Double Bass Doubling and A-B switches

[Panurge]

Hello...
I've set out on the quest to finding the best set-up to double electric and upright and I am curious to see what people have been doing.
I've been using a boss A-B switch and a cheap pre-amp, or just adjusting my electric to match the upright, and lately I've been using the Line 6 Floor Pod to set-up two different patches for the URB and EBG, and found that worked pretty good (I don't know if its cool, but i'm sort of liking the Floor Pod these days)
I recently bought the Radial Tonebone Bassbone, thinking the hype must be there for a reason, but found the thing didn't add anything to my tone, as a matter of fact the Sound engineer complained of a lack of signal coming from the direct line of the pedal, which is rare as my Yahama TRB gives out a lot...
Anyhow. I was going to try and buy the EBS Microbass II, and I saw that Radial has got a new DI for Piezo-type instruments...
Any thoughts?
Cheers.

 

[greitzer]

Recently I've had to do some doubling also, and I've tried two ways -- a basic A/B switch (made by Morley), and using one of those instrument cables with a little black circuit-breaker button at one end, where you push the button to break the circuit, unplug it from one instrument, plug it into the other, and push again to restore the circuit.

The A/B switch is more convenient, obviously, because you don't have to plug/unplug the instruments. It does seem to add a slightly tinny sound to my DB -- I'm not sure yet if this is just my imagination or if it's real, more time will tell.

I think the best doubling setup of all, would be to get a two-channel amp, with the separate EQ and volume controls for each channel. But that's a lot of dough. For my needs, the A/B switch works well enough (at least for now). Even with the A/B switch, I sometimes have to adjust the EQ on my amp as I switch instruments.

 

[Jazz Ad]

The Microbass II will be perfect for that.
Input A sports a boost and a high impedance input to accomodate piezos. Channels have separate EQ.
It can also be used to mute, A/B footswitch between instruments and has a DI.

 

[fdeck]

The A/B switch is more convenient, obviously, because you don't have to plug/unplug the instruments. It does seem to add a slightly tinny sound to my DB -- I'm not sure yet if this is just my imagination or if it's real, more time will tell.

Can you open it up? The A/B switch could have a couple resistors in it to prevent the "pop," and those may be loading your piezo.

 

[rbolanos]

The Microbass II will be perfect for that.
Input A sports a boost and a high impedance input to accomodate piezos. Channels have separate EQ.
It can also be used to mute, A/B footswitch between instruments and has a DI.

+1
I did quite a bit of re-search on this and I tried the bassbone, Boss LS-2,Radial ABY switch and finally EBS microbass II. it has the most true sound on my basses. you can also use it as regular DI. (flat response). the key though, it's to use the passive on channel A and use the gain to match the electric on channel B.
good luck

 

[greitzer]

Can you open it up? The A/B switch could have a couple resistors in it to prevent the "pop," and those may be loading your piezo.

Thanks, that sounds very plausible. I tried to open it up once and couldn't, but I think your theory is probably right on.

I'll keep using it for now, but maybe in the future, if I really get unhappy with the sound, I'll check into the Microbass product.

 

[fdeck]

Thanks, that sounds very plausible. I tried to open it up once and couldn't, but I think your theory is probably right on.

I'll keep using it for now, but maybe in the future, if I really get unhappy with the sound, I'll check into the Microbass product.

Do you have an Ohmmeter?

 

[greitzer]

Do you have an Ohmmeter?

No, and I don't know what that is (although from the sound of it, it sounds like something that measures ohms). Could it be helpful in some regard?

 

[tornadobass]

Can you open it up? The A/B switch could have a couple resistors in it to prevent the "pop," and those may be loading your piezo.

The Morley pedal does indeed have the resistors and both lowers volume and messes with the tone.

I use the Boss A/B pedal and it has minimal impact on my sound...and it's only $35...runs on AAA batteries for a looooong time.

 

[fdeck]

No, and I don't know what that is (although from the sound of it, it sounds like something that measures ohms). Could it be helpful in some regard?

It's a thing that everybody gets and puts in their gig bag with the vain hope that it will be useful someday.

But it sounds like your question is answered.