Double Bass Travel Bass EUB

[Jonas Bassman]

Hi guys.

Have anyone tried out the new Travel Bass EUB that just launched a Kickstarter campaign?

If so, what are your thoughts?

Looks really nice and sounds great from the sound clips.

Travel Bass

Invalid Link Removed

/Jonas

 

[PauFerro]

It looks really interesting. Some really thoughtful engineering went into it, including the brace used to stabilize the bridge when stringing it up and tuning. It sounds pretty good too -- really woody! Interesting how they used cedar for the body wood...probably the top.

 

[PauFerro]

I feel they weren't clear about the case. It appears to fold for use on the plane, but then expands for carrying it? I wasn't sure about that part.

 

[Jonas Bassman]

They have 2 cases. One hard flight bag for air travel, in which you have to disassemble the bass, and one for more casual traveling with the bass fully assembled.

 

[Zbysek]

Looks interesting. The sound is great!-very acoustic... I wonder about feedback susceptibility...

 

[Daniel Immel]

I wonder if there are any more threads about this bass. From what i've seen the thing seems like a glorious compromise from a full bass. He says he's sold out so people must be using them since I haven't seen any for sale used yet.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

For me the string angle at the bridge is too uneven. The saddle needs to be higher or the bridge angled to at least roughly have the same string angle at both sides of the bridge.
The tool either damps the bridge if installed permanently or the bridge top can easily move towards the fingerboard and finally fall. Not only from tuning but also from playing.

I had the same problem with my Clevinger keyhole EUB that didn’t has a raised saddle and they stewed the bridge to the body. The bridge very easily falls after removing the screws, so I screwed an angled wooden part to the body where the bridge can stand on so that the string angles on both sides at the bridge were more or less the same. Later models of that instrument had a raised saddle so that angling the bridge was not needed.

Otherwise it seems to be a nice instrument.

 

[Jaygetsreal]

I dunno but in this promo from 3 years back the audio and video don't match. Especially noticeable when he plays the low note at 0:22

 

[steve.whipple]

I have one (I'm actually an endorsing artist). Pre-pandemic, I toured with it and I loved it. Feel free to ask any questions about it if you have any!

 

[Daniel Immel]

I dunno but in this promo from 3 years back the audio and video don't match. Especially noticeable when he plays the low note at 0:22

Whuchyutalkin'boutWillis? It's an open D. Clear as day.

 

[Daniel Immel]

I have one (I'm actually an endorsing artist). Pre-pandemic, I toured with it and I loved it. Feel free to ask any questions about it if you have any!

Thanks Steve. How is it actually traveling with it? Have you actually ever walked on plane with it as your cabin baggage? Also, how is the 'bounce' of the top? In other words, is there something inherent about the design of the bass that limits the 'feel' that we can dial in with setup? Or can this be dialed in to approximate your full bodied bass to make it an easier transition between the two depending upon gig/playing situation?
Thanks for the input.
Dan

 

[steve.whipple]

Hi Dan,

I tour with a band that takes a tour bus mostly, so I've flown with the bass maybe 6 times total. I checked it every time, but that was because the band was paying for the luggage anyway, and I didn't want to bother with carrying it through the airport. I know it's been done, but I haven't done it myself, to be honest.

The bass feels remarkably like a full bodied bass, especially for the size. The only difference to me is that it's lighter, so it balances a little differently. They really nailed that aspect.

I've toured with a Yamaha Silent Bass as well, and compared to that, this bass was so much more fun to play. I actually looked forward to practicing on the instrument acoustically, which was something I couldn't say about the Yamaha. I like to have the strings medium/high so I can feel like I'm digging in, and the bass responds to that well. You can get more meat out of the sound, the same way you can on a full bodied bass. You can also set it up with low action and play with a light touch- I've messed around with that a little too, and it seems to respond to that pretty well too.

I hope that answered your question! I'll also post a little review I did of it and some clips of me playing it later if you'd like.

Steve

Thanks Steve. How is it actually traveling with it? Have you actually ever walked on plane with it as your cabin baggage? Also, how is the 'bounce' of the top? In other words, is there something inherent about the design of the bass that limits the 'feel' that we can dial in with setup? Or can this be dialed in to approximate your full bodied bass to make it an easier transition between the two depending upon gig/playing situation?
Thanks for the input.


