Nu Sonic pickups...

fronobulax

fronobulax

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Interesting. I wonder how these compare to the "Pickups: Guild® "Bi-Sonic" Bass" which are supposed to be standard on the Newark Street Starfire Bass.
 
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chefothefuture1

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It looks like you could order the Nu Sonics in a
variety of configurations. Different magnet types etc...
The 5 string version might give a start, but were I
a 5 string player, I might welcome the new choice
in the marketplace.
It will be interesting to see how these compare to the
Newark St pups.

Ahh , the choices....
 
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dlenaghan

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Well.. between the original Bi-sonics, and the Darkstar re-creations, and then the Chi-sonics, and then some of these boutique options (the Nusonics on one hand, Roger Daguet's neo-Darkstar on the other), I really like this resurgence in a wide spectrum passive pickup! I would love to understand the physics of it, but they really seem to be responsive as hell to dynamics in a way I've never been able to coax out of any of my other basses, and I've had Ibanez, G&L, Fender.. I mean, I've never dropped ten grand on a custom Fedora with a Pope pre-amp, but that's just not how I roll.. and from what I hear from gear demos, I'm pretty happy with what I've got. Not that I'll let either of my JS's keep me from reeeeeeeaaally wanting to demo one of these fabled Newark St Starfires.
 
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henry norton

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Thanks for all the comments - good and bad they're all useful. I started developing the NuSonics because Darkstars have been unavailable for a couple of years now and I simply couldn't afford a 'proper' Guild Starfire - my obsession for the past few years - so the only way was to build my own semi hollow short scale bass and the pickups to go with it. It's kind of ironic Guild/Fender have now decided to reissue the Starfire with what looks to be a proper BiSonic type pickup when I'm so close to having them finished but I guess it remains to be seen how close the new version is. The BiSonics have laminated cores along with fairly complex adjustable poles, which may or may not have been duplicated on this new version. I keep a blog along with my website so if anyone's interested in how they're progressing all the information will be there. I hope to have some sound samples up in a week or so.

dlenaghan - the reason the BiSonic and Darkstar have a wide frequency response is because of the laminated core between the magnets and poles, which acts the same way a transformers core works, reducing eddy currents in the pickup. The same cores could probably be put into a J, P or even a humbucking pickup but they generally add to the complexity and as most pickups are pared right to the bone, it's unlikely any mass producer would think it's worthwhile.
 
fronobulax

fronobulax

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henry norton said:
Thanks for all the comments - good and bad they're all useful. I started developing the NuSonics because Darkstars have been unavailable for a couple of years now and I simply couldn't afford a 'proper' Guild Starfire - my obsession for the past few years - so the only way was to build my own semi hollow short scale bass and the pickups to go with it. It's kind of ironic Guild/Fender have now decided to reissue the Starfire with what looks to be a proper BiSonic type pickup when I'm so close to having them finished but I guess it remains to be seen how close the new version is. The BiSonics have laminated cores along with fairly complex adjustable poles, which may or may not have been duplicated on this new version. I keep a blog along with my website so if anyone's interested in how they're progressing all the information will be there. I hope to have some sound samples up in a week or so.

dlenaghan - the reason the BiSonic and Darkstar have a wide frequency response is because of the laminated core between the magnets and poles, which acts the same way a transformers core works, reducing eddy currents in the pickup. The same cores could probably be put into a J, P or even a humbucking pickup but they generally add to the complexity and as most pickups are pared right to the bone, it's unlikely any mass producer would think it's worthwhile.
Click to expand...

Welcome and thanks for joining the discussion.
 
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chefothefuture1

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Glad to see you here!
One thing that Guild might have missed when re-creating the BI-Sonic is in the realm of the Jack and Phil fans.
Jack added magnets to his pups. That mod is what the Dark Star followed.
So, for those wanting that tone, they might not get it from the new Guild pups.
Dark Stars also were made to order, and in a number of different configurations.
I doubt Guild will be dong that.
Who knows, people might even swap out the stock Bi-Sonic for a Nu Sonic....
 
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bassmanpatsfan18

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Very interesting, Henry. I'm digging the blog--seeing the progress of building those pickups is very cool. It looks like the basses are coming along well as well.

I would love to buy a set of your Nu-Sonics for my '69 Starfire (previous owner put in aftermarket pickups) when you finish them.
 
fronobulax

fronobulax

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henry norton said:
fronobulax said:
Welcome and thanks for joining the discussion.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I didn't realise so many other players were into Guild basses. I'm looking forward to having a proper trawl around the forum :)
Click to expand...

