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Double Bass Anyone experienced sound problems with the Bridge EU Cetus Bass?

B

Bassist4334

Feb 28, 2014
5
0
#1
I have owned mine for the last 15yrs from new and have for the last 18mths experienced serious sound problems, no longer any attack from the instrument and have lost all lower end. The strings and bridge have all been replaced but the sound is still lacking. Would previously have penetrated the loudest of big bands but now won't even penetrate a small jazz quartet!

Any ideas fellow bassists? Just to let you know I have been working with the makers (Bridge Violins) for the last 18mths but still the problem persists, getting really fed up with it now. I've even bought a Mark Bass rig so that is not the problem!!

Thanks for your help.
 
#4
Thanks Guy's
The bass itself doesn't have a sound post because the body is solid, the pickups (I believe there are two) sit within the wooden bridge. The company tell me they too have been replaced but the sound is still not there, all that happens when you increase the volume is that the sound gets louder, there is no attack from the strings when played with the finger!!
 
#5
The pickups are piezo and there are two! Appealing to the electronics experts out there, my question is can piezo pickups become faulty and if so how would they, would you be taking risks playing in extreme conditions such as warm to cold or vice versa?

Thanks guys, appreciate your help,

Neil.
 
#6
Piezos that are under pressure (like bridge foot pickups and adjuster pickups) can get damaged over time by the pressure and varying pressure footprint (by a tilting bridge).

Bridge wing pickups usually only by hard impact or cable failure.

My experiments have shown that connecting two piezos in parallel makes a bad sound. So I built an impedance buffer for each of the two pickup elements of my EUB and mixed the output (!) of the impedance buffers. That sounds much better.

Check your piezo wiring. Often only one element sounds much better than two connected in parallel before any impedance buffer or amp input.
 

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