Double Bass K&K Preamp Alternative

[cykogrilla]

After some technical difficulties last night it turns out that my K&K crapped out. Shortly after it started dying, the low end was farting during a song, my amp's breaker flipped. I have a Sansamp -> Peavey IPR setup.

This was my first gig with the K&K although I've had it for a few years while I've been building up my "chops" and finding other Psychobilly guys so quality wise I'm hesitant to trust them when getting a replacement.

Additionally the sound I got from going straight into the SansAmp sounded even better except for the missing fingerboard pickup and I was able to get significantly louder without any feedback. Any ideas, including DIY, for a replacement? I'm going to use a mixer for now and run a stereo cable from my upright to it but I really like the simplicity of everything being in my rack or attached to the tailpiece.

 

[Francois Blais]

Could it be the battery?
Sounds like that, reading your description.

 

[cykogrilla]

Could it be the battery?
Sounds like that, reading your description.

That was my assumption while on stage but I checked when I got home and it's not the battery.

 

[what the pluck]

I used to run a sans amp/ bass driver with my bass max and it sounded pretty good on my ply bass with innovations on it. Now i run a bass max and a dpa mic through a dual channel Headway pre with my carved french bass and it sounds awesome but I dont play psychobilly... Maybe with the sans amp if you mess with the eq you might get the sound your after.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Oh God, no.

The Sansamp BDDI is bad but K&K gear is worse. I used a K&K RAB rig for, literally, minutes before I dumped it.

It sounds like you have way too much going on in your signal chain. Simpler is better, especially live, when things always seem to break at the worst possible moment. What's your signal chain, soup to nuts?

The truth is that unless you absolutely need that psycho sound, which is honestly all clicky and no low end, fingerboard piezos are a waste of time and the wire between the element and the jack is always microphonic. A good pickup will do its' job which is a reasonable approximation of your bass' sound.

Get a solid, reliable bridge element pickup and a solid, reliable preamp and connect them with good quality cables. You'll get the click you want, it won't die in the middle of a set, and you can EQ the sound however you want.

In the past I've used Realist, Revolution Solo, K&K Bass Max, TM, Fonokraft and most other piezo pickups on the market. Your bass will tell you what pickup it likes. My current one likes a beat-up Underwood I got for $30. Signal chain has always been a cheap Fishman B2 into a Countryman DI and then straight into the board, no amp. I've never had a problem.

If you like to follow trends, the Shadow single element into a Shadow preamp seems to be the hot thing this year for slap players, and it will cost you less than $250.

 

[cykogrilla]

We are Psychobilly but I'm not one of those who thinks the bass is a percussion instrument. I have a K&K pickup set too. I'll have to try just the bridge element into the Sansamp for now.

 

[Pocket Grub]

FDECK HPF Series 3