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Double Bass Planet Wing pickup

Jaromir

Jaromir

Nov 5, 2005
309
16
Prague, Czech Republic
www.jaromirhonzak.com
#1
I have purchased this one almost a year ago out of curiosity and also to have some alternative to my favorite Realist. It's one round shaped piezo element put into the wing slot at the E side of the bridge.
At first I tried it with my "big" bass, 7/8 carved instrument which sounds pretty good with Realist. I didn't like the Planet pickup too much so I put it aside.
Just recently I went back to my "small" bass, 3/4 carved bass, which has quite specific tone, not very deep and warm acoustically, but with some "personal" quality. On this one, the Planet Wing pickup works fantastic! I like it better than the Realist (on this particular bass). It has tight and full lows and the "solo register" - the middle and upper register on G string sounds very acoustic. It's quite feedback resistant (proper instalation is very important though). It's very well made, VERY easy to put on and off. The 10 Mohm buffering preamp helps to achieve warmer sound, as with most piezos, perhaps with the exceptions of the Realist and Full Circle.
I guess this one might be somehow similar to the Revolution Solo, but I've never tried one, so I can't tell the difference. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that the Planet Wing is definitelly worth checking out.
 
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#2
I finally heard one of these on my teacher's Kolstein Travel bass. I was impressed. It even had a little "air" in it. I may try it to see what I can get and maybe blend in with an FC if I can't get soemthing decent with a mic.
 
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#3
I ordered one earlier this year. I like it a little more each time I use it. For me it didn't require a whole lot of fiddling around with fit and pressure and such to get a good sound. There are some things I like about it more than my Rev Solo (smoother in a way, real nice in the upper register), but overall I still slightly prefer the RS on my bass for my gigging needs. To me they sound quite similar in a lot of ways.

Like Jaromir said, it does seem to sound best to me w/ 10 MHz input impedance.

YMMV, etc. ...
 
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#4
hdiddy said:
I finally heard one of these on my teacher's Kolstein Travel bass. I was impressed. It even had a little "air" in it. I may try it to see what I can get and maybe blend in with an FC if I can't get soe

Barrie Kolstein recommends (and carries) the Danish-made Planet Wing. A couple of years ago I was reluctant to switch from the German-made Shadow dual-wing pick-up because I liked its sound very much, but deferred to Barrie and gave the Planet Wing a try. I grew to like it better than the Shadow and installed one on my Kolstein Travel Bass as well as keeping it on the Kolstein Fendt. I use it straight into the amp, no pre-amp necessary. Yes, they install very easily and, two years later, have been non-problematic and continue to sound great. They seem very well made.
Click to expand...
 
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#5
Just ordered one for the Silent Bass. I tried my BP-100 and it sounded just like it does on my acoustic - crappy but still like an acoustic bass does. I'm hoping this will work out and sounds similar to the Kolstein Travel Bass I heard it on - air and all. I'll record both the EUB and the DB and compare it to the FC on the acoustic.
 
#6
Report: Finally got mine for a few weeks now and got around to using it with amplification.

My verdict: Does an excellent job on the EUB and turns this solid hunk of wood into something barely resembling a bass with an acoustic body. The sound is a heck of a lot better than the onboard pickup that came with the bass. Managed to squeeze some nuanced sounds and it picked up on the growl beautifully. I did get a sense of puff to the sound, so I call it a success purely on that point for a piezo pickup. 8/10

Now on the DB... The Full Circle is coming off and this is going on permanently. I A-B tested it vs. the Full Circle and acoustically, and it does a better job replicating the acoustic sound than the FC. In comparison, the FC cuts like crazy but it sounds like the bass is directly connected to your eardrum. The Planet Wing has this really nice warmth, puff, and roundness that the FC doesn't have. Not to mention it's super easy to work with and dial in the exact sound I want using a Fishman Pro-EQ Bass pre. And no funny "pingy" sound that I would get from the RS.

Now I would still hesistate to say that it's microphone like, but IMO it comes close enough and sounds alot better than the FC. And there's less of the funny "piezo" sound to it. Want bottom... add it and boom it's there. Want clarity? Add the mids and voila. Subtracting does exactly that. Price is good. Worth trying.

I can't believe I'm going back to a wing mounted pup. I'll give it a 9/10.
 
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#7
That's great man. Seems to be working really well for you.

