Pickups

[Burns-bass]

On 18/03/2025 at 22:54, NickA said:

Much as I'd like a Stan Clarke pre to play with .. the input impedance of a decent modern amp is totally piezo friendly.  PJB and Markbass amps both have a high impedance input ( gain switch to passive on PJB) and a built in HPF.. the rest is bass geekery (and nothing wrong with that imo).

 

£340 tho...ooh.

True, to a point but the tweakable HPF is a godsend in some of the rooms I play in (where feedback seemingly defies logic).

 

It’s also great for doubling gigs too, and the DI is ace.
 

I can mark my settings on a piece of paper, slide it into the case and it’s ready for any gig.

 

(I may be justifying my £240 spend - but I have to!)

[NickA]

On 20/03/2025 at 09:53, Burns-bass said:

the tweakable HPF is a godsend

And if you're playing di into a pa, it's a bargain compared to a £1000 set of amps and cabs!

[jrixn1]

On 18/03/2025 at 22:57, JPJ said:

I guess what I’m looking for is an accurate reproduction of the acoustic sound of my bass rather than sounding like a fretless bass

 

Another thing than pickups and EQ: I found if my amp volume is quite high and I play lightly, it doesn't sound great - no attack and a long sustain.  But if the amp is set low and I pluck a lot more firmly, it sounds much more natural - a thump and then quick decay.  Related, experiment with changing (increasing) the string height.

[triplebass]

I’ve been through various pickups and mics and am now super happy with Neumann MCM114 on a MC4 clip.

Very honest representation of the sound i’m getting from the instrument. Usually needs just a tiny bit of tweaking depending on the acoustics of the room.

Been running it into an amp or straight to house.

Not cheap, but def worth it.

[JPJ]

With Mrs JPJ off out for the evening, I've had a good play around on the old GarageBand recording my bass. Tracks included: 1) the J-Tone big twin direct into my interface (Behringer UMC202HD); 2) bass recorded with an SM58 again direct into the interface; 3) the J-Tones via my EBS Stanley Clarke DI; 4) the J-Tones via the EBS and the SushiboxFX Finally DI; and er finally 5) and thanks to @Burns-bass, my bass using a Realist Copperhead via the EBS/SushiboxFX combination. 

Pre-gig yesterday I'd spent quite a bit of time gain staging my setup (so EBS, Sushibox, Behringer X-Air) and also eq'ing and I had a great sound last night even though I was monitoring via FOH so from behind. Some knowledgable punters commented how full my bass sounded and how it sat in the mix - no doubt down to the time spent gain staging. 

As I said at the outset, I wasn't totally unhappy with the sound of the J-Tones but they did lack something and could easily end up sounding like a fretless bass guitar. The Copperhead however is a huge step up. Firstly I needed to back the bass off on the EBS and use the HPF, secondly I was able to open the treble up too and still not get the nasally sound piezo's can exhibit at times. So, all is well that ends well. I'm off to do some more faffing about before Mrs JPJ gets home. Thanks all for your input and help, and for the record, I did like the SM58 recording so a microphone might well be in my future but for now, I think I'm going to be happy with the Copperhead.

Edited 8 hours ago by JPJ