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Double Bass Krivo first impressions

R

raskalnickoff

Jul 30, 2017
1
4
#1
I have been looking around for over a year and finally decided to buy one of these. It arrived yesterday, on time. The form factor was not quite the same as my fretboard (being symmetrical and thinner). I had no problem with the special tape. My previous setup was P-bass innards attached with Lego and double sided tape (which came unstuck at least once a year). I left the tape to rest overnight for the glue to set nicely.

Had a bit of a play this morning. The first place I attached the Krivo seemed balanced between the 4 strings and I could easily tune. Played a couple of songs and minigames on Rocksmith and it worked flawlessly, never complaining to be too loud or soft and identifying notes with ease. (also tried my bow which seemed ok but I have never learnt properly)
Tried to get some feedback through my amp and could not.
All in all work exactly as I hoped, looks neater than Lego and should last much longer.

I didn't find have a photo of my Lego pickup on my bass. The control were hidden & held behind the fretboard with picture frame tape, and the pickups hung down on an angle with tape & string and the lego man spaced them appart with some bluetack. It worked fine but fell off occasionally and my wife did not approve.
 

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#3
I have a Krivo and a Yamahiko on my Upton Bohemian. I love the sound of both and mix them through my Grace Felix. However, the more I play and record, the more I’m impressed by the Krivo. Obviously it makes sense in loud rooms for anti-feedback, but even in some quite settings I find myself relying on the Krivo. I just did a live radio show and got many compliments on my tone (my playing, not so much) and realized later I was on the Krivo only. Just for the record, I really like the natural thump, etc of the Yamahiko but I am blown away by how natural, tight, dynamic, and organic this Krivo sounds! PS:Shout out also to Jim Bergantino for making some really nice sounding amps and speakers also!
 
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#6
raskalnickoff said:
I have been looking around for over a year and finally decided to buy one of these. It arrived yesterday, on time. The form factor was not quite the same as my fretboard (being symmetrical and thinner). I had no problem with the special tape. My previous setup was P-bass innards attached with Lego and double sided tape (which came unstuck at least once a year). I left the tape to rest overnight for the glue to set nicely.

Had a bit of a play this morning. The first place I attached the Krivo seemed balanced between the 4 strings and I could easily tune. Played a couple of songs and minigames on Rocksmith and it worked flawlessly, never complaining to be too loud or soft and identifying notes with ease. (also tried my bow which seemed ok but I have never learnt properly)
Tried to get some feedback through my amp and could not.
All in all work exactly as I hoped, looks neater than Lego and should last much longer.

I didn't find have a photo of my Lego pickup on my bass. The control were hidden & held behind the fretboard with picture frame tape, and the pickups hung down on an angle with tape & string and the lego man spaced them appart with some bluetack. It worked fine but fell off occasionally and my wife did not approve.
Click to expand...


I suspect the reason is that the radius of your fingerboard and the radius of the Krivo don't match, is what's called the Romberg Bevel under your E String. Krivo had to design and build a "one size fits all" pickup for both beveled fingerboards and round ones so they split the difference

between a rounded fingerboard and one with the Romberg bevel. Arco just doesn't work as well with a magnetic pickup, because the back and forth travel of the strings ( excursion) is wider than what occurs when you're playing pizzicato. I have Bartolini pickups on my Clevenger Keyhole EUB

that were designed specifically for pizz and arco, but personally I still prefer the sound of it's piezo pickup. I also had a 4 element magnetic pickup on my DB, it just wasn't suited for bowing. Just my take however.
 
#7
@Ric Vice good observations on the fingerboard. A long time ago I had a Pierre Josephs that didn’t quite fit the Kay I stuck it on. Now it seems Krivo has optimized that type of design.

I’ve been considering a new Krivo for the Busetto - looks like a good fit. I wonder if I scratched out a tracing and scanned it to the Krivo folks they might tell me if it’s a good fit - certainly looks like it could be.
 
#8
Jason Hollar said:
@Ric Vice good observations on the fingerboard. A long time ago I had a Pierre Josephs that didn’t quite fit the Kay I stuck it on. Now it seems Krivo has optimized that type of design.

