New Emerald carbon fiber ABG - impressive!

[bassfacer22]

Take it for what it is..

These instruments are great for learning with and being put in environments where people can drop them and not have to worry..

Things like schools, kids playing and you don't want to care about it being broken..

and winters and rain outside etc..

Also these instruments don't experience all the garbage that wood instruments do experience like the neck bending and etc..


But one thing they are not: a serious sounding deep fat warm tone.. However I do believe you can achieve good tone with them in the future..

End of thread.. Haha

 

[GretschWretch]

THere are already and acoustic version of those. They're called upright.

Name me one other instrument that is:

Acoustic from the start on -> made an electric version of it -> made and acoustic version of that electric version....

If they were a place for them, they would've done so from the start on, before the electric. Just thinking "While we wait for the electricity we build a small carry-able guitar with huge body and 34" inch scale and slap some gut strings on them". Must be a great idea....

Not 34" scale, but big body and carry-able. Two out if three ain't bad.

http://bassoguitar.weebly.com/uploads/4/3/7/2/4372503/3296008_orig.jpg

And pre-electric. AND you can play it across your lap.

 

[Honch]

You guys seems not to get it, haven't you?

When you first log into Talkbass there's a huge ad with Lee Sklar, sponsoring and promoting the Kala U-bass. Small body. Plug it in and listen. You don't need huge bodies at all, to plug anything in, period. And the U-bass doesn't chew in on your elbow. I'd rather play that if I have to plug it in anyway, any day, than any full bodied ABG. Regardless of CF or not. Regarding Rainsong guitar, if they're loud just because of CF they're even harder to plug in because they feed back in no time. Would be even harder on such a bass, from Emerald or whatnot.

Look, it works like this way: Either a Kala U-bass plugged into amp, OR any upright miked up (you have to pick up low frequencies that aren't there anyway with front miking) or a Mexican Guitarron. To simplify and not make a fuss about it most people are game if I show up with my solidbody electric bass anyway. I have never ever came across something as superfluous and redundant as those large jumbo bodied ABG that needs to be miked up anyway with their internal piezos or whatever. Beats me, still dumbfounds me after all these years.

And when asked impertinent questions, and plays the devils advocate in real life to all fans and alocades of ABGs, in the end, they turn silent and tries to find something mitigating and cool about them in the end, when they confess to certain things I've stated, it all ends up with a silent and embarassing answer anyway like "Well, they look cool at least...that's why I want them"

Well, but state that from the start on then, and don't come with any smokes and mirrors audiophile psychoacoustic mumbo jumbo to verify your claims. I am all game with that, that someone might buy an item just because of its looks.

After 1 minute this guy demoing the u-bass says "they come in 5 string if you want to go really ridiculous..." well, he nailed it with that sentence. That phrase: ridiculous. That's what I think too, and lo and behold, it shows me that I am not alone in my stance, and it's nothing I got out of the blue.



And these guys are "rocking" out on them, but I'll bet they can play any groove on anything though, since they're huge bass legends anyway:



And if you should impersonate any upright I think these are better off than any ABG. Plugged in that is...
To really rub it in, and turn the knifew clockwise once more, most people I've sold ABG's to, in Sweden, and that's quite a few, (at least a dozen if not 20) have them mothballed and switched to plugged in Kala U-basses by now. If they want that sound. Otherwise they resort to their solid body electrics. Some of them have even left their fretless at homes and brings their solid body basses PLUS the Kala U-bass with them on one gig. In one and the same case, and you won't notice it. They all found out the cumbersome-ness and unergonomic things of all those kinds of basses, regardless of Tacoma, EB Earthwood, and whatnot. Unwieldy and hard to tame feedback when playing live. The U-bass has no feedback due to (or really: a big thanks to) their small bodies.

I think there's too many caveats with ABGs in the end. As with anything else, it has slowly dawned on me, initially thinking they're great. Oh, I forgot about all neck dive there is on EVERY ABG. Terrible neck dive. Which makes the ergonomics worse, and not only the chewing in the elbow, which you have to use to counterbalance the neck dives... ha ha.

