Double Bass ehrlund contact pu-mike

[Ric Vice]

SO.... I just got the pickup + pre from Gollihur with jack mount kit and am frantically searching for hot tips on how to mount it.

How long did you guys cut your mic leads down to?

I took a look at Bob Gollihur's jack mounting kid it looks like a very simple and elegant solution, frankly I'd use that. You'll have to determine what you cut the lead to by experimenting with the Ehrlund's placement. When you get the sound you wan't set it up temporarily and play out with it on a gig, before you shorten the lead. You can use a cable tie to shorten up the length until you get the right spot. I use a Switchcraft 1/4 Female Extension Jack held to the tailpiece with one of those plastic pipe clamps from a Realist, but Bob's clamp looks great.


Ric

 

[engedi1]

Great tips Ric. I have aquired a Switchcraft jack, but lacking the expertise to cut the wire down and install it myself, and having been too lazy/cheap to take it to a shop, I have just been getting by with the Erhlund wire, with all its crazy length. What I have been doing, which has worked really well actually, it just clipping the Ehrlund preamp to my music stand, and plugging everything in from there. It is nice to have a volume control right in front of me, and the long wire has not bothered me on the many gigs I have been using it on. Eventually I will find someone I trust to cut it down and install the jack, since there is some slight hassles with the wire getting in the way of the bow when I pull it out of the quiver. But not a big deal really. My fears about the long cable were really overblown in my mind. If I were cool enough to simply KNOW 500 jazz standards and not use charts, then I might worry about it more...
Again, I can't get over how great the Ehrlund sounds Arco through the amp. I have always HATED my live arco tone, and I am blown away every gig. I don't need to adjust the volume, or eq, or anything. I can just from pizz to arco and love the tone in each case, and my band mates love the arco tone, they compliment me all the time on how great it sounds on ballads.

 

[vin*tone]

I took a look at Bob Gollihur's jack mounting kid it looks like a very simple and elegant solution, frankly I'd use that. You'll have to determine what you cut the lead to by experimenting with the Ehrlund's placement. When you get the sound you wan't set it up temporarily and play out with it on a gig, before you shorten the lead. You can use a cable tie to shorten up the length until you get the right spot. I use a Switchcraft 1/4 Female Extension Jack held to the tailpiece with one of those plastic pipe clamps from a Realist, but Bob's clamp looks great.


Ric

Well it was a little more straightforward than I thought. I cut the leat down to about 25cm... which actually gives you a fair bit of lead to play with. This was the hard part - summoning the cojones to cut the lead as short as practical knowing that you are cutting your options. I was fairly obsessive about finding the perfect spot before installing but there was no real need - I can still place the pickup anywhere in a fairly large radius after it's been cut & installed.

(Realist on the other side)

 

[engedi1]

Hey vintone, is that a lando clamp that is holding the switchcraft to the tailpeice?

 

[Ric Vice]

Hey vintone, is that a lando clamp that is holding the switchcraft to the tailpeice?

Enged1,
It looks like the new clamp that Bob and Mark Gollihur have come up with.

Ric

 

[engedi1]

Enged1,
It looks like the new clamp that Bob and Mark Gollihur have come up with.

Ric

It looks like an excellent solution to me. I wonder if it buzzes at all. I was doing an outdoor gig this afternoon and was noticing a little bit of that peculiar buzz when the pickup wire get vibrated. I would worry that with such a short wire, and being attached to the tailpeice which vibrates quite a bit, that the microphonic effect of the wire could come through. (other than than that, I have never been so happy with my live bass tone as today, it was like playing a huge, loud bass, didn't have an amplified sound at all)

 

[vin*tone]

No the short wire totally fixes that buzzing issue - it's not touching anything. Frankly there's no way I'd gig it without cutting that lead down. That lead buzz noise is not pretty!

The Golly clamp kit is very good - except has no directions so you have to nut it out yourself. You also need to have a soldering iron.

 

[jonas]

The Golly clamp kit is very good - except has no directions so you have to nut it out yourself.

It seems that Bob's clamp is somehow "inspired" from our Lando pickup clamp … So the instructional video clip I made of our Lando clamp might be helpful.
Invalid Link Removed

Jonas

 

[engedi1]

Thanks Jonas. I appreciate the tip! Now, if I can just find my soldering iron. FYI, I have done many gigs now without shortening the wire, and it has sofar not been a problem. I do intend to shorten it as a long term solution though...

 

[Ric Vice]

........ I wonder if it buzzes at all. I was doing an outdoor gig this afternoon and was noticing a little bit of that peculiar buzz when the pickup wire get vibrated. I would worry that with such a short wire, and being attached to the tailpeice which vibrates quite a bit, that the microphonic effect of the wire could come through.

For me at, it's the vibration against the tailpiece, top and string after lengths that interacts with the somewhat microphonic lead coming off of the Ehrlund.

......(other than than that, I have never been so happy with my live bass tone as today, it was like playing a huge, loud bass, didn't have an amplified sound at all)

Yep, I took of the Realist and gave to a former student. Once it was positioned in the right spot, for me, there was no turning back. The sound is just to good. That's not always the case but more often than not it seems to sound great on other TB er's basses. I can only think of a couple of cases (with Flatback and Treyser) where it just didn't work on a bass or particular amp ( the Phil Jones Super Flight Case.

