mandolin to ubass?

[eadg145]

I have an Ashbory bass and I've played both the Ashbory and the Kala. I've been a bass player first (many years of playing), and I've had the Ashbory since before the Kala came out. The Ashbory is a fretless instrument, and the scale is almost exactly the same as a mandolin. I've found that playing mandolin has made the Ashbory very accessible to me. The apparent frets on the Ashbory are only photo stripes, and they're "guidelines" at best. Tuning is tricky (and difficult to maintain) on both instruments, due to the silicone strings. The best price on the Ashbory that I found was at www.largesound.com where I bought mine. (NFI)

I play my Ashbory through a Pignose Hog 30 portable (battery powered amp). Having played both instruments and both amps, I'll tell you that the Pignose Hog 30 sounds MUCH better with it's single 8" speaker than the 4x4" in the Micro Cube. It just moves more air, and that's what you want with a bass.

I have much more to say and tell about these instruments, but I don't want to ramble.

Oh, and playing mandolin translates well to Ashbory, but playing Ashbory and moving to a proper bass is another thing. Still, it's crazy portable, and sounds remarkably like an upright.

[foldedpath]

I have wanted one of these for a while, but don't play enough bass these days to justify the purchase. I have played both the fretted & fretless and find that the fretless does NOT sound more like an acoustic. It might be the shorter scale, but you don't get that fretless "m-uahh" you would expect, at least not with the stock strings.

Could be a limitation in the scale, or maybe the surface texture of the string? I can get a muted "muaaahh" using LaBella black nylon tapewound strings on my standard scale electric fretless bass. That's the closest thing I've found to sounding a bit like a full upright acoustic bass, without going to something like a NS electric "stick" upright. Or triggering samples with a Midi guitar, but that's a whole 'nother thing.

I've been tempted to try a Kala U-bass, but I think I need the "muaaah" and maybe tuning stability of a longer scale. Don't play much bass anyway, just a little on recording overdubs here and there.

[eadg145]

I bought the Ashbory for the swelling note sound typical of an upright. If you want "mwaah", you really want a fretless electric bass guitar, something like a fretless Fender Precision or similar.

[foldedpath]

I bought the Ashbory for the swelling note sound typical of an upright. If you want "mwaah", you really want a fretless electric bass guitar, something like a fretless Fender Precision or similar.

I dunno... maybe "growl" is a better term for what I hear in upright bass than "mwaaaah". Maybe the latter is more the Jaco thing with wound strings on a fretless electric bass.

There is also the difference in tone from pulling the string from the side of your finger in upright bass playing, vs. playing with fingertips on a standard electric bass or a Kala U-Bass. That's a big part of the punch and power in the tone of an upright bass, and hard to replicate with anything other than the real thing (or good virtual instrument software on a computer).

[little george]

I wonder if it makes any difference for this ubass to be solid or laminated woods other than aesthetics. They have this all-laminated Rumbler model which is the least expensive and it comes with proprietary Aquila strings which BTW I read eliminate that rubbery feel and the need for talcum powder on your fingers. Anyone play these basic ones (no pun intended) and any real reason to go for the solid ones?

Jim, I can´t give you any advice about the solid versus laminated ubass. I own a solid mahogany one, and it is the only one I have played.
But I have tried all the strings in the market but the Pyramid ones. It is quite funny the fact that the louder unplugged sound you get, the worst it sounds plugged: Original Paehoes are very very quiet ones unplugged, but they sound lovely and upright close when amplified. They are not sticky at all. Aquila thunderguts sound much louder unplugged, and very nice. But once plugged, their sound is full of overtones, wich can hardly be cutted by eq. without making it sound unnatural. They squeak. And they are very sticky, making it hard to play relaxed (the level of stickness seems to depend on each one hands chemical, similar to different people finding corrosion attacks different to metalic strings). The silver rumblers are some kind of mix between both, and are what I´m playing right now. They are still a little sticky, but playable. They sound nice plugged (but not as much as the paehoes) and are quite loud unplugged (but not as much as the thunderguts).
My personal opinion on all the ubass thing till now is: The ubass is a bass that needs to be amped to sound high enough to be useful. So next set of strings I´ll buy will be the original paehoes, and I will forget about all the rest. Until those aquila red ones beat the market, that´s it
Lots of info here:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/kal...5/index35.html

[Jacob]

Haven't yet tried the Pyramid strings, but I do like the Aquila Silver Rumblers better than the Thundergut or the original Kala strings.

