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Double Bass DB Not Loud Enough Even With HPF Pre

Here's the unit. I call it "Fern" - Inside joke. Nice of josh to let you name it.

Anyway, I just got it and used it at a nice venue since the monitor system was top notch and I wanted to try this thing out. During sound check I forgot to engage the filters. When I realized it and turned them on, my Tone went from BG to DB like that! Love it already!

It has a 10 Mohm DI
HPF and LPF
Gain
9V outlet AND 9V BATTERY!!
Mute and L+HPF buttons
Ground/lift switch

I highly recommend this unit or something modified for your needs.

I understand how filters work but how do they change the tone to make the DB sound more like what it is and less like a BG?
 
Here's the unit. I call it "Fern" - Inside joke. Nice of josh to let you name it.

Anyway, I just got it and used it at a nice venue since the monitor system was top notch and I wanted to try this thing out. During sound check I forgot to engage the filters. When I realized it and turned them on, my Tone went from BG to DB like that! Love it already!

It has a 10 Mohm DI
HPF and LPF
Gain
9V outlet AND 9V BATTERY!!
Mute and L+HPF buttons
Ground/lift switch

I highly recommend this unit or something modified for your needs.

I kind of jealous of you for one-upping me and putting all of that in one box.

Maybe jump on over here and give your own impressions.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/broughton-audio-band-pass-pedal.1205168/
Broughton Audio - Band Pass Pedal
 
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Thanks folks, this is a lot of good information. For the record the band isn't very loud, our drummer is one of the top pros in town. And like I said a BG through that amp blasts plenty of volume. I would guess it's at least 6db louder than her upright.

We've been distracted this week because we got a new dog Sunday and he's a handful, but she's off today so I'm going to forward the thread and let her see your ideas. I think it could be technique related so maybe we'll have her take the amp to her next lesson and see if her teacher can pull more volume from this rig. Or it might be a problem with the pickup. Our sax player has a SansAmp VT Bass preamp he offered to bring over Sunday, I think I'll try that to see how it works. Anyway thanks again for your support.
 
I understand how filters work but how do they change the tone to make the DB sound more like what it is and less like a BG?
Cuts out all the "junk" that amplifies but doesn't contribute to the core sound. When I play BG the upper harmonics are really important sometimes, especially in more rock-y genres, and especially if there's some reason to "cut through the mix". When I play a 5er, I want the subwoofers to blow peoples pants off on the 30 hz notes (which you only really hear at 60hz anyhow). When I play DB, I don't want ANYTHING amped in that sub-bass range, I don't even want much power until 82.4, and I appreciate a fall-off at 1000 to take care of finger noise etc. That takes the 20-20k to 80-1200, which is just that much less to amplify. Less power pushing giant speakers means more power for the reasonably sized ones, even though it's far from a 1:1 ratio.

If I don't do the whole eq thing my bass sounds like a piezo coated in crap played with metal gauntlets through an amp, so I have a compelling reason. :)
 
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Thanks folks, this is a lot of good information. For the record the band isn't very loud, our drummer is one of the top pros in town. And like I said a BG through that amp blasts plenty of volume. I would guess it's at least 6db louder than her upright.

We've been distracted this week because we got a new dog Sunday and he's a handful, but she's off today so I'm going to forward the thread and let her see your ideas. I think it could be technique related so maybe we'll have her take the amp to her next lesson and see if her teacher can pull more volume from this rig. Or it might be a problem with the pickup. Our sax player has a SansAmp VT Bass preamp he offered to bring over Sunday, I think I'll try that to see how it works. Anyway thanks again for your support.

I have VT as well that I play around with on BG. I tried it for upright but it wasn't my thing. It will however get very HOT! The signal that is. You'll get all the input gain you need from that, which should give a good idea if that amp has enough juice to do the job.
 
I understand how filters work but how do they change the tone to make the DB sound more like what it is and less like a BG?

one of the other guys can go into the specs of it but, it helps get rid of the higher or lower frequencies that make it sound too muddy or just deep as well as remove unnecessary higher frequencies.

it may be my new trick since most sound guys have no idea how to eq a DB - i've got my secret weapon after they say they have me "dialed in"
 
it may be my new trick since most sound guys have no idea how to eq a DB - i've got my secret weapon after they say they have me "dialed in"
Agreed. I used to ask for a high pass at 80 or at least nothing in the subs, but never got it. Now, I cut judiciously with my cheap pre before the DI. They couldn't make my bass sound like a reggae monster without drastic changes at the board, which nobody likes or has time to do. Never had an engineer say anything about the $50 special either, probably because they're afraid of the power of the big girl. :)
 
That said, there have been some quantum leaps recenty in small contact microphones, preamps, and cabinets, that make amping a bass a delight.
Ric
Be that as it may, that was not the reason that Andy Simpkins was able to get a clear, solid, warm projecting sound out of an Underwood and a Polytone Minibrute is the same hall that I could not get a well defined sound out of a Bose 802 with a JBL amp, preamp (can't remember the brand) and a 4 band parametric EQ.
 
I use the Gage Lifeline (I like it better than the realist placement) into a SansAmp BDDI and get plenty of volume to anything I send it to. I would try the SansAmp and see if there's a difference going into a couple different amps and a PA . Like has been said could be anything from fingers to cabinet.
 
