Bass Pickup

[Hell my name is]

I'm looking at getting a pickup for my hybrid Double Bass. So I decided to seek out the wisdom of the internet for help. What Double Bass pickup do you recommend?

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

I like the Revolution Solo, and have tried the Underwood, Realist, Bass Max and a few others. It has a nice pizz tone and the arco tone is very nice.

[jobo4]

Realist.

[TroyK]

Well, that's a very general question. Based on your profile, I'm going to suggest The Gage Realist. The amps you have listed are not the most DB friendly and my experience with the Realist is that is the most consistent across a wide variety of things without a pre-amp buffer. It also is one of the better arco pickups. It doesn't work for everyone, but it's not very futzy and it's pretty reliable and you can get a pretty predictable sound out of it in most situations, which is not the case with a lot of pickups, including some much more expensive and "hi-fidelity" options.

So, that's my suggestion. Depending on where you're playing, what you're going for, etc, there might be some better or at least other options, I'll throw out the Full Circle as the main rival based on what I suggested I think about you, but everyone has their favorite.

[Hell my name is]

Thank you for the responses. It really helps with picking a pick up

[drurb]

+1 on the Rev Solo.

[skwerllnutz]

Get the hurley virtuoso, its excellent and probably the best priced, It thumps and clacks

[Dave Irwin]

I'd vote for the Realist. It's easy to put on and take off if you don't like it. Most of the others mentioned require some alteration to the pickup or the bridge.

[drurb]

...and then there's the Ehrlund. No modification to the bass, easy on and off, and the best I've ever used. It is pricey, however, and requires tweaking to find the "sweet spot."

[Sam Sherry]

Longtime Underwood user here. I also own and sometimes use a Rev Solo 2.

Can't recommend the Realist. IME it sounds great on many basses and dung on many others.

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by Sam Sherry

Longtime Underwood user here. I also own and sometimes use a Rev Solo 2.

Can't recommend the Realist. IME it sounds great on many basses and dung on many others.

I used a Realist for around 6 years, what I liked about it the best, was it's ability to reproduce the bow, and the sound of it's pizzicato sound at low and medium volume. So on my bass it sounded really good. The exception to this was when the gig required turning up the volume. To my ears the Realists timbre changes, when you try push the pickup, by turning up the volume. It could just be, that at higher volumes, you are hearing the only the pickup, rather than the sound of the instrument and pickup together. I do know that it's not a good pickup to send FOH or record through, at least it wasn't for me. Just my take. I used an Underwood for 10 years before I switched to the Realist, great for pizzicato, not so great with the bow. The only way I could an acceptable arco sound was to use an A/B switch, with my two channel Walter Woods MI-100-8, so that I had a different EQ for bowing. Now that I'm using the Ehrlund, all those issues have vanished. I just plug the instrument in, adjust the EQ slightly and play.

Ric

[drurb]

Originally Posted by Ric Vice

It could just be, that at higher volumes, you are hearing the only the pickup, rather than the sound of the instrument and pickup together.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by Ric Vice

Now that I'm using the Ehrlund, all those issues have vanished. I just plug the instrument in, adjust the EQ slightly and play.

Ric

Me too. This month, I played a venue that had, in past years, proved to be extremely frustrating in terms of my being able to hear myself. Not this year! The dynamics reproduced by the Ehrlund caused the sound to cut through.

[RenanDias]

Opinion: if you get the money, Ehrlund.

If you don't, Rev Solo II, pizz is nice, full but not boomy, and arco is awesome. But, it's almost mandatory a pre-amp/DI, since iti's a piezo pickup, high impedance.

[BHBassman]

Underwood with a preamp - Platinum Pro EQ works well

[Earl]

I've been using the Planet Wing lately when I need to amplify and it sounds very good on both my Juzek and my Shen folding bass. Also no need for a preamp with this pickup, and it is easy on and off.