Anyone familiar with Dean Pace electric uprights?

[pamlicojack]

http://www.bill-lewington.com/Dean/basses/pacebass.htm

Got a line on a farily cheap one (in black) from a friend. I'm thinking it would be a nice portable upright when I have to travel.  Any and all opinions welcome...

[patman]

I use one...it's o-k...good for doubling...i shim the bridge up to get it to what I would term very low (jazzish) action for a bass fiddle...with careful eq'ing you can get an o-k slap sound out of it.  Fits in the Saturn real easy too.

Not sure why, but it sounds absolutely wonderful in the studio.

It's indestructible onstage...cheap...sounds o-k...easier to amplify than the real thing...uses 35 inch bass strings...I have year-old slinkies on mine, and they sound good.

The bad: tuners suck (only bass I've ever contemplated replacing tuners on)...piezo tone is only so-so...I use an outboard fishman B 2 for preamp, with a stompbox graphic EQ.  (Later models of this were made without the internal pre-amp.)   Certain frequencies have to be eliminated in order to slap, or they'll tear your head off (high mids tend to be strident).  That's why the stompbox eq.

We do lots of oldies rock and roll, and play almost every weekend. It does the job (both pizz. and slap), but if I were wealthier I would probably use something else.  It's kind of a poor man's Azola Gypsy, or Kydd Bass, I guess.

Hope this helps...

Hear it at http://cincyrockers.com

I use it on Ooh Baby Baby and You've Lost that Lovin Feelin

Patman

[leftybass]

I double on one at church, use it on the hymns. I love it but it has a lot of treble, you gotta use a preamp to tone it down.

[Aussie Mark]

Silly question from someone who doesn't play upright ....

Since it's only 35" scale length, what's the advantage of playing one of these instead of a fretless electric bass with tapewounds and mutes?

[patman]

For me:

1. Instant switch, no stopping the show to take off one bass and put on another. I use an A/B switch and play it while still wearing my Dano Longhorn.  We are a dance band...when I used to stop to switch basses, the dance floor would empty.

2.  Can raise the action fairly high...notes can bloom as on an upright...

3.  vertical alignment allows you to play notes with most of your finger rather than just the tips...gets the upright sound and feel and punch more accurately.

4.  Can get a close approximation of the Rockabilly slap thing...yes, we still play Elvis and Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison...

There is a visual show thing to the slap thing, although I don't do it very well.  There is also a rhythmic propulsion that the slap thing gives the old time rock & roll. But my intonation and overall precision really suck when slapping (need to work on this).

That being said...I have had a love/hate relationship with this particular instrument--was tuning the E-string last night, and the tuner button came off in my hand...these have to be the cheapest tuners ever made...will apply some super glue tonight, but it kind of makes me want to sell all my stuff, and buy a really good quality 5 string fretless, and simplify my life.  As you say,a fretless would probably get me most of where I need to go.  Problem is that our song list goes from Bon Jovi and Led Zeppelin to Nat king Cole and Patsy Cline...a lot of different styles.  We put a fair amount of effort in recreating these styles as accurately as we can.

[rahock]

I know there are not a lot of ABG fans around here, but the sound you can get from an  amplified ABG with a good set of flatwound or preferably tapewound strings is REAL nice .
Rick

[nofi]

ditto! 

[Highlander]

I used my fretless RD for a full set recently and just used a pick to give her "bite" for the harder songs, and you can always swing the neck more upright...

[patman]

Well... super glue seems to be working on the tuner...

And it sounded pretty darn good last night...hence the love-hate relationship.

[Rob]

I use it on Ooh Baby Baby and You've Lost that Lovin Feelin

Patman

Sounds great Pat

[patman]

thanks

[GonzoBass]

...and I dig the "iPod" mp3 player at your site Pat.
Way cool!

[patman]

Thank you...a dear friend of the band designs the site for us basically gratis...odd thing about the rockers...whenever we have needed something (such as a website, management expertise, etc)...it's just always appeared out of thin air.