Dan

 

[bassically_eli]

Hi Dan,

I tour with a band that takes a tour bus mostly, so I've flown with the bass maybe 6 times total. I checked it every time, but that was because the band was paying for the luggage anyway, and I didn't want to bother with carrying it through the airport. I know it's been done, but I haven't done it myself, to be honest.

The bass feels remarkably like a full bodied bass, especially for the size. The only difference to me is that it's lighter, so it balances a little differently. They really nailed that aspect.

I've toured with a Yamaha Silent Bass as well, and compared to that, this bass was so much more fun to play. I actually looked forward to practicing on the instrument acoustically, which was something I couldn't say about the Yamaha. I like to have the strings medium/high so I can feel like I'm digging in, and the bass responds to that well. You can get more meat out of the sound, the same way you can on a full bodied bass. You can also set it up with low action and play with a light touch- I've messed around with that a little too, and it seems to respond to that pretty well too.

I hope that answered your question! I'll also post a little review I did of it and some clips of me playing it later if you'd like.

Steve

Is it loud enough acoustically to be picked up by a mic? It would be nice to blend a little bit of mic sound in with the piezo.

Also, are there sound clips comparing the Full Circle option with the Lifeline option? All the clips I've seen so far appear to be using the FC.

 

[steve.whipple]

Here are a few clips of the bass recorded acoustically. The first video is with a nice condenser mic a foot or so away from the bridge, the ones from instagram are just the mic on an iphone. But bear in mind that the duets with the singers are also acoustic, and the tenor player is playing pretty soft. As you'll hear, there isn't that much low end, but there's a good amount of mids that cut in the mix pretty well.









I think blending with a mic could work on softer gigs. It would add some natural air and front end to the tone. Honestly, in a small enough room with a quiet band, I think the bass has enough tone to deliver a natural hump acoustically, and the amp would be there to provide the low end and body of the sound. But on louder gigs, I don't think there would be much benefit from the mic, since you probably won't be able to get enough gain before the mic started picking up other sounds (though the same could be said for a full bodied upright as well).

I actually have clips of the bass with both pickup options, and a comparison between having the Full Circle on the G string side VS the E string side. I was going to make a video of that, but I have a 2 year old, so that project got put on hold. I might need some time, but I can try to get that done at some point soon.

But my conclusion was that the FS sounds better under the E string on this bass. The FS under the E and the LifeLine sound pretty similar. For me, I think I prefer the LifeLine a little bit. But, I had someone come over to check the bass out, and the way he played, he liked the Full Circle better. And I thought the FC sounded better too. So I guess it's all in the hands in the end...

Here's a review I did a few years ago. My opinions haven't changed too much. I'm about to take this on tour again next month, so I might do an updated review after that one.



Happy to answer more questions, feel free to hit me up!

Is it loud enough acoustically to be picked up by a mic? It would be nice to blend a little bit of mic sound in with the piezo.

Also, are there sound clips comparing the Full Circle option with the Lifeline option? All the clips I've seen so far appear to be using the FC.

 

[bassically_eli]

Here are a few clips of the bass recorded acoustically. The first video is with a nice condenser mic a foot or so away from the bridge, the ones from instagram are just the mic on an iphone. But bear in mind that the duets with the singers are also acoustic, and the tenor player is playing pretty soft. As you'll hear, there isn't that much low end, but there's a good amount of mids that cut in the mix pretty well.









I think blending with a mic could work on softer gigs. It would add some natural air and front end to the tone. Honestly, in a small enough room with a quiet band, I think the bass has enough tone to deliver a natural hump acoustically, and the amp would be there to provide the low end and body of the sound. But on louder gigs, I don't think there would be much benefit from the mic, since you probably won't be able to get enough gain before the mic started picking up other sounds (though the same could be said for a full bodied upright as well).

I actually have clips of the bass with both pickup options, and a comparison between having the Full Circle on the G string side VS the E string side. I was going to make a video of that, but I have a 2 year old, so that project got put on hold. I might need some time, but I can try to get that done at some point soon.

But my conclusion was that the FS sounds better under the E string on this bass. The FS under the E and the LifeLine sound pretty similar. For me, I think I prefer the LifeLine a little bit. But, I had someone come over to check the bass out, and the way he played, he liked the Full Circle better. And I thought the FC sounded better too. So I guess it's all in the hands in the end...

Here's a review I did a few years ago. My opinions haven't changed too much. I'm about to take this on tour again next month, so I might do an updated review after that one.



Happy to answer more questions, feel free to hit me up!

