I found a very inexpensive upright bass pickup, sold by andycheng2002 on eBay. This disc pickup that is inserted into the bridge wing. I bought the one element version to give it a try, and at under $25 it seemed like a low risk purchase. The disk is a little large, about the size of a quarter, and it's blue. Some will find it ugly. It comes with a couple of pieces of cork for wedging it into the bridge wing, and a zip tie to anchor down the output jack. I used a piece of thin leather around the jack barrel and attached it pointed down on the G side of the tail piece with the zip tie through the hole in the tailpiece. It works well for me.
Last weekend I tried it in church. First impression was while using a Korg PitchBlack tuner. Tuning using the pickup as the signal source was a breeze - it just as fast as tuning an electric.
I had spent a little time the night before adjusting EQ on a Berringer bass DI. I needed to add a load of bass and cut a fair amount of treble to get a decent sound using a Roland baby bass cube (super flat amp model). I hoped that this would be an OK sounding signal to sent to the board.
After our quick rehearsal I checked with the sound guy and got glowing reviews of the sound quality. Compared to the usual set up of a vocal mic on a boom stand aimed at the G side F-hole I'm sure it did sound pretty good. The best part for me was that I did not need to stay still - I could move a little and have a consistent signal to the board.
I think it is worth the $25 just for the ease of tuning. It seems to take a fair amount of EQ to make it sound good, but that may be how I installed it or my personal taste. We'll see how long it lasts used about four times a month for church services.
Last weekend I tried it in church. First impression was while using a Korg PitchBlack tuner. Tuning using the pickup as the signal source was a breeze - it just as fast as tuning an electric.
I had spent a little time the night before adjusting EQ on a Berringer bass DI. I needed to add a load of bass and cut a fair amount of treble to get a decent sound using a Roland baby bass cube (super flat amp model). I hoped that this would be an OK sounding signal to sent to the board.
After our quick rehearsal I checked with the sound guy and got glowing reviews of the sound quality. Compared to the usual set up of a vocal mic on a boom stand aimed at the G side F-hole I'm sure it did sound pretty good. The best part for me was that I did not need to stay still - I could move a little and have a consistent signal to the board.
I think it is worth the $25 just for the ease of tuning. It seems to take a fair amount of EQ to make it sound good, but that may be how I installed it or my personal taste. We'll see how long it lasts used about four times a month for church services.
