Double Bass Full Circle vs Realist for new Cleveland

[winston]

Could you expand on what the Realist was like compared to your preferred pickups?

My Cleveland is a laminated bass with a big, pillowy sound. The Realist has a lot of bottom end, present but not cutting mids and a shortage of high-end. The two together, to my ears sounded boomy and diffuse. Even with a preamp I could not get a sound with any kind of growl or detailed sustain that carried through a mix (mostly playing jazz/Latin/funky stuff).

Most of the people who like the Realist seem to have smaller basses with carved tops--it would be perfect for "embiggening" the sound (as Homer Simpson might say) of a bright bass. Of course, the other pickups I compared it to are bridge transducers which don't really reproduce the bass' body resonance. Since the Cleveland produces such a big acoustic sound, I don't really need to amplify the lows on smaller gigs--they come straight from the bass into the room.

The "in-between" location of the Full Circle is intriguing, but I haven't had a chance to try one yet.

 

[musicman5string]

Not my experience. I've used both on gigs on the Cleveland Bass. I think the Realist gets muddy and diffuse. Full Circle is tight and focused. It's feedback threshold is much higher than the Realist. The latter tends to howl when things get loud. The FC gets big and strong. That is especially usefull on gigs with a dense mix. YMMV.

That's cool; like I said, I don't have any experience with the FC, so I'm glad to hear it's making it on the gig.
Do you have to roll off alot of that bassiness, or is that the kind of sound you're going for? To clarify: I play mainly jazz gigs and am after a modern acoustic tone without alot of "boominess" in the tone....I'm thinking a combination of Ray Brown and Eddie Gomez with some Patitucci and Dave Holland thrown in.
*not that I can play like those cats.....*

 

[Uncletoad]

Do you have to roll off alot of that bassiness, or is that the kind of sound you're going for? To clarify: I play mainly jazz gigs and am after a modern acoustic tone without alot of "boominess" in the tone

I tend to go for more of an authoritative tone on the blues, country, and rock gigs, and use the AMT/Full Circle combo on the old jazz tune gigs. I play a lot more of the former than the latter. The Full Circle is pretty nasty by itself on a quiet transparent gig and using a mic really makes all the difference. I suspect the rev solo might make a good jazz gig pickup. I've just started playing around with that and am encouraged by the sound I'm getting.

 

[Cannonball]

the fullcircle has more clarity and less tendency to go boomy than the realist.
my bass has a really dark acoustic sound and sounds great with fullcircle.