Double Bass Pick up issues

[Steve Clark]

I have two pickups on my bass. A Realist and a Revolution solo pick up. I generally prefer the tone of the Upton on my Shen Willow 7/8. They are both on there from my days of testing pups to find out what I like.

Recently there has been an issue when using the Revolution that was misinterpreted as an electronic buzz one some notes. A sound a bit like a tweeter issue on a cabinet or a bad cord. But I'm fairly certain it's actually the pick up making a buzzing sound. For example the A below middle C set it off very badly during a gig this weekend. Although it wasn't apparent in sound check. I tried switching to the Realist but the output/signal was super low compared to the Revolution. I switched back to the Revolution and tried to dial out that frequency with the Headway pre I use.


Here are my questions:

If a Revolution starts buzzing like this is the pick up failing? Is it related to the install? I've had it on the bass for years now and this issue only came up intermittently in the last year or so.

The Realist was surprisingly 'weak' in volume. Certainly it does not produce as much low end as the Revolution but there was a stark difference between the output of the two pups. That also seems new.

If a Realist output is low, is that an indication that it is failing too?

 

[jlmorgan84]

My lifeline started to sound like that shortly before it died for good, almost like a distorting tweeter. The piezo element had failed.

 

[Steve Clark]

My lifeline started to sound like that shortly before it died for good, almost like a distorting tweeter. The piezo element had failed.

Thanks for the reply. That makes sense, especially since the same buzz did not occur with the Realist. I've gone ahead an ordered a replacement Revolution. My Upton profile shows that I bought the pickup in 2008. So not a bad run. I see they have a refurb option as well. I may do that later and have a spare available.

 

[Ric Vice]

My lifeline started to sound like that shortly before it died for good, almost like a distorting tweeter. The piezo element had failed.

How true, the Realist (Copper Foil) will have the same problems after around four years on my basses, but it can go much longer on others. Since peizos are under pressure, the do eventually fail.

Ric

 

[DoubleMIDI]

But a pickup loaded with constant high pressure from the strings is much more stressed than a pickup sitting in the bridge wing rather loosely. So a piezo element of the Full Circle, Lifeline or Realist might fail after some years but the bridge wing pickups and pickups sitting in a hole (Wilson, BassBalsereit) should not stress the piezo element very much. But contacts can get loose or cables or soldering point might break with these pickups earlier or later too.