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I played a little string bass in high school and I'm thinking of picking it up again. Do any of you double on electric upright? Any recommendations for or against electric? Any recommendations for an electric brand/model?
jlb

If you wish to explore the electric upright, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Clevenger.

http://www.clevinger.com/

I have played on a few different brands of upright electrics, and the Clevenger is the most like the upright to me with the strongest tone and ease of adjustment. The big drawback...they are not as inexpensive as other models.

As for electric basses...there is such a huge world to choose from. I would recommend finding a store with lots of them and "play around" to form your own opinions. Try (and yes, this is extremely difficult) not to buy the first one you fall in love with!

Uhmm, Have played the double bass viol. What's the difference between the amplified bass guitar and the electric bass upright?

sailn2ba wrote:Uhmm, Have played the double bass viol. What's the difference between the amplified bass guitar and the electric bass upright?

Check the link I posted to the Clevenger site. You can see clearly for yourself.

If a tuba player on a limited budget wants to be able to accept jobs that call for doubling on bass (no arco), what one instrument should (s)he purchase? Is it possible to be adequately equipped with "only" an electric bass or "only" an acoustic upright bass or "only" an electric upright?

What is the minimum dollar amount that should be budgeted for a new or used decent sounding bass that doesn't need to be retuned every two minutes and won't fall apart at the seams?

Steve Marcus wrote:If a tuba player on a limited budget wants to be able to accept jobs that call for doubling on bass (no arco), what one instrument should (s)he purchase? Is it possible to be adequately equipped with "only" an electric bass or "only" an acoustic upright bass or "only" an electric upright?

What is the minimum dollar amount that should be budgeted for a new or used decent sounding bass that doesn't need to be retuned every two minutes and won't fall apart at the seams?

Given your conditions, a decent electric bass would undoubtedly be the best "do-it-all" choice. One important aspect to consider is that it's very difficult to pull off funk/rock tunes on any sort of upright electric, but the electric bass guitar does a decent job of covering everything else from big band jazz to more "classical" tunes.

Budget will depend a bit on where you are located, but $500 is a nice round figure for a good quality instrument and an adequate combo-style amp (one unit in one box, not a "brain" and an amp).

I double on both upright and electric Bass. I do not have any real technique, but manage to make some money using my "tuba training" as a substitute.

I bought a nice little Gallien-Krüger Bass combo that I use for both Tuba, upright and electric. It is nice and portable. Only tradeoff is that the electric sound suffers a bit. But for just playing dinner and dance it's fine. As far as the instruments go, I bought a nice 3/4 plywood upright bass that wasn't very expensive and can take a beating (if you make a ding in a tuba you can have it straightened out, but making a ding in an upright bass is an other story ). And as my electric bass I settled on a fender Jazz bass. These things are solid workhorses and won't let you down. Enjoy!!!

I oduble on tuba and basses:

There are some good comments here, especially about how there are some good mid-priced electric basses on the market. I have never liked acousitc bass guitars because of their sound.

The correct amplifier and proper settings can make a great difference on how an electric upright sounds. Most players of the EU play with too much bass in their tone. When that happens, you loose the growl and become muddy. After trying a number of small (100 watt range) amplifiers, I settled on the Ampeg BA 115 combo. I like the switchable tone control along with trbble, mid and bass control.

As far as recommendations for an EUB, make sure that you are getting one that uses a neck size that is closer to a real upright. Some EUBs use a 35 inch scale (same size as a long bass guitar). My theory is that a good part of making an EUB sound like an upright is that the string should be working the same way as the regular UB.

I found a Fender Squier Jazz bass guitar with a gig bag, chord and mini practice amp like new on flea bay for $200. The sound of the guitar is not great but I'm assured that we can EQ up a better sound if or when we ever record it.
John Reno likes the "hook" a tuba bass in a trop-rock band has on a crowd and asks me to hold off on bass guitar until I get too old to get my bref.
toots

tubatooter1940 wrote:I found a Fender Squier Jazz bass guitar with a gig bag, chord and mini practice amp like new on flea bay for $200. The sound of the guitar is not great but I'm assured that we can EQ up a better sound if or when we ever record it.
John Reno likes the "hook" a tuba bass in a trop-rock band has on a crowd and asks me to hold off on bass guitar until I get too old to get my bref.
toots

many, if not every, music equipment store that carries electric implements will have some sort of bass starter kit in the price ranged of $175 to $300. sometimes from multiple manufacturers....These are entry level/student instruments and while playable, the decerning tubist might get frustrated pretty soon. There are much higher quaility used instruments in that same price range widely available (try craigslist as well as fleabay).