Has anybody out there used the David Gage upright pickup??? The guy recommending it to me said "don't even consider anything else." Do you agree? I will be using it with a late 60s Englehardt bass.

Digs

Check older threads here about the "Realist" pickup.
There was some discussion about it in the past weeks/months.

I dug the realist a lot until it just stopped working one day, no warning or anything. And of course, it was just beyond the warranty period. But it kills the Fishman. I've heard the Realist live with a lot of players and it usually gets a good sound in a variety of settings. bassgeek

The Realist is probably among the decent pickups but it is certainly not the only one to consider. The K&K Bass Max does the job too and is cheaper if you can avoid using a preamp.

Thanks everybody for the info. I also read the other posts from days of yore. I think I'll check out the realist, and possibly others.
Digs

I use the realist but had a problem w/ the output signal of it. I spoke to David Gage re:the problem and he is addressing it by replacing it with a hotter P/U. This p/u claims not to need a buffered pre-amp,which is one of the reasons I purchased it.

I tried a Realist on a friends bass, and it was very nice, quite a "woody" tone, but I think I prefer my Barbera.

Marty: How did you get a Barbera all the way to New Zealand? I live about 12 miles from Barbera's house and I had to wait about 4 months for him to make mine. It remains the best pickup for my bass.