5/27/2012

Schertler DYN-B for Double Bass Review

Schertler DYN-B for Double Bass
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I am professional bassist. This is a very nice transducer for arco and pizz playing. It is XLR, but does NOT require phantom power. That means you can use a mono 1/4" plug / XLR cable and your own amp. To use it, simply roll the silly putty into a worm and make a ring around the center pole. then stick it on instrument's top, about a hand below and between the bridge feet. This gets a more natural sound through the amp than most pressure mounted bridge pickups- like Underwood, Realist, Planet Wing, Shadow, etc- and it has less impact on the acoustic sound of the instrument.
It will require some experimentation with placement and some tone shaping (preamp of some kind). I think this is one of the best solutions for arco amplification, and it is very balanced between arco and pizz playing. It also does well to keep the lower and upper registers balanced, though some of that will depend on where you mount the transducer. Depending on placement this can sound very 'honky' but with trial and error, I believe many good sounds can be achieved. Every bass is different, and the best spot to mount it varies with each instrument. You can leave it on the bass for extended periods of time, but it is not permanent. This is one of the advantages, in my opinion- that you don't have to leave wires and pickups on the bass, which will affect the acoustic sound.
If feedback is a major concern for you, then you should go with a different pickup. If you are looking for a natural sound at reasonable volumes (don't point the speaker at the bass), or an easy interface with the PA (You can plug this directly into a mixer or a powered PA speaker), then this is worth checking out- assuming you have the scratch.
I have tried the DYN-B with Schertler PRE-A III preamp, and in my case it is not an ideal preamp for string bass. For upright bass, I would recommend a preamp with more parametric options. I did find the Schertler PRE-A III to be EXCELLENT for electric bass.
All that said, for this price you can buy a slew of cheaper pickups and microphones to play around with. If money is a concern, I recommend you check out the Planet Wing pickup and the Gage Realist pickups. For this kind of money you could also have a new bridge cut with the Fishman Full Circle installed.
Another observation: microphones always sound better than pickups, and this is true even for this $700 pickup. A microphone of 1/2 the price (RE-20) will sound twice as good, but won't necessarily work in as many settings/ applications.

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Swiss-made Schertler DYN-Series electrodynamic contact transducers are designed to be used in a variety of applications, from home recording to live performances, encompassing all types of music and musical playing styles where the utmost in accurate acoustic reproduction is required.DYN-Series transducers provide a sound that is exceptionally 'acoustic" in nature - the sound is close to that of a studio microphone, but without the on-stage problems of bleed or feedback.The Schertler DYN-B is the most natural-sounding double-bass transducer available.The easily-installed contact microphone (attached to the instrument's top with the included, inert putty) delivers a warm, accurate reproduction of YOUR instrument's acoustic tone, whether your style is Jazz, Rockabilly, Americana or Bluegrass.DYN-Series transducers ship in an elegant wooden box.

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