David Gage The Realist Bass Copperhead

248 Customer ratings

4.5 / 5

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157 Reviews

David Gage The Realist Bass Copperhead
2.533 kr
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J
Come hither my redheaded lovely....
JDstrings 15.05.2013
It's a classic.
An immediately usable sound on all the many basses I've tried it on. It's not exactly the just the acoustic sound but louder -it seems to pick up very little high end -but it does work really well.
At low level I've often had people think I was playing acoustically, At higher volumes (or through a big PA system) it doesn't sound as convincingly acoustic (what pickup does though?) but it does provide a usable sound and is resistant to feedback and easy to control. I have colleagues who like to use it in conjunction with a mic and blender for a 'best of both worlds' solution with very good results. (I just can't face all the extra leads/preamp/wire/transformers etc. etc. oh, and having more to carry!)
Not cheap, but then as it should last years also not expensive! Over the years the design has been modified and improved to make the pickup longer lasting and more robust. On the couple of occasions that I've dealt with David Gage they have been most helpful and courteous.
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RG
David Gage Realist Copperhead
Roger Gardiner 27.04.2020
I bought this pickup for my second double bass. I chose it as I was impressed that it did not require a pre-amp. My other bass has a Fishmann P/up, which sounds very thin without the pre-amp. I put this on my bass which is set up for bowing and classical rather than jazz. I have to say that this pickup far exceeds what I was expecting in terms of tone. Beautifully transparent, it make syour bass just sound like a louder version of it's accoustic tone. I usually use an old SWR Baby Baby Blue combo for regular gigs, or a Markbass rig for bigger gigs and I can play at comparitively high on stage volume with no feedback. The only con? Quite difficult to fit... but that could be me. Also, you have to make sure the lead is properly fixed in, but other than that, this is excellent in every way. Highly recommended,
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OM
Good but it has it's sound and you may not like it
Owen M. 06.06.2014
All in all this is the best pickup I've owned (and I've owned a lot). On my bass it's slower to feedback, can get a great bouncy feeling low end elegantly stays out of the way. If you want a smooth high end definition then thats tough, it doesn't have a lot of cut and trying to get it with EQ on a bass amp reveals some wonky resonances (even with the radial piezo pre). DI'd on a recording it's ok, smooth and good lows and low mids but the subs are not too present and theres not much hope of eq-ing in higher midrange if you are after an NHOP style tone. I like how you can be sure there is the correct pressure (something that is left to chance when you use a bridge wing style pickup) but it needs a luthier to fit properly and your bridge will have to be permanently altered. It alters the acoustic sound a little but not enough that it causes trouble for orchestral stuff if that is not your main thing, and when the bass is just walking or holding down the low end at a gig it fits into a mix nicely. Long term I'll probably get a new bridge and a Wilson or Full Circle but I'm certainly getting less hassle from this compared to other pickups in the meantime.
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DB
Realist pickup - suits my needs well enough
David B. 812 16.05.2013
Being quite new to the double bass I don't have much experience of other pickups or amplification alternatives but this pickup works well enough for a gig. I have tried recording with it but it doesn't sound that good, not like a decent mic anyway. If money were no object I would probably try a decent quality clip on mic but this will do be for the time being.
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d
The one and only Dave Gage.
donniejoemusic 14.03.2019
I've been using this for double bass since I was in University.
To my ear there is no better pickup for your double bass going into an amp on a gig.
Great, warm natural sound.
To me it's the standard and the first thing I buy for any new double bass I acquire.

Pros
Good quality
Great sound

Cons
NONE
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A
Great!
Anonymous 24.11.2016
This bass pickup has a very gentle sound. It has very little of that annoying high frequency fretboard fizz that you usually get with piezzo pickups. But it removes that without removing that lovely, woody midrange buzz that's so characteristic of double basses.

It's very well built and it has a very simple and clever way to attach the plug connector to the tailpiece. The cable is very soft and comes with two included black rubberbands to coil up slack.

It was abit of a project to install it, since you have to slack all the strings. And even remove the G string alltogether to fit the plug connector, the string goes through a kind of a loop on the backside of the tailpiece. The pickup also raises one of the bridge feet about 1mm. This changes the angle against the body, and at least in my case, the bridge needs to be trimmed. This is probably best done sanding by putting something of similar thickness to the pickup under a sanding paper on the bass.

It's very importat that there are no gaps between the pickup and the bridge/body, your bass wont sound as good and you'll risk getting some very protruding buzz..

But yeah, a very good buy!
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A
Quite good but...
Anonymous 28.09.2016
They do the job, excellent for small gigs or places where you need to be heard. And just that. You loose a lot of acoustic sound of the instrument, and no speaking of recoriding with em, the line sound is very bad compared to the real acoustic of the instrument. Yet gets you out of trouble for a small price if you gig weekly in your local pub/venue. Totally recomend them for that kind of jobs.
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g
Excellent performance overall quality..!!
geotsi 10.10.2022
The only thing it cannot offer is the best possible quality for the bow also…Nevertheless even with this it is way above decent.!!
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d
Perfect
dermy 22.08.2018
Can't fault his pickup, used it on many bases as I tour without my own, each time it performs flawlessly.
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H
Does the job without any fuss
HarperJ 07.08.2022
My luthier being unwell, I had limited options to fit a pickup on my double bass. I ordered the copperhead and fitted it myself without any problems. The manual clearly says that no pre-amp is required, but I would disagree. Connecting the pickup directly to my IEM amplifier, or direct to my amp gives a signal that is quite thin with a lot of treble. Connecting it via something to buffer, even just my TU3 tuner pedal gives a 'fuller' sound. With this addition though I find the copperhead very good. I play bluegrass on Innovation synthetic strings and it gives a good solid sound.
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David Gage The Realist Bass Copperhead