Double Bass Volume Adjustments

[LoeBase]

Hello all. I know I've posted this question before, but my problem hasn't been fixed yet. I was hoping I could get some more advice from the gallery.

Is there any adjustments I can make to my URB itself to get a louder volume. I have an underwood pickup and a acoustic image contra 310. I do my best to practice without an amp except for when I trying to work on dialing in good tones in different rooms. I use the side of my finger to strike the string. I pull from my elbows and not my wrist. I can play other URB and get a lot of volume, but my own bass is very quiet. The bass is an Eastman bass. I love the tone on it. I use Thomastik Weicht strings. I've heard other Eastmans with great volume.

I would love to do my duo gigs without an amp. Does anyone have any suggestions on maitenance that can be done to my bass to increase it's volulme output?

Please excuse the length of my post, but I'm starting to play more and more each year. I don't want to lose any gigs because of not being heard. I don't want to whimp out and depend solely on my amp. Thank in advance for you help.

 

[arnoldschnitzer]

Get rid of the Weichs in favor of Orchestra gauge Spiros. Raise your strings a little. Most important: REMOVE THE PICKUP. Those pickups bridge a gap that is there for a purpose. When you want maximum acoustic volume, take it off. I'm not a teacher, but when I studied with Dave Holland he emphasised stroking through the string from the first knuckle of the right hand, not pulling from the elbow or wrist.

 

[B. Graham]

I'd echo Arnold's comments, and suggest Thomastik Dominant strings. They're stiff, but they helped to make the Eastman I used to have quite loud. Nice hybrid string to boot.

 

[Roger Mouton]

I assume you're pizz playing. Try Pirastro Jazzers. I got a huge volume increase from my instrument when I changed from using D'Addario and/or Spirocore Weichs. You need to put a little more energy into them but the sound increase was worth the change for me.

Another suggestion - find a bass tech who might coax a little more from your instrument. You didn't say anything about any adjustments you've made to the set-up, e.g. sound post, bridge etc.

 

[bribass]

Have you had your sound post checked recently by a qualified luthier?

BG

 

[jimclark68]

FWIW, my Eastman hybrid gets choked with higher tension. In fact, I get the fullest sound from it with Weichs at around 3.5mm-6.5mm. The more I raise the strings, the more choked it sounds.

 

[LoeBase]

The model Eastman is the VB100. It is actually a beginner model. Could this be why I'm having such volume issues. Does it possibly only need a good set up job or a new sound post?

 

[Jeremy Allen]

All of the suggestions given here are good, especially the ones about losing the Underwood and the weichs. Weichs are not at all good, in my experience, for playing unamplified, and it's amazing how much bridge-wing pickups dampen the sound of the bass (I just took the Revolution SOLO off of my English bass and aye caramba! it's not going back on...) Also, do raise your action to where the bass seems to respond best; and then remember, it doesn't happen overnight.

You do have to work up to that point of getting a solid and full unamplified sound, and it's something I think we all should do at some point. The excellent Seattle bassist Doug Miller told me he did it by gradually turning his amp down (or not turning it up so much) over a long period until he got to the point where he was able to produce the sound he needed; in my own case, when I started playing unamplified it was at first an unusable novelty, and I realized at the end of every night that my arms and hands were simply not in the right physical condition to do that and that I needed to work up to it just as you would build any muscle.

But it's worth doing; my "back-up" bass (which, oddly enough, I do most of my gigs with!) is one of Arnold's New Standard Clevelands, with guts on it, and I've yet to hear how the pickup on it sounds because I never have plugged it in on a gig...I just bring the amp and pretend to set it up, and no-one ever complains...

 

[jimclark68]

Loe, mine is a 95, and in checking the Eastman website, I don't see a 100. Mine is the Sam Eastman (beginner) line, so it's a hybrid, but still near the bottom of the food chain. It's got the real narrow gamba shoulders, so the sound tends to be tight and focused. However, since I last posted a couple of days ago, I swapped out my Weichs, which are relatively new, for an old Mittel set, and the sound is greatly improved. Why I ever think anything will sound better than Mittels I'll never know, but that's another story. Mine was purchsed from/set up by Bob Beerman.

 

[robobass]

If you like your "Mittels" (do you mean like Spirocore orchestra medium?) it shows that your bass needs more tension than you were getting from the Weichs. But, you can probably do better than Spirocore, which have a lot of fundamental, but for my money don't have much in the way of mids or tonal clarity. If you want to be heard acoustically, it's not just a brute force question. A bass with nice mids and highs will cut through the mix better, even if it is not actually louder.
Robobass

 

[jimclark68]

It definitely refuted what I was saying about the Weichs choking my bass at higher string heights. I always find myself coming back to Spiro Mittels, no matter what I try.

 

[LowG]

If you have an adjustable bridge - work with the string height. If the strings are low, you can't physically dig into them with your right hand. It's more "work", but you'll get used to it.

And, you might just happen to have a quiet bass. On the plus side, I have played some "quiet" (pizz) basses that had very good arco sound. Don't know why, just did.