Starter U Bass?

maki66

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Any thoughts on a decent starter u bass for a bass n00b?

Thanks!
 
Rondo Music's Hadean Omega Uke Basses are going to be your least expensive starting point.

Go to http://www.rondomusic.com

and at the top of the page put

uke bass

into the search box

and then where it says SORT BY, change it to FROM LOW TO HIGH and see what they have in stock now.

cheaper than other brands and 'good enough' for my home recording efforts, having played bass and guitar in various bands for 25+ yrs

I have one of the acoustic/electric models and also one of the solid-body models and they work fine.

I would replace the strings with the black Road Toad Pahoehoe strings (~$25 from most places like Strings By Mail, Amazon), as the white strings they come with tend to 'sausage' and get indentations from the frets easily.

I'm sure brother Mike (kohanmike) will also have some great info about how these hold up over time, as he has many of them and uses them weekly in his uke group and in regular performances.

Hope this helps! :)
 
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Thanks Booli, that's very helpful. As always.

BTW, I haven't heard the term Pahoehoe in a long time. It takes me right back.
basaltic lava forming smooth undulating or ropy masses.

Pinatubo_005.jpg
 
Thanks Booli. I just bought a Rondo acoustic walnut cutaway from Amazon for $185.90, about $10 less shipping cost than Rondo. It's very nice, especially for the price. The Pahoehoe strings are much smoother and will last a long time, but they're difficult to install and take a couple of months to settle in. Whatever acoustic bass you get, be sure it has an access panel on the back to make string changes much easier.

As you see in my signature, I have a bunch of solid body that I modify to look like other commercial basses. I buy them specifically to modify, none are original looking. I also get the longer scale version, 24 inch.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 8 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
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I was in Sam Ash yesterday and saw a Carlo Robelli Ubass for $99.95. Doing a google search, I can't find any more info. But, I did find that Rondo has the Violin body Ubass in stock...tempting.
 
I think I may have been the inspiration for that violin bass uke at Rondo (not really). a couple of years ago I bought one of the solid body bass ukes and had a solid violin body made, then sent photos to Kurt at Rondo. Recently I saw that they were importing that style. I actually wish I would have waited, I like the look of the Rondo.

Hofnelele decal bass 750.jpg



8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 8 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
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I'm tempted to get one, always loved the Hofners. I could have UBAS!!!:smileybounce:
 
I just received my Carlo Robelli U-Bass after over 2 months on back order from Sam Ash. It's playable out of the box and has built in 3 band EQ and digital tuner and volume control. Mine has frets ( they advertise fretless) and Aquila Bass Strings. For $99 bucks, you will never beat this deal! Ric

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Now that's a good buy, what looks like the same ones that are selling for $150-$200. Does it have an access panel on the back?


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 8 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
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No, Mike, the batteries install in an easy access compartment on the outside of the U-Bass by the 1/4" output jack. It uses two watch batteries. The on board tuner really helps getting the U-Bass tuned quickly. It rocks through my Bose S1 Pro! Ric
 
I mean a panel to allow easy replacement of the strings. The Kala U-Bass, and bass ukes Rondo sells (that look very much the same as the Robelli) have the panel.

Rondo rear access panel.png



8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 8 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
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I just received my Carlo Robelli U-Bass after over 2 months on back order from Sam Ash. It's playable out of the box and has built in 3 band EQ and digital tuner and volume control. Mine has frets ( they advertise fretless) and Aquila Bass Strings. For $99 bucks, you will never beat this deal! Ric...

That's a great find Ric, and ~2/3 the price of the Rondo Hadean models.

Thanks for sharing this info here.

Good luck and enjoy! :music:
 
I just picked up the Carlo Robelli U-Bass from Sam Ash this afternoon.

It was a total impulse buy! I was doing my usual jaunt around the store (looking for anything interesting) and saw they had a few Kala U-basses on the floor. Then, I saw the Carlo Robelli for less than a third of the price of the Kalas. I played each of the u-basses they had, and found that the Robelli had the best acoustic sound of them all. The construction was pretty much identical, although the Robelli weighed a bit less. It came equipped with the Aquila Thundergut strings.

I wasn't able to play through an amp, seeing as how the batteries had been removed from all of the instruments. They threw in a pair of the CR-2032 batteries with my purchase of the U-bass. I took it home, plugged it into my Mac, and played into Logic Pro X. It has a good, upright tone just using some of the presets. I will have to create my own to get the best tone I can.

Next step - get my bass amp set up and try again.

For $99.00, this was an unexpected treat!
 
FYI, if you sign up for Sam Ash online (make an account), they will send you a coupon for $20 off of any $100 purchase. The $99 Ubass doesn't qualify, BUT add a $2 pack of picks, and you can get the Ubass for $81.

Oh, and Hello! New to the forum, and three weeks new to ukes!
 
FYI, if you sign up for Sam Ash online (make an account), they will send you a coupon for $20 off of any $100 purchase. The $99 Ubass doesn't qualify, BUT add a $2 pack of picks, and you can get the Ubass for $81.

Oh, and Hello! New to the forum, and three weeks new to ukes!


Thanks for that!!! Just bought myself a birthday present.
 
Was wondering how these hold up over the long run. Would it make more sense to get a used Kala for reliability?

Reason I'm asking is cuz I've had my current guitar for 37 yrs & Peavey (US) Dyna-bass for 34 years. I originally bought a Cimar (cheap version of Ibanez precision copy) & the neck developed these weird bumps within 2 years. Don't need anthing to last that long but would want something that I can count on.

Not sure about longevity, nor durability since my use of the Rondo basses is for home recording of my songwriting efforts and I've yet to take mine out of the house in the 2 yrs since buying them.

I have one of the Rondo solid-body models in a traditional tobacco sunburst, and one of the acoustic-electric models with a maple veneer on it. Both work fine for my simple needs.

Since taking up ukulele 5 yrs ago, my 34" scale electric bass is difficult to play and my 4/4 size upright bass is near impossible to play now. Going to be selling both.

Eventually I'd like to get the 'Timber' uke bass from The Magic Fluke Company (MFC), and I'd call it sorted and maybe sell the Rondo models if the Timber ticks all the boxes. I wont need 3 uke basses for home recording.

I've been a big fan of MFC and have 6x of their ukes and their Cricket violin, so I am familiar with the consistent quality products they make...thus my interest in their Timber bass instead of a Kala or other similar offering.
 
I couldn’t pass on this, either. I have been wanting to mess around with a U-Bass for a while, and I’ve been longing after the new Kala Journeyman with the F-Holes, but not wanting to spend that much on one ($299). I know that isn’t a lot of an instrument, but when you basically want one to mess around on and to maybe add some tracks to some recordings—that’s a lot for an experiment.

Incidentally, that’s the same reason I tell many beginning players to buy something like a Dolphin/Shark, Aklot, or Enya...make sure you love it before you go all in.

The danger here is that my collection is pretty huge and I don’t find myself having a desire to clear house—not sure how many more ukuleles my wife will tolerate before she loses her mind. With a cigar box ukulele that I’m building, I’ll be well over 30. Admittedly, most of my ukuleles were pretty inexpensive. Only my instruments from Mim have been full value, and my most expensive is my KoAloha Opio Sapele Tenor, and that one was a B-Stock unit. I’m not sure the entire collection of all those ukuleles matches the value of my tuba. But then again, all these instruments were tax-deductible in the past (music teacher). Not sure if that is still the case with the new tax laws.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to working on a bass.I’m going to have to get used to that tuning...
 
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