Barcus Berry piezo bridge

[Bassalova]

I am thinking of replacing the bridge on my Grunert bass, and am considering the Barcus Berry bridge with built-in piezo pickup. I look for a visually clean solution, cause I'm playing in a Symphonic Orchestra, in addition to jazz/folk. I also prefer not to have a "underwood" placed between the feet and the wings, because there is a vibration loss with this solution.

Is there anyone who's got experience with this particular "piezo bridge"?

[wiro]

This looks interesting! Never heard of this one before.

I tried some piezo's before like the Realist and a system from a local luthier but never got the acoustic sound I was looking for. Especially with arco.

Then I found the Clevinger Natural Presence which is pretty convincing under all circumstances:

http://www.clevinger.com/npdbasspickup.htm

But I'm always in for some improvement.....

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by Bassalova

I am thinking of replacing the bridge on my Grunert bass, and am considering the Barcus Berry bridge with built-in piezo pickup. I look for a visually clean solution, cause I'm playing in a Symphonic Orchestra, in addition to jazz/folk. I also prefer not to have a "underwood" placed between the feet and the wings, because there is a vibration loss with this solution.

Is there anyone who's got experience with this particular "piezo bridge"?

Unless they have upgraded this it's a very old design that Barcus Berry has used since the 1960's. They mount a single transducer in the back of the bridge. I could never get a decent sound with it. Barcus Berry does make another pickup that's easily removable, it's not my favorite but it sounds ok. http://barcusberry.com/product_html/b3150_b3150m.cfm



The other issue is the quality of the bridge that Barcus Berry uses to mount the transducer for. It's most likely not a Aubert Mirecout. Barbera systems will actually install their pickup inside the bridge of your choice they are pretty expensive but

though.http://www.barberatransducers.com/basspickups.html

Ric

[bolo]

Originally Posted by Bassalova

I am thinking of replacing the bridge on my Grunert bass, and am considering the Barcus Berry bridge with built-in piezo pickup. I look for a visually clean solution, cause I'm playing in a Symphonic Orchestra, in addition to jazz/folk. I also prefer not to have a "underwood" placed between the feet and the wings, because there is a vibration loss with this solution.

Is there anyone who's got experience with this particular "piezo bridge"?

I understand what you are saying about the dampening of the bridge. But the Underwood goes on and off pretty easily, yes? So does the Bass Max, Rev Solo, Planet Wing, maybe others too. You can just take it off when not in use.

Not familiar with the Barcus Berry ... sorry.

[Bassalova]

Of course it can be pulled off during Symphonic playing. But the vibration loss also makes the eletronic sound to be less fuller than it could be, ´cause the bass doesn´t vibrate as much as it is capable of, and thus making the piezo vibrate less

[salcott]

Give the Full Circle serious consideration. Except for the wire, it looks like a normal adjuster. The Realist is pretty low-key as well, appearancewise.

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by Bassalova

Of course it can be pulled off during Symphonic playing. But the vibration loss also makes the eletronic sound to be less fuller than it could be, ´cause the bass doesn´t vibrate as much as it is capable of, and thus making the piezo vibrate less

Bassalova,
No matter what you, do a pickup will compromise the acoustic properties of your instrument. It's a trade off that's just part of the price of using a pickup. If you already have bridge adjusters then I'd go with the Full Circle. Even the Barcus Berry bridge has a piezo implanted into the back of the bridge. That changes the sound of the bridge.

Ric