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Double Bass Simple Hack for Headway "The Band" pickup

#41
walkerofbass said:
I'm curious to try The Band because it can be installed/uninstalled so easily, but very skeptical because its hard to find many people using it professionally or enough high-quality sound clips online. Almost everything I've tried can sound decent enough at a low to medium volume. My concern is how much usable volume can you get before feedback? More or less than the Realist, Realist Lifeline, RevSolo, or KNA DB-1, anything you've used? The Realists are solid reliable but I hate the semi-permanence of their install. The wingslot PUs are always a bit finicky with placement and pressure. Playing local venues, more often than not, I'm crammed up against a wall right in front of my speaker and expected to fill the room. I do okay with the pickups mentioned, but it takes a lot more tools and dialing in than I'd like. If The Band was comparable, I would be happy enough. It just can't be worse.
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I've never had much trouble with feedback, but I also use a notch filter whenever I get above anything but the lowest volume levels. One thing I have noticed about the Band is that it very much amplifies the natural resonances of the instrument. That can be both a good and a bad thing. I think it is part of the pickup having a more natural sound than a bridge wing pickup. on the other hand, my bass is particularly resonant between about 80 and 100 Hertz, and while i don't have too many issues with feedback, I definitely find that I need to pull those frequencies out with EQ.

I agree with John that bridge wing pickups are probably more feedback resisted than The Band, but would add that The Band is WAY more feedback resistant than a microphone.
 
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#42
rickwolff said:
I am looking forward to revisiting THE BAND and doing a thorough video review when I get back from vacation in a few weeks.

I want to echo the sentiments above by saying that working and communicating with John and Headway over the last several years has been a delight. It's wonderful to have a designer and builder of such excellent products who is so 'in tune' with their customers.
Click to expand...

And now I have a new bass to try The BAND on. I can't wait.

NBD Yup, I'm pretty thrilled.
 
#43
The Band is basically a contact mic (or two in a small distance?) that sits on a band that is wrapped around the bass, hooded by some force.

The pressure generated by the angle from contact position to rib height and pulling force determines how well the vibrations are captured.

It is easy to install and remove, but compared to other contact mics the placement of the pickup point is a bit limited.

Just to give you an impression what kind of pickup The Band is.

If you abstract the mounting method, the most similar pickup (AFAIK) is the Japanese MSP (magnet sandwich pickup) since both are (ceramic?) piezos mounted on the top.
A bit more different is the Ehrlund (free vibrating triangular piezo film supported at the tips only).
AKG C411 and Ischell C series are electret mic capsules, so quite a bit different from a piezo.
 
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