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Double Bass preamps for upright bass

J

jazzciggarette

Feb 22, 2010
36
0
Alberta, Canada
#1
Hi. I was wondering what kind of recommendations/advice you folks had for preamps for upright bass. I am currently using a realist pickup and am having a hard time amplifying with a bass amp. The low end consistently farts out. When run through a P.A the low end sounds a bit better, although the signal is very weak and the settings have to be cranked to get decent volume. hence i feel the need for a preamp to boost the signal. Is this the right course of action to take? and about how much should i be looking to spend to get a proper preamp. Thanks!

- Jazz Ciggarette
 
#8
You are probably having two problems--the wrong input impedance on your amp, and the lack of a "hi-pass" filter.

What amp are you using?

Piezo pickups, like the realist, are sensitive to the input impedance (a term meaning, more or less, "resistance") of the amp. Most bass amps are made to work with magnetic pickups, which are completely different from piezos. Having the right impedance will make a huge difference. The F-Dek preamp has the right input impedance.

Also if it's woofy, you probably want a hi-pass filter. A Hi-Pass filter passes the high frequencies and filters out the low. F-Dek's preamp has a hi-pass filter and you can adjust what frequencies it filters out. This will stop the woofiness.

I already have an amp made for piezos that has a hi-pass filter, otherwise I'd be all over the f-dek HPF-Pre

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#9
hey thanks for the positive advice so far. I am firstly an electric bass player. I have a few different amps/cabinets. firstly i have a 62' magnatone bass amp, it has a knob for tone and a knob for volume. I use that as a practice amp. My main gigging amp is a mesa boogie walkabout. as for cabinets i have a 4x10, 2x10, and a 1x10. So do i need a hi-pass filter or a preamp... or both? :D
 
#14
lunarpollen said:
I'm happy with mine. You just have to make sure you get the bass pre-amp and not the similar-looking acoustic guitar pre-amp.
Click to expand...

I have found the Bass Platinum Pro to be quite flexible on my newly-purchased '42 M1, which has a Full Circle pickup. The bass doesn't sound nearly as good when I plug it straight in to an amp or mixer.

The key to solving your problem has already been mentioned IMHO, and that is impedance matching the bass pickup with the input of your amp or mixer with some kind of buffer. Not necessarily an expensive proposition. Good luck!!
 
#15
+1 for both the FDeck HPF and the Fishman Proplat. I have both, and they're both great preamps. I just got the Fishman, because I find all the features it has in addition to FDeck's HPF to be useful too (i.e., the EQ, compressor, etc). You can't go wrong with either, just figure out if you only need the bare bones (if so, go for FDecks' pre) or if you need the additional bells & whistles the Fishman pre has.
 
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#16
I have the fishman pro plat--it's a good unit. I never use the compressor with upright bass, but some do. The thing that's most useful, given the orginal poster's circumstance, is the buffered input for peizos and the hi-pass filter. If you already have a good bass amp, I don't think you need more than that.

You can spend more for a fancier preamp, but you already have a preamp on your bass amp--why duplicate it? Your problem is the impedance on the input, and the rumbling. F-Dek's buffering preamp will solve the impedance mismatch, and the hi-pass filter will take care of the rumbling without making it sound like all the bass is gone.

I can't stress this enough--a hi-pass filter is a really cool tool for the double bassist especially. Just start playing, and dial the filter till the woofiness stops. If you're in a room or on a stage with a nasty low end rumble, this takes care of it. If your sound is muddy, it takes care of it. A Hi-pass filter takes out some but not all of the lows. it's sometimes called a "rumble filter" for exactly that reason.
 
#17
I've posted this before but I'll say it again, for what it's worth. I come down squarely on the Fishman Pro - the budget version of the Plat. It's got no DI or compressor but I like the clean sound I get. The ProPlat stays in Mr Davis's drawer of seldom used stuff. There's a Headway in there too but it comes out when the DPA 4099 gets used sometimes.
 
#18
I just got my pro plat a couple weeks ago, so I'm still learning the ropes. The hi pass filter is critically helpful for DB, but I'm still figuring out how to set the rest of the knobs & faders. Maybe I'll try it without the compressor & see how that goes. The features it has over the FDeck pre are helpful, but that's why it costs more than twice as much!

PB+J said:
I have the fishman pro plat--it's a good unit. I never use the compressor with upright bass, but some do. The thing that's most useful, given the orginal poster's circumstance, is the buffered input for peizos and the hi-pass filter.
Click to expand...
 
#19
" I am currently using a realist pickup and am having a hard time amplifying with a bass amp. The low end consistently farts out. When run through a P.A the low end sounds a bit better, although the signal is very weak and the settings have to be cranked to get decent volume. hence i feel the need for a preamp to boost the signal. Is this the right course of action to take?"

yeah man,you should check and see if the Realist is seated well under the bridge foot:hmm:. Mine wasn't one time because of "bridge creep" from tuning. Make sure the bridge is sitting well and evenly. The output goes way down/off if that pickup is not pressed evenly down.
I started using a Fishman BII Preamp to get more high end out of the realist,and it worked to a small degree,but I noticed that in doing so I lost some "wood" in the sound,which translates to loss of fidelity.So,in my case,I am preferring to have a pickup go right into the amp,no preamp if at all possible,for fidelity reasons.I use a Phil Jones Briefcase.:bassist:
 

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