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Double Bass Realist LifeLine Pickup and feedback

scootsmason

scootsmason

Apr 7, 2013
88
78
#1
Thinking about trying a Realist LifeLine Pickup to get a better Acoustic sound with minimal feedback. I play in a vintage blues band (think T-Bone Walker, Magic Sam, etc.) and the stage volume can get a bit high sometimes. I currently use a Krivo magnetic pickup and am wondering how feedback on the LifeLine would compare. The Krivo is very good at high volumes but the sound obviously isn't 100% Acoustic sounding. If you use or have used a LifeLine please chime in with your thoughts/experience.
 
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#3
You can see both if ya zoom in a bit on this pic
 

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#5
I used Lifeline in quite loud blues-rock band. I had to learn to:
1) find a good placement for my cab (always on a chair)
2) use preamp with phase switch.

Since I learned to find a good cab placement, I don't have any trouble with feedback anymore. Nowadays I use Ehrlund which is much more feedback sensitive, and it still works nicely, even in big band.
 
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#6
Monitor/bass cab placement is pretty important. I just took the Krivo off (again) because it doesn't respond the way I like to hear myself (piezo quick and "real"; Krivo's humbucker is kind of slow). I haven't had to switch polarity in a long time. I attribute that to getting my monitor at head level. Go for it if you can afford it. Also, I've never tried the Lifeline on the treble side. It will feedback if your bass cab is on the floor behind you.
 
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#8
Since I saw Jimmie Vaughan’s show in a medium sized venue a couple of years ago I’ve wondered about that. I can get decent volume with a Lifeline, good placement, and an HPF, but his bass was incredibly loud, round, and with tons of low bass energy.

If you had some kind of heart arrhythmia going on in that room you wouldn’t have even noticed.

I think the formula for that is any decent piezo pickup and a good sound crew.
 
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#9
With any sort of contact pickup, the entire bass essentially starts to act like a bit microphone with a lot of really weird resonances and uneven frequency response.

I would expect the Krivo to have significantly higher gain before feedback as it will sense more of the string vibration and very little of the bass's body and bridge. I would expect high gain to result in frequencies where sound pumps the strings.

You can use EQ to some extent to mitigate feedback problems. For single frequencies use a deep notch at the problem frequency. String pump, tends to occur over a range of frequencies. With a parametric you can apply a gentle wide band dip to even out the sound a bit.

If the feedback is between you amp and your bass, try elevating the amp so it's not directing so much energy into the bass's body.

If you like to experiment, you could build a 2-channel setup. The most basic way to do this is to simply run both pickups full range and blend to taste. However, ideally you would high pass the Lifeline and use it to give you a bit more natural mid and high response. You could also low pass the Krivo, but that's less necessary.
 
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#10
If you want to play wicked loud, you've got two options.

1) Fill your bass with expanding foam and use a magnetic pickup
2) Buy a solid body electric bass with magnetic pickups.

Of course, it's always possible that the band could play softer...

NAAAHHHHH.

Sorry, but there's a Fender Precision bass out there with your name on it.
 
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#12
turf3 said:
If you want to play wicked loud, you've got two options.

1) Fill your bass with expanding foam and use a magnetic pickup
2) Buy a solid body electric bass with magnetic pickups.

Of course, it's always possible that the band could play softer...

NAAAHHHHH.

Sorry, but there's a Fender Precision bass out there with your name on it.
Click to expand...
I've got plenty of those but wouldn't have this gig if I didn't play AUB lol!😁
 
#13
It can be done. I’ve seen and heard it. Preston Hubbard, Larry Taylor, Bill Stuve…many others plus all the rockabilly guys, know or in Larry Taylor’s case knew, how to get extreme volume out of an upright with piezos, and without extreme measures like foam or covering f holes.
 
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#17
I play in a few very big and loud bands using the Realist LifeLine Pickup. It will feedback on you. I have settled on a solution that works for me as now I have no feedback from my rig. I use two preamps, one for the house the other for stage. Bergantino B/Amp stage, Headway EDB2 front house. Here is my signal chain.
My upright (Kay with guts) going from lifeline into the Headway EDB2 where the house takes the DI from the Headway. Then, I take an out from the Headway and go into my B/Amp. The B/Amp has a great HPF where I can find the exact note feeding back and instantly dial it out. It's the only amp I have seen that has that built in. (That feature as for as what I can see, is not in the new Berg amps.) If I only used the B/amp, I would be sending the HPF to the house and that would not be optimum. I use a Barefaced 2X12 cab. I also put a piece of foam between the tailpiece and the body. The three groups I play with are very high volume gigs and I get zero feedback.

Basically some where in your chain, you will need an HPF to fix the stage issue at high volumes.
Thats my solution, for what it's worth.
 
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#18
The Realist Lifeline is my pickup of choice, but i don’t play at volumes anywhere near high enough to feedback other than the lowest frequencies. An HPF easily takes care of that. I think if an HPF is not enough to fight feedback with a bridge mounted pickup, then one should seriously consider an EUB honestly. At those volume levels, it’s not like you’re going to get some pristine, pure acoustic sound; you’re going to get something very close to an EUB anyway.

I used to blend a pickup and a mic with pretty good results, but now i would highly recommend the Tone Dexter 2 over that. The second version is so flexible and well designed and is generally capable of better end results that i no longer see the sense in blending two sound sources*.

*For audio quality that is. I understand some are splitting their signal chain for effects or stereo sound, etc. That’s a different story.
 
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#19
I have a piezo and a KRIVO on several of my basses. At first I thought it would be more versatile to blend them both, In reality on the job, it just made things more complicated and few noticed. In the end, The KRIVO is my go to for high volume or whenever there is a drummer and I use the piezo for quieter trio gigs where people can hear the subtleties. I almost ALWAYS lament how well the KRIVO works with my pedalboard when I use the piezo, which is pretty lame for more engaging effects.
 
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#20
james condino said:
I have a piezo and a KRIVO on several of my basses. At first I thought it would be more versatile to blend them both, In reality on the job, it just made things more complicated and few noticed. In the end, The KRIVO is my go to for high volume or whenever there is a drummer and I use the piezo for quieter trio gigs where people can hear the subtleties. I almost ALWAYS lament how well the KRIVO works with my pedalboard when I use the piezo, which is pretty lame for more engaging effects.
Click to expand...
Tangent, but does the Krivo work with the bow?
 

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