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Double Bass ehrlund contact pu-mike

#541
The Shadow SH-965NFX is a bridge foot pickup, similar to the Realist, with two foils, each laminated in plastic foil, for both bridge feet.
A FET is mounted into the bridge foot assembly for buffering the low impedance and a separate afterlength mounted battery and volume/tone control is part of it.
It is possible to use only one foil and have a spare one or use both.
The good thing is, that the buffer is already included, the bad thing that it needs a battery to work.
Some heard some echo in recording with it solo (for testing purposes), which may come from the bass top.
Even new it is relatively cheap.
Maybe it is not available in the US due to patents issues? I don't know.
A bit hicker than a realist because of the plastic lamination but without the disk, so no marking of the top. I think they are made in Germany (at least the company head is located there).
 
#542
DoubleMIDI said:
The Shadow SH-965NFX is a bridge foot pickup, similar to the Realist, with two foils, each laminated in plastic foil, for both bridge feet.
A FET is mounted into the bridge foot assembly for buffering the low impedance and a separate afterlength mounted battery and volume/tone control is part of it.
It is possible to use only one foil and have a spare one or use both.
Click to expand...

Double MIDI
The Shadow SH-965NFX is available in the U.S. so I stand corrected on that one. The price is @$265.00.

Ric
 
#544
... I have to admit that I had ONE occasion where it did not work at all. And I mean, it sounded totally shite. Concert situation: crammy place, lots of people, NO time for soundcheck or even the usual 2 minutes of eq fiddling that sort all kinds of troubles out, space constraints led to bad amplifier placement. Chances are, any pu would have sounded sub-optimal, but in that case, the Ehrlund was particularly bad. I couldn't for the life of me dial in anything remotely nice between numbers (as I said, before the gig there was zero chance for checking). That situation gave me proof that it is NOT really plug and play, even though I might have thought so before. If odds are against you, you don't have much to fall back on.

But it still is by far my favorite system, together with the flightcase and the Ehrlund preamp.

Best
Sidecar
 
#545
engedi1 said:
:hiding:About the same price as an Ehrlund. I know which one I would get...
Click to expand...

Well, if you only buy the pickup, which I would never recommend, then yes, the Ehrlund is $290.00. Purchasing both the EAP and it's required Pre Amp it's going to cost quite a bit more, $385.00. It's definitely worth it on my bass, with my strings, my Walter Woods amps and the Audiokenisis TC-112. I actually have a backup EAP and Pre Amp, so I know which one I would get as well.

Ric
 
#547
engedi1 said:
I don't remember mine costing that much, and I got mine new. Did they have a price increase this year?
Click to expand...

Engedi,
Maybe, I got my first pickup from Front End Audio, and the Pre Amp directly from Goran Ehrlund. I'd have to go back and look at what I payed for the pickup. I payed for the Pre Amp through Pay Pal in Royal Danish Kroner. As I recall, the total cost of both was over $300.00. I'll see if I can find the original invoices.

Ric
 
#550
engedi1 said:
I don't remember mine costing that much, and I got mine new. Did they have a price increase this year?
Click to expand...

I bought my Ehrlund+preamp from Gollihur last year, just as soon as they started carrying it. Their price then was the same as it is now--$385.

I am still completely happy with the Ehrlund. This has been an interesting recent discussion about when and why it does/doesn't work well. After I found the sweet spot on my bass, I have never had a situation in which it didn't work beautifully. I can see how a contact microphone may not give the sound that everyone wants. But I can't imagine many situations in which it would be unusable in the sense of not being able to amplify the instrument.

As some others have noted, at least part of the issue comes down to patience, as in the patience to find the best spot on your bass for the pickup. My method was to plug the pickup+preamp into my computer's audio input. I recorded myself playing a couple of minutes of music--the typical variety I usually play. Then I played it back through a decent pair of headphones. This way, I could be certain that I was only hearing the bass sound as picked up by the Ehrlund, without any sound directly from the bass. By methodically moving the pickup to different locations, repeating the recording, and comparing them side-by-side, it was simple to find the spot that sounded best in just over an hour of time.

- Hal -
 
#552
drurb said:
Excellent idea, Hal! I intend to order one of these very soon.
Click to expand...

Hi drurb,

do we have a convert here? ;) I thought you didn't like the soundclips and thus, you wouldn't wanna try one.. Anyways, I'm really interested what you (being or having been skeptical about it) think of it when you try it, so by all means, post experiences.

And I, for one, who was otherwise always advocating the more careless approach of "they all sound good" towards placement, I am going to give it a little more experimentation after my one night where it didn't work, and give the pu the exact same test- if only to find out that all the other factors (amp placement, also in relation to my position, missing soundcheck, etc) were the culprits.

Best
Sidecar
 
#553
MrSidecar said:
Hi drurb,

do we have a convert here? ;) I thought you didn't like the soundclips and thus, you wouldn't wanna try one.. Anyways, I'm really interested what you (being or having been skeptical about it) think of it when you try it, so by all means, post experiences.
Click to expand...

