all this is even more apparent with Arco. No piezo pickup can even come close to the Ehrlund with the bow.
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Double Bass Clips: Ehrlund compared to DYN-B
- Thread starter PB+J
- Start date
Final answer.Thanks for posting all of those clips! I switched from the Rev Solo 2 to the Ehrlund. The Rev Solo 2 is now my backup. It's really among the best of the piezo pickups. The Rev Solo 2 is, IMO, even better than the Rev Solo 1 you recorded. The Ehrlund, IMO, wins hands down.
I liked the Ehrlund so much that I have an Ehrlund as a backup with an additional pre amp. The Revolution Solo 1 that I had sits in my gig bag, so I guess it's a backup for the backup, but I hope not to ever have to go there.
Ric Vice said:I liked the Ehrlund so much that I have an Ehrlund as a backup with an additional pre amp. The Revolution Solo 1 that I had sits in my gig bag, so I guess it's a backup for the backup, but I hope not to ever have to go there.
A backup Ehrlund. Now, that's serious!
I just tested the Ehrlund out with the rig I'll be gigging with tonight, a Headway preamp into an EV zxA1 powered monitor.
The Ehrlund needed more Eq'uing with this rig than it did going into the Apogee duet. I need to roll off the lows to about 10 o'clock and the highs to about the same to get a sound I liked. But it wasn't a good test. Tonight I'll get a better idea and report back. I'm going to try just the Ehrlund, and maybe blend in the rev solo if needed. Good times!
Or not. It's a sub gig tonight, I've never played with these people. Not the best situation for dicking around with new gear
The Ehrlund needed more Eq'uing with this rig than it did going into the Apogee duet. I need to roll off the lows to about 10 o'clock and the highs to about the same to get a sound I liked. But it wasn't a good test. Tonight I'll get a better idea and report back. I'm going to try just the Ehrlund, and maybe blend in the rev solo if needed. Good times!
Or not. It's a sub gig tonight, I've never played with these people. Not the best situation for dicking around with new gear
Nice combination
Thing is, after giging with the Ehrlund for two years now, I've found that using it's own pre amp into the Headway EDB-1 will yield you a dramatically, better sound quality.
I know it's another $145.00, but, at least in my case, the Ehrlund pre makes a huge difference.
Good luck, it may be a trial by fire, but occasionally those kinds of experiences tell you more than your regular situation would.
Ric
Tried it last night--restaurant gig, medium sized room, me, piano, singer, large loud party. It was ok, just ok
At lower volumes the Ehrlund was great. it tended to be a little thin sounding, so I rolled off some of the highs and some of the lows, which focused it better. As volume got higher it was much less effective, though, and by the end of the night I was glad I had the rev solo.
This is just a preliminary experience--I've got three gigs next week to fine tune it
At lower volumes the Ehrlund was great. it tended to be a little thin sounding, so I rolled off some of the highs and some of the lows, which focused it better. As volume got higher it was much less effective, though, and by the end of the night I was glad I had the rev solo.
This is just a preliminary experience--I've got three gigs next week to fine tune it
My first experience with the Ehrlund, was very similar to yours. Bass, 7 String Guitar, and Clarinet. Very loud crowd at a physicians award banquet. At that time I didn't have the Ehrlund Pre Amp. Interestingly though I couldn't hear myself as well as I'd like, the other two players thought it sounded wonderful.
Unlike a piezo pickup, the Ehlund's volume increase will fool you, because it's gain structure is linear. There have been actual occasions where out front, I was pretty loud, but this wasn't necessarily the case, standing right next to the amp, on the stage. It's tone quality, is complimentary to the other instruments being played on stage at the same time. It doesn't have that in your face quality of a piezo.
Of course, that makes sense to me at least. After the first gig I was ready to sell mine, and then discovered it was perfectly fine after I bought the Ehrlund Pre Amp, and used it with a 12 piece big band.
RIc
I've since done a bunch of gigs with the Ehrlund, and I'm pretty impressed. I did two small-room gigs at low volume, with the Ehrlund only only, and one big room, loud gig where I had to blend it with a piezo pickup.
At higher volumes things kind of went to hell, as they generally do, and I had to blend in a good bit of piezo to get an effective sound. But at low to moderate volume the Ehrlund produced a much more realistic and mic-like sound.
The rig was an Ehrlund and a rev solo into a Headway EDB1 into an EV ZX1 powered monitor. With the Ehrlund, I find I have to roll the high mid back a bit or the tone seems to lack "body." My bass has a boomy resonance at around the second "G" that I try to address with the notch filter.
At higher volumes things kind of went to hell, as they generally do, and I had to blend in a good bit of piezo to get an effective sound. But at low to moderate volume the Ehrlund produced a much more realistic and mic-like sound.
The rig was an Ehrlund and a rev solo into a Headway EDB1 into an EV ZX1 powered monitor. With the Ehrlund, I find I have to roll the high mid back a bit or the tone seems to lack "body." My bass has a boomy resonance at around the second "G" that I try to address with the notch filter.
My rig, is either a Walter Woods MI-400-8 or a Woods Electroacoustic Ultra, and those amps were rated at 8 ohms. The MI-400-8 is 400 watts and The Ultra is 600 watts. Using them with a 4 ohm TC 112 I have so much available headroom, that all I have to do is EQ the Ehrlund.
I've played in 12 piece big bands with no problem at all.
