Kala U-Bass Exotic Mahogany Acoustic-Electric Bass Guitar - Natural Reviews

Great! Love it. Sound is beautiful, as the appearance. Also, thanks to the SweetWater folks for their helpfulness. I drove up to Ft. Wayne (about 100 mi). Wow! What a showroom! 5 stars! Completely satisfied with the experienc

Out of the box , saw a beautiful well made bass.Sounds very much like a double bass.Plugged in and turned up the E string will rattle the windows in your house or studio.Playing a lighter hand gets the best sound.The strings it comes with have a week or so break in time,so you have to tune a lot till their done stretching.when I first got it,plugged in the D string was quieter than the rest. But that went away after the saddle settled in to the bridge where the pickup is right underneath of .Over all great bass very fun to play,it has a very clean deep tone that's hard to get out of most full scale basses.Also try Kala flat wound 4FW strings,they sound bad to the bone.

Works great for recording and does sound like an upright bass. Sounds really good through an amp too. I like it when doing lighter acoustic sets.

The size of the strings surprised me! They're huge, but surprisingly easy to play. I love the tone, too. I can hardly believe the sound I get out of a bass small enough to play in the car! LOVE that I get such good sound in the acoustic mode.
Once again Sweetwater delivers! Thanks, Ed & the gang.

My 19 year old son has this thing in his hands 24/7. In the backyard, in the living room, all over the house a bass line rings out all day long. Huge surprise is how awesome this thing sounds plugged in. Highly recommend.

The fact that they can't keep these in stock should be evidence enough at how great they are. Out of the box it is set up well and easy to play. The strings need time to stretch, but hold well after a couple of sessions. At first I thought I was having volume issues, but as inhale played with it I've noticed the issue was me. This is an acoustic instrument and plays like one. Soft and mellow. Much more like an upright tone wise. Once you accept that, it's easy to use its unique size and sound to your advantage. If you really want an electric tone and bite, then I suggest a preamp or effects pedal to give it a little edge.

A very nice instrument. Well made, attractive, and plays well. Thanks.

I just love it. I was surprise that it play so strong its also plays like my big up right bass. Mary

This thing is amazing! Not only can I take it with me places and noodle in my chair without disturbing my wife to much, but, it also sounds amazing when you plug it in! i recently recorded a track with it at Electric Media Group and it has a full clean sound that is reminiscent of a stand up. I absolutely love it!

This little uBass is fantastic. It is fun to play. In my opinion, it sounds just like an upright acoustic bass. Easy to carry around and easy on my back. I love the way it plays and feels. The quality, fit and finish is excellent. And of course dealing with the guys and gals at Sweetwater is always a pleasure.

I'd heard one of these played in a crowd at a local festival, and had to add one to my menagerie. It's beautiful, extremely well engineered, and overall an XLNT modern instrument. The day after I received it, I played it in a gig (amplified) with a jazz band. The guys and gal loved its sound. I've been using it, both amped and unplugged for recording projects, and haven't touched either of my Fender basses since! Its sound is about midway between my Mariachi "Guitarron" and my big, upright "doghouse" bass. Run through my inexpensive bass effects/mixer box and into my little GK bass amp, it's as mean and lean as my Fender JB and much easier on the fingers!

Each type of Kala bass is different, but they all sound fantastic through a good bass amp, and the playability is unmatched. You do have to fret more precisely on fretted models to get pure tones, due to the shorter scale, but once you are used to it, the sound is deep and resonant. I could not ask for more in an electric bass, and I have owned Fender PBs, Gibsons and other great basses. Get one and really enjoy carrying and playing it at every opportunity. Thanks, Sweetwater, for excellent service!

This is a fantastic, powerhouse of a little bitty instrument. It blows the minds of everyone when I fire up and tear down the blues. But still mellow , soft and gentle enough for gospel, and rough enough for country.
Tones are exactly what I was looking for....Without all the heavy gear to lug.
Having a constrictive disease in my fretting hand , this UBass has allowed me to still play, and am confident it'll last me till the rest of me gives out. Love it so much I just bought another one !

Wow! I just can't believe the quality of sound of this instrument in the studio and the authentic acoustic bass quality. And it is all happening in a compact package that travels and stores well. And it's incredibly fun to play!! I highly recommend this to friends.

Awesome service awsome item.

