Thomann 111BR 3/4 Double Bass Reviews

Incredible for its price

I bought this as my first double bass and it hasn't disappointed me in any way. Really good strings (Artino) for jazz and nice setup too (i wanted it to be a little lower but it works as it is). The bridge was really easy to put and the delivery (Greece) was on time.

Nice bass

It was my first and last double bass i have ever had so i can’t compare it to anything else but i like it! Looks nice and sounds nice.

good - perfect for my purposes

What I expected and a little more.

Also well delivered (two days earlier!)

Still ok after all these years

I have had this bass for a number of years now. It has taken a number of hits by cats (bought a better stand), kids (even the stand couldn't take it) and roadies. Sad to say it looks like a demolition derby doublebass right now, but still going strong. (key broke off, repaired it. Neck broke, repaired it) Combined with the shadow SH950 pickup and Hartke A70 amp a very pleasant set for small gigs. Probably not the best in sound quality or sustain, but great value for money.

A very good starting choice.

Good and robustly constructed instrument. It needs good strings to deliver the proper sound, either under the bow or in pizzicato playing and a new tailpiece. With the proper set up it can be transformed to a work horse for many years to come. Excellent as a back up bass for seasoned players, especially under difficult weather conditions. Very few problems in feedback when amplified. Recommended!

Happy with it so far.

Bought mine about 8 or 10 years ago so it may have changed. Mine has a rosewood FB. Still going strong.

WE BOUGHT THIS DOUBLE BASS FOR ADUCATIONAL REASONS. WE ARE VERY PLEASED BY ITS TOTAL QUALITY AND THE SOUND

you get alot of sound for the money. Buy a max bas and some god strings and your good to go

Great value for beginners and experienced musicians

As a long-time electric bass player, this was my first foray into Double Bass. Based on positive reviews for this bass I took the plunge and was pleasantly surprised at how good this is for the price.

I bought this to be a learning and gigging instrument and it is performing superbly on both counts. I have developed my technique and upgraded certain parts of the hardware as I've become more confident and able. I've played my share of shoddy beginner instruments and this certainly isn't one of those

The instrument arrived well packaged on a pallet with all its accessories. A word on them... the gig bag is very useful. It offers almost no protection but makes transporting this beast much easier and practical... many gigs, festivals and train rides later and I don't even have a scratch. The cleaning kit is fine. The bow is useless junk... the synthetic hair wouldn't take any rosin whatsoever. I bought a cheap wooden bow with real horse hair and that is much better.

I could find nothing wrong with the build quality. There are a few parts where the finish and carving is a little rough around the edges, but nothing that affects the playing experience. The bridge was well set up and easy to install, and the string as perfectly fine to begin with. The tuning machines and endpin were a little stiff, but nothing a bit of WD40 couldn't fix.

Sound wise the tone out of the box is good and surprisingly loud. My bandmates were enamoured straight away. It was full and deep, and the bowed sound growls. A seasoned classical bassist might be able to point out many flaws in it, but for a jobbing musician it is perfectly serviceable.

Since buying this bass I have upgraded it with an adjustable bridge, a set of Innovation Honeys and a Gage Realist pickup, which have all taken it to the next level and it is now my main gigging instrument. I'm getting no end of compliments from sound engineers and audience members and I couldn't be happier with it! If you're looking to take up upright bass then I don't think you could find a better place to start.

perfect for start

very pretty design and surface finish

sound only as good as the price

really good for jazz

"Little" giant!

Plays good, sounds good at an affordable price ... looks good - when not played, the double bass furnishes our living room

Good value first time double bass!

Like many others on here, I bought this as my first double bass. I?ve been playing electric bass for many years and always fancied one of these.

I live in the Canary Islands Spain, so it was never going to be cheap to get it posted here so it was a bit of a gamble to say the least.

When it finally arrived (postage took a lot longer than I?d thought, 1 month. That was mainly due to Spanish couriers - no surprise there then) the bass was packed very well and set on a pallet.

