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Double Bass Student pickup question

T

theworldismad

Oct 11, 2009
109
0
#1
This is kind of a lengthy question.

I am graduating from High School soon, which means I can no longer rent double bass gear from my school. I need to get a pickup ASAP because I play in a jazz trio outside of school (where I used a rented yamaha silent bass) and need some type of pickup for the acoustic bass I recently purchased. The bass I recently purchased is a used Knilling Bucharest 1302t MIR, and the amp I own is an Ampeg Pf-350.

There are so many pickup options that I am unsure of what to look for. The pickup my school jazz director bought for my school's acoustic bass was a Fishman sb100 (along with a B2 preamp), and I did not like the tone or the method of mounting on that unit. The sb-100 was my teacher's recommendation, but I am looking for second opinions based off of personal preference. What I am looking for is a pickup that would offer good jazz pizz tone and would also mount more dependably on my instrument. A built-in preamp would be a huge plus. Any help would be much appreciated.
 
#2
If you can accept a bit darker tone and putting something under the bridge foot I would try the Shadow SH-965NFX. It has a built-in piezo buffer and two sensors (one for each bridge foot, but you can use only one if you want and have a spare sensor foil).
Also works nice with bowing. Somewhat similar to the Realist but with a piezo buffer and without marking the top. The bridge foot might slip a bit before the strings are tuned up to pitch and the bridge might be raised about 2/3 of a millimeter. Not bad for the price. There is some reverb-like sound coming from the sound reflections of the top, so not a direct or aggressive sound.

I would have been happy if I had such a pickup during my school days.
 
#4
I had good luck and good sound on my Knilling using a Fishman Full Circle with a Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum preamp. Maybe more than you want to spend, but how much is good tone worth?

I had also tried an Underwood and a Gage Realist. The Underwood was just okay. The Gage turned the bass into a howling feedback machine. I don't intend to disparage Gage Realist - I have heard them sound fantastic on other basses. The point is, pickups may perform differently on different basses.

LeNi
 
#5
DoubleMIDI said:
I would have been happy if I had such a pickup during my school days.
Click to expand...

I was very fortunate to be able to use the fishman pickup at school, but now that I no longer have access to that resource I am assessing what I did not like about that pickup in the purchase of my own.

Marc Piane, is a shim needed to fit the Bassmax?

Inichols, what kind of strings did you use with your knilling setup?
 

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