I was playing guitar in a country/bluegrass band and our bass player was going through chemo. I'd been toying with buying one of these, and when her fingers got too sensitive to play with us, I bought it. I took it to their house and said, "just play with it a little and see what you think." Our next gig day was two one hour shows in the morning and afternoon, and a two hour at a restaurant in the evening. She played them all, and ordered a Ubass for herself. She's a big gal. And her favorite joke when asked, "Is that thing a little bass?" she says, "no it's regular size, does it make me look fat?"

This bass kicks some serious %$#@. I play upright bass in a folk/bluegrass band and I brought this thing to a gig a few weeks ago. My band mates couldn't believe their ears! I ran it through my Ampeg Porta-Flex 500 rig with an HE210 cabinet and if you didn't know any better, you would have thought it was the doghouse!. Kala quality is top notch. I love this thing so much that I just ordered a Kala Concert Uke. Sweetwater customer service is the best in the business. I ordered my U-bass on a Monday morning, and it was at my door step Tuesday afternoon! To top it off, I even received a phone call from a Sweetwater sales professional thanking me personally for my order. How often does that happen these days?
Thanks Sweetwater - you guys Rock!

It is predictable and amazing the response to this instrument. You take it out to get ready to play and see a sea of odd faces.."what the heck is that?". The you start playing and you watch the jaws drop! No one can believe the amazing sound that comes out of this little guy! I've been playing bass for fifty one years. I own more basses than I could ever use. This was the happiest purchase I've ever made. I've only had it a short time...about a half dozen gigs so I have no idea how it will hold up or what can go wrong with it. All I can say is I'm VERY HAPPY with it!

Then their mouths dropped open!

I bought my Kala Exotic Mahogany Ubass a couple of weeks ago after eyeing the cute little basses for some time, reading reviews, and watching video clips. I had tried an earlier edition at a local music store but was less than impressed due to dicey intonation and a lack of onboard pre-amp. The one I bought was on a one week long sale and was too pretty to leave alone. My wife, who occasionally suggests that I might own enough basses and guitars, was taken in by the figured wood and the cuteness factor. She left the room and I plugged it into a bass amp and she asked, "is that your new toy? How does it sound like that?"

The sound is nothing short of remarkable. I've played it with my jazz quintet at an outdoor gig, with a classic country band in a fairly huge dance hall along side pedal steel, keyboards, electric guitar, fiddle, and drums, and after the initial laughter everyone in both bands told me how great it sounds. The fiddler, who used to play with Bluegrass legend Don Reno, literally cracked up when he saw what I was playing. It is a little instrument with a huge bass sound. It is, indeed, very close to an upright or an early Pbass with old strings ala James Jamerson. Even at dance hall volume I experienced no feed back issues.

Since I already own both 4 and 5 string fretless bass guitars, and a 4 string upright, and a 6-string EUB (maybe my wife has a point?), I don't mind the frets on this bass. Also, the feel of the strings, they are not slick, would make intonation micro-corrections a challenge. Keep in mind, I have not played a fretless Ubass, your results may differ.

Would I buy this bass again? In a heart beat. Any down sides? The gig bag is just that. The zippers are OK, but not totally smooth. I'll probably get a hard shell case.

If you are interested at all in expanding your bass pallette, buy one of these cute little basses. Then let them laugh until you plug it in!

The u-bass sounds fantastic, and is fun to play. I was looking for an acoustic bass for contemporary band playing in public off-site. The U-bass is a little unconventional, but after reading the reviews and watching You-Tube videos, thought it just might work.
Going to use a 400 watt power inverter with my 15 watt amp, and Jump and Go battery power to get a little better volume from the U-bass. I did as little experimentation and the concept works.
My only problem has been the amp cord socket has to have the cord moved a little for a good connection. I think a reviewer mentioned it already.

I wish I'd bought this sooner because it has a big sound and great look. I'd say if you are tempted, you should definitely get one. A very minor issue with the loose combination strap button/output jack upon receipt but it can be easily remedied if you know what you're doing, potential trouble if you don't.

