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I got a bit tired playing with them. Preamp is a must and every detail in piezo's shape and size matters. I had a chance to work with an accelerator sensor company and used their custom units. I made functional bass pickup prototypes. But they go down to DC! Without HPF they are unusable and the highest reproducable frequency lies at around 500 Hz only. Because of this the sound is really thick. I was thinking they should be mixed with piezos for wide response. Some day when I get the ambition again...

@EBS_freak said it, my thoughts may be written slightly tongue in cheek. I still tried to stay on the technical side of the track. Like I said, if the piezo is located elsewhere than in the bridge, the function changes quite some. My understanding is that a piezo in the neck or in the headstock of the bass has very little to do with the actual sound reproduction. Those transducers can surely produce effects. History knows several trials, but they have been short lived. (Tongue in cheek ends.)

Most of the stuff is already answered here, and I'll ask the final question: why don't you mic your bass on a gig? With double bass it's common, but you do get an acoustic signal from your electric bass, too. Few details. The first and foremost issue is that the level of the signal is so low. In a quiet studio micing could work, but on stage, no chance. If you study acoustic g-word micing, you see there are many ways to enhance or reduce the response, like angle and placement of the mic. The mic would also be on the way if you want a good signal level and SNR from a not-so-acoustic instrument. I do not say it cannot be done. Many artists have had piezos built-in to their instruments (Manring, Zappa...), but I think it is still more of an effect than real sound. I do have excluded piezo bridges from this: if a piezo is built-in to the neck or elsewhere, I consider it an effect mic. Again: if the microphone capsule was built to a chamber in a bass body, it might give some sound out of it. I still consider an ordinary pickup is the thing here, and my choice in a bigger stage is a Countryman Type 85, post effects.

I know, my choice was the old GK 200MB. I think it was only 12 kg - and heaven sent! Worked very well with my Clevinger. Yes, my friend has an AER and it weighs quite a lot. But he uses a car.

How much is this? Looks neat.

An uncolored speaker, could you please tell us, what is the amp you are using? Most of the amps are everything but uncolored, and at least their eqs are not flat set @ 12 o'clock. AER is quite popular among double bassists.

So how about if you put the signal on top of the supply and to the same wire? Ground is the same after all. Three wires is enough for the two sided supply, the ground and the signal. INSTRUMENT (bass output -*- 9 volt in) --- CABLE --- (9 V supply -*- amp input) AMPLIFIER Put some capacitors in place of the stars (*) and you can make the signal ride on top of the supply voltage. This is common in big video systems. If you use a 4 pin XLR, you can get a stereo output, too. I think Alembic uses a 5 pin XLR and keeps all signals separated from each other.

OK, let's make a guess. You change the battery @ 0909. A battery lasts around 500 - 1 000 hours, or 100 - 200 gigs. If you play around 3 times more as during gigs, this is 25 - 50 gigs and rehearsals. This does not sound so bad for one year (except right now, #¤%/&%#! quarantine). If you have a DMM, you can also check the batteries at the same date - and make a decision whether you have played or not with a cable attached.

You can have a reminder twice a year in your phone. Should we have official 9 volt days? September 9th could be one.

...where by local I meant Africa. Local woods, might be fun to find something completely different stuff.

Can you source anything locally? I would be amazed if there was nothing in local stores. Or maybe you could find a local luthier?

A Harley Benton / GLX noise gate which has attack and decay: NG100.

Our mileage vary. Just wait and see.

If money and weight are not an object, Mesa 400+. If one or another is, Zvex/Hotone nano amp. There are many small tube amps with power up to 30 W, even kits, that you can try. I might opt for rental, like @Happy Jack said. Surely the cheapest option.

Agree, and there are two cats in my household.

That red one, Ringo/Nyango Star is very famous in Japan. http://nyangostar.jp/ https://pop-japan.com/music/babymetal-akatsuki-drum-cover-by-nyango-star/ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nyango-star

I had lots of issues with compressors and fuzzes. Then a friend of mine - a maker of fuzzes and overdrives - told me to try the units with a hi-Z (passive) and a lo-Z (active) basses. Yes, that was it! Now I have rigs for hi-Z, and lo-Z instruments. Like @Bill Fitzmaurice said, a thorough test drive is in order.

B = linear, and 104 = 10 x 10^4 ohm = 100 kohm. 1849 has to be the manufacturer's code, but may indicate time like: year 18, week 49. Looks a lot like Alps, or Bourns, but it could be Alpha: http://www.taiwanalpha.com/downloads?target=products&id=113 A guess of the type: RD901F-40E1-15K-B100K-00D "single - bushing type - Knurled shaft - linear 100 kohm - with bracket" I may be totally wrong, but this type could get you close. Like here is the shaft: https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/Alpha-Taiwan/RD901F-20-15F-B100K-00L1?qs=1mbolxNpo8cn%2BUYXjDefCw%3D%3D ...and here is the bracket: https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/Alpha-Taiwan/RD901F-40-15K-B100K-00DL1?qs=1mbolxNpo8eYt7%2B5UsjE2Q%3D%3D

OK, my bad, Alembic is in a class of its own. Their electronics are interesting from many points of view. And no, volume adjustments do not affect frequency response. As I said earlier, I forget some brands and Alembic is pretty rare beast. But also an absolute top of the line. If I ever have the chance, I want one.

The signal path of a bass is simple: pickups - blend (or another vol) - vol - tone - output Usually an active (lo-Z) bass has active tone circuitry and everything else is passive (hi-Z). When the signal comes out from the pickup, it meets the blend which is just a simple pot = high impedance = passive. This kind of blend affects the sound more or less at every pot position. This is the same with the next adjustment in line, the volume. So called active basses have active tone tweaking circuitry (B, M, T, etc.) driven by a battery. There the pots are not in the direct signal path and thus do not affect sound. As I said, there are few systems where even the blend is low impedance = real mixer. Those do not load the pickups and the frequency spectrum stays the same. It should be noted that the passive mixing can be seen as a benefit, too. Some like the change in sound, or do not care about those subtleties. But they are there and if you want to mix the pickups, your choices are limited to few manufacturers. No, nothing like Sadowsky, nor Artec, but those few I mentioned in my previous post, and maybe some others that I have not seen or just forgotten.

This is also slightly complicated. There were linear tape recorder trials where the tape speed was 76 cm/s and even higher. Bass response started to suffer. Yes, really. Mechanics were complicated and required service. Another story is the rotary head system, like DAT. But higher speed is not the answer automatically. Tape width helps with SNR. Optimal record player could be the Japanese www.elpj.com but the price...

As most of the "active" electronics have passive blend and volume right after the pickups, I have found three manufacturers whose signal chain is completely active: Audere, EMG (some systems), and John East. Noll has Mixpot, so their signal chain can also be fully active, or rather lo-Z. In other words, passive pickups work like buffered actives in these few systems.

Most of the basses have hi-Z (passive) volume control, and turning it down cuts some highs. Turning down the volume also lowers the signal level and increases noise. I do not see many benefits of volume control overall except the scenario OP described. I could manage with an ON-OFF switch or even without it. @KiOgon has built a rotary switch with four positions: OFF - tone 1 - tone 2 - ON. That is something I could suggest to any bass.