Just FYI in case you didn't know the Bart unit is able to blend magnetic and piezo together, as well as buffer piezo alone. Pretty cool.
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Piezo only Precision Bass
- Thread starter mohessa
- Start date
what number is that? I did a piezo only wishbass, #1003
I was not very happy with the resulting tone, but I suspect that had to do with me going too low-end on the piezo system.
I was not very happy with the resulting tone, but I suspect that had to do with me going too low-end on the piezo system.
You're wishbass? I don't recall what number but I bought this directly from wishbass/you. I wish I hadn't sold it; I don't recall why--most likely I needed the money to buy something else. I carved these edges down like an aerodyne. It came out really cool. The piezo pickups sounded great but needed some boost and how resulting in a lot of texture or finger noise. It took some work to arrive at a desirable tone but once I did it was so unique and so pretty.
no, I am not the guy who builds them (Steve Wishnevsky). I am just a dude who thought a wishbass would be the perfect vehicle for a piezo-only build and ordered one without any electronics/routing. He said at the time that I was the first person to mention that plan to him. Mine also suffered "a lot of texture or finger noise" which maybe could have been overcome by me trying other elements/buffers but I opted to just move on to the next project.
Well... No. The sound has db qualities, but it doesn't sound like a db. And that wasn't what I was aiming for.
To this day I still haven't heard a bass guitar that sounds like a db. Ever. They might come more or less close. But in my opinion there is no such thing.
In 1983 I went to the NAMM show and saw a set of piezo saddles and preamp for a P or J bass, from Shadow. I bought a set and used them first on my 64 P bass and soon moved them to a headless Explorer bass I built. There were some problems such as the insert with the piezo breaking loose so I modded the saddles and still have them. I will put them on a 5 string P bass soon...maybe without a P pickup. (I have extra saddles I got from Shadow during the problem period.
The piezos had more highs and lows than any magnetic pickup I've every heard. I had to trim low end from them (with a simple cap) to match the low end to the P pickup so I could switch between the two or mix them.
The piezos had more highs and lows than any magnetic pickup I've every heard. I had to trim low end from them (with a simple cap) to match the low end to the P pickup so I could switch between the two or mix them.
Wow! Nice bass and great sound! Can you build me one
Christian from Denmark
Haha! Thanks. But build you one, I don't think so... I'm slow and expensive. Hehe. And the build is really easy, and much cheaper if you do it yourself. Naturally I will gladly assist with all specs, where-to-buy, instructions, guidelines, hints and tips if you're up for it.
Pretty cool. Definitely gave me a good idea of what it can do. It’s very transparent. At the very beginning, it sounded to me almost like a synth bass. What I’d really like to hear is it with a flatter EQ, and a bump up at about 165hz which is a good EQ for gigs.
