Acoustic-electric bass guitar: thumbs up or down?

[Thoughtfree]

I'll be playing a few gigs shortly on electric bass with a drummerless folk combo. Wondering if any of you own and play a round-hole acoustic-electric bass guitar of this type or similar: do you like it, does it sound more like an upright bass?

Though I like my P-bass copy, I'm thinking about buying one of these, at least partially for the optics. Thanks.

 

[Blackout Jazz]

I don't have one though I'd like to. I kind of wonder if the scale would throw me off. Yet, Killing Floor says he switches back and forth from short to norm and it doesn't bother him. If I happened across one for a good price I'd certainly buy it.

 

[brookdalebill]

Thumbs way down.
You can’t hear them acoustically, and they are prone to feedback at stage volume.
They are not “percussive”, like a good (long scale) electric bass.
They’re really only OK for bedroom level playing.
They are almost useless, IMO.

 

[AAT65]

Our bass player has one but it’s almost useless except for solo practice - acoustically so quiet that an acoustic 6-string overpowers it, tends to feed back when plugged in, doesn’t sound that great. He’s used an electric bass for acoustic gigs.

Edit: just seen that @brookdalebill posted an almost identical summary while I was typing mine! It’s not collusion, that is two independent opinions.

 

[hnryclay]

Good question, I personally dont "get" these, if you had to play an accustic gig play an upright. I remember when the accustic/electric basses were popular coinciding with MTV unplugged. Never understood why the bands, who at the time were the most popular touring acts did not play uprights, would have looked really cool. These definately do not sound like an upright bass, in my opinion. Uprights are $$$ so I get it kinda for the aesthetic.

 

[985plowboy]

I am not a bass player.
Having said that, for years I’ve played in acoustic oriented bands and I’ve seen acoustic bass guitars tried a couple times.
My experience...
Nothing sounds like an upright except an upright.
Acoustic Bass guitars are not loud at all unplugged. Definitely buy an acoustic electric version and be prepared to use an amp. It will sound like whatever the amp and electronics package is capable of.

In a loud stage situation they pick up sympathetic vibration and feed back like crazy.
Both guys I’ve played with that had them wound up reverting back to regular bass guitars.

By all means try one if you’re interested but don’t sell that P-Bass to get it.

 

[beninma]

I agree with Brookdale bill..

I've played in acoustic circles with people who had them and they mostly defeated the entire point. They have to be plugged in to be heard even with a couple acoustic guitars in the room and a singer, so at that point you're plugged in and you could just use an electric bass.

Not that a bass player wasn't ultra welcome.. it's just the acoustic look of it was just a parlor trick, it was still an electric bass in practice that just took up more space and was less comfortable.

 

[Obsessed]

I have a cousin that has gigged with an acoustic/electric bass for about a quarter century. It is a specific sound and you seem to be playing in a similar genre as my cousin, so if it works artistically, I say go for it.

 

[Toadtele]

Mine isn’t loud enough to play with an acoustic six string. I’m not sure I’ve ever even plugged it in.
But it’s a blast to play solo on the deck.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

I duo a lot with 2 different bass players and both use ( not exclusively) big-body acoustic-electric basses and both get very good, different sounds- I think due mostly to their strings
( of course they each have their own playing technique/phrasing)

John plays an Epiphone El Capitan with black flatwound strings, and he gets a big bassy 'seamless' smooth sound.

Rob plays a similar looking bass (spruce/mahogany), but uses phosphor bronze round wounds ( just like what I use on acoustics) and the friction from that wrap, on a big acoustic bass like that adds a real 'growl' to his tone when fretting/sliding around. I like it too!

Good players= good music!

But Rob's main bass in our duo is a fantastic sounding Ibanez semi-acoustic

 

[Killing Floor]

I have a Guild and also one of those very 80s Kramers Ferrington acoustic bass guitars.
They are cool for what they are.
The negatives are that they aren’t as loud as an acoustic guitar strummed heavy and they are big. If you can play around a dreadnought that’s not any big deal.
I can keep up with acoustic guitars reasonably well if I use a pick. I’m not saying it’s as loud, but close enough for a porch jam. For a gig I would plug it to an amp but that’s not a big deal because at that point the guitar and vocals would be wired anyway.

I think the theme with the negative comments is that it isn’t quite as loud as a standard sized acoustic guitar with typical bronze strings. That’s because of physics. But they all have preamps on board. And they have some very useful tones so don’t write it off.
With a heavy pick it is loud enough to be a good addition to an acoustic jam. But you can plug in if you need backup.

 

[Controller]

Though I like my P-bass copy, I'm thinking about buying one of these, at least partially for the optics. Thanks.

View attachment 887058

"Buying one for the optics." I like that, it may come in handy.

If you do get it, let us know how it works out.

