simonlittle

I had a Sandberg TM4 with a pau ferro fingerboard. lt felt very similar to rosewood to be honest. The bass had a lovely rich tone; not sure how much of that was the fingerboard but it certainly sounded warmer than a very similar bass I had with a rosewood board.

Bought a couple of books from Ian. Super easy to deal with and he sent them over really quickly. Always a pleasure!

Looks like a California II TT4 Passive to me. Lovely looking bass 👍

Same here. It’s very infectious.

I’d definitely recommend checking out his album Ventura from a couple of years ago. Some great tunes and obviously some incredible playing too.

Wow that’s fantastic. Thanks for sharing 👍

You can also get good punchy electric tone out of a U-Bass if you really go for it with the right hand. This took a bit of practice…

I’ve never needed to. On occasions where the bass feels like it might kick off I can usually sort that by dialling out a bit of low mids on the amp. Plus I rarely have the bass coming out of my monitor, especially on a big festival stage. I’ve found that can be a recipe for disaster.

I’ve also had people turn their nose up at the suggestion, but in general they get over it once they hear it in context. Some people can’t seem to get over the look of it though…

Like a lot of upright bass players I have a David Gage Realist pickup on my bass and play the majority of my upright gigs through a Markbass head and 210 cab. I’m not familiar with the J-tone pickup but I’ve rarely had feedback issues with the Realist. I also regularly play the same bass through a big Ashdown rig with a 6x10 cab with no problems, plus it’s been through a bunch of festival hire rigs (usually Ampeg SVTs and big 8x10/4x10 cabs), again no problem. It always helps to have a bit of distance between the cab and the bass to avoid feedback issues, more so as the volume levels go up. The only times I’ve had an issue have been when I’m right on top of the amp as you mentioned, or when playing a hire bass with a crappy pickup.

They weight virtually nothing. I’ve done a bunch of gigs on a Kala U Bass over the years and you barely notice you’re wearing it. It’s worth adding a strap button at the base of the neck if it doesn’t have one (neither of mine did) so you don’t have to hold it like a regular ukulele. Sound wise you’ll be fine for most styles I reckon. They’re surprisingly versatile.

I reckon it’s best to start out on a proper acoustic upright if you can. The shape of the body is such a huge part of learning the muscle memory