Bp 100 placemant question

[bassplayer629]

Greetings! I am new to the instrument and was wondering if the bp100 pickup could be placed somewhere else on the bass, other than clipped to the bridge between the strings, to improve the tone. ie: more sound from the body and less from strings. Thanks!

[Gearhead43]

This may be worth a shot:

Use a round piece of cork from the hobby store to put in between the two transducers. Then pressure fit the "sandwich" in your E side bridge wing like a conventional bridge wing pickup.

You may need to file the bridge wing surfaces parallel to each other to get a nice and square fit. Get the pickup in there good and snug, but not so tight you can't easily remove it with your fingers. Piezos need pressure to sound their best.

You could also use some hardwood veneer from the hobby shop to make the sandwich once you get the fit and measurements you need. After testing and adjusting the fit you could superglue the pickup sandwich together (but not to the bridge of course!)

You could also try just using each pickup individually on one or both sides of the bridge and shim them in.

Do plenty of experimentation before making anything permanent.

I cut small squares of self-adhesive maple veneer and attached them inside my bridge wing to shim my Underwood and it worked perfectly. I can now remove the pickup without disturbing the fit.

This may or may not work, but it's worth a try! Anything will sound better than that pickup fit the stock way!

Just an idea, and I have heard of other guys doing a similar thing, supposedly with good results.

[mstclairmiller]

Best placement position is in a pocket on your gig bag, so you have a spare if really necessary in an emergency.

[Uncletoad]

My best placement of a BP100 was a trash can.

[Johnny Atomic]

Best place to place a BP100 is on ebay, so you can use the money to buy a real pickup.

[Johnny Atomic]

Originally Posted by Gearhead43

This may be worth a shot:

Use a round piece of cork from the hobby store to put in between the two transducers. Then pressure fit the "sandwich" in your E side bridge wing like a conventional bridge wing pickup.

You may need to file the bridge wing surfaces parallel to each other to get a nice and square fit. Get the pickup in there good and snug, but not so tight you can't easily remove it with your fingers. Piezos need pressure to sound their best.

You could also use some hardwood veneer from the hobby shop to make the sandwich once you get the fit and measurements you need. After testing and adjusting the fit you could superglue the pickup sandwich together (but not to the bridge of course!)

You could also try just using each pickup individually on one or both sides of the bridge and shim them in.

Do plenty of experimentation before making anything permanent.

I cut small squares of self-adhesive maple veneer and attached them inside my bridge wing to shim my Underwood and it worked perfectly. I can now remove the pickup without disturbing the fit.

This may or may not work, but it's worth a try! Anything will sound better than that pickup fit the stock way!

Just an idea, and I have heard of other guys doing a similar thing, supposedly with good results.

I've tried it this way, and it still sounded like ass

[Mark Perna]

I could never get the BP-100 to work on plywood basses but it sounds really good (mixed with a microphone) on my '28 Juzek and it also sounds great (also mixed with a microphone) on my Kolstein Travel bass. I've said this before but I've owned 8 basses and the BP-100 worked fabulously well on 3 of them, ok on 1 and not at all on the other 4. Like other pickups, it really depends on the bass as to whether it sounds good or not.

It has been my experience that you can tell almost immediately if it is going to work or not and it almost doesn't matter how you install it. It tends to either sound really good albeit a little stringy or it sounds like someone stepped on a cat's tail. IME there is little in between those two extremes.

mark

[Gearhead43]

Haha, maybe it is a lost cause.

I think it's a shame that they still sell that POS to unsuspecting customers.

Fishman makes some great newer stuff, but they need to retire that old dog of a pickup.

[Uncletoad]

Originally Posted by Gearhead43

Fishman makes some great newer stuff, but they need to retire that old dog of a pickup.

I have mentioned exactly that to them numerous times.

Maybe if people started returning them and made some noise complaining they'd stop offering them. When a product starts to cost a company money they generally pay attention.

Part of why it's still there is that the transducer is used in a variety of their current offerings for other instruments that are still selling. Like contact pickups for Mandolins.

[AMJBASS]

This pickup gets a ton of flack around here. It sounds good on some basses, and not very good on others. You do have to do some experimentation. I have found it to sound really good on my flatback. It depends on the bass...

[MR PC]

Originally Posted by bassplayer629

Greetings! I am new to the instrument and was wondering if the bp100 pickup could be placed somewhere else on the bass, other than clipped to the bridge between the strings, to improve the tone. ie: more sound from the body and less from strings. Thanks!

I've seen them(sans clips) under the bridge feet of an (older) Kydd EUB.

[Mark Perna]

Originally Posted by Gearhead43

Haha, maybe it is a lost cause.

I think it's a shame that they still sell that POS to unsuspecting customers.

