Upright Bass sound for church music?

['59]

I'm looking to buy an Ibanez STH505f, which is an electric bass that does a very good job at emulating an upright bass in sound, plus the frets are marked, so it's a good venture into the realm of fretless bass. My question, is an upright bass sound really all that good for contemporary Christian music? Basically pounding eighth notes. They do occasionally give me solos and for a couple songs I am allowed more leeway with what I can do without being overbearing.

 

[beaubrummels]

I haven't heard anyone ask for upright bass sounds for modern contemporary Christian music. But the thing that would make it more authentic upright sounding is a mute near the bridge.

 

[JOLLY]

You could always put flatwounds on it as well.

 

[Chistopher]

If it's a fretless bass than it will already have flat wounds installed on it. Looking at a picture I'm guessing it has a piezo system?

 

[Explorer84]

Maybe try a set of Thomastik-Infeld JF344 strings.

 

[Clint 55]

It's up to you if you want to use a fretless bass in a particular group. Noone really cares. The sound is different from a fretted bass, but it doesn't sound quite like an upright. It's just up to you if you want to utilize that particular sound and playability, and have to worry about your intonation.

 

[Supernautilus]

I’ve always liked the quasi-upright sounds I can get out of my Epiphone Viola. It’s not fretless, but it’s got a nice woody hollow sound that puts it in the ballpark in my opinion.

 

[Chistopher]

Also I feel a big part of the upright sound is how you play as well. I can't really find the words to describe it well, but an upright bass is played with more "bounce" than the traditional bass rumble

 

[Seashore]

I used to read glowing reviews of the Kala U-Bass from people who were looking for upright tone out of a smaller and more manageable instrument. Not too spendy either.

 

[Mincer]

I know that a U-Bass (uke bass) does an excellent job of sounding like an upright.

 

['59]

If it's a fretless bass than it will already have flat wounds installed on it. Looking at a picture I'm guessing it has a piezo system?

Yes it does. The flatwounds on it are metal and don't quite have the sound that traditional nonmetal upright strings have.

Do traditional strings work with a piezo system?