But that's only me. IMHO. YMMV.

 

[spade2you]

Too bad they had to mic these totally acoustic instruments for us to hear them on this recording. I am sure it would have sounded much better without the mics.

I saw them about 10 years ago. Stanley Clarke's upright sounded angelic. Their musicianship and tone made me wonder if I should practice more or quit entirely.

 

[bholder]

You guys seems not to get it, haven't you?

When you first log into Talkbass there's a huge ad with Lee Sklar, sponsoring and promoting the Kala U-bass. Small body. Plug it in and listen. You don't need huge bodies at all, to plug anything in, period. And the U-bass doesn't chew in on your elbow. I'd rather play that if I have to plug it in anyway, any day, than any full bodied ABG. Regardless of CF or not. Regarding Rainsong guitar, if they're loud just because of CF they're even harder to plug in because they feed back in no time. Would be even harder on such a bass, from Emerald or whatnot.

Look, it works like this way: Either a Kala U-bass plugged into amp, OR any upright miked up (you have to pick up low frequencies that aren't there anyway with front miking) or a Mexican Guitarron. To simplify and not make a fuss about it most people are game if I show up with my solidbody electric bass anyway. I have never ever came across something as superfluous and redundant as those large jumbo bodied ABG that needs to be miked up anyway with their internal piezos or whatever. Beats me, still dumbfounds me after all these years.

And when asked impertinent questions, and plays the devils advocate in real life to all fans and alocades of ABGs, in the end, they turn silent and tries to find something mitigating and cool about them in the end, when they confess to certain things I've stated, it all ends up with a silent and embarassing answer anyway like "Well, they look cool at least...that's why I want them"

Well, but state that from the start on then, and don't come with any smokes and mirrors audiophile psychoacoustic mumbo jumbo to verify your claims. I am all game with that, that someone might buy an item just because of its looks.

After 1 minute this guy demoing the u-bass says "they come in 5 string if you want to go really ridiculous..." well, he nailed it with that sentence. That phrase: ridiculous. That's what I think too, and lo and behold, it shows me that I am not alone in my stance, and it's nothing I got out of the blue.



And these guys are "rocking" out on them, but I'll bet they can play any groove on anything though, since they're huge bass legends anyway:



And if you should impersonate any upright I think these are better off than any ABG. Plugged in that is...
To really rub it in, and turn the knifew clockwise once more, most people I've sold ABG's to, in Sweden, and that's quite a few, (at least a dozen if not 20) have them mothballed and switched to plugged in Kala U-basses by now. If they want that sound. Otherwise they resort to their solid body electrics. Some of them have even left their fretless at homes and brings their solid body basses PLUS the Kala U-bass with them on one gig. In one and the same case, and you won't notice it. They all found out the cumbersome-ness and unergonomic things of all those kinds of basses, regardless of Tacoma, EB Earthwood, and whatnot. Unwieldy and hard to tame feedback when playing live. The U-bass has no feedback due to (or really: a big thanks to) their small bodies.

I think there's too many caveats with ABGs in the end. As with anything else, it has slowly dawned on me, initially thinking they're great. Oh, I forgot about all neck dive there is on EVERY ABG. Terrible neck dive. Which makes the ergonomics worse, and not only the chewing in the elbow, which you have to use to counterbalance the neck dives... ha ha.

But that's only me. IMHO. YMMV.

Nothing wrong with any Uke basses, but it's a completely different instrument with different intent. These ABGs are meant to be heard acoustically, not just amplified.

 

[HeavyDuty]

You guys seems not to get it, haven't you?

When you first log into Talkbass there's a huge ad with Lee Sklar, sponsoring and promoting the Kala U-bass. Small body. Plug it in and listen. You don't need huge bodies at all, to plug anything in, period. And the U-bass doesn't chew in on your elbow. I'd rather play that if I have to plug it in anyway, any day, than any full bodied ABG. Regardless of CF or not. Regarding Rainsong guitar, if they're loud just because of CF they're even harder to plug in because they feed back in no time. Would be even harder on such a bass, from Emerald or whatnot.