Fishman makes some great newer stuff, but they need to retire that old dog of a pickup.

I would be VERY disappointed if they did that because it works better on my main bass than: The Realist, Shadow, Schertler Stat-B AND Dyn-B, Planet Wing, The Big Twin or whatever it is called or the Underwood. I haven't tried a Full Circle yet.

Just because it doesn't work on your basses doesn't mean it sucks on all basses. And maybe it's your bass that isn't cutting it and the BP-100 is just bringing it's true sound out; after all, it works great on my bass.

I've hated every bridge wing pickup that I've tried so that cuts out the Shadow, Planet Wing and Underwood (one or two elements used). I haven't worked with the Dyn-B enough yet but if I ever do use it, it'll probably be in conjunction with another pickup. The Stat-B sounds great on whichever side you put it on but the other side sounds anemic. If it is on the G side, the G and D sound great and the E and A sound like they're in another room and visa-versa. I understand they used to market a two element version--I'd really like to try that one--too bad they discontinued it. The Big Twin just didn't sound very good on my bass.

The Realist is the odd man out. It isn't supposed to affect the acoustic sound of the bass but on every bass that I've tried it on (4 so far), it DOES affect the acoustic sound and not in a good way. It sounds better than any of the bridge wing pickups but it has severe volume limitations and I miss the sound of the strings when I use it. I hear the strings when I play acoustically, I'd like to hear the strings through the amp as well.

On my main bass, the BP-100 is a little stringy sounding but not excessively so. It has good body with lots of definition. Dynamically, it responds better than any of the pickups listed above. Hit it soft and it sounds good. Hit it hard and it has some serious balls and it doesn't compress out. Early on, I used to record with it direct into the board. THAT was a little too piezo-y but the results were good in a piezo-y kind of way. It isn't the sound I'd go for now but it sounded good for the time.

For a while I was mixing the BP-100 with the Schertler Stat-B (mounted on the G side) with pretty good results. Lately, I've been using the AMT instead of the Schertler with even better results.

mark

[AMJBASS]

Yes, I have had the same experience. I have tried quite a few pickups on my flatback(Realist, Shadow, Rev Solo, etc), and the one that responds the best is the BP100 for whatever reason. It just has a clearer response, and I don't feel I need to work hard to get a good sound with it. By dialing out a lot of the tweeter on either of my cabinets, I can get a very nice sound.

[Gearhead43]

Originally Posted by calivox

I would be VERY disappointed if they did that because it works better on my main bass than: The Realist, Shadow, Schertler Stat-B AND Dyn-B, Planet Wing, The Big Twin or whatever it is called or the Underwood. I haven't tried a Full Circle yet.

Just because it doesn't work on your basses doesn't mean it sucks on all basses. And maybe it's your bass that isn't cutting it and the BP-100 is just bringing it's true sound out; after all, it works great on my bass.

I've hated every bridge wing pickup that I've tried so that cuts out the Shadow, Planet Wing and Underwood (one or two elements used). I haven't worked with the Dyn-B enough yet but if I ever do use it, it'll probably be in conjunction with another pickup. The Stat-B sounds great on whichever side you put it on but the other side sounds anemic. If it is on the G side, the G and D sound great and the E and A sound like they're in another room and visa-versa. I understand they used to market a two element version--I'd really like to try that one--too bad they discontinued it. The Big Twin just didn't sound very good on my bass.

The Realist is the odd man out. It isn't supposed to affect the acoustic sound of the bass but on every bass that I've tried it on (4 so far), it DOES affect the acoustic sound and not in a good way. It sounds better than any of the bridge wing pickups but it has severe volume limitations and I miss the sound of the strings when I use it. I hear the strings when I play acoustically, I'd like to hear the strings through the amp as well.

On my main bass, the BP-100 is a little stringy sounding but not excessively so. It has good body with lots of definition. Dynamically, it responds better than any of the pickups listed above. Hit it soft and it sounds good. Hit it hard and it has some serious balls and it doesn't compress out. Early on, I used to record with it direct into the board. THAT was a little too piezo-y but the results were good in a piezo-y kind of way. It isn't the sound I'd go for now but it sounded good for the time.

For a while I was mixing the BP-100 with the Schertler Stat-B (mounted on the G side) with pretty good results. Lately, I've been using the AMT instead of the Schertler with even better results.

mark

The red text is the part I find most laughable. I highly doubt picking up the sound in such close proximity to the strings is reproducing the "true" tone of any double bass. Maybe your bass just doesn't "cut it" for use with any better-sounding pickups.

It could also mean your ears need a good cleaning.

Or maybe the only taste you have is in your mouth.

"Everyone else is crazy, I am the sane one".