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Double Bass ehrlund contact pu-mike

#221
I JUST drove by there. I finished my gig at Broadway and...something or other and caught the last song at a friends on Harvard between Pike and Pine. Was basically on campus. Congrats, good school, good town. If you visit and want to hang out or see anything drop me a PM.
 
#222
Just a cautionary tale to EAP users.

Last night at a gig a bassist asked to sit in. Just as I was explaining that the wire was sensitive to vibration, they picked my bass up whilst standing on said wire, loud bang from the amp and I'm left with a wire and a triangle...

I've e-mailed Goran to see if it is repairable but I suspect it isn't as there is no wire sticking out from the molded plastic triangle.

First time someone has asked to sit in (first and last time I should say yes?).

Anyway the good news is that I switched over to the Realist (old) and I am now more than ever convinced about how good Goran system is.
 
#223
SRL said:
Just a cautionary tale to EAP users.

Last night at a gig a bassist asked to sit in. Just as I was explaining that the wire was sensitive to vibration, they picked my bass up whilst standing on said wire, loud bang from the amp and I'm left with a wire and a triangle...

I've e-mailed Goran to see if it is repairable but I suspect it isn't as there is no wire sticking out from the molded plastic triangle.

First time someone has asked to sit in (first and last time I should say yes?).

Anyway the good news is that I switched over to the Realist (old) and I am now more than ever convinced about how good Goran system is.
Click to expand...

It will be good to know if it can be repaired, sorry to hear that yours went down. I have switched between the two pickups and there's really quite a difference between the them. The Ehrlund sounds like my bass and dosen't change over to nasty when you turn up the volume.

Ric
 
#226
Hi everybody
This is not a review, yet...
Installed this pickup a week ago, spent a lot of time finding sweet spots for it and after a rehearsal and 2 gigs I'm loving this little fellow more and more. Simply the most natural pickup I've ever played.

I've realized that it's very sensible to the amount of putty I put on it, I had found one good spot bellow the bridge after several hours of testing, the putty was already kind of dirty and some was over the pickup, decided to let it on that spot but to substitute the putty, never got that sound again...
So I started to test the putty/pickup, I couldn't spend enough time to found behavior constants, but one of the noticeable reaction I got, was when I put very few putty portions, enough to leave the corners clear it gave me a very loud Hi frequency feedback.
So I got to this nerd inconclusive question:
Can the putty act as an "equalizer"?

I will not have time this week to run more tests so I'm just curious about your own experiences.

Best regards
 
#227
jmmcc said:
Hi everybody


I've realized that it's very sensible to the amount of putty I put on it, I had found one good spot bellow the bridge after several hours of testing, the putty was already kind of dirty and some was over the pickup, decided to let it on that spot but to substitute the putty, never got that sound again...
..............one of the noticeable reaction I got, was when I put very few putty portions, enough to leave the corners clear it gave me a very loud Hi frequency feedback.
So I got to this nerd inconclusive question:
Can the putty act as an "equalizer" Best regards
Click to expand...

Jmmcc,
I haven't had that problem, but you will get low frequency feedback if you press on the pickup when it's attached to the bass. I ran out of the Tack-IT that they gave me with the pickup and I'm using Schertler Putty which seems to work better. However it's more expensive than Tack-it.

Ric
 
#229
I just today received my Ehrlund back from Göran, who at my request kindly connected the shortened cable to a Neutrik jack. See the attached photo. This eliminates the cable noise. The cable doesn't touch anything. I wrapped the jack in self-adhesive velcroe, and the package clings firmly to the back of the tailpiece. I'll test it at the gig on Thursday evening, but it sounded better than ever in the practice room today.

Göran also included some new putty, which seems different from the first batch I got from him, and it may well be an improvement. He also installed an insulation in the preamp which, he says, eliminates noise. Must say I am totally happy with his customer service! :) Thanks, Göran! This is how the pickup needs to be tailored for use with double bass.
 

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#230
I've read the whole of this thread - this pickup/mic sounds very interesting!

I'm considering pulling the trigger on one, but would be interested to hear how some of the guys who have been using one for a few months are getting on, now that maybe the 'honeymoon period' is over.

Apart from an (unamplified) orchestra, I play mainly with a reasonably loud big band, plus occasional smaller outfits, but always with a drummer. I'm currently using a Revoulution Solo II pickup through a homebrew fdeck HPF-Pre-style preamp into a Markbass LMK into an EA Wizzy M-Line.

I'm fairly happy with the sound using this setup - it's the most natural of all the pickups I've used so far (& there have been a few!), although it is definitely the most fussy/tempermental regarding fitment position and pressure. I don't have any feedback problems with the Rev II.

I have experimented with mics but, even though all mics to me sound better than any pickup, I have found them far too prone to feedback in a live situation with a drummer; absoutely useless where there is no P.A. support and I have to go 'backline'.

So, even though many comments in this thread seem very promising regarding the EAP in more challenging live situations, feedback problems would be my immediate concern with the Ehrlund EAP.

