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Double Bass What to look for in an EUB for salsa/latin?

Jazzkuma

Jazzkuma

Sep 12, 2008
835
494
#1
I am trying to get the baby bass sound for salsa but I dont know what to look for or what strings I should put on it. If someone has experience with EUBs for salsa or latin I would appreciate the help. I have found a few Geneva Violin eub's on Reverb, the NS design and Ibanez EUB's are also available.

Need some guidance.
 
#3
The Baby Bass sound comes mainly from the diaphragm pickup. I use a Clevinger EUB that is built for jazz with Spirocore 3/4 Weich (a bit too ich tension for my hands but works well). Recommended by the builder are Obligato strings.
For any solid body EUB you might want less tension and less sustain.
My EUB has a lot of sustain, but playing in my Latin group I control the note length by damping the strings (left hand release and right hand damping on open strings). It is a good way to try and learn note duration control and how it influences the music and musicians. Only in very few cases I would like to have a string with less sustain. And don’t forget, if the sustain is over you cannot make that note any longer.
 
#5
Yeah the sustain in most modern eub is whats making me a bit worried of picking up the wrong instrument. Never played the original ampeg but from all the salsa recordings I hear it sounds as if some foam is being stuffed somewhere. And I know its not always left hand muting cuz I dont see it being used on videos.

never used the spiros solos on my Upright. Ill keep those in mind when I find a eub.
 
#7
I believe Uvex is the name of the Eastman/Kodak manufactured plastic that the shell is made out of. It stinks and warps when it gets really hot. The dense foam inside is just foam. I think the most affordable bass with the diaphragm pickup is the KK Baby Bass, or possibly one of the other brands.... Corvann, Sendel, Blady.
I am of the opinion that if you really learn the music, it doesn't matter so much what kind of bass you play as long as the note has a strong attack. Electric bass works fine, too. That being said, you can get a great sound out of most electric uprights by doing some kind of muting at the bridge. My preference is the leather mute strap that Steve Azola used to put on his basses to mute the afterlengths. Check out the great bassist Rene Camacho for this sound.
 
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#8
I think the original Baby Bass had a rubber strip at the top of the bridge that may damp a bit too.
You can simulate that with so called “tone filters”, rubber discs with a hole in the middle that goes between bridge top and string so that the disc is pressed down by the string on both sides of the bridge. They are available on request by Pirastro and maybe also Thomastik and other string manufacturers. But you can also make them yourself. They are mostly effective on the higher strings.

The amount of impulse at the beginning of a note is also highly dependent on the playing technique. Touching the string with a lot of amplification won’t do it. You need to pluck, not too hard, but pull the string instead of touching it. This is nicer to your fingers with lower tension strings and stretchier strings like synthetic core or gut. But too stretchy (PEEK or nylon/Perlon) and you will loose dynamic response (limits your volume if you pull rather hard). It depends on your playing style if you feel the limitation or not.
 

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