Double Bass amped strings?

[onzerelli]

Hoping for a bit of advice on the best strings to go for with an amplified double bass.

I'm playing americana/country/blues using a 1980's beat up andreas zeller 3/4 db.

looking for an old school kinda sound and have tried innovation honeys,d'addario pizz
and cheap steels.

Problem I'm having is the sound changes so much in the live mix.Line up is 2 acoustics
and harmonica + 4 vocals.

Fairly new to all this but it seems I need a nasty middley presency sound to start with
as all this goes and I'm left with mud live.

Using a sr technology BB 300 amp and a transducer/mic blend.

It could be that this is more the problem and have thought about a neck mount magnetic pickup or better transducer,however would be interested to here how
you guys stateside are getting a sound for this genre as most dtrings seem to
be orchestral/jazz/rockabily which doesn't really apply.

this link shows a similar lineup/sound ,in fact we do this track!

YouTube - ‪Dozens of Dollars - "Hold On" on The Player's Spot‬‏

Many thanks in advance

 

[Francois Blais]

Hi, and welcome on Talkbass.
What's your transducer?
Did you look at the Bluegrass [DB] - TalkBass Forums board too?

Link Removed doesn,t say what's the input impedance.
Do you plug the transducer directly in, or do you use a preamp ?

Regards,
François

 

[onzerelli]

Thanks Francois,profile updated.Not sure what my transducer is but it is similar configuration to an underwood slipping in both sides of bridge but smaller.Rubber encased bricks shaped about 3/4"x1/4"x1/8".I'm pretty sure it needs a preamp(looking at a Baggs twin something or other tomorrow).
Will call SR and check input impedence.

Thanks for the bluegrass link.

 

[engedi1]

Thanks Francois,profile updated.Not sure what my transducer is but it is similar configuration to an underwood slipping in both sides of bridge but smaller.Rubber encased bricks shaped about 3/4"x1/4"x1/8".I'm pretty sure it needs a preamp(looking at a Baggs twin something or other tomorrow).
Will call SR and check input impedence.

Thanks for the bluegrass link.

Impedance could be your whole problem. I would focus on that first before spending $$$ trying out various string. Impedance issues can take all the life and punch out of your tone and leave you with nothing but mud. IMHO, there are NO pickups out there that don't need a preamp to sound their best, some to work period. Most bass amps are simply not designed to handle the impedance from a piezo pickup and require a pre of some sort. You could even get a preamp built buy a tber who is an engineer, named FDEK for a VERY reasonable price that will do wonders for your tone, or get many commercially available models of course.

 

[onzerelli]

I've bee offered a second hand Baggs mix pro,any users? My amp does have three channels one of which is a dedicated mic channel with phantom power so the mixpro seems more than i need
and I can always reverse the phase with a soldering iron.

 

[engedi1]

Also, just nothing that you can have phasing issues with the pickups that are based on the underwood design, with two transducers. This is where the signal from the left will cancel out certain frequencies in the right or vice versa. This is why most popular transducers have 1 unit, like the full circle or realist. This could be your problem... Can't speak to the mix pro. K and K sells simple preamps in the $80 range, or Fdecks is about $40.

 

[Meddle771]

Take a lesson or two (or many) with the best jazz player you can find. The problems you are having might not be in the equipment your using...

 

[engedi1]

Take a lesson or two (or many) with the best jazz player you can find. The problems you are having might not be in the equipment your using...

+1. It is hard to give advice for bass stuff overseas! An experience player/teacher should be able to help you find out what the problem with your setup is, since he could play through your rig personally. A good teacher could probably save you countless hours and hundreds or thousands of dollars of experimentation.

 

[onzerelli]

Thanks for all the advice.Working on my sound without amplification first.As the last two posts rightly point out my playing ability/technique etc are my sound,and keeping this in mind is already helping!

many thanks

 

[Huy Nguyen]

You should be looking up amplification techniques for DB in the DB Amplification forum. Make sure you read the stickies - this question has been answered (or at least attempted to) many times before. There are several tactics you can take, some even involve stuffing the f-holes and dampening the afterlengths as well as the usual pickup selection.