That is a SWEET rig... If I ever go the micro route I will definitely find a similar way to incorporate my Avalon into my stage set up.
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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 6
- Thread starter smperry
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That is a SWEET rig... If I ever go the micro route I will definitely find a similar way to incorporate my Avalon into my stage set up.
Got notified that my Kala Rumbler UBass has shipped from HMS! It would have been here in two days if this was a normal week, but unfortunately, it just shipped yesterday, and due to the holiday, it won't be here until Tuesday! Drat it all! Oh well...a little more anticipation! My Acoustic AB50 Accoustic Bass Amp arrived however and I was surprised at the quality! Everything seems to be top notch and it's a little heavier than I thought that it would be. I like the shape of it I can handle it a whole lot easier than my York Bassmaster 200! I love that amp but taking it upstairs, downstairs, room to room, is hard for my 60 year old body! Well...60 in two months! Anyway, I love my Gibson EBO and Fender Mustang Bass, but after a short while now, those guitars hanging from my shoulder gets painful! Torn rotator cuff repair on one and herniated disc causing problems with the C-7 nerve on the other makes for a real problem! I think this small bass will be lovely to have and to hold! Can't wait to give it a try!
Some more pics! Anyone else here own a Spalted Maple U-Bass? I can't be the only one...
Here you can see the back and my installed strap pin. No problems in this location:
Soong, I have been doing a lot of research and reading about the UBass since I first discovered them and ordered one, and I could have sworn that I read somewhere that a number 2 on the back designated it as a second, with some kind of blemish. Don't quote me on that because I have read so much that my eyes have almost crossed! I'm sure that someone else here would know. That is one beautiful instrument!
sorry couldn't find that info:
are Aquila in fact going to port their new dense Red series to bass uke strings as well? on their homepage, all videos address more trebly instruments, as far as I could tell.
thanks.
are Aquila in fact going to port their new dense Red series to bass uke strings as well? on their homepage, all videos address more trebly instruments, as far as I could tell.
thanks.
I have found it on this page:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
"All instruments marked with a stamped 2 on the back of the headstock are Kala seconds and are excluded from Kala Brand Music Companys warranty policy. These instruments are non-refundable and non-returnable to either Kala Brand Music Company or the authorized dealer in where it was purchased."
For those of you wanting to use Pyramids on your SUB or California Solidbody, here is a Youtube vid from Davewave.
Jeff
Jeff
^^^^
Thanks, Jeff, you and I may be the only people on here that are much interested, but after trying every polyurethane string available, these are the ones I prefer, and I'm so grateful that Pyramid and Kala sell them as an alternative.
_________________________________________________
You read it here first.
I finally wore out a Pyramid string on my U-Bass.
The Pyramids had not been available on the Kala accessory page for a while, so when they showed up again I ordered two sets.
I was puzzled at first that they were longer than the first sets I bought last year, and have a different catalog number.
Then the light bulb lit up in my brain- They're made to fit the Solidbodies!
The stock number for the original U-Bass Pyramids is 508 200.
The new ones that fit Solid Bodies are 509 200.
They are plenty long.
I found that a pair of brass washers, #6 and #8, work well to secure the ball ends.
I was delighted, but the action was too high, even with the bridge set at it's lowest.
I savagely attacked the factory ebony bridge with a sanding block, drill and dremel tool.
I removed at least 4 mm of from each end of the bridge, drilled through the holes for the adjusting studs, and while I was at it, reamed out the E string side to angle the bridge for better intonation.
The bridge now sits flush on the body.
The action at the 12th fret is 2mm, at the 22nd fret, 2.5 mm.
My S-U-B is now the 5/8 scale piezo electric bass of my dreams, with low action, good sustain and tone, comfortable string tension, tuning stability, and decent intonation for a non-adjustable bridge.
And good old round wound string noise, so still waiting for some Pyramid nylon wrapped or flatwounds for these cool little basses.
My short video demo here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvceq5y4ZNs&feature=youtu.be
Thanks, Jeff, you and I may be the only people on here that are much interested, but after trying every polyurethane string available, these are the ones I prefer, and I'm so grateful that Pyramid and Kala sell them as an alternative.
_________________________________________________
You read it here first.
I finally wore out a Pyramid string on my U-Bass.
The Pyramids had not been available on the Kala accessory page for a while, so when they showed up again I ordered two sets.
I was puzzled at first that they were longer than the first sets I bought last year, and have a different catalog number.
Then the light bulb lit up in my brain- They're made to fit the Solidbodies!
The stock number for the original U-Bass Pyramids is 508 200.
The new ones that fit Solid Bodies are 509 200.
They are plenty long.
I found that a pair of brass washers, #6 and #8, work well to secure the ball ends.
I was delighted, but the action was too high, even with the bridge set at it's lowest.
I savagely attacked the factory ebony bridge with a sanding block, drill and dremel tool.
I removed at least 4 mm of from each end of the bridge, drilled through the holes for the adjusting studs, and while I was at it, reamed out the E string side to angle the bridge for better intonation.
The bridge now sits flush on the body.
The action at the 12th fret is 2mm, at the 22nd fret, 2.5 mm.
My S-U-B is now the 5/8 scale piezo electric bass of my dreams, with low action, good sustain and tone, comfortable string tension, tuning stability, and decent intonation for a non-adjustable bridge.
And good old round wound string noise, so still waiting for some Pyramid nylon wrapped or flatwounds for these cool little basses.
My short video demo here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvceq5y4ZNs&feature=youtu.be
I'd imagine the action on my fretless would be unplayably high with the pyramids without modifications, right? I'm getting tired of pahoehoe instability.
