Stand up or double bass
-
jingle_jangle
- RRF Moderator
- Posts: 22679
- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:00 am
- Contact:
I allus thought that Kings were Chinese made, California custom-painted basses...and we know what Bob sez about Chinese basses...
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
― Kurt Vonnegut
http://www.uptonbass.com/
http://www.urbbob.com/index.html
These are two good places to buy URB's and have a lot of info and they ship. I bought the laminated Hawkes model at Uptonbass.
Kings are pretty and very strong, great for the road but are made for the rock a billy bassist's who care more for durability and volume than tone. Only the cheap Kings (1500.00 or a little less) are Chinese made and I don't recommend those either. Their American made basses are 3000.00 and up.
A Chinese bass is good if you buy a good one, as the old saying goes you get what you pay for, but those Chinese basses on ebay for 600-800 bucks are junk. There are URB forums too and I played one once.
The minimum you want to spend for a decent starter URB is about 1500.00 and then you can figure on about 500.00 for accessories such as pickups, cases, pre-amps, stands etc. A set of strings costs a minimum of 100 bucks, most more but they do last a while. You should really make up your mind that you want to play one before you buy one as they are an expensive and big thing to have lying around the house doing nothing, if you buy a cheap one it will play terrible, sound terrible and fall apart and will make you think you'll never be able to learn.
URB's have a 41-42 inch scale in the 3/4 size bass which 99.9% of players play and the action is not exactly low unless you exclusively play jazz and do not plan on slapping them.
Englehardt is a good laminated bass as is the Hawkes, so is Kay but those are getting expensive as they stopped making them about 20 years ago. Englehardt is the new Kay.
Fully carved basses which sound the best and also cost the most are also the most fragile and feedback very easily, so most rock and blues players use laminated, all the King basses except their studio bass are laminated.
Also electric URB's don't really sound as good as an acoustic bass, they are a compromise.
I leave my URB standing in a corner in my bedroom, every time I go near it I play it, they sound unbelievable unamplified, when you learn to pluck them properly with the side of your index finger they're like hitting a kick drum and playing a bass at the same time, now that's called thump.
They make some good Piezo pickups nowadays called K&K which need a preamp which are pretty accurate and don't feedback much. I've played mine in front of two complete SVT setup's before with no feedback, this was outside though. Man, birds were falling out of the sky every ten minutes Paul.
They also make magnetic pickups which are expensive and don't sound as accurate, but don't feedback at any volume and are great on the high notes where stand up's usually lose it. Those are also $300-$400 each. I have both and prefer the Piezos for all except extremely high volume gigs when I have trouble with the piezos or want a more rock electric bass sound.
http://www.urbbob.com/index.html
These are two good places to buy URB's and have a lot of info and they ship. I bought the laminated Hawkes model at Uptonbass.
Kings are pretty and very strong, great for the road but are made for the rock a billy bassist's who care more for durability and volume than tone. Only the cheap Kings (1500.00 or a little less) are Chinese made and I don't recommend those either. Their American made basses are 3000.00 and up.
A Chinese bass is good if you buy a good one, as the old saying goes you get what you pay for, but those Chinese basses on ebay for 600-800 bucks are junk. There are URB forums too and I played one once.
The minimum you want to spend for a decent starter URB is about 1500.00 and then you can figure on about 500.00 for accessories such as pickups, cases, pre-amps, stands etc. A set of strings costs a minimum of 100 bucks, most more but they do last a while. You should really make up your mind that you want to play one before you buy one as they are an expensive and big thing to have lying around the house doing nothing, if you buy a cheap one it will play terrible, sound terrible and fall apart and will make you think you'll never be able to learn.
URB's have a 41-42 inch scale in the 3/4 size bass which 99.9% of players play and the action is not exactly low unless you exclusively play jazz and do not plan on slapping them.
Englehardt is a good laminated bass as is the Hawkes, so is Kay but those are getting expensive as they stopped making them about 20 years ago. Englehardt is the new Kay.
Fully carved basses which sound the best and also cost the most are also the most fragile and feedback very easily, so most rock and blues players use laminated, all the King basses except their studio bass are laminated.
Also electric URB's don't really sound as good as an acoustic bass, they are a compromise.
I leave my URB standing in a corner in my bedroom, every time I go near it I play it, they sound unbelievable unamplified, when you learn to pluck them properly with the side of your index finger they're like hitting a kick drum and playing a bass at the same time, now that's called thump.
