Double Bass Grace Designs Felix

[dukeorock]

Been meaning to and will tomorrow!

 

[Jay Corwin]

duke,

Your rack full of EQ's gives my simpleton brain a headache.

Seven.

 

[chris dammann]

Duke,

Since you have one of these in your hands, could I ask some questions about the functionality for doubling with one of these guys?

1.) Is the HPF useful for upright?
2.) Is the feed to an amp only for channel two? Is it easy to send channel one to an amp on stage?
3.) Would someone who likes the Reddi be happy with the electric sound?

Thanks for your reviews! I am hoping this guy will work for my doubling needs rather having to buy two separate DI's etc. I love my WW but would like to send the FOH a signal I haven't EQed for stage sound.

 

[dukeorock]

Duke,

Since you have one of these in your hands, could I ask some questions about the functionality for doubling with one of these guys?

1.) Is the HPF useful for upright?
2.) Is the feed to an amp only for channel two? Is it easy to send channel one to an amp on stage?
3.) Would someone who likes the Reddi be happy with the electric sound?

Thanks for your reviews! I am hoping this guy will work for my doubling needs rather having to buy two separate DI's etc. I love my WW but would like to send the FOH a signal I haven't EQed for stage sound.

Hey Chris!

Whether the HPF is useful for upright is surely a matter of opinion, but I think it's helpful. Since that function can be set to be either an HPF or a notch filter, I'm more inclined to keep it available as a notch filter for loud stuff in tough rooms. I'm using mine strictly for upright and have an Aggie Tone Hammer DI for electric. Since mine is for upright only, I've been jumping the channels with a Y cable so I can have the HPF AND the notch filter, plus one extra band of parametric eq

The amp feed is for either channel or both channels at once.

You know, I've never tried the REDDI, but I've heard nothing but great stuff about em. I think the Felix sounds good on electric, but I like a little more character on electric, so once I'm 100% sure I'm going to keep the Grace, it'll go on a pedalboard along side my Aggie TH DI...that, plus a tuner an ABY box and one or two dirt boxes will suit me just fine

 

[dukeorock]

Ok, two loud gigs done with the Felix and I think I really like it. One gig is a place I play very frequently and some musician buddies asked if I was doing anything different. I said I switched pres and they told me it had the most present and "woody" sound they'd heard me get in a long time. The band leader gave compliments too, so I guess that's good I'm taking it out for 3 gigs this weekend, so I'll know more then. Only problem I had was the Y cable I bought seems to not be working right. Only channel two would work when I tried to jump it tonight, so I'll look into that at soundcheck for the next gig. So far, so good!

 

[chris dammann]

Thank you, Duke. I appreciate the reviews.

 

[cacophonic]

... the Y cable I bought seems to not be working right. Only channel two would work when I tried to jump it tonight, so I'll look into that at soundcheck for the next gig. So far, so good!

Duke, would you take a moment explain how you're using the Y cable?

-bob

 

[dukeorock]

I use a Y cable to be able to use both channels of the Felix at the same time from one pickup.This gives me an extra band of parametric eq and I can set up one channel to be an HPF and the other to be a notch filter

 

[cacophonic]

I use a Y cable to be able to use both channels of the Felix at the same time from one pickup.This gives me an extra band of parametric eq and I can set up one channel to be an HPF and the other to be a notch filter

Ok, sounds like you're connecting the pickup to the FELiX using the Y cable. Maybe you could benefit from using the Grace's normalized input feature--the Ch 2 input is a TRS jack that has the ring contact normalized to the Ch 1 input.

Instead of the Y cable, you could take a standard instrument cable and replace one of the TS plugs with a TRS plug, bridging the tip and ring. Then by plugging the TRS end into CH 2, your signal will present at both channel inputs simultaneously. Effectively the same as using the Y cable, but a bit more elegant. The one issue to contend with is to select an appropriate input impedance on both channels.

I'm running my rig this way with good results.

-bob

 

[dukeorock]

Sounds reasonable enough

 

[dukeorock]

Just came back from 4 gigs in 3 days in Wisconsin. Two outdoors, one in a normal 200 cap Rock club, one in an old huge church building. Received compliments for my tone at every show. The bandleader really wants me to keep using the Felix. Several musicians and FOH dudes gave rave reviews. Looks like it's a keeper

 

[cacophonic]

Just came back from 4 gigs in 3 days in Wisconsin. Two outdoors, one in a normal 200 cap Rock club, one in an old huge church building. Received compliments for my tone at every show. The bandleader really wants me to keep using the Felix. Several musicians and FOH dudes gave rave reviews. Looks like it's a keeper

Well, bein' as how the FELiX is a pretty honest and neutral unit, the sound that everyone is complimenting must be coming from you.

