Double Bass Did NHOP use magnetic pickups?

[lurk]

I remember hearing him at Sweet Basil many moons ago and he had several pickups going on - 4 maybe? - all plugged into a mixer and he futzed with it often. I think he was a little nutty in that way, but he was an amazing player and I guess he was always searching. For my taste he became a little obsessed with the notion that the more notes the better the music.

 

[MrSidecar]

For my taste he became a little obsessed with the notion that the more notes the better the music.

Funny thing- as part of my lessons we sometimes played standards as duets, one of us walking/comping for the other to solo over. He played shockingly beautiful and extremely lyrical, if you look at the tons-of-notes aspect, almost out of character.

I asked him if something was off in my comping, afraid that maybe I had played in such a way that he couldn’t be as free.
His answer was, can’t quote it but along the lines of, no, comping was fine- walking bass actually freed him to play more lyrical as opposed to overplaying due to, as he said it, “typical piano player or guitar comping”.

I’m sure he was just being overly nice, but maybe there was some grain of truth in it.

In any case, that experience basically made me shut up forever about the man’s tone or overly “virtuousistic” (?) soloing.

best
Sidecar

 

[morrie louden]

I believe he used a Pierre Joseph String Charger at one point and then went on to Wilson pickups.

thanks Don! I need a system like that for certain things. Thinking about a Wilson...

 

[Sam Reese]

This thread is a good read.

 

[Roger Davis]

So NHOP isn’t MBOL.

 

[Francois Blais]

You mean wasn't.

 

[Roger Davis]

You mean wasn't.

Ooh. I stand corrected.

 

[Kaspar Vadsholt]

So NHØP had a danish system installed, called el-kit (including the square black-painted magnets embedded in the fingerboard). I think he used in conjunction with the Wilson pickup (+ a T.C stereo chorus!). The el-kit system has been taken over by a gentleman called Michael Edinger who now fabricates an updated version called string-amp StringAmp™ – MusikLab Denmark he mainly makes systems for violinists but are working on improving the system for bass.

 

[BassFalcon]

NHØP also used to endorse a magnetic pickup called the 'string charger', if I remember correctly...

Yes! Pierre Joseph String Charger. I bought one around 2001. It’s still on my bass, still kickin’. Back then I couldn’t find a piezo that sounded decent on my bass, saw the ad in the back of Bass Player magazine and placed my order. In the infancy of eCommerce, I remember having to use some weird internet escrow service to make the purchase.