Thank you, eadg145, for the Pignose Hog 30 review. I am always reluctant to plug a bass into a guitar amp and didn't realize it works for bass. I might have to try a Hog 30.

[GDAE]

I've been having carpal tunnel issues that have kept me to limited time on the mandolin and guitar. With frequent pickin' parties to go to, I wanted to play something, and ended up with a mahogony U-bass. Great fun to play, sized like a mandolin but doesn't irritate my wrists, easy to learn and as portable as a mandolin (maybe more so, as it's lighter). The wrists are better and I'm getting back into mandolin, but I'm finding I really enjoy playing the U-bass for a lot of songs and will stick with it. The only down side is you don't get as many solos with bass. ;-)

[AnnapolisKen]

OK, here's a dumb question. Has anyone ever attempted to graft UBass or Ashbory bass equipment onto a mandola or mandolin body? It would be a lot of work, but maybe it could give second life to a vintage mando with flaws. Probably a mandola would match the scale and have enough room for the tuners and electronics. But what would happen if you strung Ashbory strings (true scale length 18") onto a mando? I realize this is probably a bad idea, but it's generally the bad ideas that fascinate me the most.

[jim33]

You might want to listen to this. It has it's drawbacks which are apparent in the video. I have this set up to play with at home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUZfghRRQo

[John Flynn]

Chuck 3: I've tried tuning an electric bass guitar in fifths. It was an interesting experiment, but even though I am more used to playing in fifths, I found it to be a bear to play due to the scale length. If these UBasses can be tuned in fifths, I think I'd buy one. I think fifths would work OK at that scale length.

[spufman]

I have an old Guild Ashbory and Musicman Sterling fretless. The Ashbory is more tubby and double-bassy, but the Sterling is much more comfortable and natural for me. I've been playing electric bass all my life, though. THE 18" scale on the Ashbory, along with finicky tuners and silicone strings, make accuracy ummm... difficult! But if you're mainly a mando player, Ashbory or Ubass may be the ticket.

Interestingly I find it easy to switch between bass and mando, but not so between guitar and mando. I guess the dimensions are so radically different, my brain adjusts quickly. Personally I think the two instruments take a similar mindset, speed of play notwithstanding.

[mandotim1955]

I have one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ortega-RLIZA.../dp/B005CZTM02 .Great little instrument, with separate active pickups for each string. I also use a Roland Bass Microcube amp for sessions, but it sounds just as good through a 'proper' bass setup. Amazingly close to a double bass sound, and draws loads of comments wherever it goes. No-one can quite understand how such a huge sound comes from such a tiny instrument! You need a delicate touch with the right hand to get the best sound, and fretting accuracy is important too. Highly recommended, apart from the fact that my wife seems to have commandeered it for use in her uke orchestra!.

[jmp]

Just heard a u-bass in a group playing in the free standing room area at AT&T park while the World Series crowd rolls in. Very credible bass sound from an instrument with such a short scale length...I was amazed.

[Phil Goodson]

Sounds like the same bug is biting many of us.
About six months ago, I saw the U-bass for the first time. Sounded good through a small amp. I'd wanted to play bass for a long time, so I looked into options.

I ended up with a Gold Tone micro-bass, which is about the size of a Taylor Baby. Same type strings as the U-bass. The fingerboard is inlayed with "frets" which mark the notes but are flush with the board, so it's fretless. I played it for a few months and had lots of fun and started to get familiar with the bass patterns.

Ultimately, I couldn't stifle the longstanding desire to play the upright bass and so ended up buying a laminated upright.

In the past 3 months, I've been called to stand in playing bass more times than I've been called to play mando for sure.

Mando is still my first love, but playing bass sure is fun!!!