Double Bass help for a newbie?

[the Crate Worm]

hello - so I been playing electric bass for about 16 years and I saved all my extra pennies forever and finally got myself a upright bass around 6 months ago -

I got and englehart from '86, and a upright guy I know came with me and played it and said that somebody had dialed it in, had good strings, action was good and had been adjusted, so great, I buy it - it was a really good deal because the guy had inherited it and just wanted the thing out of his house after all these years -

with the electric (which is just a Mexican Fender jazz) I play flat wound strings, because I like the more "dubby" sound, love that Fred Thomas sound - I also like the sound of cheap electrics! lol - sold my other nicer ones!

I have a pick up my friend loaned me that clips onto the bridge, but it stinks - no bass tone, picks up all the noises of my fingers sliding on the strings, so when I record I have just been sticking a Sure SM58 in front of instead - sounds better - BUT, I can't do that live for the type of music I do

so, my question - what is a resonably priced pick up I can get for my upright that will give me that more "bass-y" tone? - like reaggae, dubb that sort of thing. Thing is (preparing myself for a roasting here - lol) I play live hip hop, so it needs to be able to be around really loud sounds and not feedback


but about hip hop- I been a good Jr. Upright player though, I swear I do my warm ups with a bow every night, so don't be too cruel to me - ha ha - my wife should be nominated as a Saint for putting up with me learning-

I was looking at this one "KRIVO Magnetic Pickup" - whats the deal, is it good? - I'm sure some of you guys sell ones of you're own make, I'm open to suggestions

 

[bolo]

Welcome to TB.

Based on your description, you might want to look at the Bass Max. Affordable, forgiving, capable of a blunt dub-like sound if that's what you need.

 

[hensonbass]

I use an upright in loud situations and if there is a lot of low end frequencies in the mix (onstage or out front) you will have a hard time keeping your bass from feeding back when you use a piezo pu of any kind. That big body will vibrate with everything and all that extraneous sound will be amplified with whatever you play.

I use a KRIVO Magnetic Pickup to combat this and it solved my problems. You can also blend this pickup with a piezo successfully if you have a two channel preamp.

 

[the Crate Worm]

hey, thanks you guys -


yep, it's loud - big sounding drums, the Dj scratching, rappers, all that - I've heard of people filling their bass with stuff like packing foam, but I really don't want to do anything like that - that "KRIVO Magnetic Pickup" was exactly what I was looking at on ebay before I registered here, but thought I'd ask - have come through and read a few times

actually, this forum helped me to have patience when I bought my bass - I was about to buy a Merano off of ebay, but I read a thread on here and it sounded really sketchy, like they might be good, but they might not, so I waited a while longer and got the Englehart, so I guess I'm saying THANKS TB

 

[two fingers]

I'm a bass guitar guy. Just wanted to welcome you aboard!