I fell in love with these on a vacation-random-music-store-sighting (my wife's favorite), and had to order one when I got home. I like that Sweetwater had the available instruments pictured, I could pick the top, and the guy on the phone was well informed. It is a beautiful little instrument, and far more convenient for the noodling that my bass playing has become. It also doesn't bother my really pregnant wife, unless I plug it into my Mesa 610 (sounds pretty cool). I knocked off a half star because I'll have to install a strap button. It is also more convenient to have in the car when you go to an old bandmate's acoustic show, and they ask, "where's your bass?" It is no NS Design CR5M or Roscoe LG 3005, but I like it a lot. If my wife weren't tone deaf, I would teach her how to play it so she could accompany my guitar.

I have had more fun with this bass than any other guitar I own! Perfect for sitting on the couch and noodling while watching TV. This is the bass I used for most of my practicing at home. It is great for travel! I have taken it as my carry-on on many occasions. It is also fun to play on stage. I save it for those more acoustic songs in our setlist. When I get it out the looks on people's faces is priceless. They don't expect it to have as much bottom end as it does! My only suggestion: my fingers sometimes get caught up on the polyurethane strings, so I often spray them down with a string lubricant, especially when playing live.

This is an outstanding instrument. My family enjoys playing music together. With three children aged 7-12, I was looking for a way to get all of the kids involved. Enter the UBass. With the compact size and urethane strings, even the smallest hands can play for hours without fatigue or sore fingers. My son(12) now plays Ubass for the youth band at church and is doing an amazing job. It is fun to play and sounds great. Only room I see for improvement is that we get a lot of noise from the body and strings because the pickup is very sensitive. Maybe compression will take care of that. Either way, we love it and I love watching my kids make music as a family.

I ordered this in about March, and had to wait until about June to get it. The E and A strings have a cool "thunky" sound, the D string was OK, but the G string was real thin. I took it to a friend of mine who knows about guitars, and we took it apart, and found there was a burr on a spacer under the piezo bridge pickup, and when we smoothed that off, it had pretty good sound all the way across the strings. But the intonation was about a quarter or an eighth of a tone off at the 12th fret. So there seem to be some consistency issues in the quality of the build, but it is not bad for the price.
However, I let Sweetwater know, and they offered to send a replacement if I wasn't fully satisfied, when the next shipment came in (about 3 months later). So I took them up on their offer. The new U-bass has pretty much perfect intonation up to the 12th fret (and you wouldn't really want to play above that). And in the meantime, Kala appears to have upgrade the electronics from something called "Shadow", to Fishman. The new Fishman piezo pickup and electronics has a fuller, warmer sound, has a stronger (louder) output level that matches closer to an electric bass output, and runs off of a 9 V battery instead of a button battery. The only negative is that the E string is a little more boomy than the other three, but I can compensate for that reasonably well with my playing.
I recommend this instrument for fun playing. You won't fool anyone into thinking its a real upright bass, but it's about 75% of the way there (if you keep the original funky rubber strings), for a lot lower price and a lot easier to cart around. And it wasn't too hard for me to switch over from a full-scale electric bass to the (really) short scale U-Bass. Just takes a little getting used to.

I had a recommendation from a pro-player on this bass, but to change the strings out to Thundergut strings. Was an awesome double bass sound, but then for some reason, the intonation started straying. The G string was extremely sharp on notes played up the fretboard, while the D and A string were flat. Try to play walking bass with THAT issue! I contacted Sweetwater, even sent videos of what was happening and their solution was to send me steel wound strings. I told them I bought this ubass for the double bass sound, and was he sure this would keep that sound? Well, it was a total waste of time to change the strings out. Just as I had thought, it sounded like an electric bass guitar, not a stand up bass. I put the original strings back on (with major effort, because they had shrunk being in the case!) So far, intonation issue is not recurring, but then who knows what will happen? The Thundergut strings were fine when I put them one, but intonation changed over time.

I'm loving this new bass! Fun and small enough to take anywhere.

I really like this. I was afraid it would be a "toy". No, this is a nice instrument. Takes a day or so to get used to then you can't put it down. So easy to practice while sitting in chair watching tv. But, you can gig with this. Especially anything that needs a round upright bass sound. Works through all my bass amps. No feedback. I'm really glad I bought it. As always Jason at Sweetwater makes it easy.

I take long road trips, so I wanted something I could play around with on the road. Ever try pulling out a full size bass guitar in the back seat of a car? Doesn't really work. This U-Bass has amazing low tones for its size. Without amplification you can hear it, but it really shines when hooked up to a Fender Rumble amp or through some VOX headphone amp.

