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Double Bass Underwood vs Full Circle vs Realist

#62
DoubleMIDI said:
The ANS is the former BassBalsereit from german luthier Willi Balsereit.
He sold it to a younger guy to continue production and development under the name ANS.
Mr. Balsereit’s shop in Cologne has closed more than a decade ago and he does (did?) a bit of work at a different luthier a bit outside of Cologne.
A Wilson K1 is mounted in a similar way but is smaller, but you should note that it is not (as) conical as the ANS, so you cannot get that much pressure variation.

I’m not a big fan soundwise what I hear from other bassists around Cologne, but that could be the setup of pickup or amp and sound taste that doesn’t fit my sound.

I have an old passive one, but I refused to get a hole in the bridge (you need a cello peg reamer for it as it is conical) of my bass.
It is my emergency pickup for my Clevinger EUB as the was already a hole a little bigger, so I used strips of cardboard to fit it into that hole.
Click to expand...
It took me some experimenting to get the correct pressure/placement (it can sound bad too) but once I did it sounds great. Here is an example, my solo on Green Dolphin Street from a recent gig:

 
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#63
Earl said:
It took me some experimenting to get the correct pressure/placement (it can sound bad too) but once I did it sounds great. Here is an example, my solo on Green Dolphin Street from a recent gig:

Click to expand...

Well, that is a beautiful amplified sound!, (and your "touch" is a component of that good sound, as well. IMFO.)
Thanks, Earl.
 
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#65
Earl said:
The best pickup to date for my bass is the Bassbalsereit by ANS (passive version). Needs no HPF, sounds better WITHOUT a preamp, and you can EQ the sound by turning it, and by how tight and how far it is inserted into the hole that must be drilled in the bridge. I did not want a hole in my bridge but I find no downside to that and have had it done to three basses. The Yamahiko is great but too bassy/dark for me and needs a good preamp with EQ.
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I raw dog my Yamahiko into either a GK MB150S, a Clarus, or Mesa 800+. Ridiculously clear at all the gigs I do.

Room, cabinet, drummer, that particular bass, carrots? Who knows, man. I definitely get a very even and all the least-piezo tone I need live. Several records with it, and the sound guys love it. For my ears, it does what the FC does, but better. More reliable, less clicky and overly bright, incredible quality adjusters (very thick), and cheaper than the FC. Using an Underwood in comparison is apples and oranges. They are in different spaces, to my ears. Once again, ymmv. I'll shut up now.
 
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#68
Back to the Underwood.

I have found that sometimes just plugging into some pedals, even when not engaged, makes a better impedance or ohms match for a more fuller fatter tone. I have an amp that matches now but before I found that this behringer bdi21 I had, would make a good match just by plugging into it without even engaging the preamp. I could use the preamp controls to sculpted the sound if I wanted to. It wasn’t bad but didn’t need that so much.

Try that if you have any general pedals about. Had the same effect from Zoom pedals, compressors and the like without using the effect.

Anyway…
☺️
 
#72
I got my Yamahiko yesterday and installed it, first impression was not great. Much brighter than the full circle, and very high output. But the build quality and the output jack/microdot cord arrangement is really impressive.
 
#73
Endlesssolo said:
I got my Yamahiko yesterday and installed it, first impression was not great. Much brighter than the full circle, and very high output. But the build quality and the output jack/microdot cord arrangement is really impressive.
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Did you get two sides or one? Two can be a little bright but if you lower the high mids it can sound good and cut very well. Just the E side I find pretty dark.
 
#74
Endlesssolo said:
I got my Yamahiko yesterday and installed it, first impression was not great. Much brighter than the full circle, and very high output. But the build quality and the output jack/microdot cord arrangement is really impressive.
Click to expand...

Not sure what amp you're playing through. If your sound is bright, there's a likelihood of an impedance mismatch. I am an an artist for an amplifier company, and as good as they are, their eq is voiced more toward a slab tone (obviously).

The Yamahiko is hot, but I just backed the input off by turning the input down a hair. I am playing through a Clarus, and I haven't had a brightness problem any more than any other piezo. Back the mids waaay down, especially lower mids, an you should be on the zone....plus, it won't die on you every 18 months, especially a a gig. My FC died in the middle of a gig in front of a performing arts center full of people.
People like a FC until it dies, then all bets are off.

