Anyone played a Kala U-bass or similar?

Jeremiah

The idea of a bass ukulele sounds pretty silly, especially when they are so small, but from some of the youtube videos I've seen, they can get a really good, woody sound, almost like a double bass.

I'm guessing the unplugged volume is pretty weak (which is a good thing from my perspective as I have an easily-annoyed landlady.)

Anyone got any actual experience of using one, and what do you think of them?

mart

Not tried one, but I saw Dave Pegg playing one with Fairport earlier this year, and the sound was fantastic.

Kristo

I've had a Ubass and Shortbass. Both were pretty cool but I didn't like the rubber strings and bad intonation.

I ended up getting an Alvarez MSB travel bass which is 27" but can handle normal strings. I've recently picked up a resonator bass which has been my go to, so the Alvarez is up for sale should it be of interest.

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/267174-alvarez-msb-travel-electro-acoustic-bass/

ICBM

I just tried one of the solid-body 5-string ones.

The rubber strings felt funny, the intonation was off, tuning was very hit and miss - the machineheads turn a lot before the string changes pitch, then it does so quite rapidly, often overshooting the target pitch - and the A string was much weaker than the others amplified. Not sure if that was because the bridge was noticeably sagging in the middle despite the very low string tension or not.

Just no. And absolutely not at nearly £600.

paisleysoul

Played one a few months ago, think it was a Kala. Found the sound to be a bit fun and quite playable, but as the other have said the rubber strings are quite off putting to start and I wasn't a fan of the feeling.