They make some good Piezo pickups nowadays called K&K which need a preamp which are pretty accurate and don't feedback much. I've played mine in front of two complete SVT setup's before with no feedback, this was outside though. Man, birds were falling out of the sky every ten minutes Paul.
They also make magnetic pickups which are expensive and don't sound as accurate, but don't feedback at any volume and are great on the high notes where stand up's usually lose it. Those are also $300-$400 each. I have both and prefer the Piezos for all except extremely high volume gigs when I have trouble with the piezos or want a more rock electric bass sound.
-
jingle_jangle
- RRF Moderator
- Posts: 22679
- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:00 am
- Contact:
Very cool. I always enjoy reading informed opinions/reviews that pop up here.
Could you get me a 12 pound turkey with that rig, Bob?
Say, that is a humane way to dispatch avian co-conspirators, ain't it?
(©2005, The Clever One, all rights reserved)
Could you get me a 12 pound turkey with that rig, Bob?
Say, that is a humane way to dispatch avian co-conspirators, ain't it?
(©2005, The Clever One, all rights reserved)
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
― Kurt Vonnegut
-
jingle_jangle
- RRF Moderator
- Posts: 22679
- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:00 am
- Contact:
I've been stunned myself by Wild Turkey on at least two occasions that I can remember.
The rest I don't.
The rest I don't.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
― Kurt Vonnegut
I've narrowed it down to 2
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/470314/
This seems to be the same as the Josef Lazar bass
they recently offered. As the Lazar bass, it got nice reviews.
or this:
http://www.music123.com/Engelhardt-ES9-i52640.music
Also nice reviews and has a great look.
Opinions anyone? Bueller?
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/470314/
This seems to be the same as the Josef Lazar bass
they recently offered. As the Lazar bass, it got nice reviews.
or this:
http://www.music123.com/Engelhardt-ES9-i52640.music
Also nice reviews and has a great look.
Opinions anyone? Bueller?
" It's not where you are, it's who you're with.".
Englehardt no contest, it's a real acoustic bass, plays easily after it's set up and sounds great, it's a much better bass than the other one. You'll probably need to get it set up properly after you get it home though.
Uptonbass in one of my links above also sells them and they are all set up by a really good player that I know, he's one of the best psychobilly slappers in ther country. They're more expensive there but you'll have to spend money on either one to get it set up right anyway, they're not like guitars, all set up at the factory or if they are, they're usually not very good.
Uptonbass in one of my links above also sells them and they are all set up by a really good player that I know, he's one of the best psychobilly slappers in ther country. They're more expensive there but you'll have to spend money on either one to get it set up right anyway, they're not like guitars, all set up at the factory or if they are, they're usually not very good.
Those are nice basses, I might even get one myself, congratulations.
You said you're not going to bring it out, but if you do decde to play it out, the K&K bass max is a very good piezo pickup, very natural and feedback resistant, K&K makes a preamp for it, the K&K rock a billy set up is even better, it includes the bass max and a neck slap piezo,and comes with a preamp. It's about 200 bucks at Gollihers.
You said you're not going to bring it out, but if you do decde to play it out, the K&K bass max is a very good piezo pickup, very natural and feedback resistant, K&K makes a preamp for it, the K&K rock a billy set up is even better, it includes the bass max and a neck slap piezo,and comes with a preamp. It's about 200 bucks at Gollihers.
Yeah, I can't imagine myself getting into a gigin situation with it. When it arrives, I'll play around with it a bit, see what I like and don't, then make the trip to Gage and have them set it up for me, unless I get a more local place recommended to me.
" It's not where you are, it's who you're with.".
I will second the Gollihur recommendation -- I got my BassMax pickup and my French bow through him, as well as my new gigbag. He's a great, helpful guy.
Here's a pic of my '30s/'40s Pfretzschner ply.
http://www.fenderforum.com/userphotos/index.html?recid=22287
-a
Here's a pic of my '30s/'40s Pfretzschner ply.
http://www.fenderforum.com/userphotos/index.html?recid=22287
-a
No matter how bad it gets, there are always songs.
I like the big sound but have compromise strings on mine, Spirocore Wien's. I get a lot of rock a billy gigs and also blues gigs. I use big amps though which more than makes up for the light strings. I only play arco, I've never tried bowing, I've only been playing URB for about a year and still have a ways to go especially up high on the neck.