Most comments that I've read from ABG owners indicate that the acoustic, unampified volume is suitable for pracicing alone or perhaps with ONE acoustic guitar player. The relatively small body of an ABG is just not enough to properly distribute and project the low frequencies of a bass.
Thats quite true...the main reason why I have never bought one. Washburn acoustic basses are quite nice, but the nicest one I have played is a Godin fretless. I wouldn't use it very often and if a play an acoustic gig I usually take an electric bass anyway. I did have a KYDD upright for a few years and I used that quite often. You can get acoustics that are installed with piezo bridges, but they tend to be very expensive. I don't see the point of spending a lot of money on that type of acoustic bass if you are only going to use it once in a while.
Like funkstrat said, 9 times out of 10 the acoustic bass is very quiet when not amplified, so it has very little use for home practice. An acoustic bass is really a tone tool and nothing more. If you want an acoutic tone whilst being able to hear it well then go for an upright. You can get student 3/4 uprights pretty cheap these days. However, you will have to learn new playing techniques to play it. It's not the same as playing an electic bass by a long shot.
