Hot Wire Double Bass 4-String

Review in GUITARIST MAGAZINE, Winter 2002 by John Currie

Ever since the birth of the electric bass, companies and luthiers have been trying to build a bass guitar that can sound just like a double bass. Most double bass purists would argue the toss, until you have to cart one on public transport. It´s then that more compact models seem like a good idea. Apart from the standard 4-string set-up and pitch and tuning similarities, the two don´t actually seem to have much in common physically. The electric bass is played fairly horizontally (guitar-style, seated or standing) typically with an 86,4 cm scale length, and is usually solid bodied with metal strings and magnetic pickups that need external amplification. The double bass is played upright and requires a rather different technique, it has a106 cm scale length, and relies on its huge hollow body to be heard unless a pickup is fitted. Clearly, one instrument capable of faithfully reproducing both sounds could be a real Godsend.
Ampeg made a moderately successful attempt in 1966 with the AUB-1 bass (Ampeg Unfretted Bass1) – a scroll headed solidbody with f-holes and a special pickup designed to be used with nylon strings! But with the emergence of the enormously influential Jaco Pastorius in the early to mid seventies, most players wanted their fretless bass to have that more "electric" sound, rather than a more acoustic flavour, and, arguably, the two caps became a little polarised. In the past few years many major manufacturers have been building basses with piezo pickups mounted on, or built into the bridge, and while this may have a beneficial effect on the character or overall clarity of the sound, it is not a serious attempt to reproduce the classic double bass tone.

John Currie checking out the HWDB4 in Frankfurt, 2002

Now, however, the German based Hot Wire bass guitar company has unveiled the confusingly named Double Bass. Several years in development, at first glance this Jazz-style fretless bass looks relatively standard. It has a three-piece alder body of familiar proportions coated in a turqoise-tinted clear satin laquer, and a one-piece, subtly grained, slightly bird´s eye maple four-bolt neck with chrome neck plate and egde-lined ebony fingerboard. The neck/body joint is pleasingly snug all round, while the top end of the fingerboard overhangs the neck by a little to allow access to one extra fret position at the 21st – although this is quite restricted by the standard Jazz body shape lower cutaway.
The chrome fittings are all good quality items: Schaller tuners and straplocks and a Badass II bridge with individual saddles allowing for separate height and intonation adjustment. This bass also boasts an edge-mounted Neutrik locking jack socket to guard against accidental unplugging, and a rear mounted flip-top battery compartment to house the single 9V PP3.

Removing the chrome control cavity cover reveals a well-shielded compartment and the four pots for magnetic volume, pan and tone and piezo volume which feel very smooth and even in operation. For this price one might expect the cavity to be in the rear of the body with a flush cover to do away with the front-mounted control plate, but as it is the Hot Wire retains the traditional jazz bass style, albeit with no scratchplate.
The fitted strings are black nylon-coated flatwound, obviously chosen to best achieve the desired tonal qualities, and look to us remarkably like Rotosound Tru-Bass, though this is not specified.
Aside from its other features, the bass posesses probably one of the nicest jazz bassshape necks we have come across. The dimensions seem nigh on perfect for everyone and the profile of the neck, combined with the fingerbaord radius and silky smooth satin finish, make it a joy to play. For someone only accustomed to a low action and roundwound strings (quite possible on this bass of course, but it would defeat the object somewhat) the feel of these nylon flatwounds may come as a bit of a shock, even though they immediately evoke a double bass vibe.

There are any number of "super Jazzes" on the market, (this company has a range of these instruments too), but this model stands out by having a hollow chamber inside the body. Within this cavitiy is mounted a block of spruce with a piezo pickup system mounted on it. A large proportion of the development time for this bass was spent determining the ideal positioning of this system, whereas it was decided from the start to fit the Hot Wire custom wound magnetic pickups in the same place as on the 1963 fender Jazz to help recreate the classic fender Jazz-like tone, if required.
Sounds: Once plugged in, the combination of the nylon-coated strings and the magnetic pickups on their own produce a fat, punchy and clear tone, from the attacking mid of the bridge unit to the rounder front pickup and the typically slightly scooped centre pan position. (We are told that each of these pickups has 14 pole pieces so can always sense any string perfectly on 4- or 5-string basses.) Even with the tone backed right off, each note is still clearly defined, and the output and tone from all strings at every neck position is remarkably even.

However, the fun really starts when the piezo system is brought into play. On its own, the piezo system is predictably quieter than a magnetic pickup and perhaps a little top-end heavy. But from within the hollow chamber the sound is already very usable, and with a little external EQ modification an eerily effective double bass quality is produced. Okay, there can be no perfect substitute for a couple of decent mics on a genuine double bass, or a good pickup system on the real thing, but for a bass guitarist with no double bass background, this could be the answer.
After a little experimentation, the best setting becomes clear. Fatten up the low end and reduce a little of the piezo´s high end, turn the magnetic volume on full, pan to the fingerboard pickup only, turn the tone fully anticlockwise (treble off) then add about eight or nine tenths of the piezo level control. This results in a very usable and convincing double bass simulation which certainly has the desired effect when played appropriately in a mix of instruments live or in the studio.

With the piezo system in use, however, the nature of this hollow chamber design means that any vibration, knock or rub on the body is transmitted very audibly, in the form of low or mid-frequency thumps – over zealous playing or inaccurate fretting technique is carried across as a high mid-frequency "clack". These problems are not insurmountable. Feedback at high levels of amplification/close proximity to the amplifier could also be an issue, but the double bass sound is unlikely to be required at very high volumes, so again this should not become a real problem. And it´s a shame there´s no piezo tone control to tame that high end as well – could the piezo control be a stacked pot for volume and tone?

Verdict
We were very impressed by this new attempt to solve an old puzzle, particularly by the superb neck and the excellent sounds, from not only the magnetic pickups but especially the "double bass" imitation when blending in the piezo. At this price it will only appeal to the committed player, but if the average fretless bass guitar just isn´t enough for you, then the added tonal character of the Hot Wire Double Bass might well prove to be what you´re after.

Guitarist Rating: 4.5 *

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