Double Bass NS EUB megathread

[monkeyland]

Not to diminish anyone’s concerns over geometry, but I too was concerned about having enough bow angle clearance on my CR6 Cello, but after a bit of practice, and keeping bow hair tension on the higher side, that concern has largely gone away.

but probably a much larger hurdle for someone trying to learn from scratch

 

[Jon Moody]

Bumping an old thread here. For any of you UB traditionalists, have you ever attached anything to the neck to resemble the neck/body joint? I'd love to affix something there for my thumb so I know where D/Eb might be.

I had thought about getting the NS Design attachment for my CR-5M years ago, but decided against it. I spent a bit of time just acclimating myself to the EUB, and after a bit of rudiments and finger exercises, realized I didn't need that neck/body joint as much as I thought I would.

And yes, they are slightly closer together, too, I believe. But the radius thing is the most important factor. The curvature of the fingerboard is relatively unchanged, and adding the extra string reduces the angles between each pair of strings by a noticeable percentage.

Oddly enough, I find I have more issue with my German bow over the French for when I'm bowing mine. When I'm using those tiny FingerBows, there's absolutely no issue at all (but that's a completely different beast).

 

[jthisdell]

So weird thing happened the other night to my NXT4 and was curious if anyone else has seen this.

My NS is strung with five year old Obligatos and I replaced the tuners with Hipshots at that time. At rehearsal the other night I tuned up the E, A and then started on the D when there was this loud pop and the tuning peg sheared off and went flying. The string suddenly lost tension and fell to the floor. When I picked up the string it was all sticky. My first thought was that five years of hand funk came out of the wrap but upon closer examination it was a green goo, like maybe some damping material between the core and wrap? I need to order a replacement tuner (Hipshots sells singles) but I'm hoping the string is still good.

Ended up playing the rehearsal on the guitarist's Squier P and will use my Fender at a gig tonight.

 

[Michael F Clef]

[QUOTE="kamakiriad7...have you ever attached anything to the neck to resemble the neck/body joint? ...[/QUOTE]

I purchased the NS Thumb Stop from Gollihur. It may seem like a silly little overpriced contraption, but I love it. It was a game changer for me to play without looking at my fingers. It serves the purpose of a neck heel quite adequately. I'm glad I adapted it to my NXT5.

 

[jthisdell]

So, I know a lot of you are sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear how I resolved my issue (see above). I bought a single hip shot tuner, specified treble, it came set for the bass side so I switched one of the other tuners and then neither of those would string properly. Ended up buying a new set of tuners and a new set of Obligatos $$$. But now plays and sounds great, the newer strings sound much more lively and answered the age old riddle, if the strings are dead to start with do the actually die? The answer is definitely that they do get more dead, that set lasted six years so I should be good for awhile.

 

[Persona87]

I used to have an NXTa bass, but I wasn’t getting much time to play and practice. I couldn’t build up the strength and stamina to play upright strings on an upright scale, so I sold it a few months ago. I’ve been thinking about replacing it with a 5-string Omni Bass: the string tension should be lower, and the shorter scale is more familiar and most comfortable. Anyone here have experience with the Omni that they can share? How does it sound/feel? Is it still bowable? What kind of strings do you use? Can it take upright strings if I want to get a more upright-ish sound, or do I need to use regular EB strings? Any other thoughts on it you would be willing to share? Thanks!

 

[bodollar]

I used to have an NXTa bass, but I wasn’t getting much time to play and practice. I couldn’t build up the strength and stamina to play upright strings on an upright scale, so I sold it a few months ago. I’ve been thinking about replacing it with a 5-string Omni Bass: the string tension should be lower, and the shorter scale is more familiar and most comfortable. Anyone here have experience with the Omni that they can share? How does it sound/feel? Is it still bowable? What kind of strings do you use? Can it take upright strings if I want to get a more upright-ish sound, or do I need to use regular EB strings? Any other thoughts on it you would be willing to share? Thanks!

Go to this thread.
NS BassCello (now OmniBass) megathread

 

[Jon Moody]

I have both a CR-5M full size and a NXTa Omni 5st.

How does it sound/feel?

Like a smaller EUB. The neck profile is, to me, thin and round. Oddly, it takes me a second to reacquaint myself with it when I pick it up. That's not the case with any other bass I have/use.

Is it still bowable?

Sure. I use my trusty French bow, or a smaller FingerBow on it regularly.

What kind of strings do you use?

I currently have a set of prototypes that I'm working on, on my Omni

Can it take upright strings if I want to get a more upright-ish sound, or do I need to use regular EB strings?

It most certainly can not. The closest URB-like string sets you're gonna find for it are either the NS Traditionals (which came stock on mine) or the Thomastik Jazz Flats. There are a couple other EB flatwound strings that work with various levels of success.

Any other thoughts on it you would be willing to share? Thanks!

It doesn't come with a tripod stand, or at least mine didn't. I got the boomerang strap, so it can sit on your body like an EB. It works okay, but I put it on the stand my CR-5M came with and play it in a seated position.