I’ve been considering a new Krivo for the Busetto - looks like a good fit. I wonder if I scratched out a tracing and scanned it to the Krivo folks they might tell me if it’s a good fit - certainly looks like it could be.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they could do that, you might also possibly ask Mark Gollihur to do that. What was nice about the Paul Tonninges magnetic pickups I owned, was that it had four elements that had a wing nut underneath so you could literally point each of the magnets

at it's corresponding string and center the element. I abandoned magnetics years ago when the first Underwoods became available, and since I purchased my Ehrlund EAP, I find that it works on all the basses I own. Including my Kolstine Busetto Travel Bass. Just

my take however. Fortunately, with the Krivo, you don't have to mount it, by inserting screws into the bottom of the fingerboard like you did with either the Toby or Tonnengies.
 
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#9
So i recenty purchased a Krivo, i had one of the original ones but lost it somewhere (did not really use it at that stage) however with my carved bass piezo pups were just not working i have an underwood and a bassmax and not much good with either too much thump no definition feedback etc etc.

So this pickup with Corelli strings (thanks to Gollihur Music) it has really changed things for the first time i'm not fighting the bass i can be heard its clear nice and full sounding i can use a lighter touch and get more dynamics into my playing and of course as loud as i need to be with no feedback. Is it as good as the right Piezo on the right bass in the perfect setting? no but given that every pickup changes your bass sound this is the best option im happy to give up some thump for more clarity.
 
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#10
'Just back from my first Krivo gig.

I had all the top ten gig complaints- tight stage, parked about two centimeters from a drum kit that got the $#!t beat out of it all night, bah blah blah standing in front of a 4 x 10 with a 900 watt amp turned up louder than it should be until the entire bass body was shaking.....

Never once did I not have 100% of the bass I and the rest of the band needed. Usable sound, bombproof construction. I spent maybe 25 minutes to modify and install it, soldered to a guitar endpin jack locked into one of the string holes so I could spin the bass with ample transgression. Of course it doesn't sound like my acoustic bass in Redwall Cavern on the Grand Canyon. It is a very useable sound that liked & worked well my pedalboard.

I played with folks that see me bring a different bass almost every time. With Spirocore mitts the Krivo sounded pretty much the same on three different basses. It reliably did its job & sounded like me. I'll still keep the other six pickups I own and likely blend combinations of them all for wider options.

Rarely is there more than just me and one other bass nerd in the room who actually notices...
 
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#11
james condino said:
Rarely is there more than just me and one other bass nerd in the room who actually notices...
Click to expand...

and this is the realization that finally convinced me to stop fighting piezo pickups and loud stages, and just go magnetic. i still have a piezo (clicky) behind the fingerboard, but i dumped the bridge wing piezo for my krivo and immediately loved it. the krivo runs into channel A of a radial bassbone and the piezo into channel b (blended to taste). i really don't ever see myself going back to a full piezo setup.
 
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#15
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Sam Reese said:
@9Thumbs what do you feed the Line6 into? @james condino pretty fun to get that much volume without a fight. I used to worry about bass snobbery, but the Krivo really is "the easy button".
Click to expand...
Sam, I used to feed it to an Ampeg PF350 sitting on a pair of SVT15Es, but I just don’t need the volume, or aggravation. I bought a new Ampeg RB210, which actually sounds better with DB than EB. The G10 is charging on the shelf by the PA speaker
 
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#17
Since my helicore orchestral E couldn’t, or wouldn’t excite the Krivo, I bought a whole set of Jargar Dolces. The A,D, and G sounded dull compared to the Daddarios, now I’m thinking I ought to retry them all, just for a little more “gut” tone
 
#18
Stewie said:
Since my helicore orchestral E couldn’t, or wouldn’t excite the Krivo, I bought a whole set of Jargar Dolces. The A,D, and G sounded dull compared to the Daddarios, now I’m thinking I ought to retry them all, just for a little more “gut” tone
Click to expand...
Well the Jargars are dark but could be nice on a bright bass, and they also have minimal sustain. I was playing them here (no amp though):

 
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