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Double Bass Wilson pickup

#5
Originally posted by TURDLOCK
He did Mustang Sally, didn't he?
Click to expand...

Yeah, but so did a lot of other people. She wasn't too particular, you know...


Back to the subject of Wilson pickups, I have an old copy of Double Bassist which lists a bunch of players who use/endorse Wilsons. I'm too lazy to copy the whole list, but it includes players such as:

NHOP
George Mraz
Pattitucci
Gary Peacock
Marc Johnson
Eddie Gomez
Reggie Workman
Dave Young
Miroslaz Vitous
Milt Hinton
Jay Anderson
Arni Egilsson
Chris Minh Doky

....and about 50 more. A pretty impressive list, if it's all true.
 
#7
Hi !
So i searched the forum but did not find any info ..
Ive heard a lot of good words about the danish WILSON pickup , people saying its the best pickup and so ..
What i can say after hearing Mihn Doky and NHÖP live a few times i must say i love that amplifing ..

Ive played the Realist and The B100 , but the WILSON seems like the perfect pickup for me , since i dont like using a seperated condensor mic with the pickup ..

So what can you guys who plays the WILSON say about it ? Do you like it ? do you think its a good buy ? Does it work good both in studio and live ?
I use a French 3/4 1890 ..

Thanks !
/ Ale
 
#8
I have had a wilson for the past 4 years and it has always sounded great wherever I have played. I just have a pre-war Kay and I run it through an iAmp 500 and it sounds amazing. You can also adjust the volume of each individual string, which has come in handy many times. I will say if you want a pure "old school" thumping sound you might want to go with something else, but the Wilson is clear as a bell and if you ever have to play at very loud volumes it can handle it without any feedback. It also sounds good with the bow, but imo not as good as a realist blended with a mic (or the wilson itself blended with a mic). The price is a bit steep, but honestly it is very worth it. I love it and imo it's the best p/u out there.
 
#9
hi ale, thanks for your reply on the cab-thread.
i have the wilson for about 6 month and i LOVE it so much that i cant remember the price anymore. it seems to be a part of the NHOP-sound. the sound is very accurate and even along the whole board. maybe the mids are a little accentuated which makes the higher notes sound glassy (but not nasal). the dynamic is huge. each string is adjustable in volume.
 
#10
Thank you very much guys for the fast answers!

Sadowsky : Im really not into that old school sound , at all , i like the more hitech clear sound , and what ive heard from the WILSON it just seems perfect , not like the realist in that way .. Yeah the price is a lot , but its a investment , if you play proffesional its worth it , since its a working tool.

!6Fuss: No problem , its fun to here from people who uses that mic .. And man , i must say that NHOP had the greatest bass sound ever .. Of course its a lot in the hands but also in the bass and pickup/amp ..

Once again thanks , and if there are any more people who like to share their thaughts just bring it in !

/ Ale
 
#13
I have a Wilson pickup that was installed on the old German Plywood. Very string sounding. Nice when mixed with other stuff. I really liked it mixed with the realist. I took it off to sell to someone who wanted it but they bailed. I should put it back on the old girl as the 4 holes look funny without it.

My teacher has used a Wilson for a long time mixed with a mic. He sounds fantastic when playing jazz.

I like the Full Circle for what I do better. I go for a fat sound with lots of bass but also lots of wood.
 
#14
I have a Wilson in my Wilfer 4-string since about 10 years. It’s not a very natural sounding pickup but I like it. Al strings are well balanced and it delivers enough heights and lows. You can go very loud with it and what is the most important: it is absolutely without any problem. You do not need special cables, preamps, batteries and so one … just plug in and play. I am considering buying one for my 5-string too … ;)

Eastman
 
#15
I have a wilson on my recent bass, which is a Wilfer or something very similar. I been using the realist over the years and loved it. Very good with bow, "realistic" sound and responce and you can also go loud with it.

The wilson is I would say pretty ok. I have not tried that bass with a realist so it's hard to make a good statement. The wilson is clear and fast and pretty neutral in its sound. A little thick and compressed, but in a quite good way. However since it is piezo elements that are attached pretty close to the strings you will get a "stringier" sound than with realist. In other words, it does not really sound like your bass but louder. But, I've done some recording with it and sound techs like it and I've heard some live recordings that is pretty nice actually. Perhaps I'm not just used to that kind of pu sound and response. The wilson is also quite good with the bow, if that's important to you...

