pjmuck wrote:
That's the coolest looking thing ever. I have to wonder how these things project unplugged and whether or not they're louder than a typical acoustic bass.
I owned one for a while. The mids are louder than a typical acoustic bass. And it gets fairly loud when played with a pick. But it's all mids, and it's still not enough to play with other acoustic instruments. You might hear yourself, but no one else will hear you. It wasn't even enough to play along with a banjo, in my experience.
Solo, it sounds pretty great. The mids are very clear, and as you might expect, there is a nice ringing quality. It was fun to have around for writing parts on the porch or on the couch.
For me, the amplified tone was pretty disappointing--tubby and indistict as a starting point, and I found nothing satisfying with careful e.q. work. I think changing the dead bronze strings (unplugged, I liked 'em dead) to something like tapes might have helped here, but I traded it for an amp instead.
The setup on mine needed work. I had to reverse the position of the string ball ends at the tail piece for there to be enough down-pressure over the bridge. The cone needed careful adjustment to keep from rattling, but once that was all done, it never moved again. I was able to adjust the neck to perfectly straight, and I think the action could have been lowered quite a bit. But I'm not comfortable with filing the nut or wooden bridge.
