Biesele Magnetic Pick Up

Lawkyz · #1 07-09-2008, 06:12 AM

Hello guys

I want to know if the Biesele Magnetic Pick Up is still available ? I'm In France & I'm really interesting about this pick up system. I have a Zadow & a Gage Realist actually. I play in a Electro JAzz band with high volume on stage.

On the zadow magnetic system, you can't setup each string volume like the biesele & you have a passive box to blend the gage & the zadow pick up. On the biesele it's a 2 way active preamp.

thanks for your answers.

**Francois Blais** · #2 07-09-2008, 09:16 AM

http://www.biesele.org/pickups/

hensonbass · #3 05-26-2010, 05:09 AM

I just had a Biesele pickup (no preamp) made for my 5-string Christopher bass. It is a very well made piece of machinery I must say. Lots of metal in that bad boy. Once I attached it to my fingerboard I was surprised that it made my bass sound better acoustically and amplified. It also got rid of a wolf tone!

Up until I received the Biesele I've been using a combination of the Vektor and the Full-Circle into a Headway pre. As far as a traditional tone that combination nailed it for me.

Adding a slight touch of the Biesele fills in a frequency range that helps cut through a really dense mix. I'm also impressed at the tone of the pickup by itself too. Sounds great no matter how you eq it. I can use any effect I want and blend it with the acoustic pure tone and get some amazing sounds.

TinRoof · #4 05-26-2010, 09:45 AM

How does the Biesele sound by itself? does it need to be mixed with a bridge pickup? Do you have to have their preamp or can it used with something like fdeck's HPF-pre?

hensonbass · #5 05-26-2010, 11:00 AM

It's got a p-bass vibe about it. Very clean and responsive. If you have a good preamp with eq you can shape the tone a lot. Here's a guy who has some sound clips:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/defa...?bandID=924433

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y40rU-6IqCY - This player has the same bass I do.

I use my own preamp to gain it up because I have so many various preamps to experiment with. Right now I'm running the Biesele through a Line 6 M13 effect pedal into a channel of a Radial PZ-PRE with the other pickups blended in the second channel. With the M13 I'm able to eq the sound to taste. I can make it as smooth or aggressive as I want. Plus it works great with all of the effects that didn't work so well with the vektor/full circle setup.

JtheJazzMan · #6 05-26-2010, 06:29 PM

Those sounds clips are almost all I have left....I sold my biesele. It was an excellent pizzicato pickup, but I moved onto a different sound.

In that youtube clip you can hear how the bass cuts through, yet is still smooth. That is its main selling point I think, the plug and play nature of it.

On my basses however it negatively affected the acoustic tone up in TP and so I stopped using it and sold it eventually.

shwashwa · #7 05-26-2010, 06:45 PM

what happened to the tone in thumb position?

JtheJazzMan · #8 05-27-2010, 12:46 AM

Went strange, kind of a rubbery muted sound rather than the normal resonant sound. Totally understandable considering the weight of the pickup clamped to the end of the FB.

Jefenator · #9 05-27-2010, 12:53 AM

I just exchanged e-mails with the guy so I know he's still around!

I've had one since 1998 and I love it to pieces. I tend to use it more as a handy buffer for the piezo and dial in some magnetic signal as needed. For the gigs I do (mostly Jazz & R&B with ham-fisted drummers) I find it to be indispensable.

Les Fret · #10 05-27-2010, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JtheJazzMan

Those sounds clips are almost all I have left....I sold my biesele. It was an excellent pizzicato pickup, but I moved onto a different sound.

what pickup do you use now?

I also have the Biesele. The one with the separate pickup and preamp.
When I don't use it I take it of. I mix it together with a FC . I am quite pleased with the sound. I didn't have any problem with TP playing.
I bought it especially to get rid of the feedback problems I was having with the FC alone when playing in a loud band. However I haven't played that loudly since so I cannot judge the Biesele for feedback resistance yet.

