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Double Bass Schaller magnetic pickup output strangeness

derridiandrift

derridiandrift

Apr 9, 2009
1,100
23
Hamilton ON
#1
I'm running one of those Schaller magnetic pickups and I love it. I'd like to hear from anyone else using one of these. I have a problem with the output being extremely hot and distorting anything I plug it into if I start playing too heavy.

Has anyone else had this experience? I'm wondering if maybe this is just the nature of this pickup and my horrible self-taught technique is to blame, or maybe there's a trick to taming these pickups.
 
#2
I have a Schaller on my backup bass, that I use for outdoor gigs, and for when I need to get stupid loud, The pickup signal is fairly hot, but, I have never had a problem with distortion. Does it continue to distort when you turn the volume down at the pickup? Is your amp clipping? I suspect that the input jack on your amp may be dirty / corroded.
 
#4
The jack on the bass could be corroded. This bass takes a beating and sometimes lives in the van for days on end. I'll clean it up with some contact cleaner.

Also, I do have a couple of the poles screwed out pretty far to get better string balance. I'll try screwing them in to see if the distortion goes away.
 
#5
Subscribed. Hope to learn more about the Schaller.

I plan on using an Ampeg Baby bass in an oldies/classic rock live setting and will be switching back and forth between the BB and a P-bass. IMO the unplugged baby bass doesnt sound like a wooden upright/double bass to start with, so I thought the Schaller will make a good magnetic pickup alternative. The stock diaphram works, but has low output and requires way too much amp tweaking when switching back and forth with the Fender.
 
#6
I'm going to retract my "extremely hot" statement from earlier. I didn't really look closely at what was happening.

Here's a few things I've been doing to sort this out. Initially, I had some of the pole pieces screwed out very far in an attempt to try to get better string-to-string balance, which is a real problem on my bass. The pole piece adjustments didn't help all that much so I screwed them back down to a more reasonable height. While I was doing that, I noticed that one of the pole pieces rattle around a bit when I played. I turned that pole piece by a quarter turn with my thumb nail and the rattle went away. I'm considering putting a dab of lock tite or nail polish on all of them to keep them from rattling. That rattling might have been the cause of a distorted sound in the signal.

With respect to the signal level, I was way out to lunch when I said in my original post that the signal was hot. I've started doubling with electric and using an EBS micro bass II to switch between the two instruments. The upright channel has to be boosted alot to bring it up to the same level as the electric. I don't know how I missed this earlier. Getting old I guess.
 
#7
Just got my Schaller today, and even though I don't have it installed permanently yet on Baby bass - wow! Amazing difference! I've read that these pickups "sacrifice tone", but it sounds gorgeous so far! Great old school deep thump, and from a single coil!?!?!
 
#8
derridiandrift said:
I turned that pole piece by a quarter turn with my thumb nail and the rattle went away. I'm considering putting a dab of lock tite or nail polish on all of them to keep them from rattling. That rattling might have been the cause of a distorted sound in the signal..
Click to expand...

The loose pole piece could possibly cause some distortion. I would not put loc-tite on the pole piece, however. The pole pieces come straight from the factory wrapped with teflon tape. I would just add another 2 or 3 wraps of teflon tape to the pole piece, to snug it up. You can get it at any hardware store in the plumbing section. (very cheap)
 
#9
Thanks Jim. If I use anything, I'll go with teflon tape. I have some with my tools in the garage. So far I haven't needed to do anything since dropping the pole pieces down.

"Sacrifice tone"??? No way. This pickup sounds fantastic to me, but I'm listening from the perspective of a converted electric bass player.
 

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