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 Sunday at 22:39 by JPJ

[tinyd]

10 hours ago, JPJ said:

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.

That's a really good analysis. I found my copperhead to be very usable as well - I just upgraded recently to a Lifeline because it's a bit less bassy on my bass. I did some similar experimentation last night with an FDeck HPF and a Fishman Platinum Pro (the old one). I tweaked a lot but I came to the conclusion that the best sound is just going straight into my amp (a Warwick Gnome head and a Phil Jones C2 cab). The only thing is that I have to turn the bass and middle all the way off on the amp. The HPF and preamp do give a bit more control, but I end up just doing using them to do the same thing (turn the bass right down) so once I took them out of the signal chain it didn't really make a difference.

Anyway, I think the moral of the story is that it's worth playing around with different gear, but probably the most important thing is getting the right pickup (or mic) to provide the best possible input.

[Burns-bass]

I can attest to @NickA’s point.

 

At a regular gig we do Friday I forgot my pedal board. Nothing to it but to plug straight into the amp and EQ on the fly.

 

Only for two people who have seen us a lot come up and tell me that’s the best bass sound they’d heard from me in months. And no feedback either.

 

Anyone want to buy an EBS pedal? (Joke)