Re: B-50 - FIRSTHAND!!!
Hi, Grot & Fronobulax -- Check back and you might see an older post here in the bass category with me singing the praises of the B-50 with little success of getting anything going. The B-50 is a strange animal for the world, I'm afraid. I first became aware of them in 1977, but familiar with them in 1978 when Greg Tringas of Tringas Strings in Pensacola bought 2 of them on a whim thinking they would attract people tot he store and then sell relatively quickly. They never did either.
It seems even acoustic players were all too willing to have their bassist play an electric - the same disaster that mars a lot of the "unplugged" efforts. Those that were hardcore acoustic bands - like mine - went with uprights. My brother Bob and I, both upright-trained by our father, tried a parade of acoustic-electric and were very intrigued by the only acoustic bass at the time - the Ernie Ball Earthwood. That effort didn't last long, and even we were skeptical of the Guild when it came out. Can a big acoustic guitar have the low end needed?
Well, we ultimately bought both of Tringas' basses and have owned a number of them since. In fact, Charmer (1973-1989) and Smithfield Fair (1989 - present) is known for the B-50. Go to You Tube and put in Smithfield Fair to hear a couple of low resolution samples from live performances. OR, go to
http://www.myspace.com/smithfieldfair and hear studio tracks of the B-50 - those are fretless (1978 & 1976), but I have a 1979 fretted (sunburst, too - a beauty).
We are a true acoustic band - purists of a sort. We travel without sound and mic. the guitars and basses with microphones only - though internally mounted SM-17s with flush-mount XLR connectors in the endblock. No signal processing. In the studio, we use an AKG414 laying inside the body and add a littel compression. Sitting at the kitchen table for rehearsal, the bass holds its own strongly against my Guild acoustics (6 or 12), Jan's M-20 or accordion, and Frang's bodhrans, djembes and other percussion - not to mention 4 voices. It has the projection and resonance one used to turn to an upright for.
When Guild changed to the B-30, they made some slight changes that, to me, effected the sound in a negative way. That's not to say the B-30 still wasn't head and shoulders above the crowd, but the B-50 just had more 'umph!' and the B-30 was obviously contoured more toward amplification. I missed the whole Nirvana thing - they were gone before I even ever heard of them - but the clip you posted is definitely a B-30 with the standard (Fishman, I think) electronics - which I always felt were substandard for my tastes, but then I'm not keen on pick-ups even today (to much 'doink').
That's about it. They sell occasionally on E-bay for around $1,200 and are always a great buy if you are a bassist who wants to truly go acoustic. Hope this helps. All history and opinion, but I'm afraid that's all I've got. All the best to you both....dbs