Acoustic Basses

[Chris P.]

An ART Tube MP is quite a cheap (I guess under 100 dollars) tube preamp/DI which is great for homerecording. There is another brand, but I forgot.

[Freuds_Cat]

Avalon?

[Chris P.]

Avalon sure is another brand, but I meant another cheap brand

[patman]

Used the old Guild at a rehearsal last night...actually did pretty well.

No feedback, even without a feedback buster, but I couldn't remove my hands from the strings when not playing...or they would start vibrating, when things got loud.

[Pilgrim]

The ArtTube MP is a preamp made by ART Pro Audio.... website http://www.artproaudio.com .



Here's a link to the original ART Tube MP: http://www.artproaudio.com/products.asp?type=79&cat=1&id=1 , marketed as an external mike preamp.  But it has both mic and line inputs and serves as a buffer, accepting the input from the piezo and outputting an impedence that the amps likes much better.  There are a ton of them around, and I bought mine very cheap on Ebay.

They have many later models, but this one is sufficient to serve as an impedence buffer with some potential additional benefits.

They're not bad to have around, because they could also serve as a direct box that could output to a PA mixer if your amp went down.

[lowend1]

I have two ABGs and I like them both very much, for different reasons. My Kramer Ferrington has a better acoustic tone than most - not spectacular, but very good. It also has a really comfy, fast neck. I keep it strung with old roundwounds since the tension of most flats would pull the top off this thing.
The other bass is an Ovation Celebrity CC074, and it has a nicer plugged-in tone. The neck is clubbier than the Kramer, and I have a hard case for it (missing the one for the Kramer in case anybody has...).

[Freuds_Cat]

I've got a copuple of these if you are after a cheap line pre.




Just Behringers version of the ART I guess. They are quiet and work fine although I have changed out the tubes. Second hand you can picke them up for about $50

Like Al says, they are handy to have lying around.

[Freuds_Cat]

[rahock]

Very Nice piece Interesting choice of pick up on the ABG
Rick

[nofi]

"interesting" pick up indeed.  how to ruin a  4000 dollar taylor bass.

[rahock]

"interesting" pick up indeed.  how to ruin a  4000 dollar taylor bass.

I've got to admit it sounded really good, but why would you want to do that
I know a lot of people have a problem getting a stage sound out of an ABG but there are some ways around it other than turning your ABG into a  a Fender Precision.
Rick

[mc2NY]

I've got three acoustic basses...one of the original Lakeland made Warwick Aliens from 1993. It was actually the first one in the USA and meant for TM Stevens, after I wrote a magazine review on it. But I liked it so much I told Warwick, "send me a bill, I'm keeping it." 32-inch medium scale.

The other 4-string is a Parker PAB40 that I recently picked up. They didn't make many of them. I was surprised that when it arrived that the body is around 20 percent smaller than my other two acoustic basses but it's still about as loud. I've been playing it a lot this week as my "go to" bass, while sitting in my living room with the TV on, just to practice...probably because it is smaller.

The 5-string is an early Dillion limited edition from around 10 years ago. A fairly inexpensive bass but I've got it playing great and the B is fairly loud and not floppy.

If I plug them in I run them through an SWR Strawberry Blonde acoustic amp. You can use a Sabine FBX solo, auto feedback eliminator if you are loud enough to have problems.

[nofi]

nice basses. not to much abg action around here, though. now if it were a thunderbird acoustic...

[rahock]

Mc2ny,
That is a mighty nice looking collection of ABGs. I've never come across any of those in my travels
Rick

[ilan]

Wow. Beautiful basses. Especially the Parker. And the Dillion fiver. You gave me serious ABGAS.