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Double Bass Hurley Pickup Review

#21
drurb said:
Help me out here. What do you notice "even with just one element?" I understand that you experience a loss of "puff" when going from one to two elements.
Click to expand...
I mean by putting an element into the bridge wing. Stuff up the wings more and it mutes the bass further.

Meanwhile, the BP just adds mass to the bridge and doens't mess with the wings. The sound gets mildly muted. My teach played with this idea by adding extra BP-100 clamps and clothespins to listen to the effect that the extra mass has on the bridge. Adding mass allowed him to shape the particular tone he liked - not sure where he is with this now.

I prefer the tone of my bass without anything in the bridge wings, so that the top of my signal chain has the most tone. What happens afterward is up to the rig, or no rig for that matter.
 
#22
I've tried the full circle, bassmax, and TM piezos. I couldn't stand the sound I got from any of them, with various preamps/amps/cab configurations. I went to condenser mics instead.

I just bought the Virtuoso model. I figured for 50 bucks, what the heck right? Well, I was pleasantly surprised. It's hands down the best one I've tried - so good that I've gone back to piezos now instead of mics.

The volume and tone are equal across all four strings, and it doesn't have that boom or woof coming from having a piezo installed on the bass side. Because of this it was really easy to start eq'in. I ran it through a sansamp BDDI into a GB Shuttle combo, GK 150MB, and an Ampeg B100R. I was able to get good results out of all of them.

I can get it close to the sound of my mic. The mic still sounds better, but comes with the drawbacks. The Hurley gets me close enough that I'm rolling with it now for my amplified setup. I think it's a terrific sounding pickup, and out does stuff that costs twice as much.

The customer service was outstanding as well.

I'll be dumping my bassmax.
 
#23
This weekend I played a run-of-the-mill bar gig. I'm the only one in my group that uses an amp. Everything else is sent to a PA via condenser mics/pre. We are an old timey traditional kind of group.

Here is my setup: Shen SB80, Cordes Lamberts (G, D, A) Eurosonic Ultra Light (E), Hurley Virtuoso -> Sansamp BDDI -> GB 3.0-10T Shuttle. I have the extension cab but didn't use it Saturday. Needless to say my tone is more bluegrass than modern jazz. I'm sure that makes a difference in what you are looking for in a pickup.

Having said all of that, I really couldn't be happier with the Hurley. My bass sounded great, and very close to my acoustic tone. For the most part I leave the amp flat, but roll off the lows a bit. The even volume across all strings is what really impresses me with the pickup. My experience with other piezos I have tried that cost much more was not like this. I always felt which ever side I wedged in was getting the bulk of the tone, and no amount of EQ would bring the other side up to where I was happy.

I'm not trying to sound like a commercial for the guy, but I think he makes a quality product that is very affordable. It works for me.
 
#24
Based on reviews on Talkbass and a few other sites, I ordered the Hurley Virtuoso on Monday ($50.00 delivered through eBay). On Tuesday I got a confirmation email from Ryan. The pickup arrived on Thursday.

My first impression was that the pickup was sturdy and well made. If Ryan is making these pickups by hand, he's doing a very good job.

I had to file some space on my bridge wings to get the piezos to fit. That made me a little nervous, but I was careful and used a flat file. Ten minutes of sawdust later, the piezos fit it.

The pickup came with a single zip tie and instructions to thread the zip through the string holes to secure the jack. I did that, but it didn't hold the jack as firmly as I would like. If the jack flops around or if the cable flops against the bass, that noise comes through the pickups. I intend to spend some time on the forum looking at what other people have done to secure the jack. I think I need a jack bracket. Say that out loud. I dare you.

Plugged the pickup into my bass amp, which is set for my slab. For the Hurley, I rolled off low end and pumped up the high end. Otherwise no changes to amp settings. The Hurley sounds great! I get even response across all the strings and up the neck. I'm getting nice finger sound (haven't tried it with a bow yet). I'm not getting any noise or hum. The bottom end is solid. I played for a few hours with my friend on guitar and it was just joy to have the upright coming through the amp.

I will say that I haven't used any other upright pickup, so I can't make a direct comparison of the Hurley against other brands. I will say that the Hurley has provided exactly what I'm looking for. I am very happy with the quality, look, and most of all sound.

Now I'm off to find a jack bracket...

Dave
 
#26
kochkoch said:
I had to sell mine right away. It never worked on three of my basses. Low output! It was installed very well.

I then bought another one just to give it another try. No luck! I returned the pick up to Ryan and sent me a refund.
Click to expand...

I wonder why?...

I can testify that I am getting very good level from my pickup. I followed the instructions for mounting the piezos. They are tight but can be removed without a struggle. When I plug into my amp, I'm getting slightly less level than my slab, which has active EMGs installed. As I mentioned, I'm not getting noise or hum. I'm confident I can take this rig out and gig with it. Haven't had a chance to do any recording yet. I expect to use the pickup in combination with one or two mics.

Did you ever find a pickup that did work properly? Was it also a wing mount piezo?

Dave
 

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