This is the jet black model of Kala’s solid body bass ukulele line. These are really well put together short scale basses (the scale is 23.5cm). And with a total length of 33.25 inches they’re just a little bigger than a baritone ukulele, so would fit nicely with a ukulele group - and not look out of place as a bass guitar might.

Opening the box for the first time, I was really pleased that these are going to be well made, reliable bits of kit. Yes, I will check and adjust every one but we’re talking tweaks here, not major work as could be said for some competitors at similar prices (something that made me happy - not just as there’s not as much work to do, but it gives me confidence in the instrument in general).

The jet black, fretted Kala UBASS solid body is fitted with Kala Roundwound strings, nice smooth-turning geared tuners and a split coil pickup. The latter is nicely responsive, with a rich, rolling bass tone, but an articulate nature too - meaning the sound is nicely defined, but still distinctly bassy! The nut width is 40mm and Kala supply these solid body UBASS models with a good quality gig bag too.

As ever with a maple neck like this, it’s lovely and tactile, and in the case of this series, it’s a satin neck (as opposed to the body, which is finished in gloss). The laurel fingerboard is neat and tidy and the body is shaped and contoured for comfort.

Kala have always been strong when it comes to basses and this one, the unattractively named ubass-sb-bk-fs, deserves to be popular as it’s great quality for the price.

If you click additional info below, there’s a video demo. I’ve used Kala’s own video (as it’s a good representation and unpretentious). Well, OK, I’ve also used Kala’s video as my own bass skills aren’t very good! The bass is good though!