And Ale, if you like the NHOP sound I think the wilson is a good pu. (Although I think that he used a magnetic pu a lot). You are welcome to come to Stockholm and try my bass with the Wilson.

/TD
 
#17
stockbass said:
I have a wilson on my recent bass, which is a Wilfer or something very similar. I been using the realist over the years and loved it. Very good with bow, "realistic" sound and responce and you can also go loud with it.

The wilson is I would say pretty ok. I have not tried that bass with a realist so it's hard to make a good statement. The wilson is clear and fast and pretty neutral in its sound. A little thick and compressed, but in a quite good way. However since it is piezo elements that are attached pretty close to the strings you will get a "stringier" sound than with realist. In other words, it does not really sound like your bass but louder. But, I've done some recording with it and sound techs like it and I've heard some live recordings that is pretty nice actually. Perhaps I'm not just used to that kind of pu sound and response. The wilson is also quite good with the bow, if that's important to you...

And Ale, if you like the NHOP sound I think the wilson is a good pu. (Although I think that he used a magnetic pu a lot). You are welcome to come to Stockholm and try my bass with the Wilson.

/TD
Click to expand...

Hi stockbass ,
I like the more Hitech sound , more compressed and more of that electric feeling , i think the wilson and a good microphone is an excellent combination ..

Och tack för inbjudan :D , spelar på Nalen den 2/9 så om du orkar ta med basen på axeln då så säg till :D:D

/ Ale
 
#18
I owned a Wilson for a long time and used it seldom. I first installed it on a Prague Juzek and it worked pretty well. I sold the bass (still kick myself) and put it on my Voigt & Geiger. It was very dark, ala Fishman, but I think I drilled the holes too close to the strings. I haven't read anything on this, but I suspect that if you place the sensors close (like 7mm) to the strings, you will get a stringy EUB sound, and if you drill farther away (like 12mm) you will get a more woody, acoustic tone. I am doing OK with my first generation Schertler, so I decided to sell the Wilson. I was surprised at how many people wanted it, particularly from Holland.

The trouble with this pickup is that you are really committing yourself when you start drilling a bunch of holes in your bridge. You can't easily undrill 'em, and there's no way to decide upon the perfect spot unless you have your own shop, and can experiment on a large number of bridge tops.

Perhaps someone could contact all the "happy users" and get information on where their holes have been drilled (might be to personal!).

I got mine from Ideal Music in NYC. I don't recommend them at all, but you can get some good prices there.

Robobass
 
#19
robobass said:
I owned a Wilson for a long time and used it seldom. I first installed it on a Prague Juzek and it worked pretty well. I sold the bass (still kick myself) and put it on my Voigt & Geiger. It was very dark, ala Fishman, but I think I drilled the holes too close to the strings. I haven't read anything on this, but I suspect that if you place the sensors close (like 7mm) to the strings, you will get a stringy EUB sound, and if you drill farther away (like 12mm) you will get a more woody, acoustic tone. I am doing OK with my first generation Schertler, so I decided to sell the Wilson. I was surprised at how many people wanted it, particularly from Holland.

The trouble with this pickup is that you are really committing yourself when you start drilling a bunch of holes in your bridge. You can't easily undrill 'em, and there's no way to decide upon the perfect spot unless you have your own shop, and can experiment on a large number of bridge tops.

Perhaps someone could contact all the "happy users" and get information on where their holes have been drilled (might be to personal!).

I got mine from Ideal Music in NYC. I don't recommend them at all, but you can get some good prices there.

Robobass
Click to expand...


Ah thats too bad , think its pretty sensitive where you drill the holes .. Wilson says it should be 8mm from the string ..
maybe its best to let a luthier/violinshop do it ..

O so its possible to get it from other stores ? i thaught the only way to purchase them was via Wilson himself ..

/ Ale
 
#20
B String said:
Anyone using a Wilson pickup
at the moment? I just got a new
Wilfer, and I'd like some opinions
befor I put holes in my nice new
bridge. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I have tried a few picups ended up spending £200, still was not happy. I came across Wilson and I must say it is the best pickup out there, but has to be used with a preamp, I had a big problem, because there was no gain at all and it sounded crap, then I used a small preamp with an ampeg and it was great, I still was not happy with the sound, fortunatly, my new ampeg blew up after 1 gig, so I bought the acustic image amp and I tell you, wilson and acustic image is the dogs bollocks, it is awsome, every one who hears it is stunned. Just wish I came across Wilson before, it would have saved me £200
 

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