Any news on the mythical red strings?
Any news on the mythical red strings?
Dave, I cannot tell for sure, but I guess the Pyramid wound strings were made for this somewhat costlier variant of the Uke-as-contrabass concept:
Invalid Link Removed
Klaus
Invalid Link Removed
Klaus
The Kamoa E3E bass, not contrabass, uke has been up here a few times. I became interested because much of my playing on the UBasses is about playing tunes out of my head and about improvising. This Friday my sample with the non-stained spruce top arrived.
Taking it out of the gig bag was bit odd because despite it being of the same category of size as the UBasses it is much heavier. Which I ascribe to the maple body and neck.
The body is so much deeper with a rounded back that it will not allow the the Kala case to have its lid closed fully. It doesn't fit the same mini Cooperstand that the Ubass does.
The acoustic sound of the flatwound steel strings is louder than any of the synthetic UBass strings I have tried. The first impression of the amplified sound was odd. Like chorus and double attacks. I soon discovered that the E3E has a huge output from its preamp, so the odd sounds came from overloading my amp and in turn also my parametric equalizer.
Turning everything down to near zero gives a nice and lively sound on especially the G and D strings. If I use my EBS Session 60 rather than Cube Keyboard 40 the low strings get a fat sound. If I add the Yamaha subwoofer to the EBS like with the UBasses, I get a lot of clonking attack noises, so that one is cut out. I might want a low pass filter with no roll off for a clean cut below 83HZ or even higher, when I use my reentrant guitars or ukes (good suggestions are welcome!).
The string feel is different from roundwound bass guitar strings, from classical guitar strings, and from the synthetic UBass strings, but after playing the E3E a few hours my UBass attacks had become more exact.
I have a major unsolved problem: I haven't found a good overall setting for the E3E equalization yet. The A string and especially the E string both go dull around the 12th fret, which is not so nice as I tend to stay in the same position as much as possible and then move up and down over the strings. In some situations I want the G in the 15th fret of the E string.
According to the lights of my parametric equalizer that note has a strong output signal also in the upper frequency ranges, only I don't hear any richness of overtones.
I have made the problem notes sound nice at changed settings, but then the upper strings overload the equalizer. That sort of kills my original idea that the low strings were too stiff to sound freely, when fretted very short.
Any ideas how to work on an improvement?
Klaus
Taking it out of the gig bag was bit odd because despite it being of the same category of size as the UBasses it is much heavier. Which I ascribe to the maple body and neck.
The body is so much deeper with a rounded back that it will not allow the the Kala case to have its lid closed fully. It doesn't fit the same mini Cooperstand that the Ubass does.
The acoustic sound of the flatwound steel strings is louder than any of the synthetic UBass strings I have tried. The first impression of the amplified sound was odd. Like chorus and double attacks. I soon discovered that the E3E has a huge output from its preamp, so the odd sounds came from overloading my amp and in turn also my parametric equalizer.
Turning everything down to near zero gives a nice and lively sound on especially the G and D strings. If I use my EBS Session 60 rather than Cube Keyboard 40 the low strings get a fat sound. If I add the Yamaha subwoofer to the EBS like with the UBasses, I get a lot of clonking attack noises, so that one is cut out. I might want a low pass filter with no roll off for a clean cut below 83HZ or even higher, when I use my reentrant guitars or ukes (good suggestions are welcome!).
The string feel is different from roundwound bass guitar strings, from classical guitar strings, and from the synthetic UBass strings, but after playing the E3E a few hours my UBass attacks had become more exact.
I have a major unsolved problem: I haven't found a good overall setting for the E3E equalization yet. The A string and especially the E string both go dull around the 12th fret, which is not so nice as I tend to stay in the same position as much as possible and then move up and down over the strings. In some situations I want the G in the 15th fret of the E string.
According to the lights of my parametric equalizer that note has a strong output signal also in the upper frequency ranges, only I don't hear any richness of overtones.
I have made the problem notes sound nice at changed settings, but then the upper strings overload the equalizer. That sort of kills my original idea that the low strings were too stiff to sound freely, when fretted very short.
Any ideas how to work on an improvement?
Klaus
Worked some more on the problems.
Gave up on plugging the Kamoa E3E into the parametric eq due to the overloading. Put it directly into the EBS 60, which was OK but for the low frequency attack noises. Put my cheap Fish&Chips eq in between the Kamoa and the EBS, and despite the sloping curve the F&C got rid of the attack noises.
Still would want a bit more life in the sound, so I looked for options of improvement that I had the remedies for. The Kamoa bridge pins are out of plastic. I took 4 brass pins from one of my guitars and put them on the Kamoa. Really an improvement. Bone or hardwood pins may be even better.
I will see if any of my bridge blanks out of bone may be shaped to replace the Kamoa plastic bridge.
Klaus
Gave up on plugging the Kamoa E3E into the parametric eq due to the overloading. Put it directly into the EBS 60, which was OK but for the low frequency attack noises. Put my cheap Fish&Chips eq in between the Kamoa and the EBS, and despite the sloping curve the F&C got rid of the attack noises.
Still would want a bit more life in the sound, so I looked for options of improvement that I had the remedies for. The Kamoa bridge pins are out of plastic. I took 4 brass pins from one of my guitars and put them on the Kamoa. Really an improvement. Bone or hardwood pins may be even better.
I will see if any of my bridge blanks out of bone may be shaped to replace the Kamoa plastic bridge.
Klaus
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