I would love to give this U-Bass five stars, but I can't. It's made well, but there are things you need to know. The sound is awesome, but you have to make sure each string is properly seated in the saddle to provide uniform volume. The audio jack kept coming loose, solved that problem with a little nail polish on the threads. The built-in tuner works, but there are more accurate external tuners that yield better tuning results.

This U-Bass has me divided. It has a stand-up bass tone, but it's a lovely tone. The strings are easy on the hands. Part of me says this is a nice toy, but limited as an instrument. Kind of great for folk type music. You can't slap it, well, you can, but that's not its strength. Then I play the bass line for Stand By Me and it sounds better than my Fender bass.

One thing I know. Kala is on to something here. It's fun, it sounds good, and you can easily transport it. Which means you'll be practicing and playing a lot more. There's something to be said for that.

Would I buy it again? Yes, in a heartbeat. Something tells me I'm going to try one of the solid body basses Kala has come out with too. By the way, it does look beautiful in the mahogany.

Performs as advertised. Full acoustic sound, and amazing when amplified. Strings are easy to play. Beautiful little instrument. One negative comment- hard to keep in tune.

I received the U-Bass a few weeks ago, and have been playing it nightly ever since. First the positives: very pretty (much more so than in the picture), VERY solidly built, light weight, nice neck, really fun and easy to play--kind of hard to put it down, and sound-wise, when plugged in, it will rattle the foundation. This thing has some serious fat, low-end. You could really use it with any genre of music. The electronics seem to be pretty high-quality. Now the negatives: it's not really noticeable except up close, but you can see where some glue got lightly smeared in a couple of spots around the bridge--other than that, the finish work is very nice, there is very little volume when played acoustically, so you will definitely need it amplified when jamming with other musicians, it takes quite a bit of time to get the tuning stable, especially with the D and G strings, and the intonation is definitely a little off. Some of that could be attributable to the string gauges that come on it. Replacing the stock strings with different gauges that are closer/farther apart in diameter might mitigate/resolve the problem. My approach to tuning is to get the E and A strings tuned (with a tuner,) and then tune the D and G by ear, rather than rely on the tuner, because on mine, they are both slightly flat in relation to the E and A strings. Overall, pretty satisfied, and would like to give it more stars, but the intonation issue is definitely something to consider.

Just purchased this bass. I was looking for a portable instrument that would make a full acoustic upright bass sound. We use the bass in a country/bluegrass group. You have to plug it in in order to be heard up against the other acoustic instruments as unplugged the sound is too soft to cut through. We like the instrument so far mainly due to the sound it makes. There are a couple things that I can't help notice that kept my overall rating lower. The instrument does not seem like it is worth the amount you pay for it. Don't get me wrong, I like the bass but there is some sloppy workmanship to it. The glue inside the instrument was applied unevenly. You can see where the glue was overapplied on the bracing. Also, the frets are a little jagged to the touch on the sides of the neck. They were not filed down to make them smooth. It's a little thing but when you go up and down the neck you notice it. I think that Kala has a nifty instrument here that has few competitors but a more reasonable price would be a hundred dollars less than everyone is charging. Again, I recognize the novelty of the instrument and the sound that it produces. The case that it comes with is also nice. Once last thing- with the fretted version you have to be really careful about where you place your fingers in relation to the frets. If you don't make sure they are placed perfectly behind the fret, if not it will buzz a little bit.

Aaron from Sweetwater was superb in looking after my order. He kept me informed at all stages and I was most pleased. I do have 2 problems however with the instrument! The case for the Ubass zipper has broken and also I will need to have the instrument set up a bit better as i do have fret buzz at the 1st fret becasuse the 2nd fret hasnt been filed down enough.

Great sounding instrument when pugged in to an amp. However, the E string is a third the volume of the other strings. I thought I was the only one with this issue but found out this is very common with the U-bass. I tried the fixes Kala recommended with no resolve. I've waited several weeks for Sweetwater to resolve the issue but still waiting to see if it can be fixed. So, if you enjoy playing a three stringed bass, buy it. But if you expect the instrument to sound even across all strings, forget it.

Intonation is awful on mine, the nut looks like it was sloppily glued on and the output jack is very picky on which cables it will work with. I could over the glue and the jack, but the intonation is a problem. some frets and nearly a full quarter step off. That said, it could of been amazing. The tone plugged in is astonishing for its size and almost has an upright sound to it.