 

[coyoteboy]

To add:

my Omni bows great, currently using a singles set of EB Group flats. I find them ‘zingy’ and ‘warm’ at the same time. Growly pizz. I love what it does, but I do not try to cop an db sound.

 

[Persona87]

How different is the tone of the Omni compared to the regular EUB? I liked the sound of the EUB, I just couldn’t get on with the scale and tension.

 

[bodollar]

My 2 cents. The only way your going to know if you like how the Omni bass sounds and plays is to play one.

 

[Persona87]

My 2 cents. The only way your going to know if you like how the Omni bass sounds and plays is to play one.

I hear you, but the one I’m looking at (a five string NXTa) is a special order from Sweetwater and they don’t accept returns on special orders. I just want to make sure it sounds different enough from my fretless J to be worth it. Otherwise I might just defret my P bass and call it close enough.

 

[bodollar]

NS Design has a WAV 5c for sale on Reverb.

 

[eyvindwa]

How different is the tone of the Omni compared to the regular EUB? I liked the sound of the EUB, I just couldn’t get on with the scale and tension.

I have the 5 string omni. I have heard the "regular" full-length NS EUB live. To me, they seem to sound very much the same, but I have never played any of them except the omni.

I use mine primarily for arco, I have a 5 string, and use a German bow. It does require a bit of practice due to string spacing, but it is definitely doable.

 

[Mark Gollihur]

How different is the tone of the Omni compared to the regular EUB? I liked the sound of the EUB, I just couldn’t get on with the scale and tension.

Out of the box, they're quite similar to each other. They use pretty much identical pickups and electronics. There's a depth of tone that comes from the longer scale of the full-size EUB, but it's somewhat subtle since it's an electrified instrument.

Where the rubber meets the road, though, is further "enhancement" options The only strings readily available for the Omni, currently, are the stock strings from D'Addario/NS Electric, and certain long scale electric bass guitar strings. None of those strings are truly made like a "real" upright bass string, and as such, they don't have the same timbre as a real upright string. They lean more towards a fretless bass "mwah" rather than the more growly, deep tone of an upright.

Conversely, there are quite a few good choices for the full size bass; it can use a fairly good number of real upright sets - Obligatos are a particularly good choice - and while the stock "Contemporary" set is much like the OmniBass set, they also make a "Traditional" set that is literally a set of Helicore Orchestra strings made with shorter afterlengths to fit the NS Design basses. So string upgrades can get you much closer to a more "authentic" sound.

The NinoMutes for both the EUB and Omni are also quite helpful in reducing the "electric" nature of the solid-body instruments, by helping to create a decay/sustain characteristic that more closely adheres to what we expect to hear from an acoustic upright bass.

Hope that helps.

 

[sludgelord3000]

Hey bassos, I'm looking to pick up a used WAV5 omni. If anyone has one collecting dust drop me a PM or email pocrkds at gmail

Trade could also work but I'd rather just give you my money.

For that matter if anyone has a used touch-style instrument sitting in a case unused, lemme know. Stick, Warr, Megatar, 2x4 with some strings nailed to it... whatever.

I'm in L.A. but I don't mind covering shipping.

 

[Snake101st]

Long time electric bassist here, just ordered a CR4M to try out and hopefully add to my toolbox. I'm comfortable on my Tony Franklin fretless PJ, and the dots should help me intonate at first vs going all in on a proper DB (I'm more interested in being able to use the NS with effects etc anyways)

It's an older one with the switch for the piezo vs pot, older bag, and chrome stand, but I couldn't pass it up for the price I found it for - seems to be in great shape. Really wanted a CR5M since I mostly play 5ers on electric, so if anyone has one and would prefer a CR4M let me know if you'd like to swap

Also, if anyone has an endpin stand + conversion kit that they're not using, please let me know

Ordered a string emporium Finale bow in brown weave since they seem to be really good for the price. I played violin some time ago, so hopefully arco isn't too hard to pick up. Will need to figure out how to attach a quiver to the stand

Anyways, yeah, pretty excited!

 

[Snake101st]

Can anyone please post a pic of the wiring on their bass under the back plate? Mine's an older CR4M with the chrome stand and toggle switch for arco vs pizzicato

I was hearing some static and the audio was cutting in and out, so I replaced the batteries, tweaked the pickup heights, bridge, and truss rod, but that seemed to fix it once the bridge and pickups were set

Then out of nowhere, the audio cut out and I tested everything in the chain, definitely an issue w the NS... So I opened it up and saw a wire loose, pushed it back in and it sat ok, then there's another wire that's about half off that refused to go down all the way (green white and red, last cables before the blue part)

Is that normal, or maybe it's severing the connection to the preamp and output? It looks like it's the wire to that

Looking to hopefully fix it myself vs having to bring it to a shop and wait weeks for them to look at it. Attached a shot of the wiring

Thanks!

 

[Michael F Clef]

Have you tried the good ole spraying DeOxit in the pots? That's all my NXT needed with similar symptoms.

 

[Randy Ward]

Mine was doing that and it turned out it was from the PC board being cracked very slightly. It probably happened when I was on the road from rough handling. Although this was on a CR5M but I think they have kind of the same basic kind of5 preamp