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Fretless + Piezo + what?

T

tantetruus

Jul 3, 2010
145
0
#1
Quite a lot fretless basses who are "soundwise" close to
double basses appear to have piezo's or similar solutions.

What pickup could you use to "support" the piezo in this kind of
sound with a bit more depth maybe, bit still in that double bass, natural sound?

I like the Allen basses, but they might benefit from
a bit more punch without getting hardcore funk..

Well, being from the Netherlands i kinda reached my language borders here so i hope you understand what im after:help:
 
#2
Round 2 eh? LOL look to EMG CS or JV series, these work well with fretless, as for anything else, they will all work, it may serve you best to listen to sound clips of fretlesses online at such sights as harmony central, Zzounds, Iloveguitar, and users fourms like TB to find what suits your ear best, because everyone will have a different opinion.
 
#4
I recently had a Stambaugh Resonance made. 3 chambers, no sound hole.
Piezo PU in the bridge and 1 magnetic PU. 1 Vol. 1 Pan 1 Tone control.
GHS tapewounds. With the pan centered I get a bit of both worlds.
After hearing Rob Allen's I too wanted a bit more punch and a more versatile axe.
Still getting use to how bright Piezos are.
Have to agree with Musiclogic also.
Take your time & Good luck
 
#7
I literally just finished this weekend putting together my fretless with the HipShot/GraphTech piezos, a Bartolini buffer coupled with two Delano SBC4 pups (dual coil) and their Sonar Preamp. I am a very happy camper. The Bart buffer comes with a blend pot so you can solo either the magnetic or piezos and the range of sound I get is wonderful.

The piezo seems to pick up a bit more mwahh and definitely the high end defintion. The Delanos have a buttload of meat on the low end. (I think Thunderritter had posted some of his sound clips off his Wish) They are nice and fat and beefy. Blended is a real cool sound.

I was sold on the Delanos from others on TB and some of the soundclips I had heard, but was on the fence on the piezos. I am glad I did both. Make sure you get a good buffer if you are blending the two feeds as the peizo is way hotter. The Bart buffer was able to blend the two with the prewired pot, but they ship a bigger one in the pack too.

I highly recommend the Delanos. They are 4 wire pickups so you can solo each coil and do a series and parallel on each pup individually. I have them just in parallel right now, but I smell a 3 way switch in my future. I have barts in my other two active basses and this is by far the fatter sound. The Barts are smoother by comparison.

The Delanos are right in your backyard too. You could take a nice hike on the AutoBahn and pick them up - unless German engineering is bad there. ;)

Also hats off to Brian at Best Bass Gear. He helped me piece it all together and he rocks!!!
 
#9
Musiclogic said:
Round 2 eh? LOL look to EMG CS or JV series, these work well with fretless, as for anything else, they will all work, it may serve you best to listen to sound clips of fretlesses online at such sights as harmony central, Zzounds, Iloveguitar, and users fourms like TB to find what suits your ear best, because everyone will have a different opinion.
Click to expand...

round 2?
I did post this already:confused:
I will certainly have a look at the sites you suggested, i did have a look at some clips at youtube, but qquite often its pretty hard to find out which instruments are played
 
#14
tantetruus said:
With chambering you mean semi accoustic?
(the language barriere strikes again:((
Click to expand...

Tom was talking about his personal preference, chambering is removing some of the inner body to reduce weight, it's kind of like semi acoustic if applied in that fashion, some say it adds to the mid range of the instrument.
 
#15
Í need some help here (yes, language :crying:)
"a Bartolini buffer" ?

"The Bart buffer comes with a blend pot so you can solo either the magnetic or piezos"
I was wondering about this; i see some quite complicated solutions but isnt it possible to blend piezo's with magnetics only by turning up the volume of the respective element?


"The Delanos are right in your backyard too. You could take a nice hike on the AutoBahn and pick them up - unless German engineering is bad there. ;)"

German engineering has the same reputation here:)
It is about 250 km from here, so thats doable:)
 
#18
tantetruus said:
Í need some help here (yes, language :crying:)
"a Bartolini buffer" ?

"The Bart buffer comes with a blend pot so you can solo either the magnetic or piezos"
I was wondering about this; i see some quite complicated solutions but isnt it possible to blend piezo's with magnetics only by turning up the volume of the respective element?


"The Delanos are right in your backyard too. You could take a nice hike on the AutoBahn and pick them up - unless German engineering is bad there. ;)"

German engineering has the same reputation here:)
It is about 250 km from here, so thats doable:)
Click to expand...



http://www.bestbassgear.com/bartolini-preamps-piezo-buffer.htm
:)
 

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