FWIW, I've A/B'ed my Rev Solo and Planet Wing several times over the last 2-3 months. For what I need a pickup to do, and on my bass, the Rev Solo wins. I'm keeping the PW as a backup. They do sound similar in many ways to me. The PW is definitely less fussy about fitting and installing, and has a hotter signal. For what I need a mic to do, I'm swapping 50/50 between a Beyer M88 and an AMT these days. On noisier gigs, the Beyer picks up less bleed and works better.

I feel like I can make a good sound with any of these.

I found that the PW definitely sounded better to me w/ a 10 Mohm input, despite the 1 Mohm spec listed in the instructions. I guess you're getting that w/ the Platinum pre.

Have fun. And make a good sound. :)
 
#8
Yeah, PW is very hot. This is the least fussy pickup I've used. I use a shim and there is a difference whether the shim shim is on the top or the bottom. I have it where the shim is on top now. It gets VERY bassy with the shim on the bottom but it kills the highs/mids. It's very solid build and should be able to handle a bit of roughing around. Moving it around in the wing doesn't really make that big of a diff like the RS is.

Another difference is that I'm using this on a low end student bass. Might be different if I had something that naturally was louder, although my bass can't be all that bad since I switched to the Marvin Tailpiece. I'll have to play in a trio setting and see how it does.
 
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#10
hdiddy said:
Yeah, PW is very hot. This is the least fussy pickup I've used. I use a shim and there is a difference whether the shim shim is on the top or the bottom. I have it where the shim is on top now. It gets VERY bassy with the shim on the bottom but it kills the highs/mids. It's very solid build and should be able to handle a bit of roughing around. Moving it around in the wing doesn't really make that big of a diff like the RS is.
Click to expand...
Yup, ditto on all that, same here, except shim on top v. bottom only gave me a slight difference in tone.
 
#11
Francois Blais said:
That's strange to look at the photograph on top of PW's website.
It probably shows an older version, which kind of plugs into the leg.
Click to expand...
Mine looks like this. Got it from Kolstein.
 

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#14
I haven't fully mounted it yet. I plan on ordering one to permanently stay on the DB.

It's simple, I'll remove the rubber sleeve off of the PW along with the zip tie which can just be "rolled" off of the jack. Zip-tie the jack to the E cable as per Marvin's instructions.
 
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#15
The older version shown on the Planet Pickups website is the not nearly as successful "Planet Plug" pickup.

I plan on ordering a Planet Wing as soon as I can procure the funds. This new pickup seems to be growing slowly and steadily in popularity and gets stellar reviews from most new users.
 
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#16
hdiddy said:
Now on the DB... The Full Circle is coming off and this is going on permanently. I A-B tested it vs. the Full Circle and acoustically, and it does a better job replicating the acoustic sound than the FC. In comparison, the FC cuts like crazy but it sounds like the bass is directly connected to your eardrum. The Planet Wing has this really nice warmth, puff, and roundness that the FC doesn't have. Not to mention it's super easy to work with and dial in the exact sound I want using a Fishman Pro-EQ Bass pre. And no funny "pingy" sound that I would get from the RS.

Now I would still hesistate to say that it's microphone like, but IMO it comes close enough and sounds alot better than the FC.
Click to expand...

Wow... I will have to check one of these out. What's the best source for one of these pickups? I'm pretty happy with my FC but I would definitely jump at something better.
 
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#19
Hi guys- I have been using a Planet Wing pickup for almost two years. I was asked to demo the pickup and loved it. It was far superior to any other pickups I tried which include most all the pickups mentioned in the previous threads.

The PW pickup has great dymamic range and sounds very acoustic. You can get alot of bass, plenty of midrange presence and alot of treble. It sounds like you have blended a magnetic, piezo and microphone. It is the best of all worlds in that you can get a very microphonic sound as well as a deep thick sound with just a single piezo snugged into the bridge wing. The single pickup avoids cancellation that one gets from double wing pickups.

Getting the best sound depends on your equipment but I found like most piezos that the best EQ setting was some midrange boost (preferable low midrange), flat or slight boost or cut of bass depending on the pre and cab, and slightly cutting the treble. Most piezos require you to cut the treble.

Like all piezos, you must have a high impedance input (at least 800K). If your preamp or studio mic preamp is low impedance, you will need a DI to step it up. The higher the impedance in your pre or DI, the better. I have run it thru 1 Meg and at 10 Meg. The higher the better.

It installs very easily and can be removed just as easily. . The piezo shims into the bass side of the bridge wing and the jack is strapped onto the tailpiece and can be easily removed.

The pickup is made very well. I own two and never had any issues.

Kolstein Music is the only dealer in the US. List price is $185.

Hope this info is helpful.

Best regards, Dave
 
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