Six Rounds Double Bass Pickups?

[tomersg]

does anybody here have experience with those pickups?
http://www.sixrounds.com/index.html
they are very very cheap and look very easy to install.
they are available at ebay.
any opinions?
thanks.

[Francois Blais]

CB3000 had one for sale on the Classifieds recently.
Maybe he'll chime in!

[tomersg]

no answer here...
for 40$ and free worldwide shipping, i decided to give them a try.
i had no further experience with other DB piezo pickup, except for the Palatino EUB that i have, and have piezo but no acoustics..
so, i found them very nice. very easy to install. no need for pro job.
its fits well my low budget and my cheap old 63 KAY C1.
i didn't gigged with it yet. but tried to record it into my humble home studio and its sound nice. with shure sm57 below the the bridge and mixing together the two sources, i can get nice sound.
but take my words with a grain of salt...
i am only a starter on the double bass.

but for only 40$ and free shipping - its not big risk to try, in comparison to the much expensive alternatives out there.

[seamonkey]

Same idea and even cheaper:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ger?sku=444035

[fovea1959]

tomersg (or anyone else that has one of these): how did this work out in a gigging situation? was it a good investment, or not worth the $50?

I see they have a "Double Barrel" also, anyone have any experience with that?

[Francois Blais]

I bought one a few months ago but didn't like it.
Just my $0.02.

[tomersg]

more than two years have passed..and still never gigged with the kay UB..
sorry.

[SteveFreides]

Originally Posted by fovea1959

tomersg (or anyone else that has one of these): how did this work out in a gigging situation? was it a good investment, or not worth the $50?

I see they have a "Double Barrel" also, anyone have any experience with that?

I have their "original" model and I love it. I am an occasional gigger and it meets my needs perfectly.

I didn't get the "double barrel" because I feel like my arco playing, amplified, sounds too trebly. I think if you only rarely play arco, or perhaps if you just play arco better than I do, you might prefer it. A little in-line switch in the double barrel to turn off the treble-side pickup would be a good addition, IMHO - don't know if that's even feasible, though.

FWIW, I also find that I'm a lot louder playing arco and therefore turn down my volume for arco numbers. When I'm in situations where I'm just barely amplifying for pizz, I hit the Mute button on my amp for arco. If I did this more often, I'd probably look into a volume pedal for myself.

-S-

[SteveFreides]

Originally Posted by seamonkey

Same idea and even cheaper:
Buy Pulse Percussion Red Hots DR-1 Drum Trigger | Acoustic Triggers | Musician's Friend

I'm gonna try this - will add it the next time I order online.

-S-

[TimmyP]

Originally Posted by SteveFreides

I'm gonna try this - will add it the next time I order online.

-S-

I doubt it will work well. All a drum trigger has to do is put out a pulse that has an amplitude that is related to the vibration that it sees. A bass pickup has to do much more. (But, I could be wrong!)

[drurb]

Originally Posted by TimmyP

I doubt it will work well. All a drum trigger has to do is put out a pulse that has an amplitude that is related to the vibration that it sees. A bass pickup has to do much more. (But, I could be wrong!)

I suspect you're right. The piezo chosen for a trigger application need not have a response as linear as we'd want in a good bass pickup. In addition, there'd be no reason to employ damping and loading materials to shape the response as are included in the better DB piezo pickups. Maybe SteveFreides will post of his experience if he ends up with one.

[SteveFreides]

Originally Posted by drurb

I suspect you're right. The piezo chosen for a trigger application need not have a response as linear as we'd want in a good bass pickup. In addition, there'd be no reason to employ damping and loading materials to shape the response as are included in the better DB piezo pickups. Maybe SteveFreides will post of his experience if he ends up with one.

I ordered it - will post once it gets here. I have my SixRounds semi-permanently installed in the bass side wing so I'll try this one on the treble side - chose the cheap shipping so it'll be a week or so until it gets here, I suspect.

-S-

[seamonkey]

I've been using it for years.
Even sold off my other pickup.
I don't bother trying to explain it to people if they ask.
You need a preamp like any piezo.
They make a bigger size, if you think size matters
Pulse KD-1 Acoustic Kick Drum Trigger: Shop Drums & Percussion & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend
But a little EQ may do just as good.

I would be interested in a blind test, with proper EQ first, if people could tell. Even so, it takes only seconds to install and is cheap to carry around if you need a pickup on the fly.

The pressure I apply to the shims I use also changes the frequency response.
And be sure to use Cedar shims for the best tone.

Buy another one for your neck, to get the neck tone in.

Or super glue to a neodymium magnet. This and an inside magnet you can move to anyplace on the bass a rib doesn't interfere with. (Hint close to the bass side of the bridge seems best)

Best of luck!

[SteveFreides]

Originally Posted by SteveFreides

I ordered it - will post once it gets here. I have my SixRounds semi-permanently installed in the bass side wing so I'll try this one on the treble side - chose the cheap shipping so it'll be a week or so until it gets here, I suspect.

It arrived a few days ago - been busy, only had time for a quick test, stuck it in the bridge wing on the treble side, plugged it into the amp, sounded fine to me.

I will try to do a more sophisticated test later on. I will play both this and the SixRounds through my AI setup and record it on m Zoom H2. I'll also see if I can go direct from the pickup to the H2 with an adapter - that would be cool, maybe from the DI of the amp to the recorder.

-S-

[SteveFreides]

Originally Posted by seamonkey

I've been using it for years.
Even sold off my other pickup.
I don't bother trying to explain it to people if they ask.
You need a preamp like any piezo.
They make a bigger size, if you think size matters
Pulse KD-1 Acoustic Kick Drum Trigger: Shop Drums & Percussion & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend

I just ordered one of these, too.

I will a/b/c test when it gets here.

{Edit} - for those for whom $15 is too much, one can apparently do this with a $2 part from Radio Shack, provided you're willing to wire and package it yourself.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062402

DIY'ers, enjoy!

-S-

[seamonkey]

Or buy a mass of them here:
Piezo Disc | Edmund Scientific

[SteveFreides]

I was made aware of yet another cheap option today, a "contact mic"

Korg CM100L Clip On Contact Tuner Mic at zZounds

I have no idea if it's any good, but I was listening to a fifth grader play through it today and it did the job for his level of playing. (Yes, I ordered one.)

-S-

[Downunderwonder]

I just ordered a sixrounds rockabilly set. Anyone got experiences to report?

[SteveFreides]

I reported my experience earlier in this thread - I'm happy with mine - does what it's supposed to do, sounds fine.

-S-

[Downunderwonder]

This is not going so well at all. My order and payment hasn't been acknowledged and no reply to email. I followed up by calling and their answerphone cuts me off at about 4 seconds in......not how e-commerce usually works.