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Experimental Acoustic Bass Build

Will a speaker mounted in an acoustic bass cause feedback from under saddle pickup

  • Yes

  • No

  • IDK but it's worth a try

Results are only viewable after voting.
E

EmanantFlow

Apr 12, 2020
22
2
29
Isabella Lake, California
#1
Hello all, I'm planning an acoustic bass build and I'm considering adding an under saddle pickup to electrify it and make it more versatile. I'm really interested in making something different from just your every day acoustic/electric, so I was looking at the Jam jar amp and considering adding it into the body of the guitar with the speaker as added volume for jamming without a speaker stack. The only thing I'm worried about is the possibility of feedback from the speaker and the piezo. Does anyone have any idea if that would be a major issue or is the under saddle pickup isolated enough to not get feedback? I appreciate any and all input and hope you're all having a wonderful day.
 
#4
Bruce Johnson said:
If the speaker is mounted inside or on the body, then its vibration will probably make the strings vibrate, which will cause serious feedback. Regardless of what type of pickup you use.
Click to expand...
So I was thinking on using springs and other dampening material to isolate the speaker, maybe even point it outside of the body (so mounted on a side wall). After posting this I remembered seeing ads for the tonewood effects amp that have been showing up a lot on YouTube, if that doesn’t cause feedback issues would this not be similar?
 
#6
EmanantFlow said:
So I was thinking on using springs and other dampening material to isolate the speaker, maybe even point it outside of the body (so mounted on a side wall). After posting this I remembered seeing ads for the tonewood effects amp that have been showing up a lot on YouTube, if that doesn’t cause feedback issues would this not be similar?
Click to expand...

If the speaker is loud enough that you can hear it well, then it is causing the air all around the bass to vibrate. And the vibrating air can cause the strings to vibrate, starting the cycle of feedback. Same thing as if you hold your electric bass up close to the speakers of your amp. The moving air starts moving the strings at the same frequency, and it takes off.

Plus, you'd have the mechanical feedback loop too. The vibration of the speaker would shake the wooden frame of the bass, shaking the bridge and shaking the strings.

Mounting an electrically-driven speaker in the frame of a bass is just asking for bad feedback problems. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but you will have to do all kinds of things to restrict it and dampen it.
 
#7
Bruce Johnson said:
If the speaker is loud enough that you can hear it well, then it is causing the air all around the bass to vibrate. And the vibrating air can cause the strings to vibrate, starting the cycle of feedback. Same thing as if you hold your electric bass up close to the speakers of your amp. The moving air starts moving the strings at the same frequency, and it takes off.

Plus, you'd have the mechanical feedback loop too. The vibration of the speaker would shake the wooden frame of the bass, shaking the bridge and shaking the strings.

Mounting an electrically-driven speaker in the frame of a bass is just asking for bad feedback problems. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but you will have to do all kinds of things to restrict it and dampen it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input! I’m honestly gonna try the build without any electronics, but if it’s not loud enough I may do more research.
 

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