Double Bass Clips: Ehrlund compared to DYN-B

[PB+J]

I just got the Ehrlund today--thank you Bob--and decided to run a comparison., So here's a clip of me hacking through a well-known standard. Who knows which one?

Bass: Shen 7/8 willow flatback
Strings Eva Pirazzi weichs (two years old!)

Straight into an Apogee Duet and then into logic pro. No eq or anything else

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The little rattles are the cable rattling against the top of the bass. I literally took the thing out of the box, stuck it on the bass, moved it around about a dozen times and then put it back where I put it the first time. Probably it could be optimized if I wanted to dick around with placement some more.

I've been using the DYN-B for many years. It's been fine--I never thought it was great, but A, it didn't sound like a piezo, and B it didn't feedback much. I generally had to roll off a lot of bass to avoid woofiness, and it resonates like mad around the second G unless i scoop that out with EQ. But it's otherwise been pretty good for me. The bass, acoustically, sounds more like the Dyn-B than the Ehrlund.


But I think the Ehrlund has retired the Dyn-B. The Ehrlund a much more direct sound that will probably be more effective at gigs

 

[drurb]

I like the Ehrlund recording much better. The Dyn-B has a "nasal" quality that seems unnatural to me.

 

[Eric Hochberg]

I don't know, the dyn has a lot more center to the sound, the E is more "hollow" sounding with a pronounced clack on the front of the note. What ever works, but I'm not convinced from the recordings that the E is a better sound, especially in a band.

 

[drurb]

The E recording sounds more to me like a double bass. The Dyn-B sounds more artificial. Just my preference, of course.

 

[Eric Hochberg]

I get your point after listening with ear buds.

 

[PB+J]

Neither one is as good as a good mic. The Ehrlund sounds less "mic-ish." Is it a mic or an accelerometer? But it doesn't sound piezo-ish.

I took the Dyn-b off. We had a gig at a big ballroom last week and the woofy low end of the schertler was just too hard to manage

A while ago i pocked up a headway EDB1 and I just dug an old rev solo out of a drawer. Years ago I had put it on a different bass and thought ARGH!! That's the worst sound I've ever heard! Take it off! But I put it back on and to my surprise, it didn't sound as bad as I remembered. I'm going to try blending the two at my next gig Friday night

 

[drurb]

Neither one is as good as a good mic. The Ehrlund sounds less "mic-ish." Is it a mic or an accelerometer? But it doesn't sound piezo-ish.

With more tweaking of its exact location and more experience with some tone-shaping in real gig situations, you may like the Ehrlund even better!

 

[Ric Vice]

The E recording sounds more to me like a double bass. The Dyn-B sounds more artificial. Just my preference, of course.

There isn't enough character in the DYN-B over the entire frequency spectrum of a Double Bass. It has a balanced mid range, but I wasn't enamored with it's low frequency or high frequency response. Since it's just fresh out of the box, stowing the pickup's cable would get rid of the razzzzzz that's caused by it being vibrated.

Ric

 

[Earl]

Out Of Nowhere!

 

[tito mangialajo]

I like the Ehrlund recording much better. The Dyn-B has a "nasal" quality that seems unnatural to me.

+1
the Ehrlund wins!
and now I'm thinking to buy one...
have you match Ehrlund with gut strings? I play a Gamut Lyon set.

 

[PB+J]

Out Of Nowhere!

Nailed it!

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Clips refuse to load at this time. Is it just me?

 

[PB+J]

No I think our server may be down, or some gateway to the server. Should be back up soon

 

[PB+J]

Seems to be back up now

 

[drurb]

+1
the Ehrlund wins!
and now I'm thinking to buy one...
have you match Ehrlund with gut strings? I play a Gamut Lyon set.

Sorry, I have no experience with the Ehrlund and guts but the Ehrlund is very WYHIWYG (What You Hear Is What You Get). I imagine it would impart the sound of guts rather faithfully.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Since I don't know what the bass sounds like through a mic, I can't really say if either is accurate. But in this case, the Dyn B sounds more "fake" to my ears than the Ehrlund.

 

[PB+J]

I'm probably the worst judge of what my bass really sounds like, since I've never had it professionally recorded and I'm always standing behind it. I have tried setting up a cheap condenser mike in my office and recording it, but then I hear a lousy sounding room with various random junk vibrating and resonating.

Which is more like the bass? Probably the Ehrlund

Many years ago I posted a clip of the Dyn-B compared to a shure Beta 57 mounted in the afterlength. As I listen to that clip the sound of the DYN-B is consistent

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and here's the clip of the Shure Beta-57

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If I compare the beta-57 to the Ehrulund, they're pretty close. The biggest difference might be the thunk on the front end of the notes, which I'd attribute to the two year old Eva Pirazzis that are on there right now. Interesting that in both there seems to me to be a lot less low end than with the DYN-B

 

[engedi1]

I have used the Ehrlund with a Gamut G string on top of Velvet's, and it sounded great. No different that with steel strings, it just amplifies that tone. I learned that guts aren't for me through this process, as I just needed the aggressive sound of steel strings for my project. Spiros baby!

 

[PB+J]

And just for comparisons sake I just now hacked out some clips of the Ehrlund compared to the Revolution Solo

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This is the revo solo 1, which about 7 years ago I stuck on the bass and thought was the worst sounding, most horrible thing I'd ever encountered. Now it doesn't sound bad at all. I can only guess that seven years ago, I had a bad impedance mismatch going on. Or maybe it went through some magical aging process in the drawer and is now a "vintage" rev solo.

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The Ehrlund has way more string noise and mic-ish artifacts and sounds better overall, but not as much better as I expected

 

[drurb]

...The bass, acoustically, sounds more like the Dyn-B than the Ehrlund.

...Which is more like the bass? Probably the Ehrlund

Final answer. Thanks for posting all of those clips! I switched from the Rev Solo 2 to the Ehrlund. The Rev Solo 2 is now my backup. It's really among the best of the piezo pickups. The Rev Solo 2 is, IMO, even better than the Rev Solo 1 you recorded. The Ehrlund, IMO, wins hands down.