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New Bass, pick up problems. Any advice?

Discussion in 'Amps, Mics & Pickups [DB]' started by DB Slidefunk, Jul 20, 2013.

  1. Jul 20, 2013 #1
    DB Slidefunk

    DB Slidefunk

    Jul 16, 2013
    UK
    Hi,
    I just got a second hand Jay Haide bass which I really like. It has innovation flat wounds on it and sounds nice and warm, quite mellow acoustically.

    The trouble I'm having is when I use my old K&K Bass master Pro pick up and pre amp on it, it sounds terrible amped up. Yuck! Tons of feedback, muddy sound with no attack or clarity so I have to really dig into the strings to get much out of it. This pick up worked great on my old ply bass with The Jazzer strings on it by the way.

    I wonder if anyone has a similar experience as I'm thinking it might be the softer strings just not working well with the K&K?

    I guess for now I'm going to work from the sound source up until I get a good sound. I have some Evah Pirazzi strings on order and hopefully that will change the sound. I like an attacking, snarly sound as I play jazzy hip hop.

    I think next step may be to try a different pick up, I'm considering a fishman full circle and then eventually on to getting a good loud amp as my acoustic image coda is too quite despite the nice sound.

    Anyways, a bit of a ramble but any help with this would be great.
     
  2. Jul 20, 2013 #2
    Ric Vice

    Ric Vice Supporting Member

    Jul 2, 2005
    Olivette, Missouri
    Well, it's certainly a really fine handmade instrument, so if your amplified sound isn't what you're hearing acoustically
    then you most likely need to look at the signal chain.

    Amplifying a fully carved bass, is not the same as amplifying a laminated one. Each bass comes with it's own set of quirks, that you have to find solutions for. In your case, you have a new bass that just makes a lot more sound, than your old one. Which is not a bad thing at all!




    IMHO the K&K is a very midrange focused pickup. We had a student at Jazz Camp with one this year, and it just honked on his solid wood bass. In the final analysis, it's a supped up Fishman BP-100. Which was really an Underwood modified, so there weren't any patten issues. Just my take though.


    Evah's are great strings, with some snarl, but what you seem to be looking for would fit the sound of Tomastik Spirocores.



    I think that either a Realist Life Line or the Full Circle would serve you much better than the K&K, when you are able to afford one.


     
  3. Jul 20, 2013 #3
    DB Slidefunk

    DB Slidefunk

    Jul 16, 2013
    UK
    Thanks for the advice, really helpful.