Bass ukulele, looking for ideas

Hey, I am interested in picking one up. I see that Kala has a wide variety at various prices, and that kmise now has one priced at under $200.

This will get played by both me and my 9 year old, ideally it will be good enough not to turn either of us off of playing but inexpensive enough that it’s ok if it gets dropped.

There's also the Rondo Hadean line:
https://www.rondomusic.com/bassguitars4.html

I don't have any direct experience but kohanmike has recommended them before. Here's quite a few threads on them:
https://www.google.com/search?q=rondo+hadean+site:forum.ukuleleunderground.com

What is your goal? Do you want rubber strings or metal? Neither is inherently better, but they sound and feel drastically different. Do you specifically need ukulele scale or are longer short scales acceptable? Do you have an amp or have budgeted one, or is this strictly for yourselves?

For cheap and durable I'd look at a Rondo Hadean solid-body ubass. Cheap, solid, and pretty darn good. If you don't mind a slightly longer scale length check out the Ibanez Mikro Bass. It's likely available near you and Guitar Center will readily discount them.

Solid-bodies have no acoustic sound and need to be plugged in. Acoustic basses have some unplugged in sound, but not enough to share.

I have a Rondo Hadean solid-body rubber stringed ubass which I plug into a Blackstar Fly 3 mini bass amp for portability. Total cost was about $200-$250 (but I bought used). I have no regrets here, but I'm GASsing for a Kala Journeyman.

I had a few issues which seem common on rubber stringed ubasses: the pickup didn't seat well so one of the strings was dead until I futzed with it, and the strings stretch rather than slide well in the nut so tuning is tricky. I've heard of the pickup problem on more expensive ubasses as well, so recommend buying from a source that'll help out or allow returns if you have an issue and aren't prepared to fix it yourself.

I avoid Kmise and don't have any experience with their ubass. Also beware that there's a Very Cheap Kala Rumble showing up in searches on what looks like a scam site. If it's way cheaper than reputable sites there's probably a reason

I too recommend the Rondomusic.com Hadean basses, they're out of the solid body, but good acoustic choices for $139 to $179. I have the walnut fretted cutaway. I also agree with Arcy and the various issues that come along with bass ukes.

I also have the Kala Journeyman I bought online, discounted as a blem, $269, but when it arrived, I realized it had the Kala round wound metal nylon core strings, which I don't like at all, and the A string rattled worse than the others. I changed to Thunderguts, but the A string still rattled. I took it Sam Ash, an authorized Kala dealer and repair, but he couldn't fix it, and found the one they had in stock did the same think. I sent it to Kala and they were able to fix it under warranty.

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This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

What type of bass uke is Willie Nelson playing here?

Jim Yates said:

What type of bass uke is Willie Nelson playing here?

Click to expand...

A Kala solid body, something like this:
https://kalabrand.com/collections/4...kithi-kumalo-signature?variant=12778157277207
But probably not that exact model as I don't see the pick guard on willie's

Jim Yates said:

What type of bass uke is Willie Nelson playing here?

Click to expand...

I like it. Good on ya Willie.

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This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

Thanks for the advice all, I had a bad experience with a used hadean that had wonky electronics but I’ll try an acoustic/electric and let you know how it goes!

They're all pretty similar, as I imagine they come from the same factory.
My one recommendation is check if it has a truss rod. While it's not 100% essential, I have noticed some of the cheaper ones lack a truss rod.

Sometimes it's a non-issue, but I did have a Mahalo Ubass once (no truss rod) and the forward bow was a bit too much for me. Truss rod woulda helped.