If any existing users who have used the EAP successfully (or not!) in similar situations to my own would like to comment it would be greatly appreciated.
 
#231
I find the Ehrlund pickup to be very feedback resistant. And I play it really loud, like bass guitar loud. I found my Underwood pickup would feedback sooner than the Ehrlund in the same situations.

One thing I find about this pickup is because it is so "mic" like it will amplify louder ambient sounds (drums, amps) that reflect off the bass top. I noticed this when I was using in-ear monitors. I'm sure all pickups do it to some extent but because this pickup is directly on the soundboard it's probably more sensitive.

Certainly not a deal breaker. It's a kick-a** pickup.
 
#232
Well I decided to plunk down the shekles and get one of these doodads after all the discussion. Luckily I don't have any gigs until the 28th so I have a bit of time to mess with it.

First impressions: Very small, very compact. I bought it with a shortened cable and a very cool gadget to attach the input jack to the tailpiece. So far my experience is that this contact mic is not a plug and play device. You have to be willing to futz around with placement for quite some time unless you just get lucky. Obviously every bass is very different so there seems to be no one particular place that is the money spot. In my experience, if the device was moved so much as an inch one way or the other the tone could change drastically. You may get a very bassy, woofy sound, a very nasal midrange sound or some kind of slight feedback at a particular frequency. It is also possible to find a spot that re-creates the acoustic sound of your bass quite beautifully. Suffice to say that it takes some time to get it right. After 2 days of experimenting and moving the device all over large portions of the lower bout, I think I've found a good spot. Time will tell. I should also point out that you might have to deal with microphonic noises if the cable is touching anything.

So far I think it might be a great sounding device. It is far more natural sounding than any other Pick up device I've tried (provided it is in a good spot).

Full disclosure: For most gigs I'm using a Platinum Pro pre-amp into a Phil Jones Flightcase 300.

Please also note that this Erhlund contact mic needs more gain out of my amp and pre-amp to be as loud as when I use the Full Circle. It should also be noted that the Erhlund has a much nuanced acoustic sound that is both warmer and brighter with a fair amount of string detail as oppossed to the very direct sounding Full Circle.

I will post a few more thoughts and maybe some ZoomQ3 audio/video clips after a few gigs.
:cool:
Best

Trey
 
#233
I've been fooling with this pickup for awhile now and the more i fool with it the worse it seems to get. It is either very bassy/woofy or really nasal sounding. It is beginning to seem like quite a bit of trouble. I won't even start on the microphonic cable. Can anyone tell me how they got this thing to sound reasonably good? It sure seems to take a lot of work to make this thing happen. So far it reminds me of the old Fishman BP100 more than anything else. As you can tell, I'm getting a bit frustrated!
 
#234
Treyzer said:
I've been fooling with this pickup for awhile now and the more i fool with it the worse it seems to get. It is either very bassy/woofy or really nasal sounding. It is beginning to seem like quite a bit of trouble. I won't even start on the microphonic cable. Can anyone tell me how they got this thing to sound reasonably good? It sure seems to take a lot of work to make this thing happen. So far it reminds me of the old Fishman BP100 more than anything else. As you can tell, I'm getting a bit frustrated!
Click to expand...

Mine is just above the E foot, about 5mm, the pickup is very midrangy so you'll have to use EQ, it's also very sensitive about the amount of putty/distance from top, sometimes the same spot can give you different sounds regarding this.
The learning curve is frustrating but in the end it's very worthy.
Best of luck
 
#235
Treyzer said:
I've been fooling with this pickup for awhile now and the more i fool with it the worse it seems to get. It is either very bassy/woofy or really nasal sounding. It is beginning to seem like quite a bit of trouble. I won't even start on the microphonic cable. Can anyone tell me how they got this thing to sound reasonably good? It sure seems to take a lot of work to make this thing happen. So far it reminds me of the old Fishman BP100 more than anything else. As you can tell, I'm getting a bit frustrated!
Click to expand...

Treyzer,
This thread has gotten so long that you may have missed some of the experiments that helped everyone.

1. The cable is microphonic so it can't touch the top or tailpiece, that gets you a nasty buzzing sound.

2. I have both the pickup and the pre amp. If you're only using the pickup IMNO it won't sound nearly as good. For my money the Ehrlund pre amp works great. Other's on this thread haven't needed it at all.

3. I haven't had a whole lot of trouble with placement, mine's below the E foot of the bridge and a little to the right.

4. I used a headphone pre amp and moved the bridge around until I got the sound I liked.

5. The EQ is very different for this pickup (at least on my bass it is)

Ric
 
#238
Blaine said:
what lengths have you guys had the cord shortened to? i know someone mentioned 10".
Click to expand...

Blaine,
Once you find the sweet spot for the pickup it's best to have a little additional cable as long as it doesn't contact with the body of the instrument, tailpiece, bridge etc in case you want to move it to another instrument, but it has to be looped and tied off so it can't touch anything. The length you mentioned is probably about right, but don't trim it until you are happy with sound.

Ric
 

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