Double Bass EUB "sensible" choice? WRT maintenance, humidity, fragile, setup, playability

W

warx

Sep 13, 2010
174
97
4,916
Marin, CA
#1
Looking at getting my first (and most likely only) UB. Being lazy I guess I want something that is always going to be in prime playing condition despite all the varying conditions. While on my EBs things like truss rod and minor nut and bridge adjustments are within my realm I feel nothing on a decent carved UB would be DIY so it'd be going to the luthier a lot. (OK, I might be over-reacting but all my instruments have always been made of solid wood, carbon and steel...)

Other factors:
  • Being a leftie I'm pretty limited to choice (budget ~$3000), never any used options
  • Always use reinforcement so I'd need to get a decent mic/piezo etc. and that means self-imposing a painfully long and detailed TB/google research that would be a prerequisite to purchase
  • I generally have some sort of clumsy incident (trying to carry too many things etc.)
  • Lower action & easy to play for an EB convert
  • Not likely to arco
But:
  • Any gig would be local (have car space, would never fly)
  • A decent UB-like sound is important
  • Some part of me wants to be a purist
Basically with my price range it comes down to either an Engelhardt ES-1/9 Leftie (if the reversing upmark, case & shipping still keeps it at $3000 - oh plus the piezo, preamp etc.) or the MK Classic.
 
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#7
An EUB can sound a bit could or thin/small because of the small or non-existent body resonance.
And since an upright is often played in low to medium volume, the acoustic output is part of the sound heard by the listeners. Therefor an EUB gives only part of a double bass sound, not the real thing. It is closer than a fret less bass guitar, could be bowed (but often not as easily as a regular size acoustic upright), but in a small or rather quiet group you will miss the real upright resonance.

So you need to diced what is more important for you, lower maintenance cost and smaller size (but not necessarily less weight) or better sound and easier holding of the instrument.
If you would like to use effects like chorus or distortion rather often, an EUB would be the better choice, because the acoustic sound does not collide with the processed sound, but if you generally prefer the acoustic double bass sound an acoustic upright would be better.
An EUB can be nice if you play on small or crowded stages or if you want to avoid carrying the big thing to rehearsals, but then it is an additional instrument, not your only upright.
 
#8
Maybe a ply (or hybrid) might work best. Reading a little more about their resilience to temp/humidity changes and they don't seem like the moisture sucking animals I'd imagined. Plus, I'm in Northern California and it's pretty moderate here I suppose. Having the acoustic option would be nice. OK, I'm sold. Now on to the difficult leftie no-try-before-you-buy procurement process... Thanks all !!
 
#10
Well... since you asked. I generally play (on EB) things like acid jazz, rare groove, soul and Nola funk. But, always been fascinated by Chris Wood & Brian Brombergs' work and other gritty playing like Soul Coughing, Cat Empire, G Love. Also, having grown up in the sampling era of early hip-hop always thought that sound just brought it to another level.

Yes, I'd love to play Bop stuff - but that isn't likely given my skill-set!
 
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