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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 7

Hello.

I am interested in a Kala Journeyman. I will not be able to check it out before I buy.

My question is concerning the gig bag. I cannot seem to get a decent picture of it. I'm going to be taking it with me while I am travelling. Does the bag have straps that I can put on my shoulders so I can carry it on my back? If so, are these of decent quality?

Thank you!

It's a very nice padded gig bag with straps, if they're still using the same bag as the last few years...
 
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The Journeyman bag is nice, better than many of my other gig bags. It has two backpack style straps that are nicely padded and good cinch hardware. I also has straps inside to hold down the neck. The zipper pouch is large. One thing to be careful of, it has a single hand strap on the side so if you happen to leave the zipper open and pick up the bag with the bass inside without the neck strap holding, the bass could fall out. I like the kind that has hand straps attached to the front and back of bag, but if you're careful, it's a very nice bag.
 
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Just got my journeyman in today. There's a bit of rattle/buzz when the g string is played, but it's still a lot of fun.

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Just got my journeyman in today. There's a bit of rattle/buzz when the g string is played, but it's still a lot of fun.

Mine had a rattle with the A string, as did one I played in Sam Ash. I had to send mine to Kala to fix under warranty. Seems like the quality control is not quite there, probably why the price is lower than their other models.
 
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Glad you were able to resolve the issue. Let us know how you like the Hadean when it arrives!

The Hadean arrived Tuesday. It has a great sound, and is very nice-looking though the finish is a bit sub-par. The neck is thicker than the OS, and I'm pretty sure the Journeyman, so it feels clunky and I'm struggling to reach string 4 on the higher frets (short fingers *sigh*). Love the cutaway though I've not spent much time up that high yet. The E string looks a bit... 'scraped', and I'll be contacting Hadean to ask them if that's 'normal' or a defect.

If I can stretch my fretting fingers it's a keeper I think - definitely a good deal for the money.
 
The Hadean arrived Tuesday. It has a great sound, and is very nice-looking though the finish is a bit sub-par. The neck is thicker than the OS, and I'm pretty sure the Journeyman, so it feels clunky and I'm struggling to reach string 4 on the higher frets (short fingers *sigh*). Love the cutaway though I've not spent much time up that high yet. The E string looks a bit... 'scraped', and I'll be contacting Hadean to ask them if that's 'normal' or a defect.

If I can stretch my fretting fingers it's a keeper I think - definitely a good deal for the money.

Aaand it may be going back. :-( I had kept the amp volume low before, and when I turned it up to record my lesson the G string is way loud. Like rattle-stuff-on-the-walls loud. Rondo suggested a couple of things to try but they didn't help. Sigh.
 
Too bad. Are you going to have them replace it? I've actually experienced a couple with uneven volume between strings, so instead of going through the trouble of returning it and waiting for a replacement, I followed the advice of a TB member to cut apart the plastic saddle so that each string puts individual pressure on the individual pickups underneath, which worked. On another I had to change the strings, which also worked.
 
Too bad. Are you going to have them replace it? I've actually experienced a couple with uneven volume between strings, so instead of going through the trouble of returning it and waiting for a replacement, I followed the advice of a TB member to cut apart the plastic saddle so that each string puts individual pressure on the individual pickups underneath, which worked. On another I had to change the strings, which also worked.

I think so - the most I've done to my instruments is change strings, and I even had a luthier change the Thundergut strings on my OS to Pahoehoes and I'm really hesitant to do more as I don't want to mess it up worse.

I like it, it has good tone when you can control the G string's loudness. I wish the neck was a bit smaller but I think I can adapt to that.