Pickup/Mic Questions

[zombiefaust]

Hey all,

i just bought a setup for my slap king at what i think is a reasonable price, but it seems like its an awful lot for a beginner as myself. let me know what you think.

K&K Golden Trinity w/mic
K&K Clicky
Basic magnet pickup to mount on the bottom of the fingerboard

All being run through an Acoustic B200 amp.

The more i look at all the wires that will be on this thing, the more i'm wondering if simpler is better.

Thoughts?

[Paul]

I think your suspicion is right, that's an elaborate set up for anyone, let alone as a starter set up.
The golden trinity gives excellent natural sound for very low volume, jazz / bluegrass. But it cannot cope with high volume, it will feed back. You also need a preamp that will deliver slave power (afaik).
Blending it with the mag pickup will give you flexibility playing at different volumes: the louder you play, the more magnetic pickup you'll use, but the less natural it will sound.
Blending one or both of those signals with a third signal from the clicky means you could add some more distinct click at higher volumes especially.

But that's a lot to get right, and presents many challenges that you'll need to get used to. Each pickup will need separate EQ, separate volume. You'll have three potential sources of buzz, feedback, volume and tone problems, so three times as many choices when it comes to tweaking live on stage. Recipe for trouble. And you'll need a three channel preamp/blender.

What style will you be playing? If psycho, ditch the trinity, focus on getting good blend if tone and click from mag and clicky.
If more rootsy, low vol, use the trinity on it's own, but watch feedback. With the right placing you can get good click from it, or you can get more bassy tone, and add clicky if you really need it.

All that said, an easier starting point is a simple piezo pickup like a bassmax or underwood- fewer mistakes to make, easier to get good tone with little effort.

[Paul]

Doh, just remembered, golden trinity is bassmax piezo plus bullet mic (with preamp blender?)
Use that set up on it's own, and you've got good blend between piezo and mic, less mic the louder you play. The preamp rakes some fiddling to get right though, and the mic takes some fiddling to get in right place. I found pointing at top of bass right between feet of bridge, angled about 45deg upwards towards fingerboard gave best sound. Recommended position is across top of f-hole.
OR use the mag with clicky for loud psycho, but not very natural.

Dont even think of trying to use 4 pickups at once.

[MikoStubborn]

hai guys nice to know you all,got some question to ask

i finally bought myself a 3/4 upright,customized and i still can't decide which one is the best using a mic or a piezo, tried to find some fishman bp 100 but most of the store in my country doesn't have it (i'm from indonesia by chance) and i'm stuck playing my bass without using any amplifier,sure it's better than playing an electric but i need to bring it to the recording studio soon,any sugestion what kind of piezo/mic or anything else i should use?

Cheers from Indonesia Guys :D

[Paul]

Not a fishman BP100

Get an Underwood, or K+K Bassmax, or Shadow, or Planet Wing, or TM, or Hurley ....

[Johnnybass]

I'll add my voice to those who are slagging the BP100 (found out the hard way!). Has anyone tried the David Gage Strings Transducer? I want something that captures the sound of my instrument pizzicato and arco even though I don't use the bow much on gigs (ie never at the moment). I'd use it more often if I could get it to sound good through the system.

[Swinging Beef]

BP100 was good when there were only three choices, back n 1990
Since then.
Much has changed.
Avoid the BP100 unless you get it for less than $50

Speaking of which.. anyone want to buy a 2nd hand BP100?
:D

[hdbassman2000]

Originally Posted by zombiefaust

Hey all,

i just bought a setup for my slap king at what i think is a reasonable price, but it seems like its an awful lot for a beginner as myself. let me know what you think.

K&K Golden Trinity w/mic
K&K Clicky
Basic magnet pickup to mount on the bottom of the fingerboard

All being run through an Acoustic B200 amp.

The more i look at all the wires that will be on this thing, the more i'm wondering if simpler is better.

Thoughts?

yeah, sounds like a lot goin on there...i use the same amp. i would suggest getting the billy/blender deal from superior bassworks and adding a good graphic eq. like a boss or old ibanez or arion if you can find one. the acoustic amps controls act more parametrically; meaning instead of boosting and cutting, they actually sweep the frequency band. this is not a bad thing but you can't easily scoop out the harsh mid tones all that easily for good upright sound...adding a graphic is a big help...IMO.