Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton
No acoustic bass guitar that you can buy for $200 is going to be worth getting, frankly.
Acoustic bass guitars (ABG's) are one of those things that SEEM like they must be a great idea, but which don't really work all that well in real life. You can get a nice tone from some of them, but if you're trying to play with more than one other person in a quiet room, you won't really be heard unless you plug the ABG into an amp.
At which point the silliness of the whole thing becomes manifest. You can spend much less money and get a much better instrument by buying a used electric bass. They're a lot more portable, as well - I owned a Tacoma Thunderchief ABG for a while, and it was like carrying around a doghouse intended for a oversized pit bull everywhere I went. Plus it required an amp to be heard.
Tacoma Thunderchief
However, if you want to get an acoustic tone and still be portable, you can get one of these cool little Kala bass ukes:
Kala bass uke
These sell for about twice your budget, but if you're patient and faithfully watch your local Craigslist, you can probably snag a used one.
And they actually sound good. There's a band called "Walk Off The Earth" that posts a lot of music videos on YouTube, and they use one of these on a fairly regular basis.
You'll still need to have a little amp for it to be audible, but these Kala bass ukes are surprisingly viable instruments. It's a pretty good option for you to consider.
Hope this helps.
Wade Hampton Miller |
I'd second the Kala UBass suggestion from Wade with two caveats. I have the solid mahogany, fretless model. First, as Wade pointed out, you will need an amplifier. No way you will play this with anyone else without one.
My second caveat is that due to the string material and the very low tension, there is very little sustain. Is that a problem for what you want to play? That's only something that you can answer, you'd need to try it out playing the type of music you have in mind. Yes, there are pedals you could use to try to increase the sustain, but that's something you need to consider.
All that said, I absolutely love the UBass, it's nice to have and play in some music and sounds great. But it wouldn't be my primary bass, it's an option for me based off the song.
It's also a lot of fun!