Advice for an upright newbie on buying an EUB...?

[Beedster]

Could ask some specific questions but thought I'd leave it open ended, probbaly get more useful info that way...........
Thanks in anticipation
Chris

[guyl]

You have a couple of tasty fretlesses there, so no point in getting an EUB that sounds like an electric.

I liked my old Bridge Cetus, because it had "proper" upright fingerboard, bridge, tuners, strings etc and sounded like a good old UB. I'm sure you'll have to try a few to work out what sound you're after...! Or buy an upright !!

Good luck

[Mottlefeeder]

I was in your position about 4 months ago...

Firstly, what you can already play may not be playable on an EUB. With a low action they tend to sound like a fretless, so there is little point in having one if you already have a good fretless. With a higher action, they sound more like an upright, but they are harder to play. Your ring finger is used to assist your little finger, not to finger notes on its own, so all your fingerings will have to change.

You can get both 4- and 5-string EUBs, so it makes sense to go for what you are used to. However, the fingerboard may not be (much) wider on the 5-, which makes bowing more difficult if you want to get into that.

You have a choice of shorter EUBs on a long stick, e.g the WAV etc, or double bass length instruments on a shorter stick, e.g. the Stagg, Aria, Yamaha etc. The former will fit across the boot of a family hatchback/saloon boot, the latter will not. Some would argue that the formar look daft, but the latter look the part - it's your call.

Some are fitted with piezo pick-ups under the bridge, and some also have magnetic pick-ups, and on-board preamps. A passive piezo EUB needs a higher input impedance than some bass amps provide, so you may need to budget for an outboard preamp.

I don't know enough to compare and contrast different models, so I'll leave that to others.

[TheRev]

How much do you want to spend?

If you're looking to dabble, then the Stagg is a good choice as it's not a huge outlay but as others have pointed out, it'll probably sound a lot like your fretless. There's also the Palatino/Harley Benton EUB from Thomann which look nice but apparently need a lot of work to get them sounding good (see the Palatino megathread on Talkbass)

Spend a bit more and you can have a NS Wav or an Aria, which sound pretty good with a decent set of strings or you could look st the Bassix New Tech bass which looks well cool and has got good reviews.

Spend £1500 and you're in Yamaha SLB200 or Eminence territory - both sound great with the Eminence having the edge in sounding like a proper DB but the Yamaha being a bit more playable (IMO).

If you have the money, then the Yam or the Eminence are the ones to go for but it's also worth checking ot the Bassix bass if you're anywhere near Kent.

[endorka]

[quote name='Mottlefeeder' post='434961' date='Mar 14 2009, 11:39 PM']You have a choice of shorter EUBs on a long stick, e.g the WAV etc, or double bass length instruments on a shorter stick, e.g. the Stagg, Aria, Yamaha etc.[/quote]

Just to clarify: the WAV is indeed shorter than the Stagg, but the scale length of the strings are approximately the same on both, i.e. the equivalent of a 3/4 size double bass, around 42". The Stagg is longer because the strings are for longer on the non-playing side of the bridge, so that the ends are fixed into the front of the instrument. On the WAV, the strings don't go on for much after they've gone over the bridge - they wrap round the instrument and the ends are fixed into holes in the back of the instrument, kindof like a "thru string" setup on a bass guitar, only more so :-)

Jennifer

[Mottlefeeder]

[quote name='endorka' post='435118' date='Mar 15 2009, 11:39 AM']Just to clarify: the WAV is indeed shorter than the Stagg, but the scale length of the strings are approximately the same on both, i.e. the equivalent of a 3/4 size double bass, around 42". The Stagg is longer because the strings are for longer on the non-playing side of the bridge, so that the ends are fixed into the front of the instrument. On the WAV, the strings don't go on for much after they've gone over the bridge - they wrap round the instrument and the ends are fixed into holes in the back of the instrument, kindof like a "thru string" setup on a bass guitar, only more so :-)

Jennifer[/quote]
Thank you for that - I knew what I meant, but it was a bit ambiguous.

[bass_ferret]

There is a cetus for sale. A proper bass.

[slobluesine]

pm'd

[Beedster]

Many thanks for the advice above guys. I've also spoken to a few players and it seems I'm gonna have to spend some quality time with one before I buy, particularly as I've got quite small hands and am prone to sore wrists.

I'm most definitely looking for the classic upright sound, if I wanted it to sound like a fretless bass it'd be a whole lot easier playing a fretless bass! However, as a 45 year old newbie I don't want to have to struggle too much with different fingering techniques or a scale longer than I need to get the sound I want. I also don't have a whole lot of storage space (hence my selling my Markbass 610) and I've quite a small car, so a real upright or anything of that size is certainly out.

At the moment I'm getting quite a good approximation of an upright sound from my fretless Precision strung with TI flats and a very low action (well, according to people who've heard me play I am), in fact, that I like that particular sound on my Precision so much was partly what prompted me to move in this direction.

So, it's likely to have to be the shortest, lightest EUB from which I can get a DB sound without trying too hard (probably my Precision ). I guess I'm not really getting into the spirit of the thing am I

Chris

[Beedster]

OK, I had £400 in my Paypal account so I've bought a Stagg, oh, and a Dean! Both seemed good deals and both were local, and, well you know how it is, I couldn't decide which I wanted to I ended up with both Haven't got the Stagg yet but first impressions of the Dean are that is has a lovely, and surprisingly uprighty tone. Most importantly, it's very easy to play, with most of the - albeit quite basic - lines I need for the songs were rehearsing transferring nicely. In fact, having been a cellist 25 odd years back, it felt like coming home, and I feel pretty excited about the journey ahead.
The two newbies? Well, I can't help feeling that they won't last long and something longer and perhaps more traditional will be incoming once I've become sufficiently adept to try a few out. Slowbluesine, yours is still nagging at me!
Cheers
Chris

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I had a Dean Pace 4 string before upgrading to my NS CR5M. The dean didn't have any eq controls apart from trimpots inside the control cavity, so I always used mine with a behringer ADI-21 acoustic preamp which really made it growl. If you get your hands on one of those to try witht he dean, you may like it - I did.
Cheap as chips, but sounded fantastic.

[bremen]

Chris, how did you get on with the Stagg?

Like you, I have a nice fretless and want more of an upright sound. I know you're playing more real upright than anything now, would you recommend the Stagg as a step towards Real Huge Upright Bass?

cheers, Chris