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Double Bass Considering switching to Realist Lifeline from Fishman Full Circle

Stereo Joe

Stereo Joe

Jun 29, 2007
980
48
Ontario, Canada
#1
Well, my Full Circle started to cut out intermittently on last night's gig and I may be in store for another pickup purchase. This is my second Full Circle and I'm not sure I want to deal with the fragile little wire and the RCA-style connection again. I'm considering switching to a Realist Lifeline and I'm wondering what to expect sound-wise if I go that route.

Can anyone offer some insight into the sound difference of a Full Circle and the Realist Lifeline? Is threads up/threads down a factor with the Lifeline as it is with the Full Circle? My adjuster wheels are threads up, so the sound tends to get a bit more "body" instead of "string" (apparently).

Thanks in advance!
 
#3
Eric Hochberg said:
Lifeline is darker and thumpier than the FC. It's worth a try.
Click to expand...

Yes it is - a bit too thumpier for me if I turn the vol up too much. I'm blending an Underwood with my lifeline - OK if you've got a twin channel head, but otherwise not viable. I get great results. As I've posted before, having had a FC crap out on a gig I wouldn't trust one again: which is a pity because Fishman products are generally very good.
 
#4
Roger Davis said:
Yes it is - a bit too thumpier for me if I turn the vol up too much. I'm blending an Underwood with my lifeline - OK if you've got a twin channel head, but otherwise not viable. I get great results. As I've posted before, having had a FC crap out on a gig I wouldn't trust one again: which is a pity because Fishman products are generally very good.
Click to expand...
Hmm. I do have an Acoustic Image 2 channel head and a spare bridge wing pickup but I'd love to not have to run 2 pickups. I guess I might have to bite the bullet and order a Lifeline to try. It's frustrating because I'm generally happy with the Full Circle and don't want to start down the road to pickup hell again... But the reliability just doesn't seem there with the Fishman.
 
#5
No problem for me with two pickups. It's just one extra wire, and the optimum blend will vary from room to room. But my post was not to say that the Lifeline is all bad. As in all cases some pickups suit some basses and not others. My easiest bass to amp with a pickup is a ply - and the most difficult a carved with the most beautiful acoustic sound. That's why we're always posting!
 
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#7
I've got a Lifeline coming tomorrow that I'm curious to see how it works on my 5/8 hybrid bass. I have been using an Underwood PU and blending with an Eurlund PU. However, sometimes I just want to deal with only one signal so I'm hoping the Lifeline will be a suitable compromise.
 
#8
I have a Lifeline in the mail. I have a large and growing collection of current and former pickups. Fortunately most of them have come through our classifieds and some in trades for others. My PU du lately, is the Stat-B and it's been working out pretty well for me, but I'm looking forward to trying the Lifeline.

I have to say that so far the (for me) the Ehrlund is the theoritical best, but not the practical best. The Full Circle sounds the most functional, but I didn't like how it was installed and attempts to work around that resulted in some unreliability. I feel like they have an opportunity to make a next version of that pickup that would put me out of the market forever.

The old school copper realist is a mostly good sound, though not quite as good as FC, but way more durable and consistent than anything else. True plug and play on almost any amp with little fiddling, I just hate way it installs and sits on top of my table.

The SoundClip, which I traded for the Stat-B worked for a while, but was a little awkward and I think it needs a major revision that it may not get based on the release of the LifeLine.

Hoping.
 
#9
I have had a full circle crap out on me on a gig before. Not fun. I bought a relatively cheap backup pickup (k&k bassmax) and another full circle. I figure, failures can happen with any pickup so having a backup isn't a bad idea. Of course, I routinely forget and leave the backup at home, but I'm an idiot. The theory remains sound, or at least sound'ish...

I've noticed that about one gig out of 8 or so, I need to unplug my jack from the cable coming off the pickup and plug it back in reseating it. Not sure why, but if I notice the sound being weak or cutting out, that's almost always the culprit. To be fair though, I use a chadwick folding bass, so the bass is set up every time I use it. That's a lot of wear on that jack with the pickup being unplugged every gig.
 
#11
I like the sound of the FC, but the Little White Wire seems a little fragile.
But if and when my third FC craps out, I'll probably get another one. We'll see. I keep hoping Fishman will make some improvements in durability. While they're at it, I wouldn't mind if the wires were brown.
I also use a life line. Pretty good.
Strong signal, and pretty beefy construction.
Sounds best on my carved bass.
 
#12
I just installed the lifeline pickup on my 5/8 hybrid bass. So far just listening to it I'm really impressed. This is a very beefy sounding pick up. I had to cut a lot of low mids out on my amp EQ to clear up the tone, but once I did that and boosted some treble I've got a very full and articulate sound. I think this is going to work really well for me. First gig with it is tomorrow night.
 
#14
TroyK said:
I have a Lifeline in the mail. I have a large and growing collection of current and former pickups. Fortunately most of them have come through our classifieds and some in trades for others. My PU du lately, is the Stat-B and it's been working out pretty well for me, but I'm looking forward to trying the Lifeline.
Click to expand...

Did you post about the Lifeline elsewhere? I'm considering the Stat-B and Lifeline as backups, and would love to hear about your experiences.
 
#16
Small wires fail from excessive movement. Repetitive bending hardens the individual strands of copper and eventually causes them to break. I don't know if that is the source of your problem, but most pics I've seen of the FC installed have left that little white wire free to move under its own weight. Here's how I've attempted to minimize that movement. Ive had it like this for only two years, but it definitely keeps the back and forth motion from happening.
IMG_20141018_130918.jpg
 
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#20
Yesterday I installed a lifeline on my 30's hybrid bass. I have used a FWF-1 underwood like pickup for the loast 10 years. It's a French maker that I hardly ever see mentioned on TB. It served me well, but I'm looking for a little less mids and clarity. I found myself sounding a bit harsh in the upper registers and thumb position. My first impression of the lifeline is the exact opposite and it might be too much of a change. It might work with the bass on my Eden wt turned down though. From a hifi perspective the sound quality is a lot better, transparent is actually a good way to describe it. I'll try it out on a few rehearsals before I make up my mind, but maybe I should have tried the full circle first.
 

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