Double Bass Stat-B and Focus anyone?

[Nuno A.]

Lately i've been using the Stat-B with great success (although i dont mount it like the people from Schertler say, i mount it with the cork facing the table and not the strings, less finger noise and fatter sound).
Since i like to mix the pickup with my little Audix condenser, i've been using everything together with a Unico specially in quieter gigs, this weekend i brought again my trustable I Amp 500 + wizzy 12 and just the Stat-b sounded great , but i really missed the mike. im thinking about the Focus and i was just wondering if somebody give the Stat-B a try with the Focus. i have a wizzy 12 and when the finances will permit, i will buy a wizzy 10. as much as i love my I Amp 500 and the endless eq possibilities, i really need 2 channels as i cant live without my little condenser, so, anyone there who tried the Focus- Stat-B ?
what about a mike through the Focus?
thanks in advance

Nuno

 

[flatback]

Hey Nuno,
Howzit man? I have tried the stat b with a Focus and wizzy 10 (and Avalon U5) and i was mightily impressed. Jack Sayers came over to buy my LDS 1x8's and he had a Stat B on his bass. We ran it thru the focus and U5 and it sounded excellent. The avalon was the key though.

 

[Nuno A.]

Thanks for the answer man..but
Hummmmm... Focus, Wizzy 10, now Avalon U5, will this ever stop
Did you try just by chance the Stat directly into the Focus? i really want to use only the pickup(which has already the little pre amp) and Focus + wizzy.
i know it doesnt make much sense to ask all this questions when my bass, my strings, the way i play can be so different from somebody else, i guess i just want to hear something nice as an excuse to buy..ehehe

Nuno

 

[bolo]

what about a mike through the Focus?

I use a Beyer M 88 thru a Focus 2R and it works real nice for me. I am blending the mic w/ a Rev Solo.

 

[Tom Baldwin]

Nuno,

I am sure you will find the Focus quite suitable for a mic. I use the AMT with good results, and many here have posted similar experiences.

RE: the STAT-B, I tried it but found it shrill and brittle. This is my impression of the pickup itself, as I imagine results would be the same regardless of the amp. However, I always thought the cork was just the spacer, and the black part on the other end was where the vibration transfered into the pickup. So I had the cork pointing up. I'll have to try it again the way you suggest with the cork pointing to the table.

To get something close to a usable sound, I rolled the treble all the way off, and used the notch filter at the highest freq. It's my opinion that if you need to alter the settings too much, you don't have a very good sound to begin with. Plus you might be removing some of the good stuff in the process. If you start with something that sounds pretty good flat, then you're on the right track. And since we're talking about the Focus, flat is where it's at!

 

[bolo]

I believe Rick Jones actually uses one of the older STAT-B pickups w/ two elements on his bass, a Pollman I believe. Or at least he used to. About 7 years ago, he was kind enough to sit down and chat w/ me at length about this and a host of other DB topics. That's when I remember him mentioning the STAT-B, if my memory is accurate.

 

[Nuno A.]

Nuno,

I am sure you will find the Focus quite suitable for a mic. I use the AMT with good results, and many here have posted similar experiences.

RE: the STAT-B, I tried it but found it shrill and brittle. This is my impression of the pickup itself, as I imagine results would be the same regardless of the amp. However, I always thought the cork was just the spacer, and the black part on the other end was where the vibration transfered into the pickup. So I had the cork pointing up. I'll have to try it again the way you suggest with the cork pointing to the table.

To get something close to a usable sound, I rolled the treble all the way off, and used the notch filter at the highest freq. It's my opinion that if you need to alter the settings too much, you don't have a very good sound to begin with. Plus you might be removing some of the good stuff in the process. If you start with something that sounds pretty good flat, then you're on the right track. And since we're talking about the Focus, flat is where it's at!

T-Bal:
when i 1st mounted the Stat, i mounted it with the cork facing the strings and didnt like it at all, like you said , too brittle and not enough body,i had to take off all the treble and high mids, i was really disapointed, beeing the maniac that i am, i decided to mount it in several different ways, another thing that makes a big difference is how tight it is, i found out that it needs to be real tight to sound good, if its too tight you will notice distortion. pretty hard work, but after i found the right position and pressure, i was very impressed with the sound, i can say that on the same bass,with different positioning, this was the worst and the best sounding pickup, just to show you how this pickup can change. i will try tomorrow to post a picture of the pickup on my bridge.
so at the end, i will save for the Focus and soon or later will give Bob G. a call. thanks again

Nuno

 

[LowNote]

I've used Schertler StatB on my Hachez carved bass almost since I got it in 2001 after Rick Jones recommended it to me. I think he may have switched to a Full Circle however since that time. I initially installed a Realist on the Hachez, but the instrument is so heavy on the bass end that the Realist on this axe sounded like pure mud. Jon Peterson of World of Strings in Long Beach, California sold it to me and installed it for me. He very carefully carved the cork top to fit perfectly within the bridge hole with the cork pointed to the strings. At the lower portion of the hole, he took a small, potato chip-thick piece of maple and slid it under the bottom of the pickup so that it acts like a sling under the pickup.

I put the Schertler through a Series III Focus or a Series III Coda, direct from the small power source/preamp box that comes with the Schertler. I need to use little or no HPF with the Schertler because the little box has a high pass filter built into it. I was able to discover this by a lot of crawling around on the Schertler web site.

I have had none of the brittleness that others have described. Mine sounds full and rich and wonderful.

Erik Hansen

 

[Jacka]

Hey Nuno,
I've been pretty happy with my Stat-B running into an AI Claris--not 2 channel but the same basic sound as the Focus, I think. I'm able to get a warm tone, and I don't find it brittle. The one problem I've been having with the Stat-B is that it feeds back pretty readily, especially when I'm forced to stand anywhere near my speakers.

That said, as Flatback mentioned above, the Avalon made a very noticable (in fact killer) improvement on the tone of my bass when running through his Focus. So much so that I've got one on the way. But even without the Avalon, I find the Stat-B to Claris setup to be a pretty true rendering of what my bass sounds like.

 

[Nuno A.]

Here is how i mount my Stat -B, after many hours ans tests i found this position to be the best , tighter and fatter sound, less finger noise.
Like i said before, depending on how i mounted the pickup in this bass the sound difference was huge .
Nuno