Double Bass I can't decide on what pickup to buy

[Paul Warburton]

The Underwood is the only PU that picks up all of my 5 strings evenly because of the transducers on each wing. I used to also use the Fishman together with that, running the Underwood into the low input on my little Polytone 12" and the Fishman into the high. I listened to a coupla records I did with that from a few years back last week and man, that really worked nice. I think I'll go back to that again since I use much less amp volume now on this bass. I can't remember *** I stopped using that.
It's that old age thang, I guess.....kinda like I can't remember why I'm making this post.

 

[Ric Vice]

I am in need for a pickup for my upright. I just am unsure about which one to get. I am (obviously) looking to get the best tone that sounds as natural as it can get.

The pickups I was looking at:

K&K Double Big Twin Double Bass Transducer
Fishman Full Circle
Realist Upright Pickup


Which one is the best? Or are there any other that I should look at?

Bromaz,
If you can't demo the pickup and you already have an adjustable bridge on the bass, then IMHO go with the Full Circle. If you don't have adjusters, first consider getting them. If that's a cost issue, then IME the Realist will would be a consideration, unless you have a plywood instrument. Before I even looked at the K&K, I'd look at the Underwood or Revolution Solo II. Just my opinion though.

Ric

 

[Eric Hochberg]

The Underwood is the only PU that picks up all of my 5 strings evenly because of the transducers on each wing.

Paul, I'd be interested in hearing about the sound if you were to remove the G element. It really opened it up on my bass with no loss in evenness across the strings.

 

[Paul Warburton]

Been there, done that, Eric. It works good on most 4 stringers but on my 5 there's too much bridge spread. The G becomes weak.

 

[AMJBASS]

Bromaz,
If you can't demo the pickup and you already have an adjustable bridge on the bass, then IMHO go with the Full Circle. If you don't have adjusters, first consider getting them. If that's a cost issue, then IME the Realist will would be a consideration, unless you have a plywood instrument. Before I even looked at the K&K, I'd look at the Underwood or Revolution Solo II. Just my opinion though.

Ric

I think while the Realist doesn't work on some plywoods, it does sound good if the bass is fairly resonant. I have one on my Christopher and it sounds great. In fact it sounds far better on that bass than it does on my old flatback(of course every bass will respond differently...).

 

[mesmithnm]

...It's also important to remember that having the pickup set up properly can have a HUGE impact on the sound. Like with the realist, if the bridge is not sitting squarely and straight up and down on the pickup it can really sound thin and crappy. Tilt the bridge up just a bit and suddenly it comes to life! Similar things can be said about all the pickups I've mentioned.

I want to second this - getting the pickup installed correctly probably makes more difference than the type of pickup you use. But that's also part of why I think so many (myself included) like the Full Circle. If you already have professionally installed adjusters (by professional I mean ones that fit correctly and support the bridge properly so you get a good acoustic sound) then the Full Circle is easy to install - it's just a drop-in replacement into a system that already works. No guessing about how loose or tight or where to clip or if the bridge foot is making correct contact or any of that stuff. That's not to say that any of the pickups recommended are bad - it's just that the performance on any of them likely to be more sensitive to the individual installation than the FC.

Mark