I am thinking of putting some black stage tape around the iron neck clamps so that they don't scratch the neck (it also will look better I think). Don't know if that will work.

JtheJazzMan · #11 05-27-2010, 04:15 AM

Im using a stat-b vintage with blended with the FC, depending on whether I want more of a pizz or arco tone.

hensonbass · #12 05-27-2010, 05:02 AM

My Biesele PU's maiden gig voyage is tonight in a big club followed by two outdoor big stage gigs this weekend.

Before I received the Biesele I have always had good feedback resistance with my Vektor/Full Circle combination. However, as I have been blending in the Biesele PU I'm finding I can punch through a mix easier without having to compromise my acoustic tone in louder situations as much as I would if I didn't have a magnetic PU.

The key to accomplishing this is eq'ing the Biesele where everything above 400-500 hz is brought down by a few decibels so it doesn't color the mid's and high's of the Vektor/Full Circle combination. Then you bring up the volume of the Biesele according to how much beef you want in the low end. I find where an upright bass gets lost in the mix is in that 150 - 300 hz range (where a bass guitar normally sits so well) along with the abundance of sub-100 hz that muddies up the tone too.

Unfortunately you do have incorporate a few more gadgets to accomplish all these tasks and then blend it down to one combined signal.

Les Fret · #13 05-27-2010, 07:19 AM

did someone try the Biesele at really high volumes? how did it hold feedback wise?

TinRoof · #14 05-27-2010, 09:28 AM

Hey JJazzman...how do you like the stat-B Vintage? How does it sound in comparison to a piezo? I was thinking of getting that one. Can it handle high volume situations before feedback? I was looking for soundclips of it but to no avail. I didn't like the sound of the Biesele...too much like a bass slab. I'd rather hear more wood...

hensonbass · #15 05-27-2010, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Les Fret

did someone try the Biesele at really high volumes? how did it hold feedback wise?

I'll let you know after this weekend.

BTW: I saw the bass player with G Love and Special Sauce use one onstage with a SVT rig ROARING behind him and it never had feedback once.

JtheJazzMan · #16 05-27-2010, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TinRoof

Hey JJazzman...how do you like the stat-B Vintage? How does it sound in comparison to a piezo? I was thinking of getting that one. Can it handle high volume situations before feedback? I was looking for soundclips of it but to no avail. I didn't like the sound of the Biesele...too much like a bass slab. I'd rather hear more wood...

I made a soundclip. You can get more high frequency clarity without it sounding tinny like most piezos.

On the bandstand the difference between it and a full circle is probably not much. I wanted a few different arco tones though.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9202427

Les Fret · #17 05-28-2010, 03:06 AM

Sounds good! your bass has a nice singing quality.
Also curious how it it will hold up feedback wise in loud volumes (compared to the FC).

What does this pickup cost? (including the preamp)
Can it only be used with the preamp?

JtheJazzMan · #18 05-28-2010, 04:01 PM

I havent used it in a really loud environment yet, but so far it seems similar to the FC in terms of feedback

I think its around $600 US? If you get the vintage model with a stat-pre. I wouldnt bother getting the Pre-A III unless you can try one out beforehand to make sure it isnt noisy, as theres been a few complaints on TB about them, me included.

In that sound clip Im using a KK pure pre, and the condenser mic power is provided by my own 9v battery box.

Les Fret · #19 05-29-2010, 02:55 AM

what strings are you using on that soundclip? and do you have a really low action?

because there is a lot sustain, that is sort of the pizz. sound I am striving for also.

JtheJazzMan · #20 05-29-2010, 03:15 AM

Spiro weich E, solo A D & G, pirastro flat chromsteel C, and yes the action is low.

You lose acoustic volume, but oh well. The tone of each note, the feel and playability of the whole bass is almost exactly where I want it, and I just pad the volume with amplification. Obviously theres mixed feelings about that but lets not open that can of worms....