Interesting blog.

LTGer mgod is a friend of Fred Hammon's and (if I remember the story correctly) has an M-85 II with the very first Dark Stars ever made.

Piecing together various stories I think Fred just became overwhelmed by the demand for Dark Stars. Piecing together various rumors, Fred sporadically has engaged in talks with other people and companies about resuming Dark Star production but nothing concrete has emerged.

Again, thanks for joining. Eventually I'm sure we will veer to discussing your instruments :wink:

Folks who have played both tell me they can hear a difference between a Bisonic and a Dark Star but I have never heard anyone say the Dark Star nails Casady's late '60's tone any better than a Bisonic. Of course, Jack's tone depends upon his fingers and his brain far more than his equipment. And lots of folks who are making judgements today have hearing loss from playing or listening to loud Rock and Roll in their youth.

Curiously in the quest for Bisonic inspired tone, almost everyone cites recordings of Jack Casady but almost never Phil Lesh.
 
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henry norton

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Thanks again for the comments. I'm glad to be amongst like minded playres.
I certainly believe there's plenty of leeway with these pickups to tailor the sound to a specific taste or need. I'm making my first semi solid just for me to use and am thinking of including an ACG filter preamp and maybe some other feature to make it into a bit of a Jack bass. I have an EB as well, so I could turn that into a Phil Lesh EB too!
 
fronobulax

fronobulax

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henry norton said:
Thanks again for the comments. I'm glad to be amongst like minded playres.
I certainly believe there's plenty of leeway with these pickups to tailor the sound to a specific taste or need. I'm making my first semi solid just for me to use and am thinking of including an ACG filter preamp and maybe some other feature to make it into a bit of a Jack bass. I have an EB as well, so I could turn that into a Phil Lesh EB too!
Click to expand...

If I remember the story right, Jack was on a European tour and wanted what was basically a "throw away" bass for the tour. He bought a new Epiphone EB-0, swapped in a Dark Star and toured. He was supposedly very pleased.
 
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chefothefuture1

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fronobulax said:
Folks who have played both tell me they can hear a difference between a Bisonic and a Dark Star but I have never heard anyone say the Dark Star nails Casady's late '60's tone any better than a Bisonic. Of course, Jack's tone depends upon his fingers and his brain far more than his equipment. And lots of folks who are making judgements today have hearing loss from playing or listening to loud Rock and Roll in their youth.

Curiously in the quest for Bisonic inspired tone, almost everyone cites recordings of Jack Casady but almost never Phil Lesh.
Click to expand...

True that it's the player more than the gear that makes the tone. Though, IIRC, it was stated on the Dark Star website that the additional magnet was to follow Jack's mod. I do find the DS's seem a little thicker sounding than the Bisonic (I'm not going to abbreviate that one LOL!)....

Well, personally since I listen to more Airplane than the Dead (almost not at all) I can only cite Jack's tone as that's what I'm familiar with....
 
mellowgerman

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I've found that a lot of people refer to phil lesh over on talkbass... but it seems like the ones serious enough to drop the cash on a DS'd or Bisonic'd bass are jack fans... maybe I'm just biased 8)
 
mgod

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henry norton said:
Thanks again for the comments. I'm glad to be amongst like minded playres.
I certainly believe there's plenty of leeway with these pickups to tailor the sound to a specific taste or need. I'm making my first semi solid just for me to use and am thinking of including an ACG filter preamp and maybe some other feature to make it into a bit of a Jack bass. I have an EB as well, so I could turn that into a Phil Lesh EB too!
Click to expand...
I wouldn't recommend adding an active filter in the quest for Jack tone.
 
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chefothefuture1

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mgod said:
I wouldn't recommend adding an active filter in the quest for Jack tone.
Click to expand...

What would you recommend?
Yeah, I know it's the player not the gear(for the most part)... LOL!
 
mgod

mgod

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Practice practice practice.

And play with impedance.
 
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chefothefuture1

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mgod said:
Practice practice practice.

And play with impedance.
Click to expand...


Well yes, but the more I practice, the more I sound like me..... :lol: :lol: :lol:
Go low Z?
Hmm, never drank from that fountain....
 
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henry norton

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mgod said:
I wouldn't recommend adding an active filter in the quest for Jack tone.
Click to expand...

Ah no! I want a semi hollow bass with two Bisonics and lots of knobs :lol: I'm very much a believer in the sound being more to do with the player than with the equipment. I'm hoping a decent preamp will boost the signal of relatively low z pickups and filter based tone controls will give me more opportunity to shape the (hopefully) wider frequency response.
 
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