Look, it works like this way: Either a Kala U-bass plugged into amp, OR any upright miked up (you have to pick up low frequencies that aren't there anyway with front miking) or a Mexican Guitarron. To simplify and not make a fuss about it most people are game if I show up with my solidbody electric bass anyway. I have never ever came across something as superfluous and redundant as those large jumbo bodied ABG that needs to be miked up anyway with their internal piezos or whatever. Beats me, still dumbfounds me after all these years.

And when asked impertinent questions, and plays the devils advocate in real life to all fans and alocades of ABGs, in the end, they turn silent and tries to find something mitigating and cool about them in the end, when they confess to certain things I've stated, it all ends up with a silent and embarassing answer anyway like "Well, they look cool at least...that's why I want them"

Well, but state that from the start on then, and don't come with any smokes and mirrors audiophile psychoacoustic mumbo jumbo to verify your claims. I am all game with that, that someone might buy an item just because of its looks.

After 1 minute this guy demoing the u-bass says "they come in 5 string if you want to go really ridiculous..." well, he nailed it with that sentence. That phrase: ridiculous. That's what I think too, and lo and behold, it shows me that I am not alone in my stance, and it's nothing I got out of the blue.



And these guys are "rocking" out on them, but I'll bet they can play any groove on anything though, since they're huge bass legends anyway:



And if you should impersonate any upright I think these are better off than any ABG. Plugged in that is...
To really rub it in, and turn the knifew clockwise once more, most people I've sold ABG's to, in Sweden, and that's quite a few, (at least a dozen if not 20) have them mothballed and switched to plugged in Kala U-basses by now. If they want that sound. Otherwise they resort to their solid body electrics. Some of them have even left their fretless at homes and brings their solid body basses PLUS the Kala U-bass with them on one gig. In one and the same case, and you won't notice it. They all found out the cumbersome-ness and unergonomic things of all those kinds of basses, regardless of Tacoma, EB Earthwood, and whatnot. Unwieldy and hard to tame feedback when playing live. The U-bass has no feedback due to (or really: a big thanks to) their small bodies.

I think there's too many caveats with ABGs in the end. As with anything else, it has slowly dawned on me, initially thinking they're great. Oh, I forgot about all neck dive there is on EVERY ABG. Terrible neck dive. Which makes the ergonomics worse, and not only the chewing in the elbow, which you have to use to counterbalance the neck dives... ha ha.

But that's only me. IMHO. YMMV.

Fine, we get it - you don't like ABGs and simply can't understand why others might. If you want to continue espousing on this, why don't you go start a thread about it instead of crapping in a thread intended to discuss an innovative new product that you obviously have no interest in other than making disparaging comments?

 

[gwangi]

Does the Emerald carbon fiber instruments have truss rods in there necks?

 

[HeavyDuty]

Does the Emerald carbon fiber instruments have truss rods in there necks?

Emerald does their guitars both ways - good question, I'll try to find out if a truss rod will be standard on these. I hope it is.

 

[GBassNorth]

You guys seems not to get it, haven't you?

When you first log into Talkbass there's a huge ad with Lee Sklar, sponsoring and promoting the Kala U-bass. Small body. Plug it in and listen. You don't need huge bodies at all, to plug anything in, period. And the U-bass doesn't chew in on your elbow. I'd rather play that if I have to plug it in anyway, any day, than any full bodied ABG. Regardless of CF or not. Regarding Rainsong guitar, if they're loud just because of CF they're even harder to plug in because they feed back in no time. Would be even harder on such a bass, from Emerald or whatnot.

Look, it works like this way: Either a Kala U-bass plugged into amp, OR any upright miked up (you have to pick up low frequencies that aren't there anyway with front miking) or a Mexican Guitarron. To simplify and not make a fuss about it most people are game if I show up with my solidbody electric bass anyway. I have never ever came across something as superfluous and redundant as those large jumbo bodied ABG that needs to be miked up anyway with their internal piezos or whatever. Beats me, still dumbfounds me after all these years....

