It's incredible to me how long this thread is, and how much space on this site is devoted to pickup/preamp/amp discussion.
My feeling is this: If a product is really good it will require very little dicking around with to make it work well. In my opinion good pickup design for URB includes straightforward installation, stability once installed, output volume and tone good enough not to need special preamps to work well, ability to stand up to abuse from travel, and a reasonable degree of uniformity from bass to bass. Anything less, to me, is an inferior product that doesn't really meet my needs.
That said, my needs may not be yours. I travel a lot, and even just gigging hard around NYC provides more than the average wear and tear. A bass wheel I was happy with in Seattle proved to be completely inadequate in NYC. If the conditions you operate in are way kinder than mine you might find it's no big deal to have a pickup that needs a lot of babying. It's a big deal to me.
The bass is an incredibly difficult instrument to amplify well. It's a leakage machine, a feedback machine, and its range of sounds and techinques vary by a drastic amount. Players' varying tastes, and the greatly varying sound of different basses require very different technology to accomodate.
Every time I hear a player I like I check out what they're using. Very often they are using strings, pickups, or amps I have tried and ruled out as being crap. And yet they sound great!
So, I use what works for me, not only based on sound, but on the degree to which these products give me the ability to forget about gear and just enjoy playing. My Realist probably doesn't have the hifi quality I used to enjoy with the older version of the Schertler Stat-B, but it sounds good, doesn't require any special cables or the carrying of a preamp, and is incredibly stable. My Walter Woods amp sounds really good to me, but almost as important is that it is versatile enough to handle the huge variety of music I play, in a myriad of different rooms. I don't need a preamp because it has sufficient tone, and tone-shaping abilities to meet my needs, all in one box. I spent 3 years trying to like the Acoustic Image products, and always found them lacking. Get 'em in the right room and they sound awesome. Get 'em in the wrong room and there's no rescue. I have watched several friends dick around with the Revolution pickup over and over, trying to get it right, to no avail. Their complaints are always met by enthusiasts and the manufacturer with excuses like, "it isn't installed just right," or "something's wrong with your bass bridge."
I have used SansAmps, Schertler pre's, Fishman Pro EQ Platinums, MXR and Boss graphic EQs, Demeter pre's, everything under the sun it seems, and one day I woke up and said "hello, this is insane. If I have to dick around this much, something is wrong." I sold my AI Clarus, put the Contra in a closet, retired the preamps, and got on Walter Woods' waiting list.
Since then my life has been good. I enjoy music more. I practice more. And when I sound like crap, I practice some more.
