recording I did still had all the punch and fundamental. The TG's definitely do have a lot more treble content. Is it possible there are psychoacoustic factors playing a part? (i.e. less perceived lows due to the human ear favoring highs)

I try to be as objective as possible & recognize everyone has preferences regarding feel. But I still get he same room filling bottom with the TG's as the Pahoehoes. As soon as I switched strings on tour, I asked the foh engineer if he noticed any difference. He didn't. Just my experience!

 

[bryanspkr]

I wonder why my experience with Thunderguts has been different regarding the low end content? The side by side comparison recording I did still had all the punch and fundamental. The TG's definitely do have a lot more treble content. Is it possible there are psychoacoustic factors playing a part? (i.e. less perceived lows due to the human ear favoring highs)

I try to be as objective as possible & recognize everyone has preferences regarding feel. But I still get he same room filling bottom with the TG's as the Pahoehoes. As soon as I switched strings on tour, I asked the foh engineer if he noticed any difference. He didn't. Just my experience!

Easy way to know would be just to filter out all the mids and highs.

For me, its not only the sub and fundamental-tones, and not only balance, but also the quality of the mids and highs.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

I'm sure that in a live sound situation with subs and all that the TG's would rule. I play a jazz trio gig with a little amp and a 2x10 speaker. No P. A. Or subwoofers. I want that airy thump that my upright would have on the attacks of my notes. The black strings give me that. The whites don't. Well, I think they do if I play them proportionally hard enough, but that raises the relative volume and all the other frequencies too much. And those E and A strings I got were out of the question. I'm switching back just because the blacks work and sound better for me.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

Scotch, the psychoacoustic thing you mentioned was my first thought. So on the gig I turned down all highs and mids and turned up the bass all the way ( gradually ended up there ). I even kicke in the VT pedal. But it still remained that the white strings lacked the undertone attack that the blacks had. Maybe I'll try to post a video. Not sure if it would really capture in though. I noticed listening back that I tended to play on the blacks or whites at different sections just for tonal continuity.

 

[scotch]

Scotch, the psychoacoustic thing you mentioned was my first thought. So on the gig I turned down all highs and mids and turned up the bass all the way ( gradually ended up there ). I even kicke in the VT pedal. But it still remained that the white strings lacked the undertone attack that the blacks had. Maybe I'll try to post a video. Not sure if it would really capture in though. I noticed listening back that I tended to play on the blacks or whites at different sections just for tonal continuity.

Hmm. Interesting. Well, I certainly dug the tone of the black strings! I guess our instruments just really sound different. They are made of wood after all!

 

[SBassman]

First set break. The ThunderGuts are coming off tomorrow. I think I'll play my new P-Bass the rest of the night. If it ain't broke...

Also...I will never EVER patronize the US postal service. After 8 days I am still waiting on my new Stingray and they don't have any clue where the hell it is! The bass I traded got there last Monday morning in California after shipping it from Ohio parcel post Friday! Mine was shipped the same day and time according to the tracking number but no further activity. I also confirmed the address is correct.

Lessons learned the hard way will never have to be learned again. Gonna go back and take anger out on the P-Bass.

On one hand, to date, I have lucked out with the USPS and have always had packages eventually arrive. On the other hand, their tracking sux and is essentially useless.

I have had a package with tracking show No Updates for a week,
only to have a whole Ton of history appear - on the day the package was actually delivered. Yeah, that was helpful.