K&K bass max

Chris:

So, are you sending each side (E and G) through seperate channels of the two-channel preamp?

What about when you add the mic?

 

I keep my Bass Max mostly on the G side,like 90+%
of the time,only occasionaly swapping to the E side to try and eliminate either a dead sounding string or feedback on a particular note if i can`t eq it out.

 

Just curious, guys...what problems were solved by moving the Bass Max to the G side?

 

You can see the custom made K&K on my American Standard in picture #7 in the A.S.S. thread. Every musician who hears it is totally knocked out. ALL HAIL Bob Gollihur. Thanks, Bob. Switching from bass to bass is child's play, taking maybe 10-20 seconds. Try that with a Realist.

 

I bought Bassmax from Bob stuck it underneath the wing on the E side of my Czech uprightt and pluged it straight into my cheesy but reliable 7 year old 50watt Peavy Microbass.
It sounded great with very little hiss or noise and practically no eq adjustments.
I was used a Schaller mag pickup prior and the K+K Bassmax blows it out of the water.
I had to shim the Bassmax to fit so I used matchbook paper on the top side of the wing.
maybe the matchbook material takes out the nasally sound some of you are having.

I bought my Bassmax pick up and strings through Gollihur Music, it came fast, and the service was great.
Thanks Bob!!

 

Sorry to bring a thread back from the dead but would a bassmax pickup fit a 1/2 sized bridge. Edit just measured my bridge it seems to be a bit just 5 mm so i think we should be good.

 

I use bassmax on the G side with guts on top and steel on bottom. It evens out the bass nicely, and amplifies really well....

 

Moving it to the G side seemed to take the boom out. This could probably have been removed with an EQ but since I was using the 'preamp-in' and had no eq-ing capability on the preamp, it was my only choice.

I've found that I need to be careful about keeping it out of the line of fire of sound sources on the treble side. I was playing at a combo class with the guitar to my left. The pickup was getting collateral vibration from the guitar amp and it sounded awful. I had the same problem with the sound from my own amp at a concert when I had the amp on my left. Just something to be aware of. With the BassMax on the E-side your body serves as an obstruction so it's not as much of a problem.

 

So about this pickup... A couple things that attract me about it are the "even" sound it's supposed to have as well as the price. Can anyone tell me though, is this a good pickup for jazz bass specifically, or does it not really lend itself to good "jazz" sound?

 

I've always found the Bassmax to have a "boomy" unrefined sound compared to the better pickups often discussed in these threads. Any DB I've ever used one on sounded, to me, like an overgrown BG. YMMV

 

What do you mean by "jazz sound?" Your profile doesn't say if you double, but I do, and would describe this pickup as the P-Bass of piezo bridge-wing pickups: punchy, strong in the low mids and fairly foolproof. Mine makes my German ply sound pretty good, where the Realist gave a pretty brutal assessment of my flaws and the bass' too.

 

How does it compare in sound to the Fishman Bp100? this was another pickup i was curious to try, since it's not much more than the Bass Max but not as much as like a Realist

 

There are very few basses that the BP-100 will work on. If its not matched up to the right instrument it is one of the worst sounding pickups on the market(bright, nasal sounding). The BassMax has a very different character. Has about the same amount of low end, but is much smoother sounding. It does sound a bit bass guitarish, but I do like the pickup a lot on my Eastman. It works very well for louder situations.

 

thanks for the reply. Is there another pickup close to the price of the BassMax that would be less "bass guitarish" but still as smooth?