If you have played bass ukuleles before (but not a full size acoustic bass), the thing that will hit you straight away with this Ohana OBU-22 is the sustain. Both the long ringing notes and the acoustic volume are a big big improvement on bass ukes like the UBASS and other similar instruments. However, they are more compact than this and have a different tone, more like an upright bass - so this is not a simple 'the OBU-22 is better than a UBASS' situation at all. But, it certainly offers enough acoustic volume to be heard alongside other instruments in small uke groups, and the sustain is really impressive.
This is the fretted version of this Ohana bass, with metal roundwound bass strings. This short scale bass is much more compact that a normal acoustic bass guitar, with a total body length of 36 inches. It has a solid spruce top and laminate mahogany back and sides, with a very nice gloss finish. The tone is really good and given a nice zing from the metal strings, as well as a really nice depth - part of which must come from the fantastic arched back the OBU-22 has. We've tried to photograph it as best as we can, but there is no subsitute for stroking the back of this Ohana really!
Fitted to to the Ohana OBU-22 is a Fishman Presys active bass pickup and tuner. This is bang on, it performs really well. The slight downside is the control panel, which is quite large and not that pretty! That said, it is large because it is packed with features. There are the usual volume, bass, middle and treble settings, but also notch, brilliance and phaser to muck around with!
Ohana Ukulele's OBU-22 bass plays very nicely, with good intonation along its 16.5" scale. It offers a nice, rich tone in the background, but good, zingy trebles too - offering a nice range of sounds you can achieve with different playing styles. It comes with a well padded gig bags with a big 'Ohana Bass Ukuleles' embroidered on the side. On the whole, very nice indeed, and something a bit different, but still very much compatible with uke groups, due to its compact size.
