I have been attempting to blend pickups for a couple of years now and really haven't had very good luck. I am currently using a Yamaha SLB300 Silent bass with the built in electronics (previously used an eminence with a realist) mixed with a Krivo magnetic pickup. I have been using a Radial Bassbone OD to attempt to blend the two signals but it's hard to get a balanced tone when mixed. One seems to always overpower the other to to extent where one is the core tone and the other is just subtle flavoring. I also seem to run into string balance issues when mixing the two signals I don't notice when playing either pickup soloed. I'm not sure if I'm using this term correctly, but the notes can sound kind of "phase-y" strange when blended. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, how did you get past it? What blending box did you use?
I think my blender/pre/DI is part of the issue. I've found after years of using it that the Bassbone has a lot of features, but most of them are pretty mediocre (big gain drop when signals mixed, useless OD, crude EQ that is mostly just cuts and boosts, crappy switchable HPFs, weird sounding effects loop) but I like the DI, impedance drag for the magnetic pickup, tuner out, channel selector, and mute switch. It also sounds good and sound professionals love to see a radial DI on stage! The only other preamp/DI/Blender that seems to have the features I need is the grace designs Felix, which seems like a whole lot to spend and could perhaps not solve the issue.
I'm generally playing on pretty large / very large stages these days and we don't tour with our own sound person. My goal on most nights on tour is to send a strong, usable, good sounding signal to the front of house without feedback. Sending the Krivo soloed always works, but sometimes the mixed in piezo only comes through the mix in a negative way (brittle finger noise, hot notes, ill-defined low thump, some feedback on sustained notes.) If anyone has any advice, experience, or insight to this topic.
(I know magnetic pickups are lame on DB. I just need to use one for a touring band that requires ear-splitting volume and an analog octaver.)
I think my blender/pre/DI is part of the issue. I've found after years of using it that the Bassbone has a lot of features, but most of them are pretty mediocre (big gain drop when signals mixed, useless OD, crude EQ that is mostly just cuts and boosts, crappy switchable HPFs, weird sounding effects loop) but I like the DI, impedance drag for the magnetic pickup, tuner out, channel selector, and mute switch. It also sounds good and sound professionals love to see a radial DI on stage! The only other preamp/DI/Blender that seems to have the features I need is the grace designs Felix, which seems like a whole lot to spend and could perhaps not solve the issue.
I'm generally playing on pretty large / very large stages these days and we don't tour with our own sound person. My goal on most nights on tour is to send a strong, usable, good sounding signal to the front of house without feedback. Sending the Krivo soloed always works, but sometimes the mixed in piezo only comes through the mix in a negative way (brittle finger noise, hot notes, ill-defined low thump, some feedback on sustained notes.) If anyone has any advice, experience, or insight to this topic.
(I know magnetic pickups are lame on DB. I just need to use one for a touring band that requires ear-splitting volume and an analog octaver.)
