Kala UBass Megathread, Part 6

[martyin3d]

Been reading this awhile bit obviously missed something. Is there some easy way to stretch these strings? I bought the first 2013 hog fretted that sweetwater got in this spring but it has had more case time as I have been remodeling my house in free time.

As far as I can tell it's just a case of playing them until they've settled in. It took me quite a few restrings to avoid the string wrapping round the pegs too much.

I'm thinking of buying another set even and playing them to the point that they've settled then keeping the current ones as spares. Because on the off chance that one broke in a live situation a quick restring would be out of the question if they were new!

 

[gangonthehill]

Does anyone know why the red thundergut strings are not likely going to happen?

 

[jburtonca]

A lot of us have been waiting for these, but no word from Mimmo at Aquila. Something has gone wrong, maybe it's the string formulation.

 

[vHarmonic]

Has anyone tried these Orange Bass Uke Strings form Worth? They sound interesting.

This is from the Worth site -

Generally Poly Urethane is used in manufacturing machine drive belts so it can withstand the pull under stress.
Comparing with silicone rubber strings, Poly Urethane has a smoother surface. This is a real benefit so players can play it smoothly without talc powder,or any stress on finger tips.
Since Poly Urethane is harder than silicone rubber, the strings last a long time… yet can play the same mellow sound as with silicone bass strings.

Elderly Interments has this to say about them-

"Originally a set put together for a David Gomes bass ukulele. A possible substitute string for Ashbory basses. Made of a dull orange polyurethane, they have more slip than silicone strings and should be easier to play. Perhaps not as "rich" sounding as silicone strings. Our initial feedback, including our shop, (as of March 07) has been that they may be tricky to install and bring to pitch."

It looks like the David Gomes bass ukulele has a 17" scale. And in these photo of the David Gomes bass the strings are tied in knots around the tuning key. Witch would support the difficult to instal part.

Also here is a vid of some playing the David Gomes bass ukulele with the Worth strings.

 

[Gorn]

Intriguing, but without more info they only seem to be orange pahoehoe's.

 

[vHarmonic]

Intriguing, but without more info they only seem to be orange pahoehoe's.

O yeah, Duh! I forgot pahoehoes where poly urethane. I was thinking phoehoes where the silicone rubber strings they where referring to. But they are actually talking about how much better these strings are vs the ashbory strings. O well thanks for cleaning that up.

 

[tymbrewolf]

Some one with experience with the other available strings could really help out others by buying an orange set and doing a review.

 

[Gorn]

Some one with experience with the other available strings could really help out others by buying an orange set and doing a review.

I've tried them all but I'm not gonna do it. It's not worth it. Taking out my current strings and putting them back on later is a huge pain in the butt since the ends are all curly, they're almost impossible to get back in through the bridge holes. The only info available indicates these are orange polyurethane. I doubt there's any difference btw these and stock strings.

 

[tymbrewolf]

Have you tried relaxing the ends in hot water. I think that should work based on my experience with other stuff like this. I am still on the stock strings.

 

[Gorn]

Have you tried relaxing the ends in hot water. I think that should work based on my experience with other stuff like this. I am still on the stock strings.

Meh, these strings are coming off either in a few years when they're completely dead, or when Mimmo decides to sell thunder reds.

 

[macmanlou]

I've read through the entire thread this past week while Sweetwater waited for my '13 fretless hog to come back into stock. I received it yesterday and I believe I got a very good one. I plugged it into my GK MB 200 through a Tech21 VT pedal and I'm really happy with the tone I'm getting. I've been looking for an upright bass sound that will accompany acoustic folk musicians, and it seems the hog will sound and _look_ more appropriate than anything I've tried, other than a real "doghouse" bass.

Many, many thanks to all of you who have posted your experiences, sound clips and videos. They helped me decide on the Kala U-Bass, and have saved me hours of time and lots of money.

 

[martyin3d]

I've read through the entire thread this past week while Sweetwater waited for my '13 fretless hog to come back into stock. I received it yesterday and I believe I got a very good one. I plugged it into my GK MB 200 through a Tech21 VT pedal and I'm really happy with the tone I'm getting. I've been looking for an upright bass sound that will accompany acoustic folk musicians, and it seems the hog will sound and _look_ more appropriate than anything I've tried, other than a real "doghouse" bass.

Many, many thanks to all of you who have posted your experiences, sound clips and videos. They helped me decide on the Kala U-Bass, and have saved me hours of time and lots of money.

Awesome! Glad you got a good one. I absolutely love mine even with the couple of small issues I'm having, thankfully Kala are working with me to try and get it sorted out asap.

Would you mind telling me about the preamp and how the sound compares with & without using it? I've been holding off on buying an Aguilar tonehammer until I've heard form someone else using a preamp with the 2013 active version.

 

[Gorn]

Would you mind telling me about the preamp and how the sound compares with & without using it? I've been holding off on buying an Aguilar tonehammer until I've heard form someone else using a preamp with the 2013 active version.

You didn't ask me, but the preamp is useless. In any live situation you need one of them fancy outboard preamps. TBers like Tim Watson know waay more about that stuff than I do. The preamp was a waste of an innovation. Everyone has a tuner, and the tone control only adds fingernoise. They took a perfectly good passive bass and added the inconvenience of two watch batteries that you're screwed without if they go dead on gig.
Just my opinion.

 

[josiah goldfish]

So the original shadow electronics were passive? How did they not need an outboard preamp to sound great? I'm building a uke-bass with a piezo rod pickup, will I need a pre for it?

