Guild B240E acoustic bass seemed like the perfect choice for me. It's very lightweight. It plays great, sound is warm and clear. Then I plugged into my amp and was very disappointed. The volume of each string was very unbalanced. If G volume is a 10, then E is 8.5, D is 6 and A is maybe 3. Per Jake's advice, I ran through a limiter and I was able to get an ok sound but still disappointed. I don't know if the fishman pickup is wrong for this bass or the strings are dead.
I ordered the Alvarez AB60CE to compare. It's much heavier than the Guild. The Alvarez also plays great and sounds good. The Guild has a warmer sound when played acoustically but the Alvarez is very pleasant as well. The Alvarez plugged into my amp sounds amazing. The volume balance across the strings were very consistent. The E was a bit louder than the others. The LR Baggs pickup is much nicer with more controls available. My limiter evens up the volume on E string nicely.
Bottom line, I sent the Guild back and kept the Alvarez.
Guild rates 5 acoustically and 3 plugged into amp for average of 4 stars.
Alvarez rates 4.5 acoustically and 5 plugged into amp for average of 5 stars.

Good tone across the board, but sings especially in its mid-range. 30-inch scale balances out its jumbo body, and makes this bass easy to play all along the neck. Even chords are easy in-hand. Very satisfied this this bass!

I've had this Guild B-240E Bass for nearly a month now and I have barely touched my other Basses, every time I'm by this thing, I have to pick it up and play it. It's really fun to play and I love that acoustic resonance you get from that big body...it's kind of addictive...I've always enjoyed acoustic guitars, there's just something about that sound, but I really play Bass, not Guitar, so this Acoustic Bass gives me something I've wanted but never had. I own 8 OTHER Basses, they are all very nice and all of them except for a Kala U-Bass cost CONSIDERABLY more than this one. I really love all my instruments but I am surprised at just how much I love this one.

I've tried to learn bass before, but didn't have the follow-through to transition to new skills. I need the short-scale to help with limited finger-stretch capability, and wanted an acoustic to provide the 'feel' I get with an acoustic guitar. I was comparing this with a low-end Fender acoustic, but for what I want (emulate a stand-up bass), my awesome rep Dan van Amerongen steered me to this beauty.
I love the sound of this, even moreso since Dan pointed me at the La Bella 760F-MUS Deep Talkin' Bass Stainless Steel Flatwound Scale Bass Guitar Strings" which are now on the little beastie.
I've been with Sweetwater since before the dawn of time, and with Dan for almost 25 years... he is a prime example of the value provided by Sweetwater's sales reps, who seem to know everything about everything!

I just got this bass a few days ago...by the way, the whole experience of ordering and receiving it from Sweetwater was excellent. It arrived quickly, was packed extremely well and was even in tune when I unboxed it. Nice job.

As for the instrument itself, I love it. It's really nicely made, very clean inside and out and it's simple yet classy looking. The neck feels great with smooth fretwork and it sounds terrific both acoustically and amplified. I am very happy with this guitar.

I've been performing and recording with Guild acoustic/electric basses since my first one purchased back in 1994. These basses are well designed and very comfortable to play. What separates these instruments from most acoustic/electric basses is there sound. They have a rich brilliant sound that also has the much needed depth a bassist requires. Over the years I've performed in small to medium sized venues as well as in the recording studio where these basses shine. However I've mostly use these basses while I'm in song writing mode where I do not necessarily need to be amplified and can focus on articulating new sounds and nuances. I highly recommend the Guild acoustic/electric basses for any aspiring bassist who is in need of that acoustic tone that can cleanly be amplified or just go unplugged enjoying the creations of ones sound!

I purchased this bass as an alternate to my upright bass when playing in my acoustic duo. It plays and looks nicely and sounds great for a punchier attack that the upright.

Great bass. Great sound. Well made. Just what I was looking for.

I love my Guild Jumbo Junior Bass. It's been an amazingly useful little partner. When I bought it as a couch bass during a bout of back trouble, I never imagined that it would see so much stage use. The tone was amazing with the stock strings, but it's even better with La Bella CB40-BE's.

I checked out the B-240E with the intention of having a full-sized version of the JJB with better upper-fret access. Plugged in, the raw tone plucking the open strings was very promising, and the string-to-string balance was excellent.

Unfortunately, the sample I tried had dead spots at various points along the fingerboard- either shorter overall sustain compared to other notes, or the fundamental dies long before the upper harmonics, which I find even more disappointing and distracting. Still a good bass for burpy, staccato playing, but no good for slow, introspective material where you need half and whole notes to hang in for the duration.

I wish I lived closer to a large stocking dealer like Sweetwater, and could go through a whole stack of them looking for a good one.

An acoustic bass guitar is a compromise between size and tone. While a standup bass provides weight to the bass tone, an acoustic bass guitar offers easy portability in return for a less powerful tone and volume. Still, the guitar version adds some fullness to the sound of a small acoustic group, much better than you'd get by plucking the bottom four strings of an acoustic guitar!

When I was researching acoustic bass guitars, my main requirements were a reasonably deep tone with good volume.Sweetwater's wonderful tech support guided me to this Guild. I was not disappointed! It sounds as good as you could hope for from this format, is easy to play, and looks magnificent. The workmanship is impeccable.

