Gold Tone M-BassFL 23-Inch Scale Fretless Acoustic-Electric MicroBass with Gig Bag

I bought this on faith and good reviews, and I'm happy to say this bass is exactly what I was hoping for: compact, light, easy to play, and just loud enough in acoustic mode that I can pick it up a play right away without the need to plug it in. Love the polymer strings and the fretless board (for me, the strings and shorter scale did take some getting used to at first, but it didn't take too long to adjust and I continue to be amazed at how fun and easy it is to play...and a bonus: NO STRING BUZZ!). Sounds great plugged or unplugged -- it really is surprising just how full and rich it sounds considering its size. Gold Tone hit a home run with this one.

I really love this thing. The only reason not 5 stars is when I first got it, it had a defective pre-amp. I contacted Gold Tone thru the dealer I got the bass from, told them the problem, and they sent me a complete set of new electronics. Now I'll describe the bass. 23" scale, lined(maple strips)? rosewood fingerboard, bookmatched mahogany top and I believe solid mahogany back, neck, and sides. The rubber strings give the bass real low end thump and are super easy to play when shot with a little Fingerease string lube to slick them up. I lowered the action with the truss rod, but that was a mistake. Keep it high/stock and the strings will vibrate much cleaner on the fretless neck. After having it a couple of days I realized I could treat the fingerboard with lemon or almond oil to preserve it. I wound up wiping the whole bass down and the wood grain really popped out and the bass looked much nicer. I followed with Johnson's Paste Wax and it gave the bass a slight luster.....very pretty. I wish they maybe had a more deluxe model with maybe maple or koa wood bodies and a ebony fingerboard, but I got what they made. I was all set to buy the Kala mini bass, but I really like this better. Kala is a shorter(18")scale and fretless isn't an option until you're spending more money. Google Gold Tone Micro Bass/Kala bass. A guy on Bassspace describes his choosing the Gold Tone over the Kala in excellent detail. The bass weighs a little over two pounds and comes with an excellent gig bag. Tuners are very good, just get used to turning them a LOT when tuning the rubber strings. Also, lift the string out of the nut slot several time when tuning to equalize the tension between the strings on both sides of the nut. The tuner engages when you plug it in and the bass is in silent mode. Push the tuner button off and the bass comes on for your amp. The pre-amp has bass/treble sliders and a volume control. It is powered with two small batteries that are about the size of a nickel each. To me, the treble control isn't used too much as it adds just clicky treble and finger noise. I keep it low and kick up the bass for a huge fundamental tone that stays downstairs, leaving other instruments and vocals to be heard clearly. I took it to a jam last weekend and might have sold two of them right then as players were amazed at the tone and punch this little "toy" was putting out. I have a little Hartke Kickback 112 and I had a very portable, kickass sounding setup. My usual main bass is a '82 Wal fretless. It is a fantastic sounding bass but doesn't have a genuine upright bass tone. This guy does. I've played some of the regular long scale acoustic basses with the bronze strings and was never impressed with any of them. Glad I stumbled on this. Gives me another completely usable tone in a tiny package. This isn't a flash in the pan instrument that will gather dust in a few months. It's so portable you can just run out the door and hit a neighborhood jam and not even have to open the trunk of your car. Want the doghouse bass sound in a mousehouse sized package. Here it is.

I love this little bass, so you may wonder why I only gave it 4 stars. Mostly because of the strings. The "thundergut" strings that came with it were just unbearable, for me. I finally bought some "silverback" strings, and what a difference! I no longer feel like I am trying to get a decent sound while my fingers are stuck to gooey strings that feel like bubblegum. (I have read reviews by other folks who like the thunderguts, so apparently one's body chemistry matters... mine clearly does not like those strings!). Other negatives... the strings were difficult to change, since you have to reach into the sound hole and grope around for the holes in the bridge where the new strings go through. I have pretty large hands, so this was a challenge! An access hatch would have been nice. But I gather the strings last a long long time, so hopefully this will not be a big problem. Also, the case is less than ideal. The short zipper does not allow you to open the case all the way, and although there are d-rings for two backpack straps, the case comes with only one. Since I would like to be able to carry this, backpack style, on my bike, this is a big negative. The positive... a really really big positive! This is a real bass, with nice bass-y sound, in a tiny, lightweight package. Combine it with a Blackstar Fly3 battery-powered amp (the one with an extra speaker) plus your cable, tuner, and some spare batteries for the amp, and you can still go to jam sessions or music camps carrying no more than 10 pounds. Amazing! Plus, it is plenty loud enough to practice at home without any amp at all. Great little instrument.

This Gold Tone Micro Bass is amazing. It's so easy to play, you will hardly even noticed that it's fretless. You don't have to stretch your fingers out so unnaturally like a full sized fretless. It even has a great tone unplugged and a bigger sound than Kala Ubasses. The two strap pegs are a very nice addition. The slightly longer scale helps improve tone while still making it very easy to play. The tuning pegs are nice, the strings get tucked in like a regular bass guitar. The only drawback I can think of is the bone nut, which on the Kala instruments are self lubricating. So on this bass, when you tune the strings you have to lift the string off the nut, which really isn't that much of a problem, and because of the Thundergut strings, you don't need to tune it as often. I love it, and I highly recommend it.

I bought this on a whim, as having to get heavy instruments and amps out generally puts me off bass practice - this is easy to leave out and pick up. I thought the rubber strings might be weird, but are surprisingly ok, and as a classical guitarist I like them as they don't damage my nails. The sound through the amp is good - it blends in fine in the music group at church, although I use my regular bass guitar out for the more driving 'rocky' numbers. As it is physically easier to play, I find myself "nooding around" a bit more than usual. I deliberately got the smaller model for convenience, although now I have it I think I might have been better off with the bigger one - as it is fretless, the smaller distance between notes does mean you need to think about intonation, whereas the slightly bigger one would have been more like my classical in terms of distance between the notes.

amazing sound. wasn't sure what to expect being a bit bigger than standard ubass,s. extremely pleased with this.

Didn't like it.. The pickup sound system was horrible... This one wouldn't stay in tune either..