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Double Bass Looking For New Amplification!

D

davidsbass

Dec 5, 2010
109
0
#1
I have an SWR electric bassamp and a Fishman BP pickup and the Fishman is way too tinny a sound for my taste. Im looking for an acoustic sounding pickup that wont interefere to much with the wood. I've heard suggestions about the realist. My bass teacher uses a wilson pickup (with the individual string volumizers). What should I be looking for if all I want is VOLUME. NO TINNINESS OR METALLIC SOUND. Id also like to use a bow with it
ps: (what pickup does nhop use)
 
#2
davidsbass said:
I have an SWR electric bassamp and a Fishman BP pickup and the Fishman is way too tinny a sound for my taste. Im looking for an acoustic sounding pickup that wont interefere to much with the wood. I've heard suggestions about the realist. My bass teacher uses a wilson pickup (with the individual string volumizers). What should I be looking for if all I want is VOLUME. NO TINNINESS OR METALLIC SOUND. Id also like to use a bow with it
ps: (what pickup does nhop use)
Click to expand...


Davidsbass,

The Realist will certainly work, it is placed between the E foot of the bridge and the top. Having had a two Realists in the past 8 years I chose to go with the new Ehrlund pickup since it sounds better than the Realist, sounds great with the bow, and really reproduces the sound of the bass. It has it's own set of challenges, but I really like it. The Realist is about half the cost of the Ehrlund if you purchase the matching pre amp that is designed for the pickup. NHOP used a Wilson Pickup, not my cup of tea. You'll need the pre amp or a pre amp to match the input impedance of the SWR to the pickup.

Ric
 
#4
I just got a K&K Double Bass Max pickup and it rocks! Awesome acoustic tone, not tinny at all (per minimal eq tweaks), no feedback problems, and pretty cheap and easy to install. K&K makes a "Bass Max" which is a single piezo unit (which has two piezo pickups sandwiching a buffer material) that slips into the shoulder of the bridge. The Double Bass Max is a custom order and is basically two of those units. I have mine wired to a mono jack, but you can have it wired stereo and use a preamp to mix the signals. I got mine through Gollihur Music:[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

hope this is helpful!
 
#7
Before you buy a pickup, try a preamp. With your SWR you may very will need a pre-amp to solve your problem. My experience with Fishman is that they are generally not tinny. Some amps are geared for passive piezio's but most are not. Fishman makes a preamp or the K&K is a good affordable option as well. If you have a local shop that has your amp and a preamp you can try, run that test first.
 
#8
Eric Hochberg said:
SWR amps that I've used aren't voiced very well for double bass...iMO.
Click to expand...

To expand on this a little, I have used SWR Workingman amps, all versions, for years and the best thing I have done to improve the sound for DB is a Fishman parametric DI box (discontinued). The tone controls of the SWR preamp are lacking for DB and the two bands of parametric control on the Fishman really help here. You don't say which SWR box you're using, so this may not apply...but even using the Fishman box while bypassing it's eq sounds better to me, not sure why...maybe better impedance match.
 
#9
Eric Hochberg said:
To expand on this a little, I have used SWR Workingman amps, all versions, for years and the best thing I have done to improve the sound for DB is a Fishman parametric DI box (discontinued). The tone controls of the SWR preamp are lacking for DB and the two bands of parametric control on the Fishman really help here. You don't say which SWR box you're using, so this may not apply...but even using the Fishman box while bypassing it's eq sounds better to me, not sure why...maybe better impedance match.
Click to expand...

+1. I used a WM10 and WM12 for about 10 years and I bypassed the pre and used my Fishman Platinum Pro and was able to get a much more usable sound.
 
#10
RobinC said:
I just got a K&K Double Bass Max pickup and it rocks! Awesome acoustic tone, not tinny at all (per minimal eq tweaks), no feedback problems, and pretty cheap and easy to install. K&K makes a "Bass Max" which is a single piezo unit (which has two piezo pickups sandwiching a buffer material) that slips into the shoulder of the bridge. The Double Bass Max is a custom order and is basically two of those units. I have mine wired to a mono jack, but you can have it wired stereo and use a preamp to mix the signals. I got mine through Gollihur Music:[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

hope this is helpful!
Click to expand...