Wow, that's super helpful! Thank you! It definitely sounds like a clip-on cardioid mic could work pretty well with the Travel Bass to me. Some of them can really be pretty feedback resistant if you really know how to use them (don't stand too close to the speaker, have an HPF and notch filter handy, and the ability to blend with a piezo if needed). Sounds like something like an Ischell contact mic or AKG C411 might work too.

 

[steve.whipple]

Wow, that's super helpful! Thank you! It definitely sounds like a clip-on cardioid mic could work pretty well with the Travel Bass to me. Some of them can really be pretty feedback resistant if you really know how to use them (don't stand too close to the speaker, have an HPF and notch filter handy, and the ability to blend with a piezo if needed). Sounds like something like an Ischell contact mic or AKG C411 might work too.

No problem!

I have a DPA 4099 and I've messed around with that a bit. On its own, you don't get enough gain to really do much with. But to add a little air to the sound, I could see that working. I'll mess around with and report back at some point.

I also have a Ehrulund contact mic. That one is interesting- it's pretty hard to find a spot that's even across the registers, though the sound is pretty nice. Oddly, I found that the most usable sound was on the "rib" of the bass, on the E string side. To my ear, that was the best sounding pickup I tried, but when I recorded myself playing it, it didn't sound that different from the LifeLine. And the wire on the Ehrulund can be noisy when rubbed, so it was a little tricky finding a good way to mount it. I might go back to trying to make that work better, but I ended up going with the Piezo- seemed to do the job for my purposes.

I'm actually waiting on an IR pedal, so that might be a whole can of worms, but could be a game changer if it works well with this instrument...

 

[Daniel Immel]

Hey guys, sorry for the delay as I'm just getting around to this thread again. SUPER helpful stuff Steve. Thanks for posting these and sharing your experiences, especially with the experimenting with different transducers.

I really think this one is worth a shot to check out in depth. I've been talking with Gionny about getting my hands on to one, COVID has obviously thrown some challenges in to that plan, but with any luck I'll be able to pop through Italy mid-year and get a sense of this. Still seems like an amazing solution for the Globetrotters amongst us our bass playing clan.

Thanks again Steve, and lovely playing btw.

 

[damonsmith]

It is super weird that they are cagey (you can't see it until click the pre-order button) about such a fair price! $4550 with hard case is an amazing price. You could travel with that and a little head and backline speakers, or the upshot backpack!
This seems like an incredible solution.

Hi guys.

Travel Bass

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/Jonas

 

[steve.whipple]

No problem, and thank you!

And sorry about the delay, I was actually on a 5 week tour with using the Travel Bass. I used it with an impulse response pedal, and it took a little dialing in, but it added some nice "air" to the sound, making it sound more natural.

Just for reference, here's a little clip of the bass coming out of an amp (an Aguilar rig), with the IR pedal:



And another one the trombone player took from across the stage during and unaccompanied bass moment from the show:



Hope that's helpful! And let me know if you have any other questions!

Steve

Hey guys, sorry for the delay as I'm just getting around to this thread again. SUPER helpful stuff Steve. Thanks for posting these and sharing your experiences, especially with the experimenting with different transducers.

I really think this one is worth a shot to check out in depth. I've been talking with Gionny about getting my hands on to one, COVID has obviously thrown some challenges in to that plan, but with any luck I'll be able to pop through Italy mid-year and get a sense of this. Still seems like an amazing solution for the Globetrotters amongst us our bass playing clan.

Thanks again Steve, and lovely playing btw.

 

[Daniel Immel]

Hello Steve,
Thanks for posting these here. Very helpful indeed. The solo clip sounded very nice. I can see how in the right setting it could be worth it to actually mic it. Hope I don't sound too nitpicky but there was a bit of a fuzzy-buzz in the tone; could that have been from the amp or some other resonance in the room and not the bass itself? Its not like we dont all get those frequently with body buzzes and piezo cables loosening and making top contact, etc. But just curious if there is something inherent in the way it amplifies.
Thanks again and sounding great!
Dan

No problem, and thank you!

And sorry about the delay, I was actually on a 5 week tour with using the Travel Bass. I used it with an impulse response pedal, and it took a little dialing in, but it added some nice "air" to the sound, making it sound more natural.

Just for reference, here's a little clip of the bass coming out of an amp (an Aguilar rig), with the IR pedal:



And another one the trombone player took from across the stage during and unaccompanied bass moment from the show:



Hope that's helpful! And let me know if you have any other questions!

Steve