The Kala uBass!

One of the single best things we got to see this year at Summer NAMM came out of the Kala booth, where they were showing off the prototypes for the brand spankin’ new uBass.

The uBass is a 4-string full range bass ukelele built on a baritone ukelele body. It boasts a 20″ scale, 16 frets (with the neck meeting the body at the 12th fret), fretted or fretless versions, and a set of truly innovative polyurethane strings (more on those in a bit). This is a ready to go travel bass, and it’s sure to rock the market. Big time.

First off, if you decide you want to pick this puppy up, you need to understand something. The uBass is like NOTHING you have ever played before. Once you get past the idea that it doesn’t feel like your Fender Jazz, Gibson Thunderbird, or Fodera Monarch, then you’ll really start to have fun with it. Before going any further, you need to know that this bass is something. It’s something very, very special. But there are a lot of things it is not.

Realistically, the strings are what make a whole lot of the uniqueness of the instrument. Upon first touch they feel a little slippery. I mean, what were you expecting? They’re polyurethane. Have you ever noticed how when you (or any other bassist) first touch a bass, you play the first couple of notes on the G string? Well, when you do that with this bass, that means the last thing you’ll touch is the E string. What you’re going to find out about it is, it’s big. If you wanted to compare it, gauge-wise, with a usual string, I’d probably place it about at a .160. The thing is thick. However, if you really live being a bass player’s bass player, the thicker and richer a string sounds, the better. That’s totally true of this bass. They also have a good bit of flexibility to them, so you’re not going to play your favorite Stanley Clarke licks on them, at least not right off the bat.

The small frets are very helpful to the uBass. With thick strings, you’re not going to get stuck in a valley between two frets trying to shift between notes.

The bridge is a nice, sturdy piece of wood. Interestingly enough, there is a removable plate in the back of the body that comes off to reveal the back of the bridge, where you can remove the bridge and take the strings out.

Plugged in, this bass has a thick, rich, warm sound that fills the bottom end of the sonic spectrum with no trouble whatsoever. Luckily, it has a good serving of punch that stops your inclination to turn down the low end of your EQ. Kala has boasted that the uBass “turns the upright bass on its side”, implying that it sounds much like an upright bass. While the roundness of the uBass’ tone may match that of its 4x counterpart, it definitely has a wealth more sustain (well, maybe not a wealth, but at least a small savings account), and a lot more owed to the vibration of the string than to the girth of the body.

The final thing that is absolutely essential to mention here is the custom fitted case that the uBass comes with. Most “non-traditional” instruments on the market leave the consumer in the lurch by not providing an accommodating case, let alone working with case companies to provide suitable alternatives. This fitted case is nice and sturdy, perfectly fit for the body of the uBass. This is a magnificent plus. Bravo!

I’ll say here what I told the folks from Kala at Summer NAMM. This thing is going to see its day. It may not be the next Alembic, but someone, somewhere, is going to reach for this bass on a song, and when that song reaches the radio waves, it will be a signature sound, and have its place in the bass pantheon. Quote me on that. Get back to me when it goes #1 on the charts.