Kala UBass Megathread, Part 5

[threshar]

So yeah, turns out getting stuck on either the nut or that bar thing was affecting me. I found if I pressed on the string between the nut & bar the tuner would immediately hear the change. Also learned I had a lot of pent up tension on the A between there as I lifted the string off the nut and whoah sharp!

nice bit o trivia!

 

[Gorn]

If I'm breaking the rules I'm truly sorry, but I have a set of SR's if anyone wants. Already cut but installable. Lets say 15 bucks conus. Three of them have the red rubber washer. I'll put it up in the classifieds, but i figure someone here would probably want them.

 

[pauliebass]

So it's been fun being in Honolulu for many reasons including the fact that I've got to play 5 ubasses. I figured out I want the spruce fretless. The hog is certainly nice, but I found that the spruce was a tad louder and punchier acoustically (at least in the 2 spruce examples I played). Both sound the same plugged in to me. I thought I would get the hog, but found I preferred the look of the spruce better in person. I like the black binding compared to the tort. The tuners on the spruce seem absolutely as substantial as the hipshots on the hog. I can deal with the soft case instead of the foam one. Money was really no object for this instrument, and it was pretty cool to figure out that I liked the cheaper version in multiple A/B tests. Obviously IMO!!!

 

[fuzzy beard]

Well this past weekend I was able to find and try 3 Ubasses. Spruce, solid mahogany, and exotic mahogany. All three fretted. They all were nice and I couldn't tell the difference in tone amplified. Solid mahogany is by far my favorite looking. But the price of the exotic is very tempting. 400 bucks and it has the hipshot tuners and foam case!

Whats every ones opinion on the laminate Ubass?

What's the opinion on the non hipshot tuners on the spruce?

And lastly I am still hoping to play a frettless before I decide on what to get.

 

[pauliebass]

Well this past weekend I was able to find and try 3 Ubasses. Spruce, solid mahogany, and exotic mahogany. All three fretted. They all were nice and I couldn't tell the difference in tone amplified. Solid mahogany is by far my favorite looking. But the price of the exotic is very tempting. 400 bucks and it has the hipshot tuners and foam case!

Whats every ones opinion on the laminate Ubass?

What's the opinion on the non hipshot tuners on the spruce?

And lastly I am still hoping to play a frettless before I decide on what to get.

Those exotics do look great, but its my understanding that a solid top is the most important thing. Correct me if I'm wrong somebody. like I said above, the tuners on the spruce seem robust enough to me and the construction was very similar.

 

[imperialbari]

The recent posts had me going to the Kala site. There the Exotic Mahogany model is told to have laminated back and sides. The soundboard isn’t mentioned.

The normal interpretation of ukulele descriptions by makers is that no mentioning implies laminated, as solid always will be mentioned specifically.

This presentation doesn’t follow that pattern. Why is the soundboard not mentioned?

Klaus

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[imperialbari]

The specs of the Ortega RLizard appear very close to those of the Kala UBass. Hardly a break of patent rights as at least the body and the length of the neck adhere to pretty standard specs for baritone ukuleles.

Ortega would have been easy to deal with for me, as I have lived in Germany for 11 years and know the language well.

However I wasn’t too hot on the apparently all laminated body and on the laser designs. The two button batteries for the onboard electronics kind of promised embarrassing situations of sudden deaths.

Since then I got a battery meter, which revealed, that my Ovation tenor uke with equalizer and preamp has a very low power consumption. Which hints that small batteries may be acceptable.

Then I learned the RLizard plays with Aquila strings, which indicates that Thunderguts would work.

I saw this eBay presentation of the RLizzard:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/290693317947

It is in German, but the keyword for me is the word Vollmassiv in the title. Voll equals fully or thoroughly. Massiv in this context equals solid.

If that is true, and if experience proves the RLizard being well in tune, then it might become a quite interesting instrument.

Klaus

 

[imperialbari]

I wrote the eBay seller about the discrepancy between his and Ortega’s presentations of the solid or non-solid matter. He answered and thanked for my asking. His presentation was wrong and he already had changed it. Good attitude!

