My setup is...

[RockabillyBoy]

hi, i was wondering if anyone had a similar setup as me, im still learning the upright and i was just wondering. i Have a Piezo pickup under one wing of my bridge going through a BOSS bass equalizer pedal and into a Crate BX-50 combo amp. i get almost a good sound, its ok, but when im playing with others the clarity of the notes isnt vary good. i was wondering if anyone had a similar setup and knew how to fix this. or if i just have to mess with the equalization and find it myself. or if anyone thinks my setup is bad, because i dont really like Crate that much, its just what i have for now.

-joey

[Francois Blais]

One thing is important with piezo pickups: a very high input impedance.
This is mostly done with a good dedicated preamp.
Small units are available from Fishman, K&K, etc.
The rule is to have at least 1 Megaohms of input impedance.
Your crate amp doesn't have enough input impedance, and probably your BOSS EQ pedal either.
You'd need a buffering device between the pickup and EQ.
And I guess that you may not need an EQ at all in the end.

Insufficient input impedance results in pickup loading, and a thin nasal tone without bottom and definition.
My guess is that it's what you're experiencing.

Hope this helps!