Double Bass What pick-up for gut strings?

[tito mangialajo]

I will soon switch to gut strings. Now I play Velvet Garbo. Sometimes I play acoustic, sometimes with mic in a PA, and in high volume gig without PA with an Underwood through an old GK MB200.
What kind of pick-up (and eventually amplifier) do you suggest for high volume gig with gut strings?

 

[JimmyM]

What's wrong with the Underwood? It's a great pickup. I use a Rev Solo II, but nothing wrong with Underwood.

 

[Jaromir]

With gut strings all pickups sound much better. That's the funny thing - all the sounds which we hate when it comes to pickups come from the steel string / pickup combination. It takes more research to amplify steel strings than guts.

 

[Lisbon3am]

I use RS II for Gut strings in a blond Strunal ply, and works great.

 

[Ric Vice]

I will soon switch to gut strings. Now I play Velvet Garbo. Sometimes I play acoustic, sometimes with mic in a PA, and in high volume gig without PA with an Underwood through an old GK MB200.
What kind of pick-up (and eventually amplifier) do you suggest for high volume gig with gut strings?

Tito,
If you have the older GK 200MB it's one of the best amplifiers for Double Bass. You can find louder amps but not better amps IMHO.
Ric

 

[tito mangialajo]

thanks everybody for the answers. I'll change the strings only and try gut with underwood and gk. Maybe in the future...
I'll report to you my experiences.

 

[Mark Perna]

It's been my experience that every bass is different. What works on one bass doesn't necessarily work on another. I have two basses both strung with gut: a '28 Juzek and a '74 Juzek. I use a Realist on the '74 and a BP-100 on the '28. I also have a Schertler Stat B on both. I occasionally will mix the Stat B with the other pickups. The Realist sounds horrible on the '28 and BP-100 is a screechy mess on the '74 but on the basses their on, they sound great.

The point is start with what you have. If it isn't working for you, then try something else. If it was already working for you with steel strings, it'll probably just sound better with gut. Everything does.

mark