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Double Bass Markbass vs. Aguilar for upright
- Thread starter BobDeRosa
- Start date
To complicate things further - different pickups work well on different basses. The Realist *can* sound good but can also sound too bassy and muffled on some instruments. You don't really know until you try it…. and then try preamps that might solve problems you're hearing… then change your mind...Welcome to the financial black hole.
Well, now it is too late, but I would avoid a Realist copperplate as much as I can. If you want a bridge foot pickup I rather like the Shadow SH-965NFX. You can use one or two pickup foils and have an impedance buffer built in.
A bridge leg pickup often works for many basses, arco is a bit harsh but acceptable. Pizz is better (more direct) than with a bridge foot pickup which can sound a bit distant. But closer to the strings decouples too much from the top and resonance box of the bass and arco is unpleasant in most cases.
A bridge leg pickup often works for many basses, arco is a bit harsh but acceptable. Pizz is better (more direct) than with a bridge foot pickup which can sound a bit distant. But closer to the strings decouples too much from the top and resonance box of the bass and arco is unpleasant in most cases.
@DoubleMIDI Yeah, looked into the Shadow SH-965NFX, listened to some comparison samples. It isn't too late yet, I can return it if I'm not satisfied. @Ric Vice I'm sure that I'll buy a preamp as soon as I go on stage, but I don't think I'm going to spend WW kind of money 
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@DoubleMIDI Yeah, looked into the Shadow SH-965NFX, listened to some comparison samples. It isn't too late yet, I can return it if I'm not satisfied. @Ric Vice I'm sure that I'll buy a preamp as soon as I go on stage, but I don't think I'm going to spend WW kind of money
You definitely don't need to purchase a Walter Woods, in fact, I'd rule that one out, not because it isn't a great amplifier, it is, but there are other issues with the maintenance and cost of a Woods amplifier. What I'd consider is the Headway EDB-2 H.E. it's a nice little full featured box.
The good thing with the Shadow is that a) you can use one foil only and have a spare
b) the foils are more robust than the copper Realist
c) you already have an impedance buffer built-in
the drawbacks
a) the PCB in the battery adapter can rattle (open put some rubber foam in and close, 4 screws)
b) take spare batteries with you, the NFX won‘t work without the battery and if you leave the cable connected to the battery adapter output it drains the battery because this is the switch.
c) the foils are smooth and the ridge might slip a bit if not perpendicular or when the bridge gets an impact.
You can get mids and highs that you won‘t be able to get with the copper Realist. Not much of them in there but enough to get boosted.
b) the foils are more robust than the copper Realist
c) you already have an impedance buffer built-in
the drawbacks
a) the PCB in the battery adapter can rattle (open put some rubber foam in and close, 4 screws)
b) take spare batteries with you, the NFX won‘t work without the battery and if you leave the cable connected to the battery adapter output it drains the battery because this is the switch.
c) the foils are smooth and the ridge might slip a bit if not perpendicular or when the bridge gets an impact.
You can get mids and highs that you won‘t be able to get with the copper Realist. Not much of them in there but enough to get boosted.
Tested the Reaist Copperplate on my PJB Briefcase and on my Marbass 151P. On the Briefcase, the sound is pretty OK with a flat EQ. Transparent, 'acoustic' in character. Sadly enough, the PJB has moods of not working properly. On the Markbass (as predicted by some experts in this thread already) I need to cut the gain heavily to suppress clacky overtones in the attack. In the 4-band EQ, I need to fully open the highs, and cut the high and low mids to a quarter to the hour. The lows I need to cut almost entirely. Only then the bass sounds natural. Because the gain is cut, little power remains.
Am I right in supposing that my main problem is the low input impedance of the Markbass?
A low input impedance at the amp will cut the lows. Since you have to cut the lows at the amp this is not the primary thing.
The copper Realist has lots of lows but only some mids and no highs at all. Therefor this pickup will never enter my bass. I have a Shadow NFX bridge foot pickup that has some highs and a built-in impedance buffer. Works with only one sensor too. Nice for bowing.
For more attack a bridge mounted pickup (bridge leg, adjuster bridge wing, under the string) is better but less good for bowing. Bridge leg or adjuster is a good compromise.
Don‘t use a BassMax or any other pickup that has plastic (shrink wrap) between wood and piezo. Brass is OK, but the plastic shrink wrap kills the highs. So a similar problem as your current one.
Any bridge mounted pickup needs to cut lows, but in general only up to 9 o‘clock.
The Head on the 151’s input impedance is 5 K Ohms it’s just two low for a piezo pickup. A HPF Buffer Preamp from Francis Deck is reasonable and will
greatly improve the sound of your pickup. Francis Deck has a website where he sells them. There are of course other options.
I think the input impedance is 500 KOhms, which is not optimal indeed, but can work with some pickups.
But on a low input impedance the low frequencies are attenuated first. Since he has a lot of lows, I don‘t see the problem here, except maybe the low gain setting needed.
While I have no doubt this might be true, there is the additional problem the EQ section of the Markbass, is just voice more appropriately for Bass Guitar.
I’ve easily run a Realist into the 1 Meg Ohm inputs on either a GK 200MB or a Walter Woods MI-400-8 as those amps have EQ sections that compliment the
Double Bass. All the Markbass Amps I’ve had experience with, (with the exception of the Nano Mark) have to much boost and not enough cut on the low end. That
combined with the Realists low end emphasis just isn’t a good match.
I’ve easily run a Realist into the 1 Meg Ohm inputs on either a GK 200MB or a Walter Woods MI-400-8 as those amps have EQ sections that compliment the
Double Bass. All the Markbass Amps I’ve had experience with, (with the exception of the Nano Mark) have to much boost and not enough cut on the low end. That
combined with the Realists low end emphasis just isn’t a good match.
I own the Markbass and I have owned an Aguilar. I can get a good sound out of either, with or without a pre. I find impedance importance somewhat overrated.
Several years ago I got a CMD 121P as a DB amp and was impressed. Shortly after that I added the NY121 cab when louder americana kinda gigs started coming along. I used this little stack on a lot of slab gigs too. The CMD 121P has been gone a a while now but the NY121 is a cab I will likely never part with. It's a lot more open sounding than the lower cubic volume combo but the two of them together do make a really great, versatile rig. Just an observation for anyone wondering about adding an NY121.
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I read some very informative articles. One of them explained that the ideal amp has infinite input impedance and zero output impedance. Another one said that the function of the gain button is sometimes misunderstood (also by me, not noticing a difference with my bass guitars) as some kind of extra volume control. But it controls the output signal of in-built preamps: the more gain, the more volume, but also allowing more distortion, which is the idea behind distortion pedals also. This confirmed my experience of having to cut the gain to get a really clean sound.
I'll find out soon enough, have a Headway EDB-2 H.E. coming in.
I'll find out soon enough, have a Headway EDB-2 H.E. coming in.
That’s a great choice, and it will give you all the tonal spectrum and nuance of your Double Bass. Just one note here. The output from the EDB-2 is very hot. So
You may need to insert the Headway into the effects loop, rather than running it into the channel input.
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It’s kind of dammed if you do use it and dammed if you don’t at least try it. Impedance loading improves some pickups ( Fishman BP-100) dramatically while it only marginally improves others.