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Gorn]

So the original shadow electronics were passive? How did they not need an outboard preamp to sound great? I'm building a uke-bass with a piezo rod pickup, will I need a pre for it?

Thanks,
Joe

You just plug it in and they sound great. I'm not a working musician so I really don't know, but I've heard talk about fishman preamps? Something like that? The earlier megathreads delve more into amplification then the current one.

 

[josiah goldfish]

Ok, thanks. I'll see what it's like passive in that case before I add anything to the chain.

 

[scotch]

So the original shadow electronics were passive? How did they not need an outboard preamp to sound great? I'm building a uke-bass with a piezo rod pickup, will I need a pre for it?

Thanks,
Joe

I think the original passive Shadow pup does sound better than the new U-Basses with the sketchy preamp.

The passive Shadow sounds good plugged into an amp directly as long as the amps input impedance was high enough. My Aguilar Tone Hammer amp, for instance, sounds great plugged straight in.

I do, however, advocate using a proper preamp. First off, in case you don't know what amp you will be using & it is likely necessary to make a di sound good. I've tested and used many units in my home studio, in pro studios and on the road. My favorites for the passive U-Bass (in my personal preference order) are:

-Fishman Platinum Pro Bass: it has a 'baked-in' eq that works really well with the U-Bass, has the most flexible eq, built in DI, adjustable high pass filter and full patching capabilities.

-Fishman BII beltpack: simple 2-band eq that is very effective and proper buffering.

-Fdeck Series 3 hpf/preamp: compact like the Fishman BII, but instead of eq you get a really good adjustable high pass filter. In my testing, the Fdeck and Fishman BII sound 99% identical.

-Radial PZ-Pre: A very clean, clear sounding preamp and di. The hpf points are set a little too high, but the eq is effective.

-ART Tube MP: Really! It's input impedance mates well with the U-Bass and the tube circuitry actually does warm it up slighty. No eq, but can also function as a di. A cheap but effective solution!

I've also used the following with good results, just not ideal for U-Bass applications:
-Groove Tubes Brick tube di
-Aguilar DB-900 Tube DI
-Aguilar Tone Hammer DI (sounded good, just not perfect)
-Neve console with 1073 preamps


I did not like the U-Bass with the following:
-Avalon U5 (noise and weird eq for U-Bass)
-SansAmp BDDI (buzzy and unnatural)
-MXR M80 DI (impedance sounded off)
-Radial JDI (the passive di needed a preamp badly)

This is all based on a lot of touring, studio work and extensive home testing with my U-Bass.

 

[martyin3d]

You didn't ask me, but the preamp is useless. In any live situation you need one of them fancy outboard preamps. TBers like Tim Watson know waay more about that stuff than I do. The preamp was a waste of an innovation. Everyone has a tuner, and the tone control only adds fingernoise. They took a perfectly good passive bass and added the inconvenience of two watch batteries that you're screwed without if they go dead on gig.
Just my opinion.

Sorry, I don't think I phrased my question very well... I've already got the active model. I was asking how the active version sounds running through the Tech21 VT.

 

[macmanlou]

Would you mind telling me about the preamp and how the sound compares with & without using it? I've been holding off on buying an Aguilar tonehammer until I've heard form someone else using a preamp with the 2013 active version.

Well, despite what's been said about the Shadow preamp on the 2013 models, I've found it to be perfectly serviceable. I keep both the volume and tone pots at 12 o'clock, and it works great straight through to the GK MB200, or through the Tech21 VT pedal. The volume from all four strings seems nice and even as well. Now I've never experimented with the earlier passive pickup, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing - but if you're looking for "upright bass with gut strings" tone, I think you'll be pleased with the active pickup.

And the tuner is _very_ handy for the inevitable restringing chores...

 

[JCKA]

I think the original passive Shadow pup does sound better than the new U-Basses with the sketchy preamp.

The passive Shadow sounds good plugged into an amp directly as long as the amps input impedance was high enough. My Aguilar Tone Hammer amp, for instance, sounds great plugged straight in.

I do, however, advocate using a proper preamp. First off, in case you don't know what amp you will be using & it is likely necessary to make a di sound good. I've tested and used many units in my home studio, in pro studios and on the road. My favorites for the passive U-Bass (in my personal preference order) are:

-Fishman Platinum Pro Bass: it has a 'baked-in' eq that works really well with the U-Bass, has the most flexible eq, built in DI, adjustable high pass filter and full patching capabilities.

-Fishman BII beltpack: simple 2-band eq that is very effective and proper buffering.

-Fdeck Series 3 hpf/preamp: compact like the Fishman BII, but instead of eq you get a really good adjustable high pass filter. In my testing, the Fdeck and Fishman BII sound 99% identical.

-Radial PZ-Pre: A very clean, clear sounding preamp and di. The hpf points are set a little too high, but the eq is effective.

-ART Tube MP: Really! It's input impedance mates well with the U-Bass and the tube circuitry actually does warm it up slighty. No eq, but can also function as a di. A cheap but effective solution!

I've also used the following with good results, just not ideal for U-Bass applications:
-Groove Tubes Brick tube di
-Aguilar DB-900 Tube DI
-Aguilar Tone Hammer DI (sounded good, just not perfect)
-Neve console with 1073 preamps


I did not like the U-Bass with the following:
-Avalon U5 (noise and weird eq for U-Bass)
-SansAmp BDDI (buzzy and unnatural)
-MXR M80 DI (impedance sounded off)
-Radial JDI (the passive di needed a preamp badly)

This is all based on a lot of touring, studio work and extensive home testing with my U-Bass.

Dear Scotch,
have you tried the LR Baggs para acoustic di?
Thank you.