But that's only me. IMHO. YMMV.

Honch - it appears that English might not be your primary language so I hope I'm not reading your message wrong but I'd disagree with you on a few points and agree with you on a few as well.

First of all, as an owner of a Rainsong Graphite Acoustic Electric Bass, a Breedlove Acoustic Electric Bass and a Kala Mahogany Hollowbody U-Bass I'd say the Rainsong doesn't feedback any sooner than the Breedlove but when they do start to feedback it's easily eliminated. The Kala also gets feedback in spite of its smaller body but it's easily controlled as well.

I'm not sure how we evolved into a Ukulele discussion on a new graphite AEB thread but since you went there - I was an early adopter of the Kala and have contributed heavily in the U-Bass club threads. It's a great little bass that has its place. It's more than a novelty, it's a useful tool, but it won't ever replace my solid body basses or even my other acoustic electric basses. In fact I have found it to be relatively useless unless plugged in.

That's not the case with my AEB's. I frequently play them unplugged in a solo setting and at times with a friend or two with acoustic guitars. Anything beyond that absoutly requires an amp. Which is why I mentioned to the OP in my original post that I would only be interested in an AEB not just an acoustic bass.

As for "showing up with an AEB" I would never just show up unexpected with one at a normal gig. That's foolish. However, since I don't play the upright bass, I would absolutely bring my AEB to an acoustic gig along with a small combo amp and have done so on many occasions. In fact I usually bring my U-Bass as a back up since it's so easy to transport (although it does take a very different EQ setting to get the Kala to fit in the mix like the AEB's do).

You are spot on about the discomfort level of playing an AEB vs a solid body when it comes to the body edge digging into your forearm and potential for neck dive. But even those issues can be minimized with proper straps and playing technique. Heck, even the U-Bass gives me fits sometimes due to the cramped left hand finger spacing of the ultra short scale neck.

In summary...

Do you need a hollow body to get a good bass sound? Absolutely not!

Can you get a good bass sound from a hollowbody bass? Absolutely yes!

Does an acoustic bass have enough natural volume projection to be useful in a personal setting? Yes.

Does it have enough natural volume projection to be useful in a small group setting? Questionable.

Does it have enough natural volume projection to be useful in a band and audience setting? No!

Will a mic make an acoustic bass useful in a band and audience setting? Possibly, but challenging.

Will a piezo or other pickup and an amp make an AEB useful in a band and audience setting? Yes.

Will an amped AEB sound better than an amped solid body in a band and audience setting? Depends on who you ask.

And now you have my humble opinion on AB's, AEB's, Ukelele Basses and Solid Body Basses. That and a couple of euros will get you an espresso.

 

[FunkHead]

As they look at different pickup options I'd offer this advice...
Piezo is ok for these types of instruments but when mounted under the saddle it picks up tons of unwanted finger noise that's nearly impossible to eq out without cutting all your highs. The best and most realistic sounding acoustic pickup I've ever tried was the Shadow Nano-Mag pickup mounted at the end of the fretboard on my Les Paul Ultra II guitar. It even comes with its own inset rear mounted gain/treb/bass controls and does a fantastic job of capturing the acoustic vibe of the instrument. Here's a demo clip...

Always wanted to try something similar on an AEB.

How could anyone not want that Epiphone? I am so digging it! You are a lucky man.

 

[GBassNorth]

How could anyone not want that Epiphone? I am so digging it! You are a lucky man.

They are fantastic! I use mine more than many other much more expensive guitars I own because it sounds so nice. Unfortunately, Eppi upgraded the nano mag offering in 2010 to the Ultra III which I didn't like as much, it got too complex. I've always wished they would try the nano II on a Thunderbird bass, it would be so unique. I've even thought about buying an old Ultra II and ripping the nano mag out to install it in my Thunderbird.

I'd still love to hear this new Emerald CF bass with a nano mag at the FB end vs under the saddles. I think it would be epic!

