Double Bass Full Circle failure

[B String]

One additional wire into a two-channel Clarus, B String. No mixer required. Sorry, my computer won't do quotes for some strange reason.

I have a Focus I. Its one of my all time favorite amps. Very user friendly. For a number of years I used it with my upright into the 10 megohm input and my electric bass through a Tech 21 Paradriver, into the effects loop return. However...
When I was blending two pickups on my upright bass I needed a phase switch sometimes and better eq for the two pickups. The RavenLabs PMB blender is a really great piece of gear. Too bad nobody's making it now. That works great.
I've thought about getting a two channel Acoustic Image head and using one of Fdeck's preamps with the phase switch and 10 megohm buffer for one of the pickups. (Piezo pickup) Again, after all that "stuff", its nice to find a pickup that just "works" on my bass.
I remember seeing Brian Bromberg's bass with a slew of pickups on it all over the place. He went in the studio to record and only used one DPA mic.

 

[Jonny Mah]

Fishman's customer service was a joke. They said that they couldn't do anything for me because I live in canada, and gave me the phone number of an answering machine that told me to take it back to where I purchased it for a repair. This would have involved taking the pickup off and being without a bass for however long it took them to repair it. Luckily Long and McQuade hooked me up as made the process much easier to handle. Having said that I will never buy another Fishman product - I got 9 months out of my FC and there was no warning before it died. These products are not suited to professional use, IMHO.

 

[B String]

Fishman's customer service was a joke. They said that they couldn't do anything for me because I live in canada, and gave me the phone number of an answering machine that told me to take it back to where I purchased it for a repair. This would have involved taking the pickup off and being without a bass for however long it took them to repair it. Luckily Long and McQuade hooked me up as made the process much easier to handle. Having said that I will never buy another Fishman product - I got 9 months out of my FC and there was no warning before it died. These products are not suited to professional use, IMHO.

I thought it was just me and the guys I know having issues with Fishman. This company has had a great reputation for many years with professional bassists. I don't get it. There was an abrupt change in attitude a few years ago from Fishman. This is unacceptable behavior for this kind of company. Most companies loose it when the products or customer service turn to crap. Seems like Fishman's doing everything they can to fail. Bad product, bad service, bad attitude.
My problem is..... The Full Circle works for me. Like that crazy ass girl friend you know you have to leave but just can't.

 

[Nate74]

This is a discouraging thread to read through. I put a Full Circle on my Eminence EUB a couple years ago after the Realist died. I liked it so much I put one on my Shen-100. No problems at all with either, but now I'm thinking I'll carry my old K&K Bass Max as a back up. It'd be easy to pop it in in a pinch on the Shen's bridge, not so much on the Eminence...

 

[B String]

This is a discouraging thread to read through. I put a Full Circle on my Eminence EUB a couple years ago after the Realist died. I liked it so much I put one on my Shen-100. No problems at all with either, but now I'm thinking I'll carry my old K&K Bass Max as a back up. It'd be easy to pop it in in a pinch on the Shen's bridge, not so much on the Eminence...

It shouldn't be discouraging. All equipment has a failure rate of some sort. The Full Circle is a good product. I'm more concerned with Fishman's seemingly growing bad attitude. The FC probably has a longer life then the Realist or a number of other pickups. Its always smart to carry spare gear just in case. The Bass Max is a good backup. But for me, the FC sounds better.

 

[Nate74]

Yes, I much prefer the sound of the Full Circle over the othe pickups I've tried on my Shen. I actually liked the sound of the Realist on my Eminence, but it was very fickle and would cut out randomly. The FC give's me 95% of the sound, but thusfar has worked 100% of the time with no messing with it.