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Double Bass Underwood vs Full Circle

#21
Fdecks box is a high pass filter and phase switch. The input impedance is set. It is changeable by substituting resistors but some kind of variable impedance tool is useful for figuring out what that value should be changed to.

Fwiw after doing that myself where it is set by default is excellent for many pickups and I ended up back there after many substitutions.
 
#23
I used an Underwood successfully for 25 years, then moved to the German-made "Shadow" (also a double element transducer) and felt it was unlikely I could get a better sound. Then, Kolstein recommended I try out the Danish-made single-element "Planet" transducer. He was right - better yet. Haven't tried the FC. BTW, I haven't felt the need to use a pre-amp with any of them.
 
#25
Recently I did a trade with a TB'r. got a underwood for my Bass Max.
I use a Full Circle and I wanted a backup that I could get on quickly in case anything ever went south with the FC on a gig.
The bass max was a little thick to fit without altering the wings.

I had done a recording with a vocalist on a Monday. My Cleveland was recorded with a Neumann U 87 mic-no pickup.
On Tuesday the underwood came I put in on to try out at some upcoming gigs.
Wednesday the engineer called me to ask if I could come back and do a punch.
seems on a ballad there had been a lawn mower outside and some of it leaked into my track.

he did the same set up and went to the booth and I played with the track.
In the talk back:
"did you change strings or something? the sound is not the same at all."

I told him I had put on a pickup since the recording, but I could take it off.

After I took it off he said:

"OK , the sound matches, sounds great, lets track".

never did try it out a a gig.
he obviously didn't know I had the pickup on and he heard a difference.
I don't want to change my acoustic sound because of a pickup if I can help it.

Some of my favorite bassist use an underwood with great results.
Bob Magnuson in particular comes to mind,
he's why I wanted an underwood in the first place.

as mentioned above, on some basses it is ideal.
but my underwood stays in the bag to be used only for emergency backup only.
 
#27
mstclairmiller said:
Do you mean the pickup at Link Removed I have heard that Underwoods have a use by date and am thinking that mine is past its prime. What was so much better about the planet?
Click to expand...

Yes, Link Removed is the one I'm referring to. The site's description of the pick-up's qualities is accurate. Sound quality is superb from the lows to the highs and it puts out a very strong signal, stronger that the dual-element Shadow that I had used and liked very much.
 
#28
From the website: "Massive lows, crystal clear highs and a competitive price ..."

Hm. I've got one of these. On my bass I find the low-mids a little tepid. I don't want "massive lows" w/ DB anyway. The upper register (again on my bass) does sound very full and smooth with it though.

I also think it's a bit pricey as compared to what I think are comparable pickups, namely the Bass Max and the Rev Solo.

To my ears it does seem to sound best w/ 10 Mohm inputs. My Rev Solo is not as particular, and seems to like 1 Mohm just fine.

Just my two cents. For some it certainly may be worth trying to see if it works for you. Many people here have good things to say about it. YMMV.
 
#29
alright boys. just got my amp back today from LA. I've had the Full Circle installed for quite some time but didn't have an amp. I was just able to A/B the Underwood and Full Circle today after receiving my amp in the mail.

I'm playing into a GKMB150S.

Running it flat, the Full Circle already sounds great. I tweaked it just a tad on the high end to get rid of some of that metallic sound I usually get from Spiros and it sounded awesome. Loved it.

Switched to underwood without changing the settings on the amp. not as full of a sound. All the presence that was there with the Full Circle was lost. Had to take some time to equalize to get a workable tone.

Full Circle wins just for being an easier plug and play kind of pickup and the tone is just great.
 
#30
Kevin,
Once upon a time, the Underwood was the best thing out there, back in the day, when the only other options were the Polytone and the Barcus Berry "Silver Bar with Chewing Gum". It even sounded better IMHO than the Fishman BP 100. But once the Realist, Schertler, and Full Circle were developed we all had a lot more choices, and thank goodness for that.

Ric
 

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