Any one here familiar with the Shadow Nanoflex with Preamp?

[RavenRP]

I am looking to purchase the Bellafina ¾ sized upright bass.
As it is not electric I am also looking to purchase with it a preamp pickup system from Shadow.
It is not cheap so if anyone is familiar with any of their products I sure would love to hear your experiences.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...em-?sku=300155

Thank you in advance.
RavenRP.

[Peck_Time]

Hi RavenRP and welcome to Talkbass. Please don't buy an upright bass from Musicians Friend! If you read the Newbie links (stickied at the top of the Basses forum), you will discover that it's best to buy your first doublebass (or any DB for that matter) from a luthier or someone who knows what they are doing.
All new DBs require a setup to make playing fun. Before you spend the best part of a thousand bucks check out the knowledge on this forum. Do you know any local DB players in your area who can help?

[B String]

There are some very knowledgeable players on TB. It would
be easier to talk to you and help you if you were to fill out
your profile.

First. DON'T BUY A DOUBLE BASS FROM MUSICIANS FRIEND!
There are a number of luthiers on TB who could get you a
much better bass for about the same money. And, you
wouldn't have to spend a bunch more money doing a setup
on it once you get it. You might even save money.

Second. There are a number of less expensive pickups that
might do a better job for you. If you're having a new bass
set up for the first time, you might consider a Fishman
Fullcircle pickup. It would be one of your height adjusters.
Very popular pickup.

[RavenRP]

As a newbie to the site I first want to thank you both for your insights.
I haven’t figured out how to edit my profile just yet but I’ll keep looking.

Not much love for MF around here.
If I need there is a couple if not a few possible luthiers in the area I live. It I hard for me to ignore the MF magnetic pull: I have had great experiences with them thought the years. They recently gave me a 20% off coupon that started all this looking for an upright to begin with: That and interest free financing makes them hard to ignore. I’ll shop around a bit before I drop an order for another week or so.
Still the deal right now allows me a mess of goodies to go with it like horse hair bow, rosin, and set of Tomastick Spirocore, bow holster, learnem DVD, bass, and pup all for $1050 said and done shipping and all.
Near as I can tell other sites are asking that much for the same bass

I got to admit the fishman sounds like a good idea as the height adjusters for your pup would be cool.

I played upright many years ago as a child in school. It got me started on a long journey of playing bass for the past 30 some years and I have wanted to get back to the upright all along. I will keep scouring this web page for all I can learn for a while.

Thanks again, I will keep you posted on what I wind up doing, but please forgive me if I go ahead with the MF thing.

[Peck_Time]

To edit your profile click on "My Talkbass" at the left hand top of your screen.

The longer you can spend learning here on TalkBass = the less learning you have to do 'the hard way'.

I came to the Double Bass from another instrument like you RavenRP. In my case it was saxophone, and I must have bought a skip load of old broken/ new cheap horns before I wised up and bought a decent horn.

So when I decided to buy a DB, I read all the links, asked a couple of questions and saved up more money until I could buy a decent first upright (Christopher carved).

The Bellafina is a cheap bass, but for a bit more money you can buy a much better bass!

If I were you I would not buy a pickup yet- put that money towards a better bass.

[clink]

The pickup you mentioned is merely OK, but considering the price I would not recommend it. There was a revision to the film elements a couple years ago to improve quality. IMO, the preamp is cheaply made, but offers a bit of flexibility in the tone.
I used one for a couple of months and thought it sounded good at the time, but have since moved on.
You should choose the bass first and then find a pickup that works well with that particular bass.

[clothsnake]

an awful lot of people have a downer on the shadow pickup series, and to be honest... the early ones were abit 'light' in terms of the durability... so maybe this is fair.

i have the (newer) shadow nfx on my bass, and i think the reproduction is pretty nice for an acoustic instrument... and a lot nicer than some of the other piezo based pickups... which just make the bass sound like it made of tin..!!

i like it because my bass sounds like my bass... but just through an amp. the preamp is pretty useful too, and does tend to offer a good flat response, but the smallest turn of the one will make a big big difference.
if you get the chance to try one of these... do... you might just be surprised


if you want toyur acousticbass to sound like an electric 'driving' thing of an instrument... then don't bother.