On a bad day, raw dogged into a Polytone, a Yamahiko still sounds better than the FC. Fight me! 😆 Kidding, but there also may be some issues with fitment of the pickup. For real. If you have a good doublebass repair person nearby, have them eyeball it. Piezos are like people..weird as he**, but once you figure out how to work with them, you still don't like 'em. 😉
 
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#75
I have the single element one, I knew that the two element would be way too bright. Just for clarity, when I say ‘bright’ what I mean is forward, edgy upper mids.

In terms of impedance, I’m going into a 10 megohm input on a Clarus.

I’ve now used 5 different pickups in the past 2 years; underwood, lifeline, realist copper, full circle, and Yamahiko. I’m going to keep the Yamahiko on for a few gigs and see how it works, but here’s how I would ‘rank’ the pickups from most upper-middy to least: Underwood, Yamahiko, full circle, lifeline, realist.

The realist and lifeline are both too muddy for my tastes. The underwood is very harsh on the upper mids. The full circle and the Yamahiko are in the middle, and I need to spend more time with the Yamahiko. It does seem to have a better low end than the full circle. It’s very high output. I’ll play with it for a while.
 
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#77
Yamarc said:
any updates?
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No, I’ve been using the full circle. I bought the Yamahiko, tried it on one gig, and took it back out. The main problem is that it distorts on the E string, especially the low E note. I have a feeling the reason is simply the output is too hot. It does this with or without a preamp on both my WW and my Clarus SL.

Anyhow, my next step might be to make a cord with a capacitor installed to cut down the output and see if that fixes the low E distortion. Somewhere I have the discussion on this forum about that bookmarked. I haven’t contacted Yamahiko about this issue, maybe I should try that. Or I could just sell the Yamahiko; it has literally one day of use.

I think the Yamahiko is absolutely higher quality in terms of the way it’s built and the way the output cable and jack are configured. It is a brighter sound than the full circle, and on some gigs that’s a plus, on others, it’s a minus. If/when I figure out the output issue, I’d like to play 10-15 gigs with it, different rooms, different drummers, etc… and then make up my mind. But for now the full circle is working fine and it’s a decent sound.
 
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#78
I have an Underwood using one element, a FC and a Stat B on one of my basses. The Stat is my go to. It's more "refined" and
natural sounding than the others to my ears. When NYC bassist Lorin Cohen borrows the bass when he's
in Chicago, he goes with the one element Underwood, likes it the best. I've also mixed the Stat and FC and have
gotten great sound that way.

On the one element vs. two element Underwood question, for years I used both elements until in the middle of a concert,
my sound all of a sudden opened up and sounded way more natural and less like a bass guitar. It took me a while to
realize that the G side element had fallen out of the bridge slot. I never put it back in and it's still hanging off the bridge
30 years later..
 
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#79
Eric Hochberg said:
On the one element vs. two element Underwood question, for years I used both elements until in the middle of a concert,
my sound all of a sudden opened up and sounded way more natural and less like a bass guitar. It took me a while to
realize that the G side element had fallen out of the bridge slot. I never put it back in and it's still hanging off the bridge
30 years later..
Click to expand...
Like.
Q; How has the Underwood Corp. NOT offered a one-element version of their fine pickup?
There has been a mountain of anecdotal real-world evidence and experience in the past 3 decades, by working bassists, who report significantly better results using only 1 element. ( I was/am one of those reporters. FYI/TMI - I have moved on to the Wilson K-2, but still carry my "Onederwood" single-element as a backup.)
How can, and why does, a company continually ignore the many testimonials of (1 element) users of their pickup?
I am without speech.
Thanks.
 
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#80
Don Kasper said:
Like.
Q; How has the Underwood Corp. NOT offered a one-element version of their fine pickup?
There has been a mountain of anecdotal real-world evidence and experience in the past 3 decades, by working bassists, who report significantly better results using only 1 element. ( I was/am one of those reporters. FYI/TMI - I have moved on to the Wilson K-2, but still carry my "Onederwood" single-element as a backup.)
How can, and why does, a company continually ignore the many testimonials of (1 element) users of their pickup?
I am without speech.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
After several people mentioned that the underwood sounds better without the treble side element, I tried just leaving that element hanging on mine, and it did improve the sound somewhat. So I cut that element out and spliced the wires back together, tried it and oddly, it seemed to sound not as good as with the element just hanging there. Maybe it’s an impedance issue, I don’t really know. It’s still too bright for my tastes.
 

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