Kala UBass Megathread, Part 4

[fjadams]

I spend a lot of time in motels. Just bought a Yamaha THR10 amp to go with my Kala. Both of them together weigh about 7 pounds, and work perfect when just laying about.

 

[pnchad]

i'd be very surprised if my hog/spruce fless weighs 3 lbs - very surprised

I'm gonna spend more time on mine for physical reasons too - nice to have an option

 

[cultrvultr]

I spend a lot of time in motels. Just bought a Yamaha THR10 amp to go with my Kala. Both of them together weigh about 7 pounds, and work perfect when just laying about.

How is the THR10 with bass? Would it be loud enough to play with an acoustic guitar or two?

Does the bass mode fart out on the low E?

 

[Timmy-Watts]

Hey all, I have a serious custom mod on the works for my solid body. It may end up being a whole separate instrument. Can anyone tell if they offer the ThunderGuts in a 5-strings set for the solid bodies? That is what I'd need.

Edit: my guy here will be designing templates and getting measurements for custom solid body ubass mods/body replacements. He is unbelievably reasonable and quick compared to others. I'll keep y'all posted. If anyone is contemplating a custom, I will be highly recommending him. Shoot me a PM. He is not as of now ready for full acoustic hollow bodies, but solid bodies, even chambered/semi hollow.

 

[bluecab]

Bassdrummer:
The weight of the California 4-String Solid body is about 1.8 kg.
The SUB will be less, cause it's made of light poplar instead of swamp ash.

 

[Peredur]

Peredur - thanks for that link. Looks like there are two others who have had the same experience with Road toad as me.

Yeah, it's odd. He is obviously making really nice stuff and all that but I could not find a way to give him my money.

 

[slaerts]

Hey all, I have a serious custom mod on the works for my solid body. It may end up being a whole separate instrument. Can anyone tell if they offer the ThunderGuts in a 5-strings set for the solid bodies? That is what I'd need.

Edit: my guy here will be designing templates and getting measurements for custom solid body ubass mods/body replacements. He is unbelievably reasonable and quick compared to others. I'll keep y'all posted. If anyone is contemplating a custom, I will be highly recommending him. Shoot me a PM. He is not as of now ready for full acoustic hollow bodies, but solid bodies, even chambered/semi hollow.

Checking their site last week thunderguts in a 5 string is not ready, yet. PM'd for details. Would love a decent priced 5 string option that doesn't look like it came from the 80's.

 

[SBassman]

Hey all, I have a serious custom mod on the works for my solid body. It may end up being a whole separate instrument. Can anyone tell if they offer the ThunderGuts in a 5-strings set for the solid bodies? That is what I'd need.

Edit: my guy here will be designing templates and getting measurements for custom solid body ubass mods/body replacements. He is unbelievably reasonable and quick compared to others. I'll keep y'all posted. If anyone is contemplating a custom, I will be highly recommending him. Shoot me a PM. He is not as of now ready for full acoustic hollow bodies, but solid bodies, even chambered/semi hollow.

Would love to see a semi hollow fretless design. Take my money - please.

 

[davewave]

Just had major back surgery (lumbar fusion with bone grafts replacing the disks, and titanium rods to correct scoliosis and spinal stenosis/severe sciatic nerve pain!) and for the next 4 months, I'm only supposed to lift up to 5 pounds. So my heavy Fender Jazz bass is out of the picture ... how much do the U-basses weigh? I'd like to know the weight of both the acoustic (spruce and mahogany) and the solid body (S-U-B). I've searched all the "megathreads" here, and Kala's website, but I can't find any weight specs. Thanks!

--Danny Alemania

I just got out the kitchen scale.

My solidbody S-U-B (the cheaper one with the poplar body) weighs about 4.5 pounds [2.1 kg].

My spruce acoustic weighs about 2 lb. 10 oz [1.2 kg.].

Good luck with your healing, Danny.
Playing music helps, I believe.

 

[davewave]

....I did ask if they were working on a built-in pre for the acoustics...

If you need an onboard preamp, wouldn't the Mi-Si Align be an option as a retrofit?
Isn't that what they use on the Cali solidbodies?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Obviously the EQ on these would be optimized for guitar, not bass.

If you can handle a soldering iron and aren't squeamish about drilling holes in your bass, it could be a DIY.
Between back plate and the sound hole there's fair access to the inside.

