Thank you so much for the info! I'm not overlapping wraps yet,but sooo close. I'll wait until this weekend and take the plunge on re-stringing. I may as well go ahead and order some silver rumblers I guess. I still haven't reached the part in the thread when you guys started talking about those. As far as I am so far, you guys were still talking about pahoehoe versus thunderguts. I better get back to reading!
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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 5
- Thread starter smperry
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Well, if you are in the Pahoehoe v.s. Thunderguts part of the saga, know that Thunderguts and Silver Rumblers are very similar.
Frankly I immensely enjoyed both the fretted and the fretless version. I find the fl immensely relaxing, I loved playing it unplugged. But I had a lot of fun rocking the fretted model with a pick.
Given the chance (and the funds) I would buy them both.
I've had my fretless mahogany for about a week now. Lots of fun! My E string does not seem to have as much punch as the other strings. The volume seems ok, just not as much low end as I would like, especially the first five frets. Tried different settings on the amp which helped a bit, but not enough to my satisfaction. Probably need to spend more time on amp settings. I don't have graphic eq but I have a parametric, so maybe someone would have some ideas where to start with settings. I have no problems getting a good sound with my Thunderbird but the ubass is so different I not sure where to start! Amp by the way is a Carvin mb 15 with a 15" extension cab. I ordered an fdeck2 the other day hoping that would help some. I'm thinking maybe its the strings so i'm thinking of a set of silver rumblers. Do they have more punch and low end compared to the stock strings? Also has anyone tried the pyramids on a fretless? Just curious how they sounded on fretless.
One potential reason for the frequent talk about less volume of the E string may have nothing to do with the UBasses themselves.
I got a recommendation for the EBS Session 60 combo, when I found my keyboard combo not doing the UBass adequate service. The EBS certainly sounds good, but as my ears got more critical in the bass range it became obvious that this combo only supports notes down to 60Hz, which is between Bb and B at the 1st and 2nd fret of the A string.
All notes below there cannot really be heard by our ears but are deduced from their overtone patterns. Low E is heard as the difference note between its octave E and and its twelfth B. The interaction between the upper overtones support that audio-psychological effect.
Thread contributors with a better command of tech English will expand on this.
Klaus
I got a recommendation for the EBS Session 60 combo, when I found my keyboard combo not doing the UBass adequate service. The EBS certainly sounds good, but as my ears got more critical in the bass range it became obvious that this combo only supports notes down to 60Hz, which is between Bb and B at the 1st and 2nd fret of the A string.
All notes below there cannot really be heard by our ears but are deduced from their overtone patterns. Low E is heard as the difference note between its octave E and and its twelfth B. The interaction between the upper overtones support that audio-psychological effect.
Thread contributors with a better command of tech English will expand on this.
Klaus
Messed around yesterday with the Peterson strobotuner application for my iPad2.
Wonderful when I made the fake wheels stand still when playing on the fretless.
All fretted notes were off when playing the fretted UBass. I started thinking about changing strings, but put it off as some sets of Silver Rumblers are on their way.
Today I maybe saw a pattern in the in the bad pitch of the fretted notes. Looks like they are all sharp. It is a quite common phenomenon that the first fret is too long, but as I don't use open notes, it looks like the equation resolves, if I tune the strings to a fretted note. Which lets the open strings be flat.
Experimentation not finished yet.
Klaus
Wonderful when I made the fake wheels stand still when playing on the fretless.
All fretted notes were off when playing the fretted UBass. I started thinking about changing strings, but put it off as some sets of Silver Rumblers are on their way.
Today I maybe saw a pattern in the in the bad pitch of the fretted notes. Looks like they are all sharp. It is a quite common phenomenon that the first fret is too long, but as I don't use open notes, it looks like the equation resolves, if I tune the strings to a fretted note. Which lets the open strings be flat.
Experimentation not finished yet.
Klaus
You can easily check if it is the amplifier frequency response that is to blame for low E string volume: just detune the A string to E. In fact, I did that on my UBass, and the detuned A string sounded noteceably louder, much more in line with the G and D. I concluded that the amp is not the culprit in my case, and the problem should be with the E string itself or its coupling to the body.
This doesn't mean that Klaus' theory is wrong. The Pahoehoe strings are not as rich in overtones as a long scale bass steel string. If the bass amp cannot amplify the fundamental tone of 41Hz properly, the perceived loudness depends on the the first overtone of 82Hz and the other overtones. An A string that is tuned to E might be louder in this overtone spectrum than the E string. You could switch the E and A string, then you know if the problem is related to the string/frequency or the pickup.
Or why not just compare the loudness of the strings on the 12th fret? 82Hz shouldn't be too low for any bass amp. If the loudness of the strings is still not well balanced, there is something wrong. It's a musical instrument, there shouldn't be any bigger differences in loudness between the strings.
