BassAgent Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 (edited) As you may or may not know, I own this gorgeous De Gier Origin fretless. It sounds absolutely amazing, but it has a big problem, which made me put it up for sale: the output is very, véry low. I took it to a gig when I first got it and compared to my '71 Precision the output is amazingly low, same goes for all my other basses. I really don't want to sell it but I feel forced to. Unless there is a solution: get some other electronics. It has the Bartolini Classic Dual Coil pickups and an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp. I have very good experiences with Aguilar preamps so no worries there. Then there's the pickups: you'd think "just get yourself some decent 5-string, high output pickups and that's the end of it" but there's a catch: the pickups are relatively small. The bridge pickup is 93 mm (3.66"), neck pickup is 91 mm (3.58"). I am a pretty decent googler but I couldn't find any 5-string pickups that match the size of these. Does anyone have a solution? I don't want to go gigging with extra preamps. Edited February 9, 2020 by BassAgent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 Well, the first question is, that is the pickup height adjusted up high? Every fraction of an inch means a lot here. Magnetic forces change to the third power vs. distance. If you are able to raise both pickups, the output is changed. Press the strings to the frets at 20th (24th, whatever is the highest) and check the clearance to minimum so, that the strings do not touch the pickups while playing. Trial is easy and the balance between pickups or strings needs just some turns of a (quality) screwdriver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAgent Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 Thanks for the advice I know about pickup height. The pickups are kind of high already, I like 'em high, also because of playing comfort. I can try to raise them even more, but I doubt if that would give it so much more output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAgent Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 I was fixing a friend's bass yesterday and it was loaded with a Bartolini preamp. Those preamps include a trim pot, which controls the output gain. Could that be a solution, and can that be added to the Aguilar OBP-3 or do I need a completely new preamp then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 If it sounds that good, can you not just turn up the master volume on the amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAgent Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 I could, but the issue is not the bass on its own: I switch a lot between basses during gigs and all my other basses have a higher output than this bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 I've owned many basses with Bart pickups and a bass with an OBP3 18v preamp and it was as loud as anything other bass. Are there 2 batteries in it? I'd take it for a health check. I can't believe there is nothing wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Have you stuck a multimeter across them to check resistance? Bartolini list it as 8.5/7 for the neck and 9.8 for the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.