Double Bass Project EUB - Electronics?

[SirFunk]

Hi there, My father and I are working on building a EUB. We have some question as to what to put in it for active electronis. We're using a spare Bass Max that i have lying around for a pickup... My dad is interested in a Bart. preamp.. it's prettymuch a standard 2-band EB preamp. I'm just not sure if that preamp will take the high impedance of the Bass Max.. how do i tell? Do i need a "piezzo buffer"? Bart. also makes one of these, i think all it does is adjusts the impedance of a piezzo to "normal" impedance.. however i have no idea where to get them, none of the bart. dealers listed on their website have them in stock.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Bob McHenry]

Hi Jeff,

I would suggest trying the EUB with the Bas Max pickup WITHOUT any active electronics first! I have two custom made 5 string EUB's
(with a high C string as opposed to a Low B). Neither of my EUB's have active electronics in them and all my basses (including a 60 year old Kay Model C-1 acoustic upright bass) have a Fishman Full Circle pickup on them as well as a Bass Max (for redundunacy.) I've never felt the need for active electronics for any of my basses
and the Bass Max pickups (I find) are less sensitive to preamp
loading than other piezzo pickups so they sound O.K going into a preamp with either a 1 meg or a 10 Meg ohm input impedance.

Bob McHenry

 

[paintandsk8]

check out the powerjack by fishman. It is a super-small active pre made specifically for buffering piezo's. I have mine set-up to run with no controls (not even volume) but you could easily wire up a volume/tone setup or I think fishman has an add on with Volume, bass, and treble controls.

 

[ToneRanger]

Try without a preamp first - if it works without, you're in luck.

I've just done a lot of experimenting with pickups & preamps for an EUB I'm making. I've ended up using Jack Orman's Fet-Booster preamp. It's a simple circuit to make; you can download info and buy PC boards from
http://www.muzique.com/

If you don't want to DIY the preamp, 'Pickup the World' make a basic one (ready to go in a body cavity and have a volume control added) for $40, or they sell complete external preamps -
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I've tried several piezo pickups. The best solution I've found is a piezo film under the foot of the bridge.
Experimental Musical Instruments sell $2 piezo films -
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I encapsulate them in adhesive copper foil to eliminate hum and they sound amazing - better than any commercial pickups I've tried.