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Double Bass Palatino Megathread part I

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#822
Wow....Upright strings for $30.00? Are they any good, though?

The Labella's look REAL thick...that would seem to indicate heavy tension. I'm looking for strings that are thinner, and lighter...easier to play. I'm predominantly an electric bassist that needs to do some work on upright (mostly Latin music styles, Salsa, boleros, danzones, latin-jazz, and the occassional walking bass line standard). For merengue, bachata, rock, funk, fusion, etc., I go electric anyway.

I'm going to check out that Salty Dogg company...any opinions here about their strings?
 
#825
Talked with a friend of mine who gigs exclusively on Baby Bass (latin gigs). He tells me has tried several sets of LaBella's Nylon wound 7720. The Nylon part breaks open a lot and that kills the lifetime of the strings. In contrast, he thinks the strings that originally came with the Ampeg were better (I wonder what those were).

What do people say about the 7710 line (the non-nylon, light-gauge upright strings that LaBella makes)? Do you think these would work nice on a Palatino?
 
#827
Ok... try 2. I had a very lengthy post all typed up, but upon trying a spell check it was lost. I purchased my VE-500 about 4 months ago from ebay (as a factory second, allegedly for aesthetic reasons.) I have been following this thread for about as long, and it has been a great as this is my first adventure into the world of EUBs. I performed the "rubber inner tube trick," and it improved my tone, but did not solve my problem. My problem is as follows: while playing the bass will simply cut-out. It sounds like it could possibly be an electric short, but I am uncertain (and hesitant to tear it apart.) By applying gentle pressure to the section of exposed pickup between the bridge legs I am usually able to make it play again at least for a few more minutes. I placed rubber strips under the pickup to either side of the wire, and under both bridge feet. The strip under the G string is slightly thicker than the E to achieve action I could not quite get with the cheesy bridge adjusters. Is there something obvious I’m missing? I know next to nil about piezo pickups. Any feedback is welcome. Now that I am a member I will check back frequently. Thanks, JB.
 
#830
Hi guys,
Just to make the case more comfortable to carry, sew the edges of the handles together in order to get a tube, and put a piece of cable in. Any household sewing machine/girlfriend can do the job. This way:

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#831
I removed the pickup and determined that the problem seemed to be coming from the joint between the cable and the pickup itself. Upon removing the heat shrink I know nothing more than I did before... There is a small brass receptor on the pickup that the wiring feeds into, and a small bundle of the woven cable is soldered to the outside of this brass dealy. The remainder of the cable feeds into the receptor and appears to be loose... Is the weaving just a ground rap, i.e. is there a cable within?
 
#832
That is the same problem I had when I got my bass. The solder joint design is awful and doesn't seem to hold up well at all.

You're in luck though, now you can get yourself a bass max or a rev solo and mount it on the bridge. ( you should geta better bridge also but that will come soon enough. Good luck.

I wouldn't waste time trying to repair the solder joint for the pickup just get something better.
 
#839
Greets to everyone at talkbass forums, this is my first post. Looks like a great place for the bass, reading this thread has already helped me a lot :hyper:

I've just received my Palatino VE 500 EUB a few days ago and I'm already in love with it, who wouldn't be with it's curvy shapes ;)

This is my first experience of playing UB and I'm really enjoying it, I have been playing a Schecter Elite 5 string for the past few years which I also really like.

I just took up playing bass seriously a few years ago, before this I played mainly guitar though have played bass in a few bands. I have to say that I'm now totally converted into the joys of the low end, I never imagined it could be so rewarding as I'm finding it now. I've played a couple of gigs through a 40k front of house PA recently with massive subs under the stage and man what a buzz.

Anyway, back on topic.

The first thing I did with the Palatino was to do a bit work on the bridge to get the action where I want it, this involved using a sanding block and just removing a few mm from the bottom of the bridge supports, this allowed me to lower the action as far as I needed to and it's sitting very sweet at the moment, this also gave a very flat surface on the supports to sit evenly on the pickup.

Next I tried the thin rubber solution suggested here so long ago, I used an old rubber washing up glove (heavy duty type) which is a bit thinner rubber than a bicycle tube.

This gave the thump as already highlighted here, however it was a bit too thumpy for my tastes so I kept the rubber under the pickup but removed the two pieces I put beneath the bridge supports, this has given me a nice compromise in the sound, it still has the thump quality but not so pronounced but also gives a brighter sound than when it was fully rubbered :D

That's it so far, I haven't had any problems with the tail piece ringing, though I do not like the overloud hiss from the preamp. I have been turning the tone control pretty much back to the bass setting anyway so it's not quite so audible.

I've ordered a UB bow and some rosin, so looking forward to getting that going.

Plans for the future, new strings at some point and I'll look at building a new pre-amp when I get time, I used to be an electronic engineer so I'll build one myself. I might replace the pickup at some point but this would be a while yet.

Overall I'm really impressed for the price and can't wait to gig it which will be later this month :)
 
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