Acoustic Bass : Loud enough to jam ?
Jos Rozen
Is there an acoustic bass loud enough (with a nice sound) so you can jam
with an acoustic guitarist unplugged.
My neighbour is tired of us jamming in my attic (with a drum machine) and
we're looking for a solution for our weekday jams (we've got a big house on
week-end).
I also like the idea of an acoustic bass for practice because it's as easy
to grab as a guitar (and playing my SR500 unplugged sucks). But it's kind
of expensive for a training device so I would like to be able to travel and
play wherever I want with my friend who owns a (loud) taylor.
If you HAVE to plug it I don't really see the point. I tried one unplugged
and wasn't really impressed. Of course that day the dealer wanted me to try
it with all the amps he had after I asked him if it was loud enough...
unplugged. Go figure!
Of course I'm also interested in the sound of the beast.
What about a dobro (gibson?) bass?
Lee Carruthers
Jos Rozen (josr...@dc.net) wrote:
: Is there an acoustic bass loud enough (with a nice sound) so you can jam
: with an acoustic guitarist unplugged.
: Of course I'm also interested in the sound of the beast.
I had a Guild B50 (or was it 30?). It had a very large body...much bigger
than a dreadnaught sized acoustic guitar. Big case to carry around,
too. So it was about as loud as they
can get....and it still wasn't loud enough to play with more than one
not-played-too-loud acoustic guitar. I also tend to pluck the strings
pretty hard. If I was going to play with more than one acoustic guitar I
would always bring an amp.
I rather liked the sound of it. Not really an upright sound, although a
pleasant acoustic sound. Had to EQ (always carried a graphic EQ) the hell
out of it when played through an amp. Lots of feedback potential. I never
played it at loud rock and roll gigs, just folky stuff.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lee Carruthers
car...@vcn.bc.ca
Benson Scott
try an ovation. they are pretty good.
Jos Rozen <josr...@dc.net> wrote in article
<01bc5695$518ad4a0$173dfccd@blues>...
:
Ryan Tolbert
Well as a bass player myself I have come across the same situation of
looking for an acoustic bass that is loud enough to jam with an acoustic
guitar. I looked at several Washburns and found that they had a decent
volume. Probably the best that I have ever come across is an Ovation
acoustic. It had the usual fiberglass rounded back, but it was a full
sound. Probably the only thing that could come close to what you want is
the Ovation.
Of cours the ultimate acoustic bass is an upright bass, but the weight of
it would be the same as an electric and an amp. So go figure on that one.
They don't make it easy on us bass players.
-Ryan Tolbert (rto...@tiger.lsu.edu)
Bill Bolton
"Jos Rozen" <josr...@dc.net> wrote:
> Is there an acoustic bass loud enough
No.
> (with a nice sound)
You want that as well! <grin>
> I also like the idea of an acoustic bass for practice because it's as easy
> to grab as a guitar (and playing my SR500 unplugged sucks).
The neck shape and general set up of an ABG means it will be less than
ideal as a "practice" instrument if you primarily play a solid body
bass.
> If you HAVE to plug it I don't really see the point.
ABG is a specialised niche instrument, mostly useful for those
environments where a solid body instrument is a stylistic anathema
(i.e. folk, bluegrass, some types of Jazz etc). The only reason that
it has become semi-popular is solely because of the "fad" factor of
MTV's "Unplugged" series.
> What about a dobro (gibson?) bass?
No longer available AFAIK, but generally the same comments apply.
Cheers,
Bill
Bill Bolton billb...@onaustralia.com.au
Sydney, Australia
Teuscher
Lee Carruthers wrote:
>
> Jos Rozen (josr...@dc.net) wrote:
> : Is there an acoustic bass loud enough (with a nice sound) so you can jam
> : with an acoustic guitarist unplugged.
> :
> : Of course I'm also interested in the sound of the beast.
>
> I had a Guild B50 (or was it 30?). It had a very large body...much bigger
> than a dreadnaught sized acoustic guitar. Big case to carry around,
> too. So it was about as loud as they
> can get....and it still wasn't loud enough to play with more than one
> not-played-too-loud acoustic guitar. I also tend to pluck the strings
> pretty hard. If I was going to play with more than one acoustic guitar I
> would always bring an amp.
>
> I rather liked the sound of it. Not really an upright sound, although a
> pleasant acoustic sound. Had to EQ (always carried a graphic EQ) the hell
> out of it when played through an amp. Lots of feedback potential. I never
> played it at loud rock and roll gigs, just folky stuff.
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Lee Carruthers
> car...@vcn.bc.ca
That's odd, as my hohner shallow acoustic, fretless with flatwounds, is
plenty loud enough for me to play with two loud guitarists for acoustice
practices for my electric band, and holds it's own quite well in my
acoustic band, which has two guitars and a stripped down drum kit.
Mike
Aaron Turner
Jos Rozen wrote:
> If you HAVE to plug it I don't really see the point. I tried one unplugged
> and wasn't really impressed.
There's always the option of getting a really tiny bass amp. Peavey
make the microbass, and I've played through my 10W mains/battery
guitar amp before, and that competes with acoustic guitar, and is
not much more than 10"x10"x5".
_____________________________________________________________________
Aaron Turner
aa...@minster.york.ac.uk http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/~aaron
_____________________________________________________________________