Just got a chance to play my Da Gamba upright through my Epifani UL110 for the first time over a couple of days rehearsal. What an inspirational sound from a small cab!
I had been thinking I needed a new pickup system, but it was my old cab that didn't sound so great.
The UL110 seems to be ideal for rehearsals and small gigs. All I need now is to pair it with a UL112 for a bit more woof on a big stage and I'll be laughing.
There's a link to the guy who made my bass below for those who are interested.
It had an underwood pickup when I bought it second hand.
When it stopped working on one side. I replaced it with a "revolution solo".
I tried two rev solos together to try and get a better string balance (one in each wing), it sounded very hard not unlike the underwood, but just one on the bass side of the bridge gave a much fatter sound, (just like it says on the installation instructions)!
After a bit of experiment I re-installed a rev solo II with the R side down and pushed it far into the wing of the bridge, just past the edge of the wing, which gave a much better string balance and a bit more body tone, I think this was because my bass has a low bridge compared to a full size bass, but if your G and A strings are too quiet, try pushing the pickup further into the bridge wing and see if that helps.
My old cab was making the imbalance worse but now it sounds great.
It does make me wonder about the phase cancellation that happens in multiple element pickups. One trancducer carefully placed does seem to achieve a fuller, more "natural" tone (depending on the individual instrument, as I can imagine a harder sound would suit a really boomy bass).
I just saw a great bass player in the McDades. He was using a beautiful old double bass and "The Realist" pickup which sounded fantastic.
I don't know if a Realist would suit me as I work with a kit drummer so feedback rejection is really important and a tiny bit of direct string tone from higher up the bridge is quite nice.
I'm happy with the sound of my bass now so I'll leave it alone and concentrate on playing!
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I had been thinking I needed a new pickup system, but it was my old cab that didn't sound so great.
The UL110 seems to be ideal for rehearsals and small gigs. All I need now is to pair it with a UL112 for a bit more woof on a big stage and I'll be laughing.
There's a link to the guy who made my bass below for those who are interested.
It had an underwood pickup when I bought it second hand.
When it stopped working on one side. I replaced it with a "revolution solo".
I tried two rev solos together to try and get a better string balance (one in each wing), it sounded very hard not unlike the underwood, but just one on the bass side of the bridge gave a much fatter sound, (just like it says on the installation instructions)!
After a bit of experiment I re-installed a rev solo II with the R side down and pushed it far into the wing of the bridge, just past the edge of the wing, which gave a much better string balance and a bit more body tone, I think this was because my bass has a low bridge compared to a full size bass, but if your G and A strings are too quiet, try pushing the pickup further into the bridge wing and see if that helps.
My old cab was making the imbalance worse but now it sounds great.
It does make me wonder about the phase cancellation that happens in multiple element pickups. One trancducer carefully placed does seem to achieve a fuller, more "natural" tone (depending on the individual instrument, as I can imagine a harder sound would suit a really boomy bass).
I just saw a great bass player in the McDades. He was using a beautiful old double bass and "The Realist" pickup which sounded fantastic.
I don't know if a Realist would suit me as I work with a kit drummer so feedback rejection is really important and a tiny bit of direct string tone from higher up the bridge is quite nice.
I'm happy with the sound of my bass now so I'll leave it alone and concentrate on playing!
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