Once unpacked the only thing I had to do was get a local luthier to set it up properly, the action was super high and virtually unplayable. You may also want to change the strings as they are pretty high tension.

Overall though, a super looking bass for the money and its also sounds great once set up!

For playing live I also thoroughly recommend the David Gage The Realist Bass Copperhead pickup.

Great bass for the money and for beginners

I ordered and received my bass back in September, and love it just as much now as did when I received it.

When the bass arrived (stood up on a pallet), it was very well packed and very secure. After getting past all the packaging I inspected the bass and it was perfect. The bridge is shipped loose in the box, and (very helpfully) had "E" and "G" on the respective sides. On the body of the bass there was two small marks to show where the bridge sits. Bridge in place, it was time to tune up and have some fun. Tuning up was nice and simple and compared to a previous bass, tuning wasn't that scary. There was no creaking and popping, just a very smooth tune up.

As mentioned, the screw to hold the endpin isn't the greatest, but mine seems to have settled in a small groove made in the endpin and works fine now.

The sound quality of the instrument straight out of the box is good, the first thing I did however, was change the strings. The stock strings are high tension and not too great. With the intention of playing jazz and rockabilly styles, I've opted for low tension Rotosound strings (half steel, half nylon) and with these strings on the bass just sings.

More recently I've started using the bow more and more often and whilst the bow is pretty good, I'm not too keen with a German style frog (perhaps having an option to pick could help?), so I've just ordered myself a French style (pernambuco) bow.

Before ordering my bass I looked online for advise and lots of people suggest avoiding new basses, especially if they're under £1000. With this it doesn't matter, for the money it's a great bass and I love mine.

Great for the money!

I ordered this as a back-up for my gigging bass. I didn't want to spend too much on something I hopefully won't really need to use. It's a good, solid bass - and more than good enough for the price.

rating of the upright bass.

The sound is ok but got a problem with bridge due to the tension of the string .

Cheap but not very good

Though the bass is cheap and aimed for beginners its quality does intonation hard for a beginner, especially if you're playing with a bow. The fingerboard is not even close to have a consistent curvature in order to intonate or not to have have buzzing tones here and there playing pizzicato. Sound is uneven and (most noticeable playing pizzicato). It is not worth spending money fixing the curvature on this bass.

If your goal is to make some sounds and you can accept that intonation will be tough here and there then it's ok. But if you want an instrument making it easier to learn and also grow by as you progress, then you better off saving your money for a better instrument.

great double bass

hi all,

the bass is fantastic ,quality & sound..

i had it set up for rockabilly ( slap bass ) and its just a dream to play.

delivered to the uk in 5 working days and very well packed on a pallet .

very happy with this shop good coms , thank you so much .

wol...........

Cheap beginners double bass

I bought this bass to give myself a try on a double bass. I had never played double bass before (electric bass for 40 years). Well - i didn't learn to use it, but here's some observations i have made. The woodwork is pretty good - painting not so impressive. Sound is more than ok for my ears - some pro might say something else. The only really bad thing were the tuners. They were not installed correctly (or the woodwork was bad) and tuners didn't stay right in place and some power was needed to get the bass tuned. Playability was ok. Money/quality ratio is good.

fantastic value

Was extremely pleased with the build quality and sound of the bass, however the bag that accompanies the bass is not to the same standard. Overall would thoroughly recommend. Great for someone looking to try a new instrument without breaking the bank.

A lovely bit of work

When I first opened the box I was amazed at the quality of the instrument, the wood was beautiful, the craftsmanship was beautiful and the finish was perfect. It took me a while to set up properly since I was a novice at the double bass, but it wasn't too big of a chore, the body had a little mark on it to show where the bridge went (I don't know if this is on all of them, like I said the double bass is new to me).

My only complaint is that the pin got bent very easily even though I was extremely careful not to lift the bass up on it, and it's extremely difficult to pull out the pin by hand now.

The main thing is the bass still plays beautifully and looks even more beautiful. A table or chair made with this quality and attention to detail would be more expensive than this. It a really beautiful instrument