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Double Bass New Double Bass pickup/preamp combo help

J

jimothythompson

Jul 26, 2005
37
0
Bowie, MD USA
#1
I'm kind of in a bind here. My jazz band just demanded a double bass, but I don't have a pickup for mine yet. I want to make sure I sound good, but don't have a ton of money to spend.

I have a beautiful Quenoil (Q-model) replica and am going to be playing mostly big band stuff.

At this point, I'm looking at one preamp and pickup especially:

Pure Preamp (by K&K Sound)

Double Big Twin (by K&K Sound. The one with the four headed bass transducer)

Am I just settling for these or are these actually decent products? I don't want to spend more than $200 on the combo, and if I buy these on ebay I can get the whole package for like $180. This seems perfect, but are these good products?
 
#3
jimothythompson said:
I'm kind of in a bind here. My jazz band just demanded a double bass, but I don't have a pickup for mine yet. I want to make sure I sound good, but don't have a ton of money to spend.

I have a beautiful Quenoil (Q-model) replica and am going to be playing mostly big band stuff.

At this point, I'm looking at one preamp and pickup especially:

Pure Preamp (by K&K Sound)

Double Big Twin (by K&K Sound. The one with the four headed bass transducer)

Am I just settling for these or are these actually decent products? I don't want to spend more than $200 on the combo, and if I buy these on ebay I can get the whole package for like $180. This seems perfect, but are these good products?
Click to expand...


Personally, I wouldn't go for a pickup on ebay since you can't get your money back if it's defective. Most of the pickups that professionals use cost about $200.00 The Fishman Full Circle is ideal as long as you bass has adjusters installed. The Realist doesn't require a preamp most of the time and is @$200.00. They would both benifit from a HPF Preamp (google Francis Deck) but you don't absloutely have to have one. The Revolution Solo II is $150.00 but it has to be installed so unless your a luthier then it's going to cost a few bucks to get a repair man to fit it to your bass. Those would be the first three I would recommend. When you get a few extra bucks then you should buy a pre amp. Take a look the TB survey of pickups.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=676249

Ric
 
#5
Might want to consider a Realist. I find it a bit more "thumpy" sounding, which works great with a Big Band. And it's not too shabby sounding without a preamp too. Also, it's possibly the easiest pickup to install on your bass.
 
#6
I would search the threads for the Double Big Twin before taking the plunge. I think it's kind of fallen out of favor here. I saw a guy playing at church using the K&K Big Twin + BassMax with the 2-channel preamp. The next time I saw him he had eliminated the Big Twin and was just using the BassMax.

I'm not an endorser but have had good results with the K&K BassMax. The accompanying preamp (mine is an older version, 2 channel) is adequate at impedance matching but it doesn't have an HPF. It also goes through batteries pretty quickly and requires a screwdriver to change the battery. The newer version (pure preamp) might be better. I started out with a Realist but ended up going to the BassMax because it was better in most situations. The Realist has a woodier sound and did a better job amplifying arco but I had a hard time hearing myself.

Some people in these forums don't care for K&K products and I think it's great that they've posted their experiences. I have nowhere near the experience or wisdom of most the of the people here but I've had good experiences with my K&K stuff.

I don't think you can go wrong with the piezo DIY instructions posted here, if you have time for a project.


Good luck,

PS: I heard a guy a few weeks ago using an Underwood directly into an MB150, w/out a preamp. It sounded fine from where I was sitting.
 

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