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Double Bass What pickup do the TB DB guys prefer?

Which pickup do you use/would recommend to others first?

  • Total voters
    257
  • Poll closed .
#61
I agree that the bass makes a difference in what works best. I have a Bassmax and RSII.

Bassmax works much better on my Epiphone, while the RSII is much better on my carved Romanian. On the carved bass, the Bassmax picks up too much tailpiece resonance, which is no problem for the Epi. Maybe the solid wire tailpiece on the Epi cuts down the effect of the tailpiece?
 
#62
tornadobass said:
I agree that the bass makes a difference in what works best.
Click to expand...

If the bass we've chosen to amplify didn't make a difference........then we all be in deep doo-doo, no? :)

If not, an Asian exploding evilbay bass would sound the same as the hand carved partner we've met on the quest for "the sound" we hear in our body and soul. I mean, don't we all pride ourselves on finding a way to communicate the sound of our intimate connection with our instrument with an audience? Whatever it takes?
 
#64
I have an Upton std ply and recently replaced my RSII with a Full Circle. Using the Rev II, the tone settings on the EA Micro were bass 12 oclock, mid all out and highs all out. Still far to piezo-sounding, all boom&tink. Annoying. Jack at Upton straightened out my bridge and refit the Rev, but it only helped a little.
With the FC I can work with the mids and highs and get a much warmer, far more even tone.
 
#65
I had a schertler stat-B but in the end I did not like it. Not enough low and lots of string noise. I now use a Yamahiko pick-up it is really great.
It sounds natural and has a real wide range of freq. I can plug in to almost any amp.(no pre-amp needed) eq flat and I'm good to go.
Eddie Gomez uses it to but he also eq's a lot I guess. He;s got a really destinctive sound. (not really my cup of tea)
 
#66
Add this to the list for me:

http://www.sixrounds.com

I use the Original - costs $50, and works fine for my needs, which is being the lone string player in a community band (wind, brass, and percussion) that plays outdoors in the summer. The thing sounds fine to me - not neutral, but good to my ears.

My bass is a carved Eberle. My amplification is an AI Ten2.

I know most here are much more serious, and regular, upright players than me, but it's a poll, so you've got one more opinion.

Is it strange to run a $50 pickup through a $1500 combo amp? Only if you think it is - works for me, and it'll be easy for me to upgrade the pickup at any point in the future I feel the need.

-S-
 
#69
Wilson was pretty cool 20 years ago. I had a Wilson on a now since sold bass and it never really did knock me out. Very stringy, not much bottom. Now I feel like the Realist and the Full Circle give far more accurate tones for most basses.
 
#73
I've been using a Full Circle for some time and it's fine. You can always be heard and it is about as natural as a piezo pick up is going to sound. After following the uber long thread on the Erhlund contact mike PU, I just ordered one and I'm hoping it will be more natural sounding. All of these piezo Pick ups sound too direct for my taste. You don't hear any air in the sound. One of the beautiful things about acoustic instruments, certainly double basses, is how the move air. For me, that's a very important part of the overall sound. That's why mic's can sound so good at least in a studio setting. I'm hoping the Erhlund gets closer to that acoustic sound.
 
#74
Treyzer said:
I've been using a Full Circle for some time and it's fine. You can always be heard and it is about as natural as a piezo pick up is going to sound.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, 66% of bassists polled so far would disagree with you. The Fishman is very good, but YMMV whether or not it is the most natural sounding pickup.
 
#75
@uprightbass, I never said The Fishman Full Circle sounded natural. If you read what I wrote, I said it sounded about as natural as a piezo is going to sound. It would be nice if you actually read what I wrote. In fact, that is why I'm trying something else to amplify my acoustic sound in live situations. In reference to what so many others may or may not like, it is of little interest to me. I rely on those active, working, professional bassists and engineers that I actually know and/or listen to and talk too rather than some random popularity poll.
 
#76
Treyzer said:
@uprightbass, I never said The Fishman Full Circle sounded natural. If you read what I wrote, I said it sounded about as natural as a piezo is going to sound. It would be nice if you actually read what I wrote. In fact, that is why I'm trying something else to amplify my acoustic sound in live situations. In reference to what so many others may or may not like, it is of little interest to me. I rely on those active, working, professional bassists and engineers that I actually know and/or listen to and talk too rather than some random popularity poll.
Click to expand...


If you don't care what others may or may not like, and only what you think matters, why bother reading and spending time on this forum? Why even waste time on this poll which is meaningless to you?

