Buy Kala U-Bass Solid Mahogany UkuleleKala U-Bass Solid Mahogany Ukulele Product Description:
- Solid Mahogany Top, Back & Sides
- Passive Pick-Up System, 4 Individual Piezo Elements
- Rosewood Fingerboard and Bridge with Compensated Saddles
- Custom Hipshot Tuners
- Includes case
Product Description
The Kala U-Bass is truly a ground breaking short scale (20 ) bass that produces the same pitches as a standard bass instrument and is tuned in traditional bass tuning, EADG. The Kala U-Bass offers high-end style and features at a very affordable price. The Kala U-Bass produces phenomenal bass overtones and low end. The organic sounding Kala U-Bass not only sounds great and plays extremely well, but has the versatility of standard size basses for sound quality and playability. The Kala U-Bass is strung with proprietary polyurethane strings that incorporate a great bass feel, with balanced tension; it s a true pleasure to play. The Kala U-Bass can produce tones closer to the sound of an upright bass than any other instrument. Extremely portable (meets carry-on standards), the Kala U-Bass can go anywhere. It has custom Hipshot tuners and a passive Shadow pickup system that features 4 individual piezo elements and compensated saddles. The Kala U-Bass has a solid mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard and bridge. Includes Kala UC-B heavy duty case with backpack straps.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Kala U-Bass
By B. Snell
Very Nice! I used to own a full 4/4 upright and miss it a lot (but not trying to move it around or store it, due to it's huge bulky size), so when I first saw the Kala U-Bass I was immediately interested. I wanted to have that deep, rich tone of an acoustic bass but not the bulk. I thought "there's no way this little thing is going to be anything like my 4/4 upright!", and I was right. The U-Bass by itself lacks the luxurious resonance that only the bulk of an upright can produce and without an amplifier, it really can't produce enough tone to be useful for anything other than practicing by yourself.HOWEVER, when plugged into a small amplifier, it really comes to life and more closely emulates the rich tones of a "real bass". The stock (black - Pahohoe?) strings that come with it are OK (at best), but as soon as I installed a higher quality set of (Collibri - white) strings, the tonal quality improved significantly. The stock strings also have a tendency to lose tune fairly quickly, requiring you to retune almost every time you pick up the U-Bass. Not so with the Collibri's. They sound better, hold their tune better, and in my opinion, look better.Back to the U-Bass. The solid mahogony finish is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! There's a ring of extra-hard tortise shell around the top edge of the u-bass to help protect the instument that also adds to the overall appearance of the instrument. The small piezzo (?) pick-up installed at the bottom (inside) of the u-bass is sufficient to produce tone, but I still bought a Fishmann pre-amp to "clean up" the tone a bit. This REALLY helped reduce the noise from sliding up and down the strings, as well as some of the other ambient noises that are produced (involuntarily) while playing the instrument.In my opinion the u-bass is barely useable without three additional items: 1)a better set of strings that what it comes with, 2) a small amplifier to plug it into (so you can hear yourself when playing with other instruments - I bought a small Pignose "Hog30 Bass amp" from Amazon - see my review elsewhere for that), and 3) a pre-amp of some type for a cleaner overall sound.If I had to add one more item, it would be a small "thumb rest" on the body of the bass to facilitate easier plucking of the strings. For the time being, I use the base of the neck for this purpose but fully intend to install a small piece of mahogany a little lower on the body to function as a thumb rest.The U-Bass comes with a handy and well made black nylon carrying bag that holds my u-bass snugly and securely during transport, with lots of pockets for cables, books, my pre-amp and whatever other misc. juunk I might need. Being no larger than a standard uke, I can easily transport my u-bass as "carry-on luggage" when traveling, which is a HUGE relief! Shoulder straps make it all that much easier to carry.All in all, I am very happy with my Kala U-Bass, now that I have the three requisite components (that didn't come with it.)
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