I realize I don’t talk about it much on the blog, but I’ve played music for most of my life. I started learning band instruments when I was 7 years old and have done various school bands and orchestras. In college I moved over to more contemporary instruments and adopted the bass guitar as my primary vehicle. I’ve played in a couple local bands, and spent a lot of time playing in church worship bands over the years. And that’s about the level of my skill too, I’m an average player but I enjoy it and like to keep my skills up.

I also play rhythm guitar and a couple years ago started learning mandolin, and in the process had gotten rid of all my basses, as I wasn’t playing in any groups. Fast forward to a year or two ago when my friend Mike started picking up guitar and was looking for someone to play with. I decided to get back to playing a bit more and in the process realized I really missed having a bass around.

For decades I’ve eyed an acoustic bass guitar, but they were often expensive and sometimes of questionable quality, so I stuck with traditional electrics. However, in recent years there have been a lot more entries into the space and I’ve taken some time to check them out and see what works for me. When I first picked up a Fender Kingman I immediately could tell that this was something just a little bit different, but a the time I wasn’t quite ready to commit yet. Fast forward to this past winter and the Fender Kingman v2 was on sale and I decided that it was finally time to pull the trigger.

The Fender Kingman v2 is a mid-sized, short scale (30”), solid spruce top, acoustic bass that feels great in my hands and sounds wonderful. It’s got a light and lively tone when played without amplification and the Fishman pre-amp carries that tone through when plugged in. There’s a familiar electric bass feeling when holding and playing the Kingman that was distinctive to me when comparing this bass to other brands and models. Yet, the body provides a full and robust acoustic tone that blends beautifully with other non-electrified instruments. This light but earthy tone is what really drew me to the Kingman, and in my mind, sets it apart from other acoustic basses I’ve sampled.

I’m a small-handed player and so short-scale basses have been my jam for over a decade. The Kingman’s fret size and spacing work pretty well for me and I don’t feel like anything is compromised by the 30” scale. The neck is smooth and nicely shaped (Fender calls it their “slim “C”-shaped Jazz Bass® profile”), although my hands wouldn’t mind just a hair slimmer, but that’s really a “me” problem.

The Fishman electronics are well apportioned with a built-in tuner, 3-dial tone control, a phase button, and two knobs for “notch” and “brilliance”. I really don’t get much out of those last two knobs, but if I play more plugged in the notch and phase button will probably be useful with so much tone going through a resonate body.

One of my biggest critiques of how the Kingman comes set up is the type of strings they put on it. They’re very squeaky compared to many other strings I’ve used, and will probably consider switching them out to something else in the future. I might even try a straight flatwound sometime to see how that feels.

The big question people ask with an acoustic bass is if it’s really possible to use it without amplification? In general I can play along with 1-2 other unplugged instruments and still be heard. Using a heavy pick helps boost this volume, but at a certain point it’s never going to be loud enough to overcome other players. This is just the reality of an acoustic bass and I’ve known that ever since I started looking at them. I’ve also tried a lot of acoustic basses and they’re all about the same in this area, the Kingman isn’t special in that regard.

However, even plugged in, the tone of the large auditorium body gives the bass a different character that just isn’t the same as any electric I’ve played. Plus, if you mix both a mic and the direct line, you can get a really nice resonant earthy tone that blends wonderfully into more acoustically driven music such as Americana and Newgrass (styles I play a lot of). I haven’t had a lot of chance to record with this yet, but I’m excited to see what I can do once I get to that point.

Overall the Fender Kingman is a huge winner for me. After years of trying acoustic basses I feel like this is really a model that stands out above the rest. Too often I’d try basses that just felt flat and dull without much character. The Kingman sets itself apart with bright and robust tone and earthy character that makes it a joy to play and listen to.

I even shot a quick little demo video showing a few different licks from direct input, room mic, and both together.