[FrankHudson]

I play a U-Bass sometimes, mostly plugged directly into my recording interface.

My kid is a bass player, and they've got on indefinite loan from me a Fender Rumble bass combo that serves them well for punkier stuff at informal garage band level while retaining a headphone jack for practice. Mine's the 100 watt model and it can be set to provide clean sound with good headroom. At lower volumes, like a living room jam with acoustic instruments, I'd think the 40 watter in the line would do fine too.

Two things attracted me to it: the light weight and Steve DeRosa's recommendation here on the AGF.

For very small fretless short-scale options, there was a U-Bass sized DeArmond nylon string bass sold around the turn of the century, the Ashbory. I have one, but my pitch sense meeting a short-scale fretless made me favor the U-bass. The Ashbory had its own Fender strings, a sticky translucent rubbery material that has their own sound, but many who still play them have converted to the more conventional nylon type U-Bass strings.