You know, I forgot about that discussion back in January of 2010. Thanks for the reminder. I still think those clips sound awful. I don't like the character of the sound. Yes, I've been kept away for over two years. There are new clips on the site that sound much better. In addition, since 2010, I've read the experiences of many and had conversations with players who use them. I've decided to give it a try on the basis of what I've learned. I'll be ordering from Gollihur so that I can avail myself of the seven-day trial period. If the sound I get is like the sound in the clips from 2010, right back it will go! If it's like the new clips, then it will stay! :) What may happen is that, with some tweaking of my parametric eq, I end up with a sound that's substantially superior to what I now get with my Rev Solo. If that happens, then, yes, I will be a convert and will be happy to proclaim it and post my experiences. Maybe I'll get motivated and do some spectral analyses. :) Stay tuned...

Any tips on placement, use, expectations, or experiences you'd be willing to offer via PM would be appreciated.
 
#554
I don't have the money for an Ehrlund presently, but I post this because it proved useful in finding a spot to blu-tack my Peterman piezo onto the table of my bass.

The first time I used the Peterman live was not through choice, and the sound was very harsh and nasal despite frantic EQing on the SWR amp I had available. I had the p/u tacked in the mid line of the bass and a couple of inches south of the bridge.

Later, with the bass on a stand, I tapped the table of the bass with a finger, moving around and listening to the changes in tone in different spots. I quickly realised that the midline was pretty 'middly' in tone, and that a spot west of the bass bar seemed sweetest to my ear. This correlated very well with the sound I got when placing the p/u over that same spot.

Directly over the bass bar sounded boomy. Over the sound post sounded harsh and middly, etc. I would be interested to hear if this is generally the case with the Ehrlund, or whether there is more than just contact sound involved (e.g. being near the f hole might feed in some more bassy tones via air).

Any observations from Ehrlund owners?

Steve
 
#555
I haven't tried tapping around the top of the bass to determine the best placement for the Ehrlund. (As an aside, I'm not convinced that the response one gets from tapping the top reflects the response produced by playing the strings.) But I have used the Ehrlund on two basses, with very different results for the optimum placement.

The first bass was a 7/8 Kolstein (entry-level carved, flat back). On the Kolstein, I found that moving the Ehrlund closer to the bridge produced more string sound, but the sound from the body of the instrument dropped off. As I moved it further down the body, the sound became more muddy as the string response was lost. The sweet spot was in-between the two extremes, about 6-7" below the bridge and about mid-way between the bridge and the f-hole.

The second bass is my new Upton 5/8 Bostonian (carved, round back). Different placements on this bass were much more random; it's difficult to find a general trend in the changes as I moved in in a particular direction. So I first tried some widely different spots to find the best general area, and then moved it in smaller increments to fine-tune the sound. The best spot turned out to be 1/2" below the inside of the E-side bridge foot.

- Hal -
 
#557
Just tacking on an update to the end of this monster thread since my earlier comments were in it. I've had the Ehrlund for a couple of years and have had mixed results. I haven't been gigging with it lately, but haven't let it go either.

My pre-amp one day on a gig developed a loud hum and I never really dealt with it. I had 2 amps at the time and it worked okay with one of them without the preamp, but not the other. Finally I emailed the company and though they offered to send me a replacement, I also figured out over a series of emails that the belt clip that I removed immediately prior to that hum showing up grounded the preamp somehow and removing it caused the hum. I'm still not sure how, but I put it back on last night and the hum seems to be gone now.

If I could figure out how to isolate the cable effectively and keep it removable, then I might go back to gigging with it. I've been velcroing it to the back of my tailpiece, which works to a degree, but I think I need a better solution for it to be really reliable.

Just an update.
 
#558
Ric Vice said:
Jorg,
I had an Audix 35, when they originally came out, I liked the mic, but that clip mounting system really didn't work as well for me, as it has for others. I have a DPA 4099 for those instances, but it doesn't work into a bass amp. The Audix 35 sounded very good for those applications. You may find that the Ehrlund works very well, but you'll have to try it, before you, make the purchase. If it works works, you may find that you won't need all those different piezo pickups. They only way to tell is by using it on several concerts and clubs.

Ric
Click to expand...

Hi Ric,

You've done other clip-on mics and still have the DPA, So since you still have the DPA mic, it sounds like the EAP is working for you as a pickup-alternative Is it the only "pickup" on your bass? or do you feel the need to also keep a piezo on there, too?

Basically I'm looking at the EAP as a way to hopefully avoid a piezo pickup altogether for jazz gigs no louder than a big band. But, hopefully have the piezo reliability and to some extent the "set and forget" aspect of piezos.


Many thanks in advance!
 
#559
pace of bass said:
Hi Ric,

You've done other clip-on mics and still have the DPA, So since you still have the DPA mic, it sounds like the EAP is working for you as a pickup-alternative Is it the only "pickup" on your bass? or do you feel the need to also keep a piezo on there, too?

Basically I'm looking at the EAP as a way to hopefully avoid a piezo pickup altogether for jazz gigs no louder than a big band. But, hopefully have the piezo reliability and to some extent the "set and forget" aspect of piezos.


Many thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

After a few short tours, I've decided that it's important to keep my Full Circle ready. The EAP is problematic in many "rock clubs" with bad sound-guys.
 

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