The HPFBuffer/PreAmp only provides a 2 DB gain. It's just enough to compensate for it's placement into signal chain. While 250 watts sounds like a adequate amount of power there are a lot of other factors that come into play.

Ric

This...........and
Assuming the pickup is placed correctly, the hpf buffer is not a preamp that can add much gain to the pickup output. Try getting a little stompbox eq and jacking up the output volume. That should easily give you more than enough input gain to the amp. If that doesn't work, the pickup might be bad from the factory. IMHO
 
OP here, I just tried an experiment, pulled a clean boost pedal off my board and plugged her bass into it. Now I'm getting the volume level I was expecting to hear. So I think I'm going to order a Tech21 Para Driver DI, since it has a little more tone shaping than the Bass DI. Still curious why this pickup doesn't put out enough signal by itself. And I think I will send the HPF pre back. I'm sure it's a well made device, I'm just not sure what we would use it for.

Thanks again for all the great advice!
 
Good lord, I can't believe you still have this problem! Have you tried pressing the bridge down towards the floor, it's clearly the pickup! Especially if your amp puts out the correct volume with an electric bass.. And also now with boosting the signal with a pedal.. Stop buying pedals..

Unless you just have money and don't care about always carrying two cables to plug into pedals and the amp etc.. Ha


You need to detune the strings.. So there isn't a lot of pressure on the bridge from the strings and then try to re-center the pickup under the foot.. And then make sure the angle is straight..

You probably have a bad angle with the foot and bass body.. You have to find the best sound by finding the best angle the feet sit on the pickup..

And this is why I stopped using all pickups that rely on angle and pressure to work..

Have your teacher do it if you don't feel comfortable.

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And I think I will send the HPF pre back. I'm sure it's a well made device, I'm just not sure what we would use it for.

Stop.

So don't send back the HPF Pre. It's an incredibly useful tool to control low end muddiness and more essentially to buffer the high impedance of a piezo pickup. If you aren't getting enough signal going straight into the amp you almost certainly don't have enough pressure on the pickup or possibly (but less likely) it's just faulty. Once you sort that out the HPF Pre may well be the only preamp you need. I don't always use mine but it goes with me to every gig including slab jobs. It's not solving the problem you have now because it's not a luthier. It will solve problems likely to arise with the increased volume of a pickup that's working well.
 
Okay guys, I hear you, her next lesson is next Wednesday, the teacher originally installed the pickup and she has a good amp (G-K 150), so maybe she can sort this out. In the meantime I took some pics of the bass, don't know if you guys can see anything from this. It seems okay to me and the bridge is definitely at a 90 degree angle to the top of the bass, but let me know if anything looks funny to you. Thanks.

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That looks pretty funny to me man.. I'm sure it's just the way you took the picture.. but holy man.. that don't like no 90 degree angle or straight to me! haha

Have another look at your picture and also if your teacher is the one who installed it.. well.. then the good news is you will see what the "teacher" says on Wednesday.. but that doesn't look straight from the picture.. but you never can tell with just a picture.. Look at mine compared to yours man! haha..

funnyangle.PNG

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I love TC electronic amps (I play the BH 800 and 112 and 212 cabs exclusively), but the bottom line here, is that combo. It just doesn't put out much sound.

I know but it is noticeably louder with an electric bass or with the upright through a boost pedal.

I bought the amp a couple of years ago, A/Bed it with the 2-10 version, very similar output. The 2-10 has the tweeter which gave it a little better snap for electric but it wasn't appreciably louder. So I opted for the lighter weight amp since I knew it would primarily be hers. If I can just get it as loud with the upright as it is with electric I'll be happy. We're playing light jazz, don't need Led Zep SPL. ;-)
 

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While it is very possible that T.C. amp doesn't supply enough power, You'll know when you try it on another amp..

I added 2 more pictures.. while I know you aren't supposed to go by "pictures", but it sure does look like your bridge is tilted unless that is for a specific reason..

Couple of Other pictures are in my previous post..

DB Not Loud Enough Even With HPF Pre

Unless it's just the angle you took the pictures at, I don't know why it always looks like your bridge has a slant..

But yeah, have your teacher look at it.. hopefully He/She knows what's going on.

I'm very curious to see if the amp doesn't supply enough power though.. but that isn't usually the case.. I mean why would T.C. electronics put out an amp with such little volume? that doesn't sound like T.C. Electronics!..
ha..


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That looks pretty funny to me man.. I'm sure it's just the way you took the picture.. but holy man.. that don't like no 90 degree angle or straight to me! haha

Have another look at your picture and also if your teacher is the one who installed it.. well.. then the good news is you will see what the "teacher" says on Wednesday.. but that doesn't look straight from the picture.. but you never can tell with just a picture.. Look at mine compared to yours man! haha..

I think I see what you mean but we're tucked in for the night. I'll take another pic tomorrow and try to match your camera angle, maybe that will help. It also might be time to take it to a luthier to get it tweaked. Appreciate you guys hanging in here with me, sorry if I'm a little thick. Did I mention I'm mostly a guitar player? Hence the knee-jerk "buy another pedal" reaction, ha ha.
 

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