My acoustic bass sound awful!

[SwamiRob]

Dunno what the problem is here, I've got a really nice Crafter GAB series acoustic which sounds really really really nice unplugged, couldn't wish for a nicer sounding acoustic, but it sounds CRAP plugged in. Tried everything to try make it sound better with the control on it, EQ, phase switch, amount of scoop, EQing the desk it goes into but it sounds really bad.

It's fitted with some L.R. Braggs system, who would seem to be a pretty decent company at face value from what I've seen at least. It just doesn't sound like an acoustic Bass, more like a really crap Jazz copy or something. Can anyone help? It's so awesome before that sodding jack gets plugged in.

On the topic of jacks, guitar leads don't seem to plug in properly with the strap button on, when I take it off it's fine so I dunno what that's about...

[T-Bird]

Hi, SwamiRob.

I'm assuming that there's a piezo strip under a narrow 1-piece saddle?

On several ABGs I've seen the strip being crooked, misaligned or not seated properly between the bridge body and the saddle.

First thing to look is wether the saddle is square with the bridge or slanted to either direction. That results almost always uneven pressure to the element and it does indeed sound thin and unbalanced. In other words CRAP .

Hope this helps even a bit.
Sam

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Could always get a small mic in the sound hole?

While it defies the point of having an electro-acoustic, it would probably be better for capturing the sound you want, as the sound of the piezos might just not be your thing?

[SwamiRob]

Yeah I'll try having a look, I had no idea where the pickup was to be honest so I'll do me best. There any way of correcting it if it setup wrong? And would having heavier strings then factory effect the sound? I put 110 ernies on it cos I don't like the sound of acoustic strings much and I like a proper thick sound from an acoustic so you don't have to artificially add loads of bass like you can get away with on an electric.

[Rvl]

Did you try other amps?
Piezos use a higher impedance inputs on the amp
Improper impedance sound is , no bass and very bright highs

String choice is critical with piezo
String noise is directly transmitted to the piezo
I have black wrap on 2 acoustics and Elixir on another
With blackwrap I use Labella and just started using Status

Adding a piezo booster preamp will make all amps usable
Walter has a piezo booster , $74 including international shipping
He can make it in a case similar to the HA-1 but more expensive
I have an older HA-1 and it was built with a high impedance input , 10k , I think.

Thanks

Robert

[SwamiRob]

I've only used it with an amp once, other then that it's been straight into the PA, sounds better with my amp so I'd probably benefit from having a preamp like you said. Does the onboard pre (If it is indeed a preamp) on the bass not boost the signal enough to get a decent sound through a PA?

String wise I've got alot less noise from the Ernie balls then the Bronze ones on before, and like I said before it sounds amazing unplugged.