 

[spade2you]

Somebody here sounds like he is a shill for Kala. Or, just doesn't get the idea of acoustic instruments and why many folks want them.
So, I take it you quit, right?

When I saw RTF a few years ago, AD wasn't with them, Frank Gambale took his place, but a bonus was the addition of JLP!

Technically I gave up on bands, but that was because mine broke up and there was nothing out there.

 

[foothilla]

You guys seems not to get it, haven't you?

When you first log into Talkbass there's a huge ad with Lee Sklar, sponsoring and promoting the Kala U-bass. Small body. Plug it in and listen. You don't need huge bodies at all, to plug anything in, period. And the U-bass doesn't chew in on your elbow. I'd rather play that if I have to plug it in anyway, any day, than any full bodied ABG. Regardless of CF or not. Regarding Rainsong guitar, if they're loud just because of CF they're even harder to plug in because they feed back in no time. Would be even harder on such a bass, from Emerald or whatnot.

Look, it works like this way: Either a Kala U-bass plugged into amp, OR any upright miked up (you have to pick up low frequencies that aren't there anyway with front miking) or a Mexican Guitarron. To simplify and not make a fuss about it most people are game if I show up with my solidbody electric bass anyway. I have never ever came across something as superfluous and redundant as those large jumbo bodied ABG that needs to be miked up anyway with their internal piezos or whatever. Beats me, still dumbfounds me after all these years.

And when asked impertinent questions, and plays the devils advocate in real life to all fans and alocades of ABGs, in the end, they turn silent and tries to find something mitigating and cool about them in the end, when they confess to certain things I've stated, it all ends up with a silent and embarassing answer anyway like "Well, they look cool at least...that's why I want them"

Well, but state that from the start on then, and don't come with any smokes and mirrors audiophile psychoacoustic mumbo jumbo to verify your claims. I am all game with that, that someone might buy an item just because of its looks.

After 1 minute this guy demoing the u-bass says "they come in 5 string if you want to go really ridiculous..." well, he nailed it with that sentence. That phrase: ridiculous. That's what I think too, and lo and behold, it shows me that I am not alone in my stance, and it's nothing I got out of the blue.



And these guys are "rocking" out on them, but I'll bet they can play any groove on anything though, since they're huge bass legends anyway:



And if you should impersonate any upright I think these are better off than any ABG. Plugged in that is...
To really rub it in, and turn the knifew clockwise once more, most people I've sold ABG's to, in Sweden, and that's quite a few, (at least a dozen if not 20) have them mothballed and switched to plugged in Kala U-basses by now. If they want that sound. Otherwise they resort to their solid body electrics. Some of them have even left their fretless at homes and brings their solid body basses PLUS the Kala U-bass with them on one gig. In one and the same case, and you won't notice it. They all found out the cumbersome-ness and unergonomic things of all those kinds of basses, regardless of Tacoma, EB Earthwood, and whatnot. Unwieldy and hard to tame feedback when playing live. The U-bass has no feedback due to (or really: a big thanks to) their small bodies.

I think there's too many caveats with ABGs in the end. As with anything else, it has slowly dawned on me, initially thinking they're great. Oh, I forgot about all neck dive there is on EVERY ABG. Terrible neck dive. Which makes the ergonomics worse, and not only the chewing in the elbow, which you have to use to counterbalance the neck dives... ha ha.

But that's only me. IMHO. YMMV.

You don't get the concept of different instruments doing different things. ABG's sound different. Using your theory, you wouldn't understand why a guitar player uses a hollowbody electric. It's just a different tool, with a different sound. Listen to some of the early Violent Fems classic albums. They wouldn't sound anything like they do without the Earthwood ABG. That ABG was a huge part of defining their sound, wouldn't be the same if they used an electric (or upright) in place of the ABG.



Or check out Jonas Hellborg's many great pieces of music using an ABG. The guy could dominate any bass, but often goes for an ABG, because it clearly has a unique sound in the bass world.

 

[IamJohn]

In regards to the question about how loud it is, I asked user Iomo, who has owned one of these XB-35's, how it compares volume-wise to other ABG's and he said it wasn't as loud as a Tacoma Thunderchief, generally considered the loudest ABG outside of the Earthwood.