Glad it's working out for you. The next step is to leave the amps and cabinets at home.

-bob

 

[dukeorock]

Well, bein' as how the FELiX is a pretty honest and neutral unit, the sound that everyone is complimenting must be coming from you.

Glad it's working out for you. The next step is to leave the amps and cabinets at home.

-bob

There might be an occasion where that'll happen! The other night, before I turned on the backline rig at a gig I could hear it clearly out of the PA and loved what I heard. Still like amps and cabs though

 

[dukeorock]

Surprised there hasn't been more interest in this unit. After about ten gigs I think it's the best upright pre I've ever used

 

[cacophonic]

Surprised there hasn't been more interest in this unit. After about ten gigs I think it's the best upright pre I've ever used

It may be the price tag.

 

[Chris Symer]

Surprised there hasn't been more interest in this unit. After about ten gigs I think it's the best upright pre I've ever used

Oh, I have interest all right. What I don't have at the moment is the cash. This unit is at the top of my list of next things to buy though....

 

[cacophonic]

For anyone still interested...

As a follow-up to post #51, and for those who asked, I finally had a little time to record some brief clips of the FELiX and EDB-2 for comparison purposes.

1. The bass used was a Shen Rogeri willow, strung with Obligatos (relatively new set but the D is already circling the drain as you will hear).
2. The recorded tracks are brief to keep file sizes down. Only the open strings were played, pizz, which is enough to get an idea of how each unit sounds. Absolutely zero virtuosity was involved in the making of these recordings. We pray that no one will be irreparably harmed by having to listen to them.
3. There are three pink noise tracks--one is the reference track taken straight from the source, and the other two recorded using the FELiX and EDB. Be careful--the pink noise tracks are LOUDER.
4. Pickups used were a Schertler Stat B and a copper Realist.
5. Both pickups went directly into Channel 1 of the preamps. (the Schertler preamp was not used with the Stat B).
6. Similar input impedance settings were selected.
7. Levels were matched as closely as possible.
8. The FELiX does not have an EQ bypass function, so all filters and EQ controls were set to their null, or least effective, positions.
9. The EDB has a switch that assigns the EQ controls to Channel 1, Channel 2, or both. For the recordings, the switch was positioned to Channel 2. The notch filter was selected OFF.
10. The output to the recording gear was taken from the balanced DI out of each unit.
11. Recording format is 16/44.1 .WAV (uncompressed).
12. Bass tracks were normalized slightly to help prevent differences in loudness from being perceived as differences in timbre. No other processing was used.
​

The link below should take you to a Google Drive folder with seven WAV files. It may be necessary to download the files to play them. Of course, much depends on the quality of your own playback and listening gear.

Rather than share my own conclusions and confusions, I will let you listen for yourself. Hope this is useful.

Here's the link--

FELiX vs. EDB-2


*Yes, that really is the faint sound of a metronome you heard when listening to the Schertler tracks. I was using a little Korg metronome, sitting on a music stand about 2 feet from the bass (an attempt to make each take as consistent as possible for easier comparison). For me, it was the only unexpected finding.

 

[dukeorock]

Thanks for doing that! I'll try to listen when we get to the hotel (on the road at the moment). I don't have much by way of tech talk to add, but I've now done about 35 shows on my Felix and still think it's the best thing I've ever tried. One other local upright player, after hearing my rig, went out and bought a Felix has nothing but praise for it, so there's that

 

[Chris Symer]

Thanks for posting the clips. Both the Headway and the Grace sound about like I would expect flat, although running a pickup flat into a recording is not something I would ever think of as a good sound and not what I would use either preamp for. Far more important to me is the flexibility and usefullness of the EQ points. The parametric mids of the Grace are a huge selling point for me.

 

[cacophonic]

Thanks for posting the clips. Both the Headway and the Grace sound about like I would expect flat, although running a pickup flat into a recording is not something I would ever think of as a good sound and not what I would use either preamp for.

Agreed. Just a benchmark for those who wanted to know how each unit is "voiced." Answer is that neither is voiced--they're both quite neutral but the clips of the EDB do reveal a pronounced rolloff in the lowest octave that's very apparent when playing in the bottom register.

Far more important to me is the flexibility and usefullness of the EQ points. The parametric mids of the Grace are a huge selling point for me.

Same here. The feature set of the Grace is unsurpassed, and the fully parametric mid filter is very effective. I had written before that the sound of both units is uncolored, and that the compelling reason to select the Grace is it's EQ (on both channels) and comprehensive feature set. And maybe the quality of the parts, materials, and manufacture.

-bob