Amplifying a Silent Bass

[Deconrad]

I recently got a silent (EUB) bass made by Luthier Marian Pawlik in Krakow, Poland. It's a beautiful instrument, plays and feels more like an acoustic upright than any of this type I've tried. It has a standard adjustable maple bridge, so I could use any bridge-mounted pickup, but I'm pretty happy with the Wilson K4 bridge pickup that came with it. I'm just trying to get the maximum possible acoustic tone. The bass has a small hollow body (13"X8"X3"), so there's slight acoustic sound, enough to practice in a quiet room, but no more than that. I'm curious to try a contact mic on the body, to see if that, along with the bridge pickup, could fill out the acoustic quality of the amplified sound. Any opinions on this, recommendations for external contact mics, or other ideas?

Thanks!

DC

[Staggering on]

I have had a Stagg EUB and currently play a Yamaha SLB 200. I use either my Acoustic Image amp or a Traynor SB112 and have spent quite a bit of time playing around with the EQ on the Yamaha and the EQ's on the amps and the closest I got to an "acoustic" sound is with the Acoustic Image amp and that changes in different rooms of course, it's very frustrating. I use the Yamaha for rehearsals with a 7 piece swing band and a bluegrass band and have actually used it on a few gigs when space is limited and in both bands I can get by with a sound that is not really very "acoustic" but cuts through and is quite loud.  For most gigs I use a double bass with a pickup.

I am still trying to get a nice acoustic sound but have never found it, I use the Yamaha as it came from the factory with the original pickup and so far it has worked for me and  the bands I play in are happy with my sound. There are quite a few discussions about this topic on here and on other sites and many ideas and opinions including some that say an EUB is not a double bass and just accept that fact and go ahead and play it as it is.

Your instrument sounds interesting, any chance of a Photo?

[snorkie635]

52 minutes ago, Staggering on said:

I have had a Stagg EUB and currently play a Yamaha SLB 200. I use either my Acoustic Image amp or a Traynor SB112 and have spent quite a bit of time playing around with the EQ on the Yamaha and the EQ's on the amps and the closest I got to an "acoustic" sound is with the Acoustic Image amp and that changes in different rooms of course, it's very frustrating. I use the Yamaha for rehearsals with a 7 piece swing band and a bluegrass band and have actually used it on a few gigs when space is limited and in both bands I can get by with a sound that is not really very "acoustic" but cuts through and is quite loud.  For most gigs I use a double bass with a pickup.

I am still trying to get a nice acoustic sound but have never found it, I use the Yamaha as it came from the factory with the original pickup and so far it has worked for me and  the bands I play in are happy with my sound. There are quite a few discussions about this topic on here and on other sites and many ideas and opinions including some that say an EUB is not a double bass and just accept that fact and go ahead and play it as it is.

Your instrument sounds interesting, any chance of a Photo?

What you should try my friend, is one of these. I find that set to these approximate dial-settings, it gives a not far-off Double Bass sound. Good luck and hope this helps.