Pickup choice for Double bass

[fatback]

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' post='1148289' date='Mar 3 2011, 12:48 PM']TPJ - they're great pickups, IMO. Like a Realist but with a lot more clarity - less muddy low mids and far greater high end transparency. One thing I forgot to mention is that my bass has laminated back and sides. I really feel this helps in dealing with feedback. Gig last night I was standing right beside the drummer - scraping distance from his hi-hats. Usually being that close, my previous carved bass would have resonated with each kick drum beat. And if the kick is going through the PA then fuggedaboudit.[/quote]

Gareth, did you get that from kontrabass-atelier.de/ or is there a UK supplier?

[Gareth Hughes]

[quote name='fatback' post='1148309' date='Mar 3 2011, 01:13 PM']Gareth, did you get that from kontrabass-atelier.de/ or is there a UK supplier?[/quote]

That's the one. Actually waiting on a second one for my Eminence as I nabbed it's one for my upright. Jonas Lohas is a great guy to deal with - very prompt with his service.

[ficelles]

[quote name='TPJ' post='1148194' date='Mar 3 2011, 11:28 AM']++1

We usually ask the sound man to dump anything below 100-180 Hz to get a workable tone yet still retain good lowend.[/quote]


In my sound engineering days I reckon doing that to a bass would have got me hung, drawn and quartered... not to say fired. You would generally only "dump" frequencies that are a specific problem in the room you are in.

Mind you I wish I could have dumped 82.5 Hz at my gig tonight, every time I hit E2 I thought the place was about to take off...

ficelles

[TPJ]

[quote name='ficelles' post='1151098' date='Mar 6 2011, 02:06 AM']In my sound engineering days I reckon doing that to a bass would have got me hung, drawn and quartered... not to say fired. You would generally only "dump" frequencies that are a specific problem in the room you are in.

Mind you I wish I could have dumped 82.5 Hz at my gig tonight, every time I hit E2 I thought the place was about to take off...

ficelles[/quote]

Hi,

we've found you can't mix a double bass like an electric bass, it just doesn't work in most cases. If we take out the low frequencies from 100-180hz and below, there is still loads of bottom end but is so much more manageable. In theory you are getting rid of fundamentals but in practice you are actually making it sound tighter and with much less chance for feedback, IME.

[ficelles]

[quote name='TPJ' post='1151160' date='Mar 6 2011, 09:18 AM']we've found you can't mix a double bass like an electric bass, it just doesn't work in most cases.[/quote]

That's most certainly true! DBs are great at picking up (and feeding back) room modes. But corrective EQ should ideally be more precise than shelving off the first two octaves.

Btw can anyone recommend a pickup system that fits a Bausch bridge? I am beginning to think I will have to put a new bridge on as nothing fits - currently using a small condenser on an Exploraudio H-Clamp but there are times when I'd like to be able to just stick a jack lead into something semi-permanently fitted...

ficelles

[Gareth Hughes]

Is there anything unusual about the Bausch that prevents you from using the old faithfuls - like a Fishman BP100, an Underwood, a Realist, etc?

[fonzoooroo]

[quote name='ficelles' post='1151238' date='Mar 6 2011, 10:32 AM']Btw can anyone recommend a pickup system that fits a Bausch bridge?
ficelles[/quote]

There's a pickup that sits on top of the bridge, between the outermost pairs of strings. I've seen one in a catalogue, but have no experience of them... Snag is, I'm not sure what they are... My gut reaction was a Shadow... But I wouldn't swear to it!

Do I get the "Most useless reply of the week" award for that?!?

[ficelles]

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' post='1154281' date='Mar 8 2011, 07:03 PM']Is there anything unusual about the Bausch that prevents you from using the old faithfuls - like a Fishman BP100, an Underwood, a Realist, etc?[/quote]

Tried to insert a pic... anyway the Bausch doesn't have even vaguely parallel edges on the wings of the bridge, more like a point on the upper surface. At the moment I have a very innovative solution with an expanding bolt holding the pickup paddles against the inside of the bridge legs - aren't engineering friends great :-)

Long term I think I will look at a new bridge, the Bausch is fairly low end (no pun intended) after all...

ficelles

[attachment=74508:bausch.gif]

[ficelles]

[quote name='fonzoooroo' post='1154918' date='Mar 9 2011, 08:46 AM']There's a pickup that sits on top of the bridge, between the outermost pairs of strings. I've seen one in a catalogue, but have no experience of them... Snag is, I'm not sure what they are... My gut reaction was a Shadow... But I wouldn't swear to it!

Do I get the "Most useless reply of the week" award for that?!?[/quote]

Not a useless reply at all!

There is the Fishman BP-100 as mentioned above which looks interesting and is like that, but also I've found the LR Baggs ultra bass which glues on (having had good experience of other LR Baggs gear that one is tempting). Only problem with all these choices is knowing which one to go for - always good to hear opinions from those who have tried them...

ficelles

Edited March 11, 2011 by ficelles

[TPJ]

[quote name='ficelles' post='1157495' date='Mar 11 2011, 12:06 AM']Tried to insert a pic... anyway the Bausch doesn't have even vaguely parallel edges on the wings of the bridge, more like a point on the upper surface. At the moment I have a very innovative solution with an expanding bolt holding the pickup paddles against the inside of the bridge legs - aren't engineering friends great :-)

Long term I think I will look at a new bridge, the Bausch is fairly low end (no pun intended) after all...

ficelles

[attachment=74508:bausch.gif][/quote]

If you like your bridge you can either get something like a Realist or Aptflex or, have it modified for a Fishman Full circle.

Here's a fairly comprehensive list and guide to DB pickups.

[url="http://www.doublebassguide.com/?page_id=21"]http://www.doublebassguide.com/?page_id=21[/url]

I've tried a BP100, K&K BassMax, Upton Rev II and the Full Cirlce. The K&K and Rev are wing slots so maybe not best for your bridge. I didn't like a BP100 on my bass and now use the FC. The Rev II had the best tone but was fiddly to get in the right place. The FC is the next best thing for my bass. All basses are different so you may have to take a leap of failth. The FC seems to be the most consistant across all basses.

Edited March 11, 2011 by TPJ

[fonzoooroo]

[quote name='ficelles' post='1157495' date='Mar 11 2011, 12:06 AM']with an expanding bolt holding the pickup paddles against the inside of the bridge legs -[/quote]
If that's effectively a spreader clamp between the bridge legs, it's not the best idea tonally... especially if you add flat caces to butt up to the bridge legs.

If you want to use any of the pickups that wedge under the wings of the bridge, you'd be better modifying the wing shape of the bridge. (which'll make much less impact on the acoustic sound)

[Beer of the Bass]

I think a piezo into a proper high impedence output can can produce a fundamental that is much stronger (in proportion to the harmonics) than the bass actually projects acoustically. Also, the response from a bridge piezo can go down right into sub-sonic frequencies if left unchecked. If I have the HPF on my amp turned off and depress a string with my right hand (without plucking it), I can actually see the cone move! So I reckon a bit of low end roll-off on a piezo signal actually gets you closer to what you'd hear acoustically. Though this is just my guess at why HPFs help - I'm not an engineer or anything!