Lyric on acoustic bass guitar

[kimbass]

Hello -- I am interested in having a Lyric installed on an acoustic bass guitar that has the soundhole in the bass side upper bout, rather than below the strings. Can you tell me if this will work, and whether the standard or classical version is recommended? The bass will have flatwound strings, and will be used mostly for solo playing -- I do understand that the Anthem might offer more bass response, but I am not going for lots of low end, and would prefer to avoid an undersaddle pickup.

Thanks

[Caleb_Elling]

Hey kimbass,
That's a really good question. The Lyric does have a very accurate response for an acoustic guitar's low end, but I think that it would be a little too light on the extended low end frequencies to work well on an acoustic bass without feedback. The Anthem would definitely be my recommendation for that kind of instrument, over the Lyric.

I'm not a fan of undersaddle pickups either, but setting the blend towards the mic side on the Anthem gets rid of everything that I don't like about the pickup. The pickup does have some nice kick to it though, especially in the low frequencies. I think that the blend on the Anthem would give you a much more usable sound for your bass.

I hope that helps.

[kimbass]

Thank you for the reply, Caleb. I understand your recommendation, but would just like to confirm: for a situation where the ABG would be used solely in Indian classical music (i.e. raga), where I would want no low end to compete with the tabla ( want to emphasize the upper partials of all strings) and the amplified volume would be low, your advice remains the same?

[Caleb_Elling]

The Lyric (steel string) could potentially work in that kind of situation without any major issues. However, I would anticipate the need for some EQ and maybe even a good Notch filter to get the most balanced tone in a live setting. Since the Lyric hasn't been officially tested on a bass, to my knowledge, I'm very hesitant to say anything for sure.