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Double Bass Problem with AI Contra or Realist?

flyingmarcel

flyingmarcel

Aug 9, 2003
187
0
45
Buffalo, NY
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#1
Hi All,

I'm hoping that someone can help me with this, as I am pretty clueless when it comes to pinpointing problems with amplification....

Background: I have been using a Realist combined with the AI contra to amplify my bass for the past 6 or 7 years. My Set up is pretty simple: Bass -> Realist -> AI Contra (Series II). I've used this set up with pretty good success, although I don't really tinker with the amplified aspects of my sound very much ie. 70-80% of my playing is without an amp and I pretty much just try and dial in something that works for the particular room when using the amp.

Anyhow, over the past little while I've been noticing some oddities with my amplified sound. The major issue started with some notes coming through with a slight 'ringing' character when played through the amp that wasn't there when playing acoustically. This problem has continued to get worse and now, it seems that some notes come through louder than others, although this could be due to and increase in the ringing sound and it having a similar harmonic character to the specific note (usually Bb or F) being played, thus making the note seem louder. The ringing is the worst when playing in the upper register - lower notes are completely fine. Volume doesn't seem to play a huge factor in the development of the ringing sound, as it happens at both low and high volumes.

My issue is that I'm not sure if the problem is coming from the pickup or the amplifier. Downsizing my gear has caused me to sell off pretty much everything not part of my current set up, so it's difficult for me to diagnose the problem by changing out one variable at a time. My best option would likely be to take the amp in somewhere and either use it with another bass or have a technician take a look.

If possible though, some feedback here would also be appreciated!

thanks,

fm
 
#2
I believe the problem is on the pickup or pickup/Bass, I've reed some times that piezo crystals lose quality with time but I do ignore the symptoms.
2 things you can do (you probably done already) 1. Check the contact surface between the bride and Bass, is your bridge tilting, the bridge foot is perfectly sitting? Try to clean the pickup jack and cable connections too.
2 ask your guitar or keyboard player to plug to your amp for few minutes to test it, AI amps are very clean and work very well with anything you plug into, if you can borrow a Bass guitar from someone it will do it too.

Edit: although your description sounds like an electronic issue, a guitar tech once advise me to check out the speaker screws from time to time, they can get loose and originate all kind of weird acoustic behaviors

Hope it helps
Best regards
 
#3
We did a thread on Realist's failing several years ago. A rep from David Gage actually came onto the thread and said that Realists on some basses will fail at around the 4 year mark.

flyingmarcel said:
Anyhow, over the past little while I've been noticing some oddities with my amplified sound. The major issue started with some notes coming through with a slight 'ringing' character when played through the amp that wasn't there when playing acoustically. This problem has continued to get worse and now, it seems that some notes come through louder than others, although this could be due to and increase in the ringing sound and it having a similar harmonic character to the specific note (usually Bb or F) being played, thus making the note seem louder. The ringing is the worst when playing in the upper register - lower notes are completely fine. Volume doesn't seem to play a huge factor in the development of the ringing sound, as it happens at both low and high volumes.
Click to expand...

I've had this happen once and decided to go with another pickup. Just my take though
 
#4
Hi Guys,

I've checked the bridge foot contact and there is definitely no issue there - I have access to a keyboard that I can use to check out the amp and I also remembered that I have an old BP-100 pickup that, although it likely won't sound great, will allow me to test whether the issue is with the pickup.

Ric - Thanks for the reply. I remember this thread and actually considered replacing my realist at that point, since it was already getting a bit old. Sounds like the replacement time has perhaps arrived....
 
#5
UPDATE: Tonight I installed a BP-100 pickup on my bass and found that the amp still produced the same ringing sound when playing certain notes, suggesting that the issue may be with the amp and not the bass/pickup. I checked all screws on the bottom of the amp and none seemed to be loose.

Any other suggestions before taking the amp in to have it looked at?

Thanks all!
 
#8
Tried muting the strings behind the bridge, but that didn't seem to solve the problem. Also tightened up everything I could access from the outside of the amp, but that didn't seem to do the trick either. I'm not brave enough to open this thing up on my own, so looks like it's going in for repair...

Thanks to all for your help in trying to solve this one!
 

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