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Double Bass Planet Wing pickup
- Thread starter Jaromir
- Start date
i continue to love mine ... crafted a spacer from mahogany veneer i had laying around, toward the body of the bass. sounds great. i still try to do the mic thing, or mix mic with the planet, but for no-fuss no-muss gigs, this sucker rocks.
Lately I noticed one drawback... wing pickups are wing pickups. It chokes up my bass acoustically. Plug it in and then I don't sense much that is missing anymore. 
I'll just take it out when I'm not playing amplified.
I'll just take it out when I'm not playing amplified.
Alejandro, very, very much enjoyed listening to your quintet on myspace. Beautiful. Hope to see you posting more here.
Peace, love, all the good stuff.
Hmmm... Friend of mine just got one and is trying it out. He's saying that the pickup does get affected somewhat by placement, but the biggest diff he got was switching to a shim made of plain copier paper. The sound was noticeably better. I'm going to have to try different materials now. Has anyone looked at this?
While removing the battery from my Schertler pre-amp a couple of weeks ago, the pole piece from the battery bonnet managed to stay in the battery. For the first time in eight years, I was without my Stat-B/Dyn-B combo set-up. Within the right environment volume-wise, this setup brought my bass as close to the "mybassbutlouder" threshold as I could ever hope to get. Since I'm the anti-handyman and I've been forbidden by friends, family and law enforcement to handle a soldering gun, I took the piece to the local music store where it is currently being held hostage by a guy named Del.
Anyway, my only back-up was an old BP-100, which is not at the top of my list for upright amplification. I happened to be browsing around this forum and read the comments about the Planet Wing and thought I'd take a chance on one as a stop gap till the Schertler returns. I ordered one from Kolstein's. It arrived two days later. I ripped open the bag, read the instructions (perhaps a first) and had the thing installed in five minutes (perhaps another first); and most of that time was spent looking for scissors to trim the wood shim to size.
Boy, what a surprise when I plugged in to my Contra! I wasn't expecting a piezo to be so smooth and even across the whole instrument. My only experiences with pickups other than the Schertler were with the aforementioned Fishman, a K&K big twin, and an Underwood. None of them had the volume, eveness, and texture of the Planet Wing. The drummer on my regular quartet gig said he actually likes the sound of the basss better with the new setup. I'm not entirely of the same mind just yet, but I'm mightily impressed.
I've not tried the Full Circle, Realist, or Rev Solo II pickups, so I can't compare and contrast, but I will give a big thumbs-up to the Planet Wing and say that it has me thinking twice about what to do once the Schertler pre-amp returns. Del...Del...oh, Del?
Anyway, my only back-up was an old BP-100, which is not at the top of my list for upright amplification. I happened to be browsing around this forum and read the comments about the Planet Wing and thought I'd take a chance on one as a stop gap till the Schertler returns. I ordered one from Kolstein's. It arrived two days later. I ripped open the bag, read the instructions (perhaps a first) and had the thing installed in five minutes (perhaps another first); and most of that time was spent looking for scissors to trim the wood shim to size.
Boy, what a surprise when I plugged in to my Contra! I wasn't expecting a piezo to be so smooth and even across the whole instrument. My only experiences with pickups other than the Schertler were with the aforementioned Fishman, a K&K big twin, and an Underwood. None of them had the volume, eveness, and texture of the Planet Wing. The drummer on my regular quartet gig said he actually likes the sound of the basss better with the new setup. I'm not entirely of the same mind just yet, but I'm mightily impressed.
I've not tried the Full Circle, Realist, or Rev Solo II pickups, so I can't compare and contrast, but I will give a big thumbs-up to the Planet Wing and say that it has me thinking twice about what to do once the Schertler pre-amp returns. Del...Del...oh, Del?
Man I gotta try one of those, just wish pickups (and every thing else for DB) weren't so expensive.
I'm interested and I may experiment w/ other materials. But I don't quite understand the copier paper thing. Are we talking like multiple sheets of paper cut into a shape the size of the p/u and then glued together? My homemade shim is between 1/16" and 1/8" thick I think. That's a lot of sheets of paper.
Bolo,
Here is another idea: go to your local home improvement store and get a piece of oak veneer tape (maple veneer tape is hard to find). It is a thin strip of wood with glue on one side. It is about 3/4 inch wide and it is mostly used to cover the exposed edges of plywood. You can cut it into shape with scissors. Also, you can stack a few pieces and apply a warm iron to stick them together. Then, you can sand it to get the appropriate thickness. It would be better if you can get the maple tape; the oak is fine too, but the grain is coarser than maple. I really do not know if the difference in grain in such a small piece of wood would impact the sound of the pickup.
Here is another idea: go to your local home improvement store and get a piece of oak veneer tape (maple veneer tape is hard to find). It is a thin strip of wood with glue on one side. It is about 3/4 inch wide and it is mostly used to cover the exposed edges of plywood. You can cut it into shape with scissors. Also, you can stack a few pieces and apply a warm iron to stick them together. Then, you can sand it to get the appropriate thickness. It would be better if you can get the maple tape; the oak is fine too, but the grain is coarser than maple. I really do not know if the difference in grain in such a small piece of wood would impact the sound of the pickup.
