Fabulous. Leave the U-Bass preamp controls at 12 o'clock and shape your tone with the VT as per Tech21's settings. I like to keep mine about halfway between their "SVT" and "Fliptop" settings.
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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 6
- Thread starter smperry
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Fabulous. Leave the U-Bass preamp controls at 12 o'clock and shape your tone with the VT as per Tech21's settings. I like to keep mine about halfway between their "SVT" and "Fliptop" settings.
scotch
It's not rocket science!
- Nov 12, 2006
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I have, and I would include it in my personal list of highly recommended preamps. Full feature set and very thick solid sound.
At least they made the batteries much easier to replace than they did on the S-U-Bs. Mine has a separate battery door/holder at the bottom of the bass near the endpin/jack. I always have batteries on hand for my VT pedal, penlight flashlight and Escort radar detector. Since my Snark tuner and my truck's alarm remotes use CR2032s, I already have a couple in my bag that'll fit the U-Bass when I need them.
And I don't have to worry about the Snark getting thrown across the room if a string gets away from me while I'm trying to restring the bass. That's a real nice advantage of the built-in tuner.
Ok great thanks a lot! I'm really tempted to pull the trigger on the tonehammer once I get the pickup sorted then
Wow, that's a lot of preamps! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, really appreciated. Are there any cheaper pres that'll do the trick until I can afford a better one?
Joe
I have, and it is more transparent and live sounding than the Fishman pro-eq bass but more difficult to eliminate finger noise than on the Fishman.
I too prefer the fishman. It also works great with electric bass and acoustic guitar.
I had the chance to A/B the old passive (exhotic hog) and the newer preamp/tuner (solid hog) versions. The tone of each is quite similar. The tone knob is all but useless. But having a tuner and volume knob was handy. Not handy enough to make me swap. I quite like mine.
Peredur: The more solid gig bag on the newer solid mahogany was superior to the more flimsy gig bag of the exhotic mahogany. Your new bass is amazing, it needs to best case you can get. Hope it feels and sounds as great as it looks. A shame I didn't quite have the money to order one when he was making yours. The conversion rate killed off my chances there.
It seems that other than strings, the other single biggest topic is preamps. IMO, it really comes down to how you're using the ubass and the amp you're using. If you're gigging and playing through the house PA, there's no doubt you want to control eq through a preamp. But in my limited experience, when I'm using my own amp, once I set the eq and I'm able to get a sound I really like, I don't change it and don't feel the need for a preamp. It really comes down to the sound you want and how much control you want in front of you.
In my limited experience with today's myriad of options, I may have taken a wrong turn. However, if I want to be portable and practice with head phones or want to vary my sound, I use a zoom b2. 1 u digital pedal if want something before the amp. It has a built in drum machine and about 45 presets. Zero latency. Tell me why I would want something different please if you have used this nicer zoom model. I like this one a lot. Thanks
scotch
It's not rocket science!
- Nov 12, 2006
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Sorry, I wouldn't have guessed it could be that cheap! £30-40 in the uk, sounds like a bargain! I'll have to save a while, but it'll be worth it.
I assume it'd be fine with DB as well?
Thanks a lot,
Joe
So I just bought this mahogany ubass used. Not sure what year it was made but it is the older model with no preamp, just the piezo pickup. Strings are the originals. So far I like it a lot - but do have a few issues:
The E string has less volume than the other strings (when amplified). I did some searching and found this mentioned many times but never really saw an explanation or solution.
I'm getting an annoying 60-cycle hum that goes away if I touch the metal jack/strap button or the metal on the end of the instrument cable. Tried several different cables. and two different amps. Wasn't expecting anything like this from a piezo pickup.
I have seen a lot of talk about preamps - but the output from the pickup alone seems to be almost equal to my passive basses. Is a preamp needed just for tone shaping or ????. I'm new to piezo pickups.
The E string has less volume than the other strings (when amplified). I did some searching and found this mentioned many times but never really saw an explanation or solution.
I'm getting an annoying 60-cycle hum that goes away if I touch the metal jack/strap button or the metal on the end of the instrument cable. Tried several different cables. and two different amps. Wasn't expecting anything like this from a piezo pickup.
I have seen a lot of talk about preamps - but the output from the pickup alone seems to be almost equal to my passive basses. Is a preamp needed just for tone shaping or ????. I'm new to piezo pickups.
Hi tbirdsp,
You seem to have the same problems that I had with my passive UBass (that I later sold) low E string volume and 50/60 cycle buzz. I have to say I couldn't resolve them completely. After Kala sent me a replacement pickup, the buzz did get quieter, but did not disappear. As for E string volume, I managed to improve it somewhat by restringing, but I had to adjust my touch just for this string anyway.
Regarding preamps: you need those not only for volume, but also for tone. I couldn't get a tone I liked without some kind of preamp. I achieved good results with a cheap Fishman Pro Mod BA2 B II preamp.
Good luck!
You seem to have the same problems that I had with my passive UBass (that I later sold) low E string volume and 50/60 cycle buzz. I have to say I couldn't resolve them completely. After Kala sent me a replacement pickup, the buzz did get quieter, but did not disappear. As for E string volume, I managed to improve it somewhat by restringing, but I had to adjust my touch just for this string anyway.
