BP 100 with mini mic

[joshuamr]

I know this item is discontinued but, has anyone used the BP-100 w/ the mini mic? A guy i met once had one and it sounded great on his bass. So, just looking for some feedback. Thanks!

[jtlownds]

I have one of these sitting in my junk drawer. Used it for a couple of years, but was never really happy with it. The mic was just too prone to feedback. I could get some decent tone out of the BP100 in spite of it's reputation for sounding like butt tuba. You realize, of course, that you will have to use a blender that will utilize a TRS cable to use both of these units. Good luck with it.

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by joshuamr

I know this item is discontinued but, has anyone used the BP-100 w/ the mini mic? A guy i met once had one and it sounded great on his bass. So, just looking for some feedback. Thanks!

That combination was designed for use with the Fishman Bass Blender. It has a stereo jack and uses a stereo guitar chord to plug into the blender. I had one for a couple of years. I liked the sound of the Crown GLM condenser, it helped to moderate the "bark" and "honk" of the BP-100. I changed it over to a Underwood and the Crown GLM that sounded better with my bass and amp. Unfortunately, without the Fishman Bass Blender or something like it (the Headway EDB-1 is one example) you cannot use the mic/piezo in combination. It's a "stereo feed from the pickup/mic to the Blender.

Ric

[joshuamr]

hmmm that sounds like a hassle. well thanks for the input.

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by joshuamr

hmmm that sounds like a hassle. well thanks for the input.

The Realist by it's self sounds better than the Bass Blender, BP-100, and Crown GLM mini mic. The Full Circle does to.

Ric

[Mark Perna]

Originally Posted by Ric Vice

The Realist by it's self sounds better than the Bass Blender, BP-100, and Crown GLM mini mic. The Full Circle does to.

Ric

This is a untrue generalization. It is totally bass-dependent. On two of my basses, the BP-100 sounds great while the Realist doesn't work at all ('28 Juzek and '06 Kolstein Travel bass). On another ('74 Juzek), the BP-100 sounds like fingernails on a blackboard and the Realist sounds great. I've owned 8 basses. On 3, the BP-100 was my pickup of choice. It didn't work AT ALL on the other 5.

You just have to try different pickups until you find the one that works best with your bass. Just because one works well with one bass doesn't tell you anything about how it will work with another. I have a drawer full of pickups that get tried whenever I get a new bass or change strings or setup. They include: Stat B, Underwood, Planet Wing, Realist, BP-100, Dyn-B and a Full Circle that I've not yet tried (I have the large wooden screws in all of my bridges and it seems too much work to install it). I usually try mixing two pickups and mixing the different pickups with microphones including AMT, Shure Beta 58 and EV RE 20 until I get a sound that I like that translates to different locations well.

The Realist is the easiest to install because there is no fiddling with it. It either works or it doesn't. The BP-100 requires messing with the pressure of the clips and trying the piezos on the top and bottom of the bridge. I've never had a lot of luck with bridge wing pickups but I always try them. The Stat B works pretty well at low volume on everything I've tried it on but it never seems to excel on it's own. I've had some luck mixing it with other pickups though. I've tried the Dyn-B on everything but it never knocked me out on any of them. Ask anyone else on the boards and they probably had totally different experiences. You just have to try everything until you find the least objectionable one or combination for your bass.

Currently, I run the BP-100 with the RE 20 with the '28 Juzek and the '06 Kolstein and the Realist with the RE 20 with the '74 Juzek. The Juzeks are both strung with gut and the Kolstein has Spiro Mittels on it. The BP-100 worked better on the '28 Juzek when I had it strung with Mittels but I haven't found anything better now that it has gut. The RE-20 really helps though. I've tried using a Shure Beta 58 and the AMT but neither of those really sounded that good with this bass. The RE-20 requires bringing a mic stand though which is a drag.



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