Alejandro, thanks for the suggestion. I think I will give it a try.
I glued three layers of the wood strip they sent with the PW pickup together for my current shim. Also included one of my business cards for just the right thickness.
But I think I'm going to try other variations and materials like the one you suggested.
I think one of the reasons I like the Rev Solo is the maple casing around the piezo. Just a woodier sound on my bass. I know that may seem obvious or cliche or perhaps nonsensical, but ... that's how I hear it.
I glued three layers of the wood strip they sent with the PW pickup together for my current shim. Also included one of my business cards for just the right thickness.
But I think I'm going to try other variations and materials like the one you suggested. I think one of the reasons I like the Rev Solo is the maple casing around the piezo. Just a woodier sound on my bass. I know that may seem obvious or cliche or perhaps nonsensical, but ... that's how I hear it.
I've just fitted a Planet Wing to my Professor. Took a lot of trouble, made up a softwood shim in the workshop to the correct thickness and tried it through an AI Clarus. Sorry, just doesn't do it for me. Although the instructions say that it doesn't need a buffering preamp I put it through a Fishman Pro eq and it was marginally better but still not giggable with any confidence.
No matter how many different pickups I try I always return to the Underwood, both wings. Perhaps the sound is ingrained in me after 40 years but it is my pickup of choice. I'm not going to buy another pickup, amp or speaker again; I'm just going to get on, improve my technique and enjoy my jazz. Bit like signing the pledge, really.
No matter how many different pickups I try I always return to the Underwood, both wings. Perhaps the sound is ingrained in me after 40 years but it is my pickup of choice. I'm not going to buy another pickup, amp or speaker again; I'm just going to get on, improve my technique and enjoy my jazz. Bit like signing the pledge, really.
Jake deVilliers
Commercial User
- May 24, 2006
- 6,349
- 607
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- Owner of The Bass Spa, String Repairman at Long & McQuade Vancouver
Adrian, I'm not discounting what Roger said, but if you really want to hear it on your bass, I wouldn't let one negative post turn you off. Just count the positive posts in this thread alone. Plus you know that each p/u + player + bass + bridge + strings combination is gonna yield different results. YMMV, and only you can decide how it sounds to you on your bass. Heck, I've been reading your posts since I joined TB. I know you know all that ...
You could check the return policy at Kolstein and treat it like a trial that only costs you shipping to & from. Same with most types of gear really, except the shipping weight of this thing is a non-issue.
It took me less time to actually try a Schertler DYN-B on loan and send it back than it did to read posts and ask questions and wonder how it was gonna sound on my bass. Now at least I know, and I can free that mental bandwidth to wonder about other stuff. I also have no doubt that the DYN-B sounded better on your bass than mine. I read all your posts before I tried it. But at least I tried it.
I didn't get the head over heels results w/ the PW others here have reported, but I trust they are happy, and I was happy enough w/ mine to keep it as a backup, and keep experimenting with it.
There. So much for being an optimistic ray of sunshine. Not usually my style.
You could check the return policy at Kolstein and treat it like a trial that only costs you shipping to & from. Same with most types of gear really, except the shipping weight of this thing is a non-issue.
It took me less time to actually try a Schertler DYN-B on loan and send it back than it did to read posts and ask questions and wonder how it was gonna sound on my bass. Now at least I know, and I can free that mental bandwidth to wonder about other stuff. I also have no doubt that the DYN-B sounded better on your bass than mine. I read all your posts before I tried it. But at least I tried it.
I didn't get the head over heels results w/ the PW others here have reported, but I trust they are happy, and I was happy enough w/ mine to keep it as a backup, and keep experimenting with it.
There. So much for being an optimistic ray of sunshine. Not usually my style.
You are of course right. In addition to all the variables, there is the human element of one's sound ideal and subjective assessment. It sure would be great if it was even better than the Full Circle...
I'd certainly agree with that, Bolo. I'd hate to think that my opinion would cast a disproportionate cloud over others whose who could benefit from their choice. Consider this, I've discarded a Rev Solo, Realist, and now a Planet Wing. I must have strange ears, but I just like the sustain and consistency of the Underwood. I even manage to eq out the dreaded piezo honk. It does not work everywhere, of course. I still accasionally find a room with a lot of boom, but, as I said, I'm going to stop looking any further now.
One clue to those of you going to try the PW - and you must - is to consider preamp buffering. The PW instructions clearly say not required, but I got a warmer sound when I tried mine.
I was looking at a double bass some time ago and I told the guy that I was almost incapable of making a right choice. In fact, the only time in my life I chose right was when I found my wife. That's me, so go try the Planet Wing.
One clue to those of you going to try the PW - and you must - is to consider preamp buffering. The PW instructions clearly say not required, but I got a warmer sound when I tried mine.
I was looking at a double bass some time ago and I told the guy that I was almost incapable of making a right choice. In fact, the only time in my life I chose right was when I found my wife. That's me, so go try the Planet Wing.
Adrian... there's only one real way you'll ever truly find out. Otherwise, you're just speculating.
