Kala UBass Megathread, Part 4

[Gorn]

I'd wait together the washers until your strings arrive so you can get the right size. Just take the current plastic one to a hardware store and match that to a metal one.

As for fingerboard wear; it's inevitable on any fretless. Many fretless' have a polyurethane or epoxy coating, but those will also need touching up after a few years. There are a number of oils that some players use, but 100% pure rung oil is one of the only ones that's really easy to apply and adds actually polymerizes to a slightly harder wearing finish.

I'm assuming your iphone thought it knew better than you, and I should wait to get the washers, not wait together the washers. Do you think fingerboard wear will affect the playability of the instrument? Or just the aesthetics? What coating do you/everyone think is best? Or maybe none at all?

 

[davewave]

I'd wait together the washers until your strings arrive so you can get the right size. Just take the current plastic one to a hardware store and match that to a metal one.

Why do I bother posting macro-focussed high resolution photographs with a machinist's scale in the background?

Can you count 32nds of an inch? Going one extra would not be ineffective.

Hint: it's the same number as a normal human has fingers and thumbs on one hand.

Translation: Try a 3/16ths or 5/32nds if you want to be proactive. And shun Home Depot in favor of a real neighborhood hardware store if you can, they might have real elderly humans there who would be delighted to help you out and ring up a 50 cent purchase.

 

[dougness]

Posting videos from Saturday's gig. Fdeck and house amp. Flat EQ. YouTube channel is watsontbass. I have trouble posting links here. They would be the ones with the fewest views. Still need to work more on that upright thump in the higher registers.

Hey Tim, what about the MXR 10-band EQ? Does the F-Deck eliminate the need to EQ out the U-Bass finger-against-the-string noise?

 

[caeman]

I am tempting Tim to buy a pedal from me, so I recorded a sample of my U-Bass through my normal board:

Then added the [sfx] 2-channel Red Dragon in place of the G4.

Invalid Link Removed

Here is the sound clip. The first part of the track is HPF-G4-LPF direct to board. After that, you will hear a long pause, then the 2-channel Red Dragon is put in place of the G4. I started with the gain, tone and volume at noon. I then begin cranking the gain to max, then the volume. It stayed very clean even at that max setting, with a hint of some top-end distortion. I then turned the gain back to noon, then turn the tone knob to 7:00 for a dark test. The last snipped is the tone at 5:00 for its brightest. This is a great sounding pedal! If I wanted to, it would replace my G4, but he will gain more utility from it. And, I like the 3-channel aspect of my G4. And not having to power it.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11728847

 

[Timmy-Watts]

Hey Tim, what about the MXR 10-band EQ? Does the F-Deck eliminate the need to EQ out the U-Bass finger-against-the-string noise?

The house amp there is an AI Clarus head-polite mids and top end. Aguilar cab-polite mids and top. Tweeter is turned off anyway. The F-deck seems to further balance the sound-robust yet tight lows and even mids and top. Still full, but the "noise" is more natural. The high impedance I guess. It sounds better than just going straight into the amp input. All these factors seem to add up to a great tone. You can hear it on the YouTube vids.

Not all amps or rooms do that though. That is pretty much an ideal sonic situation for the U-bass. The F-deck really helps. It will be a mainstay in my rig.

 

[dougness]

The house amp there is an AI Clarus head-polite mids and top end. Aguilar cab-polite mids and top. Tweeter is turned off anyway. The F-deck seems to further balance the sound-robust yet tight lows and even mids and top. Still full, but the "noise" is more natural. The high impedance I guess. It sounds better than just going straight into the amp input. All these factors seem to add up to a great tone. You can hear it on the YouTube vids.

Not all amps or rooms do that though. That is pretty much an ideal sonic situation for the U-bass. The F-deck really helps. It will be a mainstay in my rig.

So you still consider the MXR EQ a necessary and useful item in your bag?

 

[Timmy-Watts]

So you still consider the MXR EQ a necessary and useful item in your bag?

Yes. Different rooms, bands, rigs, etc...sometimes a little more this, a little more that, etc. to get it just right. I now know that at a certain place the upright is dialed in perfect, and I kick in this for ubass.





I usually end up with slight tweaks that make a huge difference.

 

[Gorn]

Road Toad's concert uke sized bass. I can't really see the practicality of it, but it is adorable.

 

[lucyfur]

Just wondering if anyone knows how many times of stretching it will take before the Pahoehoe strings stay (relatively) in tune? Did you re-stretch after so many hours of playing, or every couple of days, or ???

 

[caeman]

Two weeks later, I had snipped off about 6" of string from each tuner.

 

[dougness]

I'm still playing the U-Bass I borrowed from a friend. I'm getting ready to take the plunge and buy one but would like a little input. I want to get an acoustic. I'm leaning toward fretted because:

1. I don't want to have to watch my fingers that closely, and the fretted U-Bass I'm using now and have gigged with hasn't bothered me in terms of fret noise. Plus, on some samples online, there are pitch issues with the fretless board, so it's seems like a wash to me regarding the fretting hand.

2. I want to try all the strings and am particularly interested in the Pyramids on a fretted acoustic.

3. if I decide I want a fretless, I can pull the frets and have the side dots where I prefer them on a lined fretless, which is between the dots.

Having said that, I'm leaning toward the spruce top fretted U-Bass. I'm fine with the way it looks. I'm wondering if there's consensus about how it sounds compared to the all mahogany version. I'm guessing most of you have gone with the solid mahogany bass because of the look. Is that right? Or is the tone noticeably darker or better.

