My new mini-bass arrived - It's a winner!

(note: that little red thing is my new ocarina, which also arrived. the colours match!)


(note: comparison with Oscar Schmidt Baritone ukulele)





I ordered this mini-bass last week, and it just arrived today.
And I absolutely love it to bits.

On the website I bought it from, it is titled a "GMB 1/2 Size bass".
I ordered it knowing that it is the no-name OEM of the famous Samick Corsair Bass.. but what actually arrived was the branded Samick Corsair Bass. The real thing!! OH what a surprise.

It plays beautifully. A bouncy, deep bass tone - and a lot of FUN!
The size is only a tiny bit longer than the Baritone ukulele, so it would be comfortable for a ukulele player crossing to bass (like me).
And the folks who sell it do a good setup - comfortable action and great intonation.

And the price? About half of the UBASS, and in my opinion, sounds a lot better. I like the secure feeling of the steel strings than the floppy, rubbery silicon strings. With the real bass strings and the split pickup, it is more versatile. I'm prepared to use it as my primary bass for church worship (my Epiphone Viola Bass can have a holiday).

Do I recommend it? Absolutely!
Great folk to buy from:
http://www.smallguitars.com/results.php?CategoryID=12#


Out of all the short-scaled, uke-like basses so far, I think this is the best value, and arguably the best quality!



ps: I'm pondering whether to keep the stock round wound strings on. They're nice, and they feel OK to use.. but I have a spare set of short-scale flatwounds in my drawer. For you bass experts, would round wounds or flatwounds be more appropriate for this kind of bass?

Great mini-bass! I saw this video about the Corsair Mini bass by Samick: a little great bass!

Have had my eye on these for a while, trying to decide of learning bass would help or hurt my uke playing. Aren't they about 3" longer than the Kala?. Even have my amp picked out. Thanks for sharing this. Oh to decide......"not to decide is to decide."

I've got one of those Samick basses. I love mine. It's fab.

I've still got the ancient stock strings on mine though, as I think even short-scale bass strings will be too floppy. I'm no expert, so if anyone knows better, please tell me!

Congratulations Sam, on acquiring a great bass

Cool! I see a new bass in my future! Thanks for the vid Fabio. I don't suppose they make this in a five-string version...

One of the things that first got me into uke was when I bought a UBASS because I was having problems with my wrist and needed a shorter scale while it healed. As soon as I could though I got back on my "real" bass because A) it has five strings and B) no matter what I tried I couldn't get any sustain out of the UBASS. I could see myself switching permanently to this little gem, though I'd probably miss that low-B rumble some times.

John

Yeah, my husband gave up on the Ubass too. It was the strings. He loved the plugged in sound, but the strings... I'll have to show, I mean hide that link from him!

PhilUSAFRet said:

Have had my eye on these for a while, trying to decide of learning bass would help or hurt my uke playing. Aren't they about 3" longer than the Kala?. Even have my amp picked out. Thanks for sharing this. Oh to decide......"not to decide is to decide."

Click to expand...

Definitely will not hurt your uke playing.
In fact, uke playing will probably help it. I feel like I have had a head start on learning bass due to the uke background.
Plus, same 4 string ingenuity.

The size is just right for me. You wouldn't want a bass to be too small either

AnnaUK said:

I've got one of those Samick basses. I love mine. It's fab.

I've still got the ancient stock strings on mine though, as I think even short-scale bass strings will be too floppy. I'm no expert, so if anyone knows better, please tell me!

Congratulations Sam, on acquiring a great bass

Click to expand...

Thanks!

The stock strings are actually kinda nice. Tension is loose enough to be comfortable and let me do some bends and stuff.
But I might go home tonight and put on the new Rotobass short-scale flatwounds on to see what happens. I like the deep bassy ooomph of flat wounds!

Well, kissing, you inspired me to buy a short-scale electric bass. Couldn't find the GBM in stock anywhere, but ended up ordering an Ibanez. I think it's a bit larger than the GBM (the Ibanez has a 28.6" scale, not sure about the GBM because even the GreggBennet site didn't list specs for it but from the picture you posted next to the baritone uke I'm estimating it looks to be about 24").

Anyway, it should certainly be an improvement over my long scale five string, at least as far as comfort goes. I'm considering ordering a short-scale five-string set of strings and tuning it to B, then I can have my rumble and short scale, too).

My Ibanez Mikro arrived - posted a review here in the bass section of the UU forums.

John