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Double Bass Shen SB-200 after 4.5 years.

#41
foilracer said:
(Thread revival!).....Hey PB+J any current news about the 7/8 willow...any developments since 2013?
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Still playing it, gigging regularly. It's still too big! But I like the sound enough that I haven't looked for an alternative. No maintenance issues for a while now (knock wood). but we just entered the high humidity/air conditioning season. It's got D'Addario zyvex strings on it, very easy strings to play, but I think the best tone for jazz is with Evah Wiechs. They were kind of hard on the hands though. The Zyvex are good but don't have that nice thunk on the front end.
 
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#42
PB+J said:
Still playing it, gigging regularly. It's still too big! But I like the sound enough that I haven't looked for an alternative. No maintenance issues for a while now (knock wood). but we just entered the high humidity/air conditioning season. It's got D'Addario zyvex strings on it, very easy strings to play, but I think the best tone for jazz is with Evah Wiechs. They were kind of hard on the hands though. The Zyvex are good but don't have that nice thunk on the front end.
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Yet another revival of an old (but very good!) thread... :)

I recently started renting a double bass, and have proved to myself that I can play it. So now I'm thinking about buying one, and the Shen seems to be a contender (since I don't have $5,000-12,000...).
My first rental was a 1/4 size, which lasted about two weeks before I upgraded to a 3/4. It's a cheap plywood bass without a lot of character, but I can play it pretty well, considering I've only been at it for a month (though with 40+ years of bass guitar experience behind it). The 1/4 was like a big cello, and had a 35.5" scale, which is pretty close to bass guitar length. It was also quite portable. The 3/4 is huge and heavy by comparison.

Would you say that a 3/4 would solve the "too big" problems you see with the 7/8, or is that still too big? I'm wondering about a 1/2 size, considering it'll probably be mic'd anytime it's on stage, anyway. But then, how hard is it to find a quality instrument in that size range? Or is it better to get one that sounds good to you, and just deal with the transportation and storage issues?

-- Sam
 
#43
Well I'm still playing it, just under ten years now. Wow, that's kind of amazing. The bass is doing better than me--I'm getting old!

No maintenance issues other than described. Knock wood. Sloan tuners have been very solid and were a good replacement. It's still too big. I'm using D'Addario Zyex strings on it now, and I like them as well or better than spiros. They have less thunk than the evahs do but they are easier on the hands. I think the best tone I got was with the Evahs

Good things about this bass, after a decade of miscellaneous gigs: Big warm tone, mostly even (see below) particularly good in the second and third positions where it speaks really clearly. lOng sustain, smooth attack envelope.

Bad things: to big. It has developed a big woof at about 200 hz that I often find myself having to play around. Probably could be adjusted out, but that's my biggest complaint--woofiness around the second G

Below is a clip from a gig a couple years ago, with a gypsy jazz band. You can hear the shen in action. That little thunk on the front of each note is the evahs

 
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#45
thats a good sounding bass.

being too big is a pain, but theres something awesome about big basses- especially arco, and even moreso if you do any orchestral playing. the depth of the low end will never be the same- that big, warm, pillowy low end. you're soundfile isint the best ever, but it sounds to me like the wonderful deep sound of a big bass.

i've posted here a bunch about my new shen panormo recently. its a huge bass. whenever i get tired of its over-the-top proportions, i go back to my 1880s german flatback, which is about an average 3/4 sized bass. its a great instrument, but after logging some time with the big bass, when i go back to the old bass it sounds like someone turned off my subwoofer. in the mix the bass sounds great, but theres still no substitute for a big bass if you want big deep sounds.
 
#47
Timothy Duncan said:
The best bass combo amp with 200 watts of pure juice and a heavy 15 inch speaker. The sunn sb 200 was the best combo amp ever made.
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thinking-face_1f914.png
 
#51
Lol Sunn amps.

It's interesting to me to look back at this. It's been about 14 years with this bass. I'm still gigging with it, though not as often as I'm nearly 60 now and don't need to do it for a living.

The bass still has the same good qualities and bad qualities. I can't say it's gotten wow so much better with age, but I can say it always sounds good, and when it doesn't sound good it's my fault. No wolf tones anymore. It's still really great in second and third position. Its really singing with spiros, but the band likes strings with more thunk. Currently it has corelli's on it, which are good and not too expensive, similar to spiros but don't have the sheer horsepower of spiros. Still think Evah weichs were probably the best compromise string for me. At my band's regular gig, in a small space, I've taken to playing it on a stand, to save space on stage and avoid having to lay it down or find an unoccupied corner.
 
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