My point is that it's not that concrete to the point where it is with absolute certainty that the Full Circle is the shiznit of all piezo and that a piezo will never sound more natural or that there are no better products out there. You may think that the Full Circle is the most natural sounding piezo pickup, but I think that the the BassBalsereit Active pickup is the most natural sounding piezo by far.
 
#77
@uprightbass,

It is amazing to me how you make such incredible leaps of logic. Based on what I actually wrote as well as my response. You either did not read the actual words I wrote, do not comprehend what what I wrote or for the sake of something to do, you are just being argumentative. You overgeneralize to the point of absurdity. You seem to want to put words in my mouth that I never wrote. I'm happy that you like your pick up. Have a nice life.

Just do me the favor of not applying your misinterpretations to what I've written.
 
#78
uprightbass.com said:
If you don't care what others may or may not like, and only what you think matters, why bother reading and spending time on this forum? Why even waste time on this poll which is meaningless to you?

My point is that it's not that concrete to the point where it is with absolute certainty that the Full Circle is the shiznit of all piezo and that a piezo will never sound more natural or that there are no better products out there. You may think that the Full Circle is the most natural sounding piezo pickup, but I think that the the BassBalsereit Active pickup is the most natural sounding piezo by far.
Click to expand...
Knowing Trey I think you might be reading far more into his comments than is actually there. I really think you fellas agree that the Full Circle is very limited in it's use especially in high res environments.

Can you tell more about this BassBalsereit pickup. I saw some stuff on the web about it. Looks to be about $500US. Obviously a good size hole needs to go into the bridge before you know if you like it or not. So it's a bit of an expensive experiment for us here in the states who have no experience with it.

More thoughts on it?
 
#79
Treyzer said:
After following the uber long thread on the Erhlund contact mike PU, I just ordered one and I'm hoping it will be more natural sounding.
Click to expand...

I think you will be very impressed with that pickup. You will get the air you are missing. Be sure to mount it where no excess wire is touching anything.

For my bass I still like to blend a bit Full-circle or Underwood signal with the Erhlund signal with my Headway pre just because I like a little bit of artificial "punch" with my "air".
 
#80
Uncletoad said:
Knowing Trey I think you might be reading far more into his comments than is actually there. I really think you fellas agree that the Full Circle is very limited in it's use especially in high res environments.

Can you tell more about this BassBalsereit pickup. I saw some stuff on the web about it. Looks to be about $500US. Obviously a good size hole needs to go into the bridge before you know if you like it or not. So it's a bit of an expensive experiment for us here in the states who have no experience with it.

More thoughts on it?
Click to expand...

A lot of you probably have used the Herve Jeanne String Matrix; he uses this pickup if you want to hear a large variety of sound clips.

The biggest problem with wanting to try the BassBalsereit is that the only way to try one is to try a bass that has one or drilling a hole in the bridge. There aren't too many people who have them in the U.S. Most of the bassists in the U.S. that I know who use them, came across them while in Europe. This means that people in the U.S. are going to have to plop down $500 blindly and drill a hole in their bridge to try it. I can do the drilling and boring the way that it should be done for bassists in the U.S. just for the price of postage, but it still means that you're going to have to take your bridge off and send it (down time+probably having to reset soundpost).

I don't think they'll ever be popular in the U.S. They just don't have much interest in expanding outside of Europe. So you're going to have to order them through a music store in Europe. From what they said, they're happy with how they are doing as a company and have no interest in increasing capacity to market internationally. They have considered it, but now with the strong Euro/weak dollar, they know that the market for their product in the U.S. is limited. Rather than having to deal with exporting and U.S. dealers, they want U.S. bassists to purchase them through stores in Europe.

I was fortunate enough that I got a chance to try one when I was in tour in Europe so I had a very good idea of its capabilities. I tried the older passive version on a basses in previous tours in Europe, which were good, but they weren't a whole lot better than the Realist (which was what I was using at the time). They did have the advantage of being "adjustable", since you can turn it to choose a mix between how much top or string you want it to pickup, but I wasn't going buy a new pickup and to drill a hole in my bridge for maybe slightly better.

The key thing is to get one of the the active versions. The active circuitry largely helps the accuracy and fidelity of the pickup. For those of you that aren't aware, the current owner of the company is an electrical engineer and bassist. He upgraded the original Balsereit with active electronics. Think of how active pickups have improved the sound of pickups in general; and that's the best way I can describe how much of an improvement it makes on our piezos.
 

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