Underwood blend

[glutah]

Howdy folks, I just came across what I think is a good deal for a used underwood pickup (75), is that a good deal? And how would it sound if I used that and my realist blended together at the same time? Thanks for your help!

[rasbass]

I just added my FC to my realist (I had both already). My FC does not sound near as good as the Realist but it was pointed out to me that it needs to be flush with the bridge, and mine is not, so I need to remount it.

Even so, just for fun I tried the blend at my last gig, and a pragmatic problem arose. Since I could not change the blend with reaching my amp, it was not easy to tweak in real time to see how the different sounds balanced.

That being said, I suspect that there is a nice sweet spot with some of both pickups that sounds great- but I am not sure it is worth the extra effort: a second patch cord and an extra item in the chain (mixer).

So, if I were you and had the $ sitting around, why not? Best case, an improved sound that makes it more fun to play, and worse case, sell it and get your money back out of it.

[glutah]

I use a radial PZ preamp and it had 2 channels that are blend able, should be fun. Is 90 a good price for that pickup?

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by glutah

I use a radial PZ preamp and it had 2 channels that are blend able, should be fun. Is 90 a good price for that pickup?

Just from my perspective, I really have never bought into the blending of two sound sources, although I do frequently send my DPA 4099B FOH, and use the Ehrlund EAP and Preamp into my amplifier. I believe the Underwood is $157.00, so the price is certainly attractive. I used the Underwood for many years, it never let me down, but bowing with that particular pickup is very difficult, it essentially requires that you have two different EQ's, one for arco, and one for pizzicato. Even then it's still pretty much a crap shoot.

Ric

[Roger Mouton]

Ric -
There's another thread floating around somewhere about blending pick ups. I think you contributed to that one as well. The input is appreciated. In that other post I discussed having talked to a bassist who had a BP-100 and Underwood on the same bass. I asked him about it and he showed me a simple Y connector purchased from Radio Shack. I have a BP-100. Never liked it that much. It turns out I already had a Y connector from some stereo record experiment "years ago".

I started to think about the installation of the BP-100 on my current bridge. Then I remembered it's curved on top, meaning ooops, it can't go there. A local said to put it on the bottom of the bridge. The Fishman guy at NAMM wouldn't hear of it. The BP-100 never sounded good, or even any different, no matter where I put it, top or bottom of a bridge. What I realized about the test I will eventually perform with this Y connector and 2 pick ups is that it's possible to do a simple A/B test of them separately and then together.

As you might surmise, from the length of time it's taken from the previous thread, I'm not in a rush to do this but I will report back the results.

[DoubleMIDI]

My experiments with piezos connected in parallel (without preamplifcation) were not succesful, the sound always degraded. So I always preamplify the piezos before mixing the signals.
So I would never use an Y-cable to connect two piezos.

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by Roger Mouton

Ric -
There's another thread floating around somewhere about blending pick ups. I think you contributed to that one as well. The input is appreciated.

Roger,
Thanks, For the most part I try to contribute to threads where I have owned the gear under discussion. Since at one time, I had the Underwood, or the Fishman BP-100 I added to the posts.

Originally Posted by Roger Mouton

As you might surmise, from the length of time it's taken from the previous thread, I'm not in a rush to do this but I will report back the results.

I haven't done any experimenting for about 2 years now. Fortunately, the Ehrlund EAP and Pre Amp just solved my problems with Double Bass amplification. Occasionally, when I need to go FOH I pull out the DPA. Personally, I think it's a very wise decision to take the time required to come up with a useable pickup that works on your instrument with your amplifier.

It's always been interesting that Fishman Bass Pickups are usually variations of other transducers, where the initial, R&D was done elsewhere. I once had a long conversation with Don Underwood, who mentioned that since he had a patten on a dual element bridge wing pickup, which he did all the R&D on, Fishman had to go with the clip mounting system for their dual first element pickup bass pickup. I think the same could be said of the Full Circle, as it is a lower cost variation of the Yakahimo. Just my observation.

Ric

[glutah]

Glad to report this works nicely with the tonebone pre!!!