That said, I'd be willing to wager it's more durable.

 

[smperry]

I thought I played one of the Emerald acoustic basses years ago and I wasn't a fan. Playability was great but the tone wasn't, at least compared to a Washburn AB35 that I briefly owned. It was bright and not particularly loud. It sounds great on these videos though!

 

[IamJohn]

[QUOTE="IamJohn, post: 19109594, member: 207249"That said, I'd be willing to wager it's more durable.

CF is not an elixir for strength. Check this out!

[/QUOTE]

Good point. I do play pretty fast.

 

[Honch]

Would love THESE in carbon fiber:



Even though it just goes down to A which is the limit, you can hear traffic behind him and noise, it needs to be amped. Not miked up, you amplify the background noises as well if you do that. It is still unwieldy to use, and wear, but I am sure as h*ll it wont ever neck dive. That's at least, something....

For a 3.000 USD and more CF "bass" of any kind I want all things solved. All of their former shortcomings, too. Not just great sound, but neck dive, large body not chewing into the arm, and even more things out of the scope in this thread. They may get louder but definitely not lower.

I would just love it if someone comes out with an idea of those, to use the internal pickup or amplifying system the other way around. Use the batteries to actually amplifying the vibration of the top in certain low frequencies which are the shortcomings of those instruments, instead. Make a crossover and actively use the top as a speaker instead, for amplifying those frequencies that are down by - 12 db acoustically anyway. Like low E at 42 Hz and the like. You don't need to amplify them that loud either, say, by + 12 db but just enough to get noticed. And leave all other frequencies alone. The strings may be suspectible to "infinite sustain" then, but that can be bucked too, with phase reversing and so on. They don't need to be overpowered by more than 1:1 ratio.

Only then, I would be slightly more inclined to at least try them out.

I think today, they are all (all AEB basses regardless of wood, CF, piezo pick up and whatnot) adresses a whole lot of different things that aren't needed. If they make a CF one at 3000 USD or more, they should be adressing all other aspects of it too. They haven't solved all of their shortcomings still, and thus, I think it's not worth the buck, by any means. If you really need to have them electronically plugged in, and amplified by any means internally, say a piezo pickup I think you'd be better off with a cheap Cort. I've found out that poor and stiffer wood in the top actually bucks feedback when plugged in. Acoustically they are lame. If you have a unbelievable loud acoustically and rich sound they're are way more prone to feedback, and you have to adjust the EQ so much when plugged in, that the resulting sound is quite stiff and frankly quite bad.

 

[KillerEddie]

It's got a sound similar to hose old Washburns with the louvred sound holes (AB20 maybe>) It's a little on the bright side but still very cool. I'm interested.

 

[HeavyDuty]

More info I picked up - I'm actively talking to Emerald about having one of these built:

1. This is definitely not the XB-35 that is currently on the website. It is a brand new instrument with much larger internal volume. The new one (name to be determined) should be on their website in the next few days.

2. They are showing this here as a fretted five but on request they will definitely built it as a four or a six, too - as a matter of fact one of the first ones being built is a fanned fret six.

3. These do have a dual action truss rod - that was something I asked because some Emerald guitars had truss rods as an option.

4. They are still deciding what pickup to use. If you have suggestions, post them here - Emerald is reading this thread. ;-)

Now, what color to pick? The red is gorgeous, but so is the amber...

 

[jd56hawk]

Will an amped AEB sound better than an amped solid body in a band and audience setting? Depends on who you ask.

Mine might or might not, depending on who you ask, but it sure sounds different!

I just bought a G&L L-2000 and no matter what strings I put on it and how long I fool around with all the switches and knobs, I doubt it will be able to provide the same tone as my Exotica.
There's definitely a place for acoustic basses and anyone who thinks otherwise should simply stick to playing whatever makes them happy and leave the acoustic basses to people who know what to do with them.

I'd like to try one of these out. Looks very interesting.