Helipea bassklarnetile / Pickup installed for bass clarinet

Alates eelmise aasta maist olin kasutanud ühte üsna odavat Shadow pieso-elementi oma bassklarneti võimendamiseks. Kuigi tulemus võimaldas eksperimenteerida elektroonikaga (eriti põnevaid tulemusi saavutasin pilli protsesseerimisega läbi süntesaatori), jäi üldine heli ise suht tuhmiks ja liiga saksofonlikuks. Teine probleem oli kontserdil trosti külge kleebitava pieso äravajumine.

Lahendasin probleemi sedasi, et võtsin Pasoana helipea, mida seni üsna edukalt sopranklarneti peal kasutatud. Siis soetasin teise bassklarneti (ei tahtnud originaