Realist LifeLine Upright Bass Pickup

Gollihur Music has your back -- This pickup Includes FREE Jack Mount Kit -- See below for details.

From David Gage, the ones who brought you the Realist and Realist SoundClip pickups - the LifeLine.

It uses a simple, but clever design; the element of the pickup wedges between the adjuster and wood of your adjustable bass bridge. (Its two "fingers" straddle the post of the adjuster.) While its use is therefore limited to basses with an adjustable bridge, it does NOT require you to swap those bridge adjusters out for a replacement set. So, whether you have fancy hardwood, aluminum, or delrin adjusters, it doesn't matter -- you can use this pickup without any changes.

It pops in and out relatively easy, and does not require professional installation -- simply loosen the E and A and pull them off the bridge out of the way, detune the D and G, and create a little separation between the bridge wood and adjuster (on the non-threaded side.) Slip the pickup between the adjuster and bridge, restring and tune back up. Done!

The pickup is only about 1/16th of an inch thick, so it makes only a very slight potential difference in the setup; and of course, you can just back the adjuster down about 1/4 turn or so to compensate. Most people don't even bother, I'd bet.

What does it sound like? Good question! As we anticipated, it has some similarities in tone to other pickups placed about midpoint on the bridge, due to its similar position on the bass, but with a more "open" sounding midrange that enhances realism to my ears - though many of those other pickups have a more "direct" sounding midrange, which can enhance clarity in a dense mix of players.

On my personal bass, it had a nicely defined tone without a lot of top-end clack, somewhat like the Full Circle - but I could still hear the distinct "ping" playing pizz on my Pirastro Evah Pirazzi strings. Arco was full and well-balanced, with really nice warmth on all strings. And digging in, the more aggressive bow tones came through the amp well.

The pickup has quite a bit of low end firmness, not entirely unlike the dominant character you'd usually get from the original under-foot Realist pickup. In fact, it might have too much bottom end for some players; Christopher found it a bit too "wooly" on the bottom end for his taste. After he plugged in his Radial PZ-Deluxe preamp and flipped on the high-pass filter, he found the results much more to his liking. We both agreed that - especially using a filter like this to cut out some of the very low boom - the pickup would probably cut quite nicely in the mix of a dense band setting. It seemed pretty good about not feeding back too easily, too.

Threads up vs. Threads down? At our shop, we tested the pickup on two different basses; Mark's personal carved bass, which has our popular adjustable bridge on it (aluminum adjusters, threads up), and our shop Estle Louis laminated bass, which has a similar quality adjustable bridge with threads down. Why does it matter? the pickup goes in-between the adjuster and the wood on the unthreaded side. So on Mark's bass, the pickup is against the feet side of the bridge, UNDER the adjuster. On the Estle Louis bass, it's on the TOP side of the adjuster, against the upper portion of the bridge.

On those two basses, it definitely sounded better on Mark's carved bass -- but before we jump to unjust conclusions, clearly, there are many other differences (strings, setup, carved/laminate, etc.) -- and this is a very small sample size (two basses)! In fact, now that the pickup has been out for a while, it's become apparent that it may be more of an individual bass thing -- plenty of people have installed them on threads-down basses and been very happy with the results. Though it does seem that the threads-up basses give more of that deep response like the original copperhead Realist, while the threads-down orientation favors a bit more midrange response. But again - your bass is a different animal altogether, so your mileage may vary. But reports are very good, and I almost never have to take returns under our 7-day audition period (see below) on this pickup. But we offer the trial period anyway, because we don't want you to be "stuck" with it -- so no worries!

IMPORTANT:

The LifeLine pickup comes in a standard size and a newer "Large" size; the standard size is generally preferable unless your adjusters have posts that are larger than 1/4" in diameter. So the standard size is confirmed to work with adjusters made with 1/4" or 6mm posts. It should also fit most 5/16" posts.*

For Kolstein Deluxe bridges (with hardwood adjusters), and others like it -- with posts up to 3/8" (9.5mm) -- choose the LARGER size.

PLEASE be aware of this size distinction before making your purchase. 1/4" posts are the most common size, in our experience, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to measure. If you get the wrong size, we do accept the LifeLine back for return within 7 days (see below), but you'll be responsible for all shipping costs -- and a small credit card recapture cost if we refund your order -- so it's worth the trouble to double-check.

To clarify, the larger sized model is specially manufactured by David Gage's shop specifically for larger post adjusters - it is not a "standard" pickup modified (by us or anyone else). And it doesn't benefit you to just get the larger size - you want the pickup to fit more closely, so that it won't "wander" in place.

* We did put the 1/4" model on our Estle Louis shop bass, which has a 5/16" adjuster - but since the opening that you slide the un-threaded side of the adjuster through is 5/16", it may be a tight squeeze to put on, initially. But once the adjuster is straddling the post, it should be fine, as the opening widens.

An Important Note About "Tapered" Adjusters

Some luthiers, when installing adjusters into a bridge, will "round off" the wood that contacts the adjuster, to limit the amount of contact and thereby make it easier to turn the adjuster wheel, since less contact = less friction. Likewise, I've seen some adjuster wheels that are slightly "conical" to do essentially the same thing.

If your bridge and/or adjuster is shaped this way, I strongly discourage you from choosing this pickup.

Why? The wide, flat surface of the Lifeline is designed to maximize contact with the wood and adjuster for the best possible transmission of sound from the bridge to the pickup. The much smaller contact patch will likely compromise the sound quality - but more importantly, probably damage the pickup in fairly short order. So take a look at your bridge before you order the Lifeline!

Features

• move your Realist LifeLine from one instrument to another instrument
• bring your LifeLine for use on rental instruments while on the road
• remove the pickup from your bass when not playing amplified
• No Bass Modification Necessary since the LifeLine simply fits into an adjustable bridge... there is no filing, cutting, or custom fitting. Just loosen the strings and slip between the bridge and adjuster wheel.

Gollihur EXCLUSIVE! Includes FREE Jack Mount Kit

What's that? David Gage specifies in the instructions that you are to mount the jack to the tailpiece using the included plastic loop. The way that's done is, you remove the E string, feed it through the hole, and reinstall.

We think that's a pain. And it's not good for your strings to remove and reinstall them unnecessarily.

So we've devised a better way. We include, at no additional charge, some low-key plastic hardware that allows you to mount the jack -- in the same place on the tailpiece -- without removing the string. This could also come in really handy if you have to remove/reinstall the pickup frequently.

Just another one of those situations where we're looking out for you! One set is ncluded at no extra charge.

We've also added the ability to get an EXTRA set of the hardware, in case you want to have an extra secure mounting for the jack; some customers have asked for it, so you can get a second bolt, washer and nut (to go with the extra loop provided by David Gage) to have two mounting points for your pickup - choose this option, above, and it only adds $1 to the cost (We charge $2 for a mounting kit, normally).