My rig, is either a Walter Woods MI-400-8 or a Woods Electroacoustic Ultra, and those amps were rated at 8 ohms. The MI-400-8 is 400 watts and The Ultra is 600 watts. Using them with a 4 ohm TC 112 I have so much available headroom, that all I have to do is EQ the Ehrlund.
I've played in 12 piece big bands with no problem at all.
My experience is identical, the Headway High Midrange just sounds ugly, so it's rolled back to around 9 OClock.
I've tried to use the notch and found that it didn't work for me. My bass opens up on the A string, and I don't want to notch out that area because it's the frequency where most walking lines sound best. So I just roll the lower midrange or bass back to compensate.
Ric
I've played in 12 piece big bands with no problem at all.
My rig, is either a Walter Woods MI-400-8 or a Woods Electroacoustic Ultra, and those amps were rated at 8 ohms. The MI-400-8 is 400 watts and The Ultra is 600 watts. Using them with a 4 ohm TC 112 I have so much available headroom, that all I have to do is EQ the Ehrlund.
I've played in 12 piece big bands with no problem at all.
My experience is identical, the Headway High Midrange just sounds ugly, so it's rolled back to around 9 OClock.
I've tried to use the notch and found that it didn't work for me. My bass opens up on the A string, and I don't want to notch out that area because it's the frequency where most walking lines sound best. So I just roll the lower midrange or bass back to compensate.
Ric
As I've mentioned before, "gain is gain" and that comes after the transducer. The "gain structure" really isn't a property of the transducer's described linearity. It amplifies quite differently, I believe because of the properties of the waveform it produces (see all the attack/decay temporal profile stuff).
Interesting... this is one of the problems that the Ehrlund solved for me. I posted elsewhere my explanation for the phenomenon that as amplification increases, the Ehrlund seems to yield a bigger and bigger version of a double bass (specifically mine).
Les,
Thanks as I tend to forget these things. In layman's terms I think what I have going, is the a signal chain that includes the Ehrlund Pre Amp, an input volume control, and a master volume control. It appears that each of those three volume controls, l give me a volume increase. I usually have the volume control on the Ehrlund Pre Amp set somewhere between, 3 or 4. Especially in close quarters, where feedback lurks just around every corner.
+1 I could never get the same volume out of a Realist or Underwood, or Revolution Solo I, before it began to feed back. The Ehrlund is much louder and fuller than either of those pickups, with my bass, strings, amp, and speaker.
Ric
I'l admit that the problem of multiple gains stages has been huge for me. I have the channel gain on the preamp, then the master level out to the EV, then the volume control on the EV. That's a lot of stages.
The Ehrlund seems to need a lot of gain on the headway preamp
The Ehrlund seems to need a lot of gain on the headway preamp
I have a QSC K8 that I use in conjunction with the Ehrlund for smaller gigs. On those occasions, my signal chain is the Ehrlund Pre, into the Headway EDB-1, connected the QSC. It sounds magnificent, but you're right. The multiple volume controls are a little tricky to maneuver. There's some significant going on with the Ehrlund Preamp that vastly improves the sound of the EAP regardless of what amp or pre amp you connect it to.
Ric
What I'd really like is something simple. Plug it in, twist the knob that says LOUDER as needed. After years of trial and errors I've got a rig that will cover most any situation, but it's complicated. Not just the multiple gain stages, but the eq settings, and the welter of cords and cables. I wish we lived in a quieter world where all acoustic gigs were more feasible
My signal chain has simplified greatly: Erhlund pickup to Erhlund pre to input of my Aguilar TH500. I have mostly played outdoors gigs that were pretty loud, and feedback has not been a problem. I guess loud indoor gigs are the real test. Something about the Ehrlund though seems to make it more feedback resistant than bridge mounted pickups. YMMV of course, but that has been my experience.
I know I'm in the wrong thread, and for that I apologize, but this is exactly what I have found with the PJB Super Flightcase, and it's indeed a beautiful thing. Here's hoping you find your answer soon.
+1 I've been waiting for one of those for a long time! The Avalon Pre you have is probably the closest to just that, but it's bulky IME, IMHO, and you still have to have a powered speaker. I've found that with the Ehrlund EAP and Preamp, all I have to do is plug straight into the amp, and with relatively little tweaking, it's good to go. When I use the QSC K8 the Ehrlund Preamp just won't do the trick, because although it does work, there just isn't enough tone shaping, with only a volume control, phase, and high low switch.
If we did live in a quieter world there would be trade offs their two. I'm not real excited with the idea of using gut strings, higher bridges, and condenser mics, as those days are long past, at least for me. When I was in high school, that was the only thing we had and as a result, I had some blisters as well.
Ric
I know I'm in the wrong thread, and for that I apologize, but this is exactly what I have found with the PJB Super Flightcase, and it's indeed a beautiful thing. Here's hoping you find your answer soon.
I believe you, but the only time I ever tried a Phil jones bass amp I just hated it. Detested it. Granted, it was with an electric bass. But it put me off pjb altogether. I'll have to take another look
No worries - I'm not pushing the PJB stuff, and everyone's idea of an "ideal sound" is different, as should be. I just meant to wish you luck on your quest.
On EUB, transparent is my ideal sound. Especially with the Ehrlund which is transparent, I want the sound of the bass to come through, not so much the coloration of the amp. I find the speaker cab makes a huge difference. With the audiokenesis TC115 it is simply beautiful.
