Electric Upright Bass Database

Jensen Musical Instruments - bass

• Vintage: 2000
• Number of Strings: 4
  • Double bass strings compatible
• Bowable: Yes
• Thumb Reference: E♭
• Balance While Playing: (8/10)

This is a beautiful sounding and looking instrument.

Sound: It has a very natural sound, especially with the bow, though possibly lacking in highs a bit. With pizz, I can get a good growl and great sustain. I prefer the sound to that of my amplified acoustic with Underwood pickup. I have to keep the bridge a bit high because the fingerboard isn't perfectly dressed, so I'll probably get that done.

Playability: It's very easy to play; I prefer it to my acoustic. lack of a body allows me to hold it closer than an acoustic, which seems more ergonomic. In the upper registers I can play it in thumb position or as if it had a really long neck (which it does). It has a long steel endpin, an aluminum rod for an "upper bout" and an aluminum thigh brace which work great together, and are all removable.

Construction: It's one of the most minimalist around, basically a stick shape, but very elegant. Jensen offers choice of woods; mine is curly maple and Macassar ebony. The RMC preamp is outboard. You cannot remove the bridge/pickup assembly without unsoldering the connector. Overall it's beautifully built, but the fingerboard is not as smooth as I'd like.

Transportability: Not as good as I'd expected. It just barely makes it into my Subaru wagon's cargo area in a gig bag; a hard case does not fit without putting down the back seat. It does fit a narrow 88-key keyboard case, which I will use for shipping and air travel, and Jensen also sells a custom hard case. I'd prefer some kind of removable neck arrangement to reduce the length.

Ordering: In my experience, Jensen was great to work with for the most part, but occasionally he'd be impossible to reach for weeks at a time. Also his 3-month estimate ballooned into almost a year.