Klaus

 

[pauliebass]

Just ordered the spruce fretless! I already have a platinum pro, and i'm sure it'll sound amazing through a TH500.

 

[caeman]

You should be happy with the results, yes.

 

[SBassman]

Kala to Debut New uBass Model at Winter NAMM

http://ubassappreciation.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/kala-to-debut-new-ubass-model-at-winter-namm/

 

[fuzzy beard]

Looks like there trying to keep price down. Die cast tuners and laminate body.

Still haven't decided how I feel about the laminate body ubasses. I have played one didn't notice much difference. I am kind of worried about delaminating over time. But heck people have been playing ply basses for over 50 years.

 

[Gorn]

I wouldn't be concerned. My laminate exotic mahogany feels pretty solid to me. The newer models are really well made.

 

[scotch]

I think a lam body makes sense on a U-Bass!

First off, laminates are less prone to cracking and environmental damage. Secondly, while laminates arguably do no not develop as much with time and improve in tone- I'd argue that this matters less with the U-Bass where a larger proportion of 'the sound' is coming from the string material. There's also less high frequency detail being focused on.


That's a cool new & extremely inexpensive instrument!!! Especially with an onboard pre. I suspect it's a stock model Artec- I just came across a Grizzly tool catalog with a full page of Artec onboard pre's that look a lot like that one!

 

[scotch]

Caeman, did I miss your report on the U-Bass through Radial Firefly?

 

[fuzzy beard]

Thanks! I never thought of it like that.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

Scotch, I can chime in there.
I went direct with it using the upright and using the U-Bass. The thing is really cool for sure. The 4 MegOhm input impedance is a neat sweet spot for upright. I just had a custom pedal made with 5 Megohms and the upright pickup really likes that range.

Unfortunately the price tag really doesn't justify that application IMO. The tube sounds great with the 51 P-bass and I found a sweet spot on the drag control for making that bass sound old school, with looser lows. I'm sure it would speak great on tape. It sounded good through my amp. And saturating the tube was not a desirable tone IMO. It sounded like more of a solid state thing.

It did not hold a candle to the U-Bass through the F-Deck. I have yet to try something that does. I believe the Radial PZ-DI comes close. Chad had more rime with that box. If the F-Deck had a smooth filter for the highs and a direct out that would take the cake. But it is my favorite front end and filter for lows. I am working with custom builders to take care of the upper filters.

Sorry to disappoint you, because the thing is really cool. It is a doubler's answer to the avalons and such. But for way less than that I bought a Genz Benz Shuttle. It has a lot more on it, is tube, and the clean sound of the DI is almost identical if not better.

 

[fuzzy beard]

By the way where do you get a f-deck at? Tried searching them on Google to no avail.

 

[J Posega]

I like the look of The Rumbler. I think Kala would do well to take some ideas from these mega threads for undating the Ubass. Maybe an f-deck type preamp built in... And a more attractive solidbody shape.

 

[scotch]

Scotch, I can chime in there.
I went direct with it using the upright and using the U-Bass. The thing is really cool for sure. The 4 MegOhm input impedance is a neat sweet spot for upright. I just had a custom pedal made with 5 Megohms and the upright pickup really likes that range.

Unfortunately the price tag really doesn't justify that application IMO. The tube sounds great with the 51 P-bass and I found a sweet spot on the drag control for making that bass sound old school, with looser lows. I'm sure it would speak great on tape. It sounded good through my amp. And saturating the tube was not a desirable tone IMO. It sounded like more of a solid state thing.

It did not hold a candle to the U-Bass through the F-Deck. I have yet to try something that does. I believe the Radial PZ-DI comes close. Chad had more rime with that box. If the F-Deck had a smooth filter for the highs and a direct out that would take the cake. But it is my favorite front end and filter for lows. I am working with custom builders to take care of the upper filters.

Sorry to disappoint you, because the thing is really cool. It is a doubler's answer to the avalons and such. But for way less than that I bought a Genz Benz Shuttle. It has a lot more on it, is tube, and the clean sound of the DI is almost identical if not better.

Great! Thanks, Tim!