It arrived securely triple-packed with recyclable materials. The included manual stresses the importance of guitar maintenance including humidity protection. I ordered a D'Addario humidity pack to go along with the bass. Also included were two picks and a truss-rod wrench.

The intonation was off a bit. The bridge is immobile, so I added some thin dowel pieces next to the bridge to improve the intonation of the top two strings. That worked great.

I jammed unplugged with some other players. The Guild filled in the bottom with a pleasing blend. This bass also has a built-in Fishman active pickup with convenient tone and volume controls. When plugged into a small bass amp, it sounded very clean and much like the unamplified timbre, but deeper and louder.

You've got a winner here, Guild!

My boys and I play mostly Bluegrass Gospel in our family "band".
For a while, we've been thinking that we should get bass instead of two guitars and a mandolin.
So we began researching our options. Ideally, we wanted an upright bass. But they tend to be quite expensive. They're also bulky for transportation to and from church and various other places we play.

But it had to be accoustic. We were really worried that the smaller body acoustics wouldn't be loud enough to compete with the other instruments. But we decided to take a chance, as other reviews indicated that Guild acoustic basses tend to have plenty of volume even unplugged. I've only had it for 3 family practice sessions, but we love it already. It has plenty of volume and blends very well with my sons on guitar and mandolin. Now if I could just learn to play it better. But that is on me, not the instrument.

It came from Sweetwater with good action. If I do my part, it has no buzz. It seems to stay in tune pretty well. The only real negative I can find, is the gig bag (purchased seperately from Sweetwater). It's nice enough, but I'd prefer a made-to-fit hard shell case for better protection.

All in all, we're very pleased and can't wait to record with it for our YouTube channel. (Klink Family Bluegrass).

An acoustic bass guitar is a compromise between size and tone. While a standup bass provides weight to the bass tone, an acoustic bass guitar offers easy portability in return for a less powerful tone and volume. Still, the guitar version adds some fullness to the sound of a small acoustic group or duo, much better than you'd get by plucking the bottom four strings of an acoustic guitar!

When I was researching acoustic bass guitars, my main requirements were a reasonably deep tone with good volume. Sweetwater's wonderful tech support guided me to this Guild. I was not disappointed! It sounds as good as you could hope for from this format, is easy to play, and looks magnificent.

It arrived securely triple-packed with recyclable materials. The included manual stresses the importance of guitar maintenance including humidity protection. I ordered a D'Addario humidity pack to go along with the bass. Also included were two picks and a truss-rod wrench.

I jammed unplugged with some other players. The Guild filled in the bottom with a pleasing blend. This bass also has a built-in Fishman active pickup with convenient tone and volume controls. When plugged into a small bass amp, it sounded very clean and much like the unamplified timbre, but deeper and louder.

You've got a winner here, Guild!

3/4 scale bass, great tone and playability. Bought it for recording phone demos and campfire jams. Can't wait to get it out in the "wild"

I bought this because my son is beginning to play, and I wanted a second bass. I was surprised at the sound and ease of play. I would absolutely recommend.

This is a follow up to my earlier review after playing the instrument for around 6 months.
I took off the GHS Light Precision Flatwound strings and put the stock D'Adarrio prosper bronze 45-100's back on .
They stay in tune much better than any of the flat wounds did, it does sound more like a big guitar , but is the solution for me.
The Bass also sounds better if I use a Tech21 Para Driver pedal before the Ampeg input , seems like a better impedance match at the input of the amp.
Also stopped using the amp Aux input and went right into the amp , works better.

The bridge from the manufacturer is at least 1/8th inch too high on my instrument, I removed that much it it plays much better now .

Just got mine a few days ago. Love the feel and how light weight it is. Has a very "Slap-able" tone both unplugged and through an amp. Seems to be extremely well built and looks great. I like how the body really isn't much bigger than what you'd find on a standard acoustic guitar. Got a gig coming up in about a week and can't wait to play with it!

I have been playing this instrument for 6 weeks now and really enjoy it . It has a solid top.
For the price point there is a lot of positive things about it, and it does have the Guild name brand history behind it .
The neck is comfortable and the fit and finish good with no fret issues . Electronics are very good and not overkill like other AEB guitars.
The strap button is well placed on the neck and the volume and tone pots on the inside of the soundhole work very well .
You will have to engage a -15 or -20 db reduction on your amp or there will be feedback .
For me the Bass works best plugged into my Ampeg Combo amps AUX input instead of the instrument input. I use the tone pot to make adjustments needed.
I added a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch piece of foam at the bridge .
The stock 45-100 D'Addario phosphor Bronze strings are good and have some volume unplugged, but are squeaky.
I Tried D'addario Chromes flats , but not a good match , same with LaBella light flats .
The best is GHS Precision Lights Flats . I don't think you want to go more tension on this instrument .
The D string around the 10-12th frets is pretty dead sounding .
The pin bridge is the first one of that type for me and I found that you have to push the strings in the soundhhole and up through the bridge from below when re-stringing it .
Did I find this in the manual ?
No , there isn't one included and no allen wrench for neck adjustment either .
They were out of stock on hard cases but the Guild Bag is really well made so I got that .
Online you can register your instrument at Guild and download the manual but there is only mention of humidity issues.
Kody and Jeff were very helpful in my purchase .