 

[Boreas]

You won't hear it in an unplugged, bluegrass jam, but still a nice option for practice and quieter venues.

I have a cheap Dean with an on board preamp. Only bass I have. I don't play with others much. I use it in my "studio" plugged directly into the board. Without coloration added, it records similar to an upright bass with frets. Very warm with definite acoustic tone. Amps well too.

Probably not THE bass to own for versatility, but it was inexpensive and works well for this non-bassist.

 

[Blrfl]

Required for Violent Femmes covers. Fun to have around for other reasons, but not like an upright.

 

[mexicanyella]

In a past band, the bass player got a cheapo Rogue acoustic/electric bass as part of a gear trade, around the same time I was playing an old Silvertone archtop I’d found.

The Rogue sounded pretty meh unplugged at first, but it blended well—quietly—with that archtop, which was also too quiet to hang with dreadnoughts.

The Rogue sounded really cool plugged in. It was kind of lo-fi and woody and warm. Its own thing, but a useful sound...and it ended up being the sound he used whenever we’d play acoustically as a group. So I’d say they have their uses and make sounds unique enough to justify their existence.

 

[MatsEriksson]

Think of it really close. It's the only instrument that I know of that is a copy of an electric variant that was a copy of something acoustic in the first place. 3 copies, and a copy back to it. Now think of it twice. The electric guitar was an amplified version of the acoustic, and so was the bass. The acoustic bass didn't came in that form in the first place, like any acoustic guitar prior.. It was an upright with large bath-tub sized body to produce bass notes. Bass is a range, not an instrument.

Now, those I've tried, from Klein/Taylor to Tacoma are all what is already said in this thread. Don of neck diving, and doesn't produce anything acoustically called bass. Tops, it produces 2ndand 3rd harmonics in the baritone range very faintly and weak.

So, what do they do to buck this? Equip it with piezo, onboard mic amplification in which if you connect it, it will howl, and feed back before you can turn it up to any reasonable level. But still, they do not sound like acoustic guitars with bass strings on.

There's a reason upright basses just have to look like that what they do, otherwise they would just look like acoustic guitars with large bodies in the first place. Now the only thing you can get close to, is to buy a Mexican Guítarron, which is possible to hang on your shoulders and literally a bath tub. It may go down so you can hear low A but it's very faint and weak. You may pull it better off by using it as a percussion instrument only.

Rigel basses are some more modern variant on that Mexican thing though, but they cost an arm and leg...I've heard mixed reviews about them too.



Remember the body just have to be bigger than any current variants on EAB (electro-acoustic-basses). The Rigel AD flags for "sounding like an upright" but frankly nothing with frets does, ever.

 

[rand z]

Years ago, playing in an acoustic trio, I partnered with the other two on acoustic/electric bass... a Martin.

(Although a guitar player, I've played electric bass on and off for 45 years and consider myself to be a fair bassist.)

My experience with the a/e bass:

- It doesn't sound much like a big double bass.

- Yes, strings do effect the sound.

- It takes time to get used to the sound(s) and experimenting and eq-ing is necessary.

Once I got acclimated to it, I rather enjoyed the sonic quality of the Martin bass.

It's neither electric nor double bass... it has it's own sound.

imo.

 

[Flat6Driver]

I'll be playing a few gigs shortly on electric bass with a drummerless folk combo. Wondering if any of you own and play a round-hole acoustic-electric bass guitar of this type or similar: do you like it, does it sound more like an upright bass?

Though I like my P-bass copy, I'm thinking about buying one of these, at least partially for the optics. Thanks.

View attachment 887058

I have the Fender one. I can echo a lot of the comments I skimmed. It's not terribly loud, so you can't play it unplugged with other people. It feeds back on stage, so you need one of those rubber do-hickeys that goes in the hole. It doesn't sound like an upright bass (cause it's not) and it doesn't sound like an electric bass (cause it's not).

BUT, if you're looking for this (see photo), it'll do. It has a different sound and it's fun to play (I don't play it enough) but if you're looking to replace either upright or electric bass it's not those things....it's like a 3rd option.

 

[screefer]

I play with a coupla other old timers for local fun. Singer, a/e guitar, drum machine and me on this guitar scale Ibby...



Useless unplugged but great plugged. I made a soundhole cover out of a round piece of foam, slightly larger than the soundhole, glued onto an old CD. I dipped the CD into hot water and it cut like butter with a pair of scissors.
Sounds great through my Rumble 40. The strings tend to 'roll' but you get the feel pretty quick.

 

[beninma]

That whole MTV unplugged thing was always funny to me since they weren't actually unplugged.. They should have called it MTV Piezo.

I listened to the recordings at the time and thought they were great, but later playing totally unplugged with other people and then seeing the videos of MTV Unplugged I realized it was something else entirely. I always thought they really were playing unplugged. (I never actually had MTV back then)