Six Rounds Review: Recap

So I recently wrote about Six Rounds Rockabilly Recoil pickup. After a few weeks of gigging. I'm totally sold on this pickup. Way easier and better sounding than the K&K pickup. If you're playing rockabilly and looking for a good sound, get this pickup. Definitely worth the price, but follow my installation suggestions.

Defining Success

In a recent post Arnold Kling made the observation regarding how important it is to define success in an appropriate way for your preferences. I've seen this argument here (where there are benefits to having different people define success differently) and here (where the idea is applied to the underclass). Needless to say, I agree with Arnold's observations.

The only way to Carnegie Hall

Practice, practice, practice. We all know its the key to really understanding and being able to make great music with you instrument. Now, the Harvard Business Review has an article about the importance of it: Check out Ericsson et al "The Making of an Expert."

Six Rounds review

I recently received the Six Rounds Rockabilly Recoil and Double Barrel pickups for upright bass. At a recent gig, I broke an old Underwood when I fell off my bass unexpectedly (long story; maybe another post). I was looking for an inexpensive pickup to replace it and came across those made by Six Rounds.

The Recoil has one wing pickup and one fingerboard pickup (similar to the K&K rockabilly system) while the Double Barrel has two wing pickups (much link an Underwood). The Recoil also has a separate volume control for the fingerboard pickup which, unlike the K&K, is passive and doesn't require a battery. I use a separate preamp and really liked this feature.

I got the pickups before the first in what was a long series of gigs. I was short on time and didn't have the option of experimenting with the pickups. Installing the pickups was easy, although the fingerboard pickup on the Recoil is much larger than that of the K&K. As a result, I had a harder time finding a large enough flat spot under the fingerboard where I could install it. I ended up putting it at the top of the fingerboard.

I started with the rockabilly recoil pickup on a Czech plywood bass, but also had another underwood hooked up to do a comparison. While I had briefly tested everything at home before the show (albeit at low volumes) that night the recoil did nothing but feedback. I ended up having to roll off all the bass in order to get anything usable. (I should mention that throughout these gigs I was using a Fishman Preamp, an Acoustic Image Focus and a Bag End cabinet.)

The next day, I decided to run a few experiments. I tried a lot of different EQ tricks but then used something harder (a saw reed) in place of the cork spacers that came with the Six Round pickups. This solved the feedback issues immediately. Its as if the cork absorbs too much vibration from the bass and weakens the signal received by the piezo. As a result, what should have a sharp attack gets muted and those low frequencies are left to bounce around the room. The reed (or anything harder) solved this problem. After some more experimenting, I found that a reed on the bottom and a cork spacer on the top gave me the best sound for the wing pickup.

That night I tried the same set up and the Recoil gave me a more natural sound, rivaling the Underwood. When I slapped, the Recoil was an improvement over the Underwood.

On Sunday I had a gig at an art gallery and used the Double Barrel with one reed and one cork spacer in each wing. It sounded great.

Over the next gigs I compared the Double Barrel to the David Gage Realist on a plywood bass and a carved instrument. These were mainly jazz, swing, and folk gigs so I didn't do a lot of slapping. Across all of these gigs, I needed to modify my tone to fit the genre. Again, using a reed in the wing as a spacer, the Double Barrel gave the Realist a run for its money. The only cases where the Realist and the Underwood were noticeably better were when I mounted the pickups on a carved bass (the Realist captured more of the tonal color of that bass than did the Six Rounds) and when I was bowing.

So, after giving the Six Rounds pickups a workout over two weeks of gigs, I'm impressed with them. For the price I don't think they can't be beat. They sound great and are easy to control in terms of their ability to give you the tonal color you want. I think for regular gigs, this is a great option, particularly the Recoil as you have the extra control with the fingerboard pickup.

Nice tool for research, music, and general computer use

I just came across Evernote. It works like Google Notebook (which I use frequently) but does not require you to be online to use. Rather you can sync your computer with your online store of notes and access everything off-line. I use this not only for my research, but also to save blog comments, lead sheets, etc. Its a great tool.

Bass Buggie review

I recently received a Bass Buggie from KC Strings. I'm impressed: It's easy to attach, easy to remove, and moves great in traffic. The fact that you can strap the buggie to your bass without any modifications (i.e., removing your endpin) is great.

I had two gigs yesterday and needed to walk my for a couple of blocks downtown (in both pedestrian and vehicular traffic). I know I could have done it without the buggie (I have before), but it was so much easier with this little contraption. Plus, it looked way cooler than huffing and puffing with my bass on my back. Moreover, given that I usually carry my bass using the shoulder strap or one of the handles on my gig bag, the buggie may actually extend the life of my gig bag as it won't have the stress on the strap or handles from long walks carrying my bass.

Kudos to KC Strings.

The buggy is priced at $110 or so, which seems comparable to the price of wheels (ranging between $75 and $136 depending on what you're looking for). That said, the practicality of the buggie over a bass wheel make it well worth the price.

PJ Tan Violin Shop, Edmonton AB Canada

In a recent Contrabass Conversations interview, Barrie Kolstein gave some advice on buying a bass. I think the most interesting piece of advice he gave was something along the lines of “If you find a bass that feels right to you, that you can play and feel comfortable with, buy it.” I had received this advice from others, including Ken Smith, Arnold Schnitzer (both via email) and a guitar player I used to play with (over drinks).

So…

On a recent trip to Edmonton, I stopped by P.J. Tan’s Violin Shop. This is a beautiful shop with exquisite violins, cellos and violas. I’m talking about simply amazing instruments. As a bonus, P.J. and Graham are absolutely great. Genuinely good people who are committed to the music and the instruments they support.

I played one of the few basses they had in stock. I loved the neck immediately. It’s a bit shorter scale than I’m used to, but has a nice flat round feel that reminds me of my old King bass and (oddly enough) a Fender jazz bass. The sound is awesome: big and hearty, dark but with a bright finish. (It’s like I’m describing a bad wine.) It felt great and, following the advice above, I bought it. Surely more money than I could afford to spend, but what an instrument. P.J. is doing a few things to it (e.g. repairing a seam and re-shaping the bridge) and delivering it this weekend.

I’ll write more and post some pictures of the bass soon. Right now, I want to give my endorsement right now to P.J. Tan’s Violins. It’s difficult to find a good luthier who you trust. I would make the drive to have P.J. or Graham work on my bass.