Double Bass Eberle Carved DB, Focus + GK MBX112 + Magicstomp = Yeah!

[Phil Smith]

For the last couple of months I had been struggling getting a good amplified sound out of my Eberle Carved DB. I had bought a Realist(original one) and got this horrible honky tone, which I discovered was due to how I installed it. I re-installed the pickup and things started to improve. The bass delivers a huge amount of low end or should I say "boom", with just the realist and no pre-amp. I use a Focus Series II head and have settled right now on a GK 112MBX to pair it with because it's a light setup and I've been able to get good volume and what I think is a good sound out of the combination in conjunction with a multi f/x box that I picked called the Yamaha Magicstomp. The Magicstomp has turned out to be a pretty nifty piece of hardware as it has a headphone output, tuner, a feedback eliminator mode and gives you the ability to modify the patches using your PC. Yamaha makes 3 versions of this but it seems like they can all use the presets from one another, so I loaded up all of the user presets in the bass model, with the presets from the acoustic model. These presets seem to be aimed at acoustic guitar, but about 20 or more of them work with a db for my limited listening of them.

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This is a recording of a rehearsal that I did with a big band, in a small room 12 x 20 or so with a not so high ceiling. The prior rehearsals that I did with this band using the improperly installed Realist and using a microphone alone were situations where I just hated my sound and could not be heard as this band tends to get pretty loud. With the Realist installed properly and using the Focus, the GK cab and the Magicstomp, I can be easily be heard and could have gotten louder as I have the Focus set with master volume at 12 o'clock and level at 9 o'clock. I did a wedding gig this Saturday with this setup in a smaller room and again had no problem being heard and liked how full bodied my sound was. I noticed however that when I wasn't holding the strings the bass would slowly begin to feed back with the cabinet on the floor right next to me. I figured, "let me try this feedback eliminator and see what it does". With all of the acoustic settings of the Magicstomp you can use the feedback eliminator feature by just stepping on the button which show you the frequency, in my case 107hz and it then attenuates that frequency and bye bye feedback. I think you can do this five times i.e. select five different frequencies, but it works and is pretty easy as all you have to do is step on the switch.

I didn't really mean for this to be a review of the Magicstomp, but this little box works really well for DB even though I bought to use with my EBG and musicians friend was blowing them out for $79. The upshot is that I am happier with the sound that I'm getting from my DB amplified.

 

[*fenderbass*]

So you bought the bass model and loaded up the presets from the acoustic? How does that interface work? Where did you get the acoustic presets from?

Does the bass model come with the anti-feedback or just the acoustic?

 

[*fenderbass*]

The recording sounds great by the way...

I'm really interested in this. I play in a blues/folk/rock outfit. Most songs I really want that woody tone from my carved german. I already run it through a K&K pickup and preamp and it sounds great.

Now this next part may sound a bit blasphemous...
We occasionally do some surf songs and classic rock type stuff where I'd like a bit more of a P-Bassy tone. Fat and punchy with a bit more even attack. I can get mostly what I want through EQ and right hand technique, but I'm wondering what this box would do for me. Plus I like the idea of the all on one tuner, DI/Preamp, and feedback buster.

What do you think? Have you found any of the original bass guitar effects that work with your UB or just the acoustic presets?

 

[Phil Smith]

So you bought the bass model and loaded up the presets from the acoustic? How does that interface work? Where did you get the acoustic presets from?

Does the bass model come with the anti-feedback or just the acoustic?

Open up the sound editor software that comes with the MG. Select the acoustic tab which will have the presets for the acoustic version of the MG. Highlight all or the ones that you want, not all are useful for bass, I used the natural patch and then adjusted it. One you highlight them select file the save library as to what ever name you want then select the User tab and then open the library you just saved and then transmit the user area to your MG. You can transfer all patches or just the ones that you want.

It seems that one MagicStomp is actually 3 because you can load the presets of any of them into the User patch area, so I'm essentially using a Bass Magistomp and an Acoustic Magicstomp as I have the bass presets and the acoustic presets loaded up into the user area.

 

[*fenderbass*]

Thanks a lot for the response. Always interested in new tone possibilities.

Especially ones that don't cost more than my mortgage payment.

 

[*fenderbass*]

I dropped by my local Guitar Center and picked on up on the cheap. Haven't put much time on it, but I'm pretty happy so far.

What settings have you found useful with your DB?

 

[Phil Smith]

I loaded up all of the acoustic patches into my user area and I use the first one, which I think is called "natural" with a bit of the bass rolled off.