 

[slaerts]

Hey all, I have a serious custom mod on the works for my solid body. It may end up being a whole separate instrument. Can anyone tell if they offer the ThunderGuts in a 5-strings set for the solid bodies? That is what I'd need.

Edit: my guy here will be designing templates and getting measurements for custom solid body ubass mods/body replacements. He is unbelievably reasonable and quick compared to others. I'll keep y'all posted. If anyone is contemplating a custom, I will be highly recommending him. Shoot me a PM. He is not as of now ready for full acoustic hollow bodies, but solid bodies, even chambered/semi hollow.

Thanks, Tim. I got a quick response. At this stage I'm waiting for him to use you to iron out the bumps then I'll get a build done. 5 string uke bass here I come!

 

[bassdrummer]

I just got out the kitchen scale.

My solidbody S-U-B (the cheaper one with the poplar body) weighs about 4.5 pounds [2.1 kg].

My spruce acoustic weighs about 2 lb. 10 oz [1.2 kg.].

Good luck with your healing, Danny.
Playing music helps, I believe.

Thanks so much davewave! Wow, that's amazingly light...sounds like "just what the doctor ordered." Thanks for the kind words too. Looking forward to playing again soon!

 

[fjadams]

How is the THR10 with bass? Would it be loud enough to play with an acoustic guitar or two?

Does the bass mode fart out on the low E?

It seems to work pretty well with the Kala. Not thumpy bass, with the small speakers it couldn't be. I think it's easily loud enough to be used with an acoustic player. Haven't noticed any bad sounds off the E, but then again I play rather easily with fingers or thumb, not sure how it'd react to someone who really pounds the strings, or plays with a pick.

 

[SBassman]

>What I am surprised at is that the TG are so long that they work on a 1/2 cello.


The D had me worried. I had to pull it pretty tight to reach. If needed, I could have easily extended the tailpiece cord. I can’t help wondering how great the Pyramid strings would sound on a ¼ scale cello (and if there is enough extra string on the tuner side to reach). On the other hand, I would have a hard time justifying $60 strings on a $100 cello.

You really can't see where I removed the wood behind the D tuner. I didn’t dare file the nut down much at all so the strings don’t have much holding them in. The E was slipping out so I screwed in a nylon spacer from the hardware store and it works like a charm.

I continue to think about your experiment. I really think the tone you had acoustically was very impressive. I think you will knock our socks off if you ever do a soundclip with a pickup.

You mentioned how tight the length was for the D.
I wonder if this would be a productive experiment:

 

[little george]

I think lot of us keep thinking about this experiment (I can´t stop from searching for an half size used chelo around here, but still no luck)
Untill we get any news about it, I have to admit i defretted my ubass. Sounds really good, more upright sound (I´m using aquilas). And as said here it´s ridiculously easy to play in tune. My girlfriends owns (plays?) a fretless bass, and it´s really much more difficult to play tuned.
BUT it fart a lot in the E and A strings. I´m almost sure the problem is in the gapes left by the defretting. Any sugestions to fill them? Is it a must to sand the fretboard after filling them? Thanks

 

[caeman]

Fret line fill suggestion: Rexlace. It is a craft lace material for making necklaces and a thousand other uses, including filling in fret lines.

 

[bluecab]

TB makes me spend my money... Yesterdays order was the sfx micro red dragon, and todays a set of Weedwackers, maybe an alternative option for those, who don't like the TGs and are messed up with tuning and restringing of the stock strings.

Diameters (in mm) are quasi similar to the stock ones.

Pahoehoes mounted: 4.4 - 3.8 - 2.7 - 2.0
Weedwackers: 4.31 - 3.93 - 2.66 - 2.41

Maybe they are long enough to cut two sets for the Ubass.

 

[slaerts]

TB makes me spend my money... Yesterdays order was the sfx micro red dragon, and todays a set of Weedwackers, maybe an alternative option for those, who don't like the TGs and are messed up with tuning and restringing of the stock strings.

Diameters (in mm) are quasi similar to the stock ones.

Pahoehoes mounted: 4.4 - 3.8 - 2.7 - 2.0
Weedwackers: 4.31 - 3.93 - 2.66 - 2.41

Maybe they are long enough to cut two sets for the Ubass.

no low b though

 

[caeman]

TB makes me spend my money... Yesterdays order was the sfx micro red dragon...

w00t! You won't regret it. Tim was making some awesome sound from his.

 

[SBassman]

TB makes me spend my money... Yesterdays order was the sfx micro red dragon, and todays a set of Weedwackers

Please let us know how that goes.