Double Bass Conklin MEU pickup upgrade

[MrWalker]

I recently found myself the EUB of my dreams: A Conklin MEU! I have been lusting for one for years and years, and finally came across a 5-string for sale here on talkbass. After a long wait, I got hold of new strings for it (surprisingly difficult, but due to the 34" scale length, finding a 5-string set upright strings were virtually impossible... so I ended up with a extra long electric bass flatwound set).

Anyway, the bass sounds quite good now, with the Underwood pickup. I'm not totally happy with it, however, there's a slight volume imbalance between the strings, and I feel the sound is a little "muffled". The system as it is today, is an underwood pickup ran through a Bartolini piezo buffer and with a passive tone control and out. I have tried a K&K Double Big Twin, but that sounded harsh and trebly in my ears, so I wasn't really happy with that pickup.

The bridge on the Conklin MEU seems a little thicker than on a regular upright, so maybe the bridge is "stealing" some vibrations...?

Anyway, I am contemplating upgrading the pickup system and maybe the electronics package of the bass. But given the fact that this is a solid body upright (and not an acoustic), I was wondering if anyone has any experience in upgrading the piezo systems on their EUBs, and which systems work best for the EUBs! And which tips would you recommend in searching for the optimal sound on this bass?

Thanks for your help, guys!

 

[Francois Blais]

I don't know the Bartolini piezo buffer but it needs at least 1 megohms input impedance.

Other than that, here's what I recently wrote in another thread:

But after many years of experiments, I found out that with a small bridge, it's difficult to get a nice tone with wing pickups.
In particular the balance between the strings is the most problematic.
[...]
I found out that a regular DB bridge with little or no legs at all, was better than a proportionally reduced bridge.

So it's possible you never get a balanced tone with the Underwood and current bridge.
I wouldn't be surprised.

Good luck!
François

 

[MrWalker]

I don't know the Bartolini piezo buffer but it needs at least 1 megohms input impedance.

Other than that, here's what I recently wrote in another thread:



So it's possible you never get a balanced tone with the Underwood and current bridge.
I wouldn't be surprised.

Good luck!
François

Thank you!
The bartolini seems to be 3.3Mohm, so should probably work well, then. Now that the strings settled a little more I will work a little more with it. I have a couple of upright bridges that are broken but that may work here, and I also have the fishman BP-100 (?) that I can test out.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Francois Blais]

As for the BP-100, I'd try putting the elements in sandwich between the bridge feet and bass body. (like the KYDD bass)
Beware not to squeeze the epoxified part with the piezo sensors though!

 

[MrWalker]

Thanks!
Working on it right now