Regarding preamps: you need those not only for volume, but also for tone. I couldn't get a tone I liked without some kind of preamp. I achieved good results with a cheap Fishman Pro Mod BA2 B II preamp.
Good luck!
So I just bought this mahogany ubass used. Not sure what year it was made but it is the older model with no preamp, just the piezo pickup. Strings are the originals. So far I like it a lot - but do have a few issues:
The E string has less volume than the other strings (when amplified). I did some searching and found this mentioned many times but never really saw an explanation or solution.
I'm getting an annoying 60-cycle hum that goes away if I touch the metal jack/strap button or the metal on the end of the instrument cable. Tried several different cables. and two different amps. Wasn't expecting anything like this from a piezo pickup.
I have seen a lot of talk about preamps - but the output from the pickup alone seems to be almost equal to my passive basses. Is a preamp needed just for tone shaping or ????. I'm new to piezo pickups.
scotch
It's not rocket science!
- Nov 12, 2006
- 6,944
- 2,081
- 51
- Disclosures
- Please see Profile for Endorsement disclosures
Low frequency hum that disappears when you touch the metal output jack is likely caused by bad grounding. Unfortunately, this can happen within the sealed piezo element piece (essentially not repairable), but it can also be caused by the pickup lead to the output jack needing shielding. Wrapping the pickup lead with some foil and properly grounding it to the output shield can help in this case.
Low frequency hum can also come from a piezo that is set too tightly into a bridge slot. A very gentle and careful sanding of the pickup housing or bridge slot can help as well.
Very long cables from a passive piezo (say a 20 footer) are susceptible to this noise too! Putting a buffer (preamp) as close as practical to the pickup is ideal. I use an outboard preamp with my U-bass and try to use a 12' cable or less from the instrument to preamp. I've used 30' cables and gotten hum with the same setup!
Low frequency hum can also come from a piezo that is set too tightly into a bridge slot. A very gentle and careful sanding of the pickup housing or bridge slot can help as well.
Very long cables from a passive piezo (say a 20 footer) are susceptible to this noise too! Putting a buffer (preamp) as close as practical to the pickup is ideal. I use an outboard preamp with my U-bass and try to use a 12' cable or less from the instrument to preamp. I've used 30' cables and gotten hum with the same setup!
I finally picked up a Gold Tone Micro Bass a few weeks ago. I am really loving it! I posted a little review, if anyone is iterested in checking it out you can find it here Gold Tone Micro Bass.
Temcat and scotch - thanks for the replies.
I've tried using even a 3 ft cable and still get the hum. It's not THAT bad at low-med volume. Still enough to prevent me from playing it at any gigs outside acoustic things. That said - my "music room" is a small upstairs bedroom and my other basses seem to buzz/hum a lot in this spot too (especially my Squier CV 50's P with one single coil pickup). I'll try it in another place and see if it's any better. I don't want to throw a bunch of money at this problem, but I may get the cheap ART Tube MP preamp mentioned here and see if that helps. The pickup seems to have plenty of output for my amps without a pre though. I suppose I could use my Line 6 G30 wireless and see how it does with no physical connection to the amp.
I've never had an instrument like this before - was assuming the bridge/pickup is glued in place - sounds like that's not the case though? The manual on Kala's site is pretty limited.
I've tried using even a 3 ft cable and still get the hum. It's not THAT bad at low-med volume. Still enough to prevent me from playing it at any gigs outside acoustic things. That said - my "music room" is a small upstairs bedroom and my other basses seem to buzz/hum a lot in this spot too (especially my Squier CV 50's P with one single coil pickup). I'll try it in another place and see if it's any better. I don't want to throw a bunch of money at this problem, but I may get the cheap ART Tube MP preamp mentioned here and see if that helps. The pickup seems to have plenty of output for my amps without a pre though. I suppose I could use my Line 6 G30 wireless and see how it does with no physical connection to the amp.
I've never had an instrument like this before - was assuming the bridge/pickup is glued in place - sounds like that's not the case though? The manual on Kala's site is pretty limited.
Here's a quick tip for anyone with one of the newer models with the pre amp...
I was getting a really annoying rattle when digging in and I was convinced either the back plate wasn't quite snug or there was a lead touching the body somewhere, it was a really hard noise to place, especially coupled with the buzz I'm getting at the nut.
Turned out that the little battery tray was rattling about. I'd completely forgotten it was even there to check it!
I took the tray out and pushed the 2 little release tabs outwards slightly to get a snug fit (be really careful if you do this because you don't want to snap them off!) and the rattle is gone now
I was getting a really annoying rattle when digging in and I was convinced either the back plate wasn't quite snug or there was a lead touching the body somewhere, it was a really hard noise to place, especially coupled with the buzz I'm getting at the nut.
Turned out that the little battery tray was rattling about. I'd completely forgotten it was even there to check it!
I took the tray out and pushed the 2 little release tabs outwards slightly to get a snug fit (be really careful if you do this because you don't want to snap them off!) and the rattle is gone now
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