Full Circle sound

[carlospppena]

Dear Patric;

I just bought my double bass. It is a laminated Estle Louis from Gollihur music, from which i recieved super-great sevice and products. I like the acoustic sound very much. But, the pickup sound (Fishman full circle) has a "thud" that I dont like. Turning the pickup 1/8 of a turn does not help with this. It is a lot more of "finger scratching the string" than I would like. It is rare that the "thud" sound its more pronounced in the "A" string. The lower i set the action the less "thud" i get, but the acoustic sound deteriorates. The sound its not all bad. What i wanted to know if there is any way -that you know of- to reduce this particular caracteristic.

I am running this through a Fishman Platinum preamp, an Ibanez Promethean 500 amp, and a Hartke 210 speaker.

Best regards,

Carlos Pepe Peña

 

[PNeher]

You should check with Lynn Seaton at the Ask a Pro forum. I use home-made pickups that don't get the thud you are describing. They don't allow huge volume though, feedback! They are great for big stages and house amplification. I just use a piezo crystal in a thin sandwich of spruce and walnut. Then I stick it in the little heart area in the bridge. The pickup touches the bridge lightly in two places on its sides. This causes the piezo to vibrate up and down, giving lots of signal. I don't need a pre-amp.
Anyway, there are a lot of pickups out there. I have tried most of them (at rather great expense!) and I was not happy with most, so I made my own. There are lots of instructions on-line should you wish to go that route.
Ciao!
PN

 

[carlospppena]

Dear Patrick;

Thank you very much for your reply. I want to go in that direction (making my own pickup). Can you point me in the right direction? I made a couple of yahoo searches and came out empty handed. A link pehaps?

Thanks tons,

Pepe Peña