There has been considerable talk on the megathreads about the fretted vs. fretless. Feel free to try to convince me of your preference, if you like. As I said, I'm leaning toward fretted, but I'm still open to fretless if I'm convinced it's the way to go.

 

[caeman]

You either want the restriction and unfixable intonation problems that come with fretted...or you don't, so you go fretless. The bridge on the u-bass could be better designed to fix the intonation problems in either case.

 

[slaerts]

I'm still playing the U-Bass I borrowed from a friend. I'm getting ready to take the plunge and buy one but would like a little input. I want to get an acoustic. I'm leaning toward fretted because:

1. I don't want to have to watch my fingers that closely, and the fretted U-Bass I'm using now and have gigged with hasn't bothered me in terms of fret noise. Plus, on some samples online, there are pitch issues with the fretless board, so it's seems like a wash to me regarding the fretting hand.

2. I want to try all the strings and am particularly interested in the Pyramids on a fretted acoustic.

3. if I decide I want a fretless, I can pull the frets and have the side dots where I prefer them on a lined fretless, which is between the dots.

Having said that, I'm leaning toward the spruce top fretted U-Bass. I'm fine with the way it looks. I'm wondering if there's consensus about how it sounds compared to the all mahogany version. I'm guessing most of you have gone with the solid mahogany bass because of the look. Is that right? Or is the tone noticeably darker or better.

There has been considerable talk on the megathreads about the fretted vs. fretless. Feel free to try to convince me of your preference, if you like. As I said, I'm leaning toward fretted, but I'm still open to fretless if I'm convinced it's the way to go.

I play the fretted
1. Becasue of the scale difference between 21' and my regular 34' bass I still have to watch the strings but am getting better after 3 months or so of playing it.
2. I've still got the original strings on mine, they are fine at the moment.
3. Just don't mangle it!
I got the mahagany because it was $15 more than the spruce and it looked pretty. I'm sure it was a return that was repaired and sold off cheaper. It was substantially cheaper than anything else on e-bay and about half price of anything in the shops here in Australia, even with shipping added in. There was a fretted spruce on the classies here yesterday too! Or I can dig out the e-mail address of the guy I bought mine off - he had a few at the time.

 

[SBassman]

3. if I decide I want a fretless, I can pull the frets and have the side dots where I prefer them on a lined fretless, which is between the dots.

This popped into my mind a few days ago. I gotta admit I'm intrigued by it, and I gotta admit that the side dot locations are still messing me up. Not fatally, but, with my limited abilities, it's a handicap I don't need.

 

[plankspanker13]

My fretless spruce-top is the only fretless in my arsenal, at this time, and I love it. No upright pretense and portage issues, just a great pizzicato double bass sound, and my fingers know how to fly just fine. My ear fixes intonation issues quickly enough. You have to be the kind of player who propels the groove with shorter notes, to truly realize what this instrument can do well. My acoustic act does "Fish and Poi," inna reggae style, no less, and the Ubass is perfect for it, and a handful of other songs. I pair it with my Peavey Millenium BXP AC4 on such gigs, since I have 18v 3-band active EQ on the bass guitar, and can use the Boss Bass EQ on my pedalboard as tone-shaping/boost for the Ubass. Still on stock strings, and would like to explore others, in time. Maybe by then, we'll have half-rounds, or even metal flatwounds, to try.

 

[dougness]

I hear you guys about the intonation issues on the fretted U-Basses. The fretted hog I have is about like davewave says on the E and G strings, plus about 5 cents, but the A and D strings are up about 20 at the 10th fret. I'm wondering about the Hutchinson fretted model. A pro player can't have intonation problems.

I'm not necessarily looking for the upright thing, although I like it. I'd like to see what can be done in an ABG vibe with the Pyramids too. That's why the fretted is appealing.

I have to admit that both Abe and Bakithi were playing fretless basses in that U-Bass Day video.

Hmmm, I may have to give up the idea of a fretted after all.

 

[caeman]

You can dislike our body odor and choice of 80's bands on our iPods, but we are correct about the fretless vs. fretted.

 

[3 fingered bass]

Contrary to what many people say on here, a fretless is not for everyone. I have owned several, including a few EUB's. When I purchased a Ubass, I first bought a fretted Spruce and recently a fretted Sub. I am not sorry with choosing fretted. I had concerns about my 1st one being off by 10 to 15 cent at the 12th fret BUT then realized I never play at the 12th fret. In fact, I rarely go higher than the 7th or 8th fret. I was also able to make minimal changes to intonation by making bridge/nut adjustments. If you can play a few fretless instruments (of any type) before your purchase it may help you decide.

 

[dougness]

I know that Chad and Tim are solid gone on the fretless, and that's important because both of them play out regularly.

I hear what you're saying, 3 fingered bass, but I play Jazz standard gigs and need all the fretboard I can get for soloing. In fact, I wish the U-Bass had a few more frets and a cutaway. I'd be up there working the melodic moment. I can't imagine being stuck below the 7th fret.

I was thinking that with a fretted bass, I could try all three sets of strings and explore the breadth and depth of the possibilities. Looks like I may have to be happy with either the Pahoehoes or Thunderguts on a fretless. I really can't lose with those options. Just wanted to leave all possibilities open.

 

[caeman]

Another Bible Blues Band practice last night, getting a 12-song set list cemented for July 28th. I am decided on using the U-Bass for the gig. It will be my first chance to use my full 4x10 GK setup.