Ok, I use and love the bass max as one of my main PUPs (the other one is the underwood) but if you are looking for a natural bass tone that sounds good with bowing, the bass max is not it! I love the bass max for the pure thumping bassy tone it gives....I swear, I could use my bass for reggae or that annoying rap music you hear coming from people's subsonic sound system....

If I was looking for accurate acoustic tone it would be the full circle or realist, hands down.
 
#11
Eric Hochberg said:
........ The tone controls of the SWR preamp are lacking for DB and the two bands of parametric control on the Fishman really help here. You don't say which SWR box you're using, so this may not apply...but even using the Fishman box while bypassing it's eq sounds better to me, not sure why...maybe better impedance match.
Click to expand...

+1 As I've mentioned before, I owned one of the first SWR Baby Blue 2x8's and using that head just didn't work with the BP-100, Fishman Pre amp and my bass. If I disconnected the head and used the Walter Woods MI-100-8 the cabinet sounded fine, so that's what I did, until I got a Baby Blue 2X8 extension cabinet and sold the amp. Using aural enhancer just sounded ugly. IMHO, I think it's the pre amp voicing, but I haven't tried it with the newer pickups. Some players love em

Ric
 
#12
The best purchase I ever made was I picked up a used BOSS MiniRack 10 Band EQ to use as a pre-amp for my DB (I use it for electric too on the same rig though it's not always needed)

I have a full circle, BOSS MiniRack, and a GK MB115 combo. My sound is both transparent and maliable when the room is disagreeing with the transparent sound
 
#16
I've talked to the Fishman engineers and they thought that the best piece of gear they made was the dual parametric direct box.Unfortunately very few people bought them. I guess figuring out a simple parametric eq was too much for the limited brain pans of working musicians. I don't leave home without it. I was playing a gig in Europe and decided to try the GK RB800 amp with just the Fishman.( I brought my own preamp with me but they didn't have the requested transformer). I've always hated the sound of the GK amps with the DB. With the Fishman using no eq (initially) the sound was like night and day. Must be the impedance loading. Then with the eq I was able to get a very nice sound that I wouldn't associate with the GK. The Dual Parametric EQ's are hard to find, but I would try. As Eric has states, the parametric eq is a godsend for amplifying the DB.
Are you using the BP 100?
EXTREMELY difficult to set up correctly. I used it for about 8 years. I was able to get a good sound---but I'm OCD about putzing around with pickups until they're perfect. I would strongly suggest getting a Full Circle. I'll have to take pics of my FC setup---I did some alterations to the bridge feet that make it sound much better. And it is cosistant in volume as you turn the wheel. I talked to the guys at Fishman and I guess that they were impressed. The Full Circle is not plug and play as they suggest---there are a lot of variables to be addressed. A friend of mine was trying the Doubler amp and said that the volume wass too low. My bass was around 10 times louder. It was a poorly fitted FC.
I think that the FC is the best default pickup out there. I've been an endorser for Wilson and Barbera. I love the Barbera pickup but it's very expensive and breaks easily.I've never liked the Gage. (sorry, Dave---a good friend). Too many weird resonances.
SWR amps are very poorly voiced for DB in my experience. Even with the Fishman pre I can't get a usable sound on one. I use EA stuff which sounds great for DB and electric.
First, I would suggest getting a new pickup PROPERLY fitted or get your BP 100 properly fitted. (good luck--I don't know anyone who understands fitting one). Then get a good pre made for DB.If you can't find a Dual Parametric the platinum is ok. Or the simplest solution is get one from Fdeck here on TB. I haven't tried his, but I know he did the right things as far as impedance matching and providing a good high pass filter. Then look at amps. Look on the classified ads here and buy used.
 
#17
Ric Vice said:
+1 As I've mentioned before, I owned one of the first SWR Baby Blue 2x8's and using that head just didn't work with the BP-100, Fishman Pre amp and my bass. If I disconnected the head and used the Walter Woods MI-100-8 the cabinet sounded fine, so that's what I did
Click to expand...

I just bought an EA Micro from a TBer and used that last night with the Workingman's 12 as a speaker only, night and day from the SWR amp and pre. I love it.
 

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