Do you have any idea why Kala Ubasses are so expensive? I’ve never seen a new one less than $400. They don’t seem to be (to my untrained eye) much more than a beefed up baritone uke.
The body may look the same, but the strings are radically different. The Ubass plays the same notes as a bass guitar, or upright bass. Prices on instruments can vary greatly. I have a Hadean bass uke that I got for Christmas. I also have two baritone ukes. They look the same, but are not the same instrument by any stretch of the imagination.
And $400 is nowhere near the high end of prices for ukes. Musician’s Friend carries soprano ukes that sell for close to two grand. Go to a company that specializes in high quality ukes and you can spend even more.
How do you like the Hadean? That’s more of my price range.
I love it. It doesn’t put out much sound acoustically. It couldn’t, the body’s too small. But played through an amp it sounds huge. It’s real easy on the fingers. It has a built in tuner and an active pickup. Uses a CR 2032 battery. The strings are monsters - made out of nylon. I checked to see what it would cost to replace the strings, they’re about $20 a set, which is comparable to bass guitar strings.
Thanks! I may have to pull the trigger on this thing.
I just can’t take them seriously. I know some guys gig with them, but they just seem like a toy to me. I have one of these, an Ashbury Bass. Same strings as the ukes. I can’t take it seriously either, but as I recall, it was only a couple hundred.
Why? What distinguishes a toy from the real deal is can you actually play it and does it make the appropriate sounds accurately. These pass on both counts. Even the Luna models that play an octave higher could legitimately be called piccolo basses, which while not common still fall firmly into not a toy territory.
I play upright. Recently picked up bari uke to have something more portable. Started playing w/ some uke groups, and imagine I’ll eventually pull the string on a u-bass, just because the groups could occasionally use someone on bass. But first I anticipate getting a tenor or concert banjo uke, then a cheapo soprano for my granddaughter… 
I thought the standard price for u-basses was around $350-4, but I haven’t really shopped for them. I’m wondering why a bass guitar player would want to play one? I mean, my old bass guitar just seems so darned small compared to my upright.
Yeah, I guess I do kinda consider them to be toys.
Weight. Even my Kramer Duke with the aluminum neck got heavy toward the end of a 4 hour gig. We put up with the weight of a bass guitar because it was necessary to get the sound we needed. The only thing that would have kept me from using a bass uke in my gigging days was my preference for the sound of round wound strings.
Okay - I guess that’s fair. I never played 4 hr gigs (and was MUCH younger when I played bass guitar!) Nowadays, on the rare occasions that I pick up a bass guitar, it just seems so ridiculously small and portable compared to this stupid upright I haul around, that I hadn’t made the connection. I always thought the scale of the bass guitar fit my hands well - tho it is likely just what I was used to.
When I try a u-bass, it seems cramped. But I imagine I would get used to it. It sure feels as tho it would be easy to play. My fear is that I’d get all uppity and invade the guitarist’s territory (coming from a bluegrass perspective…)
That reminds me of something I’d almost forgotten. When I first got my headless bass (over 30 years ago) the first few times I played it I found myself grabbing the third fret when I meant to play the first, because it felt like the nut should be further from the end.
True enough, also the weight factor. I, myself, cannot take them seriously, but that shouldn’t stop you.
I’m really trying to not come off as a dick here. Bass players usually are pretty open minded when it comes to extra strings, materials, techniques, etc, and I try to be also.
Speaking of which… I do the same thing with a headless bass- everything is off three frets!
Sorry about the double post- the editing time limit cut me off. Serves me right trying to be thoughtful. (and not a dick.)
I realized that I never responded to the OP’s question! I think that they’re so pricey is that they’re charging what they can to people who are cursed with having to haul around big instruments. It’s so nice and small! Problem is that you also have to bring an amp to be able to play with other folks. That or go through the PA, if there is one.