Ric

 

[al808]

The Ehrlund is really the way to go, make the effort to try it out properly, after having the underwood, realist, the solo, and a dps, it's really the best thing you can get.Do yourself a favor. Try it again!!
Cheers, Al.

 

[Ric Vice]

No the short wire totally fixes that buzzing issue - it's not touching anything. Frankly there's no way I'd gig it without cutting that lead down. That lead buzz noise is not pretty!

The Golly clamp kit is very good - except has no directions so you have to nut it out yourself. You also need to have a soldering iron.

Vin tone,
Yes, I see your point. Basically, what we're doing when shortening the chord, is trying to get it away from all the vibrating surfaces.
You can accomplish the same solution by just stowing the chord with cable ties, if that's a better solution. For me the Realist pipe clamp is the simplest and most reliable solution,
but I ordered the Gollihur Clamp to see if it will work . I love Jonas' little Lando Clamp, but it doesn't work with one of Mike Pecanic's compensated tailpieces, since they are concave on the back side.

Ric

 

[flatback]

Well after selling the thing to a friend and forgetting about it for three months and now getting it back again (didn't work out and never got paid)
I put it on my bass again and did a coupla gigs, and I gotta say guys, this pickup aint ready for prime time...still. on my bass in my opinion.
Way too indistinct and not like a mic in its fluffiness. I really want to like it but I don't.
I like a FC mixed with a mic. The mic gives body in a way this does not. I can imagine if I did not play with a drummer much it could be OK I imagine if I played amped bow all the time it could be great but I don't. I have tried it mixed, matched etc and what comes of it is a lot of fiddling around
if you want to fiddle around, I got one with pre amp for sale.

 

[Mark Gollihur]

The Golly clamp kit is very good - except has no directions so you have to nut it out yourself.

I wrote up an instruction page, it should have been in the box - did we forget to include it? Darn it, now I may have to smack Christopher around a bit...

It seems that Bob's clamp is somehow "inspired" from our Lando pickup clamp...

I actually took a cue from the Realist's jack holder and sourced the parts from one of my old suppliers for one of my other hobbies, Radio Controlled Racing... figured that nylon/plastic bolts and nuts would easily do the job.

 

[Ric Vice]

........I put it on my bass again and did a coupla gigs, and I gotta say guys, this pickup aint ready for prime time...still. on my bass in my opinion. Way too indistinct and not like a mic in its fluffiness. I really want to like it but I don't.

Piro,
I have to say here that my experience has been exactly the opposite with my 5/8th's Mirecourt Bass, Tomastick Spirocores either a Water Woods MI-400-8 or the Woods Ultra and a Thunderchild 112.

I've played all over with the Ehrlund recently on a short tour that put me in two different sized auditoriums and a little concert club. The following week I was back in St. Louis at the Sheldon Concert Hall and Webster University. The Ehrlund just worked flawlessly, including being sent across to the mains on some of those concerts.

I like a FC mixed with a mic. The mic gives body in a way this does not. I can imagine if I did not play with a drummer much it could be OK I imagine if I played amped bow all the time it could be great but I don't. I have tried it mixed, matched etc and what comes of it is a lot of fiddling around if you want to fiddle around, I got one with pre amp for sale.

I can't speak to the Full Circle as my bass has wooden adjusters and I just won't ditch them to use one, but in my case the Ehrlund far outshines the Realist.

Ric

 

[engedi1]

I too play most of my gigs with drums and really like the way the Ehrlund works on MY bass. I it is a hybrid model with lam back and sides, and currently strung with Compas 180 strings, going through a TC Electronic rh450 and Tc 212. I mostly playing small venues and am not playing stadiums. For what I do, the Ehrlund is perfect, and doesn't require much fiddling at all, once you find where to place it, and get the eq on your amp right.

 

[transition]

I just picked up flatback's old EAP and preamp. I'm loving the sound it makes so far. Found a pretty good spot fairly easily (the experiences of others helped here), and am fairly happy.

No matter where I place it, though, it does put out a lot less sound than my Rev Solo II (also into the Ehrlund preamp). Is that expected?

 

[flatback]

hey man
try putting very tiny balls of goo at the corners and experiment with how much you push it down. I put the Ehrlund preamp into the EDB1 before the amp....
all the best
p

 

[James Gibson]

hey man
...I put the Ehrlund preamp into the EDB1 before the amp...
p

What channel/impedance setting do you use? I wrote Goran concerning the output impedance of the Ehrlund preamp, and his response was 2 MOhms. That lead me to believe I would plug it into Channel 1 of the EDB-1, and set the switch for "Active" which is for impedance > 1 MOhm.

 

[transition]

hey man
try putting very tiny balls of goo at the corners and experiment with how much you push it down.

Thanks. I tried pushing it a little closer, which helped some. (I was already using pretty small bits of goo.)

I also found a better spot that makes a HUGE difference in both volume and tone. I had largely been neglecting the G string side of the bass, but the first place I tried over there was like night and day.

Freaky.