I had a SUB U-Bass, where the E string was slightly louder than the A string, the G string was the loudest and the D string the lowest in volume.
P.S.: The Mahagony I have tested was brand new with fresh strings and that was the one which had a soft E string. Could it be that the E string gets louder when it stretches?
I have Thundergut's on both my acoustic UBasses. When trying out flageolets it is obvious that the thinner the string the better the response of the upper partial.
So the lack of representation of the nominal frequency in the amplifier response combined with a less dense representation of partials may be part of the perception of the E string being less loud.
I had a SUB (that went back due to wrong compensating of string lengths) and I also noticed the SUB being very bass heavy when I plugged it through the same set-up as the acoustic ones. Two factors may explain that. My set-uo was compensated for the weaker acoustic E string. And the preamp of the SUB also was compensated for a weaker bass. The double compensation made the bass overwhelmingly strong.
Klaus
So the lack of representation of the nominal frequency in the amplifier response combined with a less dense representation of partials may be part of the perception of the E string being less loud.
I had a SUB (that went back due to wrong compensating of string lengths) and I also noticed the SUB being very bass heavy when I plugged it through the same set-up as the acoustic ones. Two factors may explain that. My set-uo was compensated for the weaker acoustic E string. And the preamp of the SUB also was compensated for a weaker bass. The double compensation made the bass overwhelmingly strong.
Klaus
BTW, I wonder if there is to little relief in the neck for the E string. This raises the question: what direction should I turn the trussrod to increase the relief?
Too little relief would cause buzz near the nut.
Turning the truss rod counterclockwise should give more relief.
Klaus
Turning the truss rod counterclockwise should give more relief.
Klaus
Several people have reported that they did not have any feedback issues with live play. One person is a pro touring musician gigging in large, loud venues.
On the other hand, in my weekend warrior world, with the last band I was in, I Did experience feedback. Nothing fatal, but I needed to be careful.
You want to order 2 Feedback Freezers from Kala:
http://kala-gear.hostedbyamazon.com...archPage=1&searchRank=salesrank&searchSize=12
Why 2? Because if you gig with this, you are destinated to own at Least 2 UBasses.
Put me squarely in the "need to be careful" camp, which I'd like to not be in. My problem, as I related in another thread, is that I like to have my amp loud and then play with a very light touch. I get around this by having the amp dialed back a bit and then not playing with quite as light a touch, but it's not ideal. I tend to do a lot of volume controlling from my bass from song to song (not for the stage output level but so I can use a different touch while maintaining the same level). Not having any control over the pickup from the bass is awkward for me. I don't like reaching over to the amp for that.
I'm currently not using a strap for the Kala but am considering putting one on in order to have an on-strap master volume. Plus, I've gotten a MUCH better sound IMO blending the KALA stock pickup with another temporary one during recording, so I'm thinking of a mini blend system, for both of these reasons. The stock sound using the pickup is good for what it is but for me has needs help. Anyone use an on strap blender on their U bass and stick with it?
Thanks.
scotch
It's not rocket science!
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I think he means a strap-mounted, multi channel preamp such as K&K pickups offers.
scotch
It's not rocket science!
- Nov 12, 2006
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I'm very happy with my U-Basses plugged in tone (but that's never stopped me from trying to better things!). I've thought about buying K&K's two channel beltpack preamp and using their 4 element contact pickup. Each element can be placed at varying distances, could be a cool way to get a woody & balanced sound? Or, a big waste of time and money! 
Got my new mahogony FL on Thursday, since then have logged a couple or 4 hrs on it and I'm starting to get used to the strings and short scale positions....
The more I play it the more comfortable it is, been messing with running through the LR Baggs para pre amp but it really sounds best straight into the GK MB150S amp with the highs rolled off the amp the mid highs off and the mid at 12 oclock and the low setting at 12 oclock with the tone on the Ubass electronics set at about 10 oclock.
Haven't played a Bass Guitar in almost 30yrs as it has been upright since then, just realizing how much work those big ole uprights are compared to a BG.........LOL
I think I'm going to get hooked on the little bugger once I get used to it..
The more I play it the more comfortable it is, been messing with running through the LR Baggs para pre amp but it really sounds best straight into the GK MB150S amp with the highs rolled off the amp the mid highs off and the mid at 12 oclock and the low setting at 12 oclock with the tone on the Ubass electronics set at about 10 oclock.
Haven't played a Bass Guitar in almost 30yrs as it has been upright since then, just realizing how much work those big ole uprights are compared to a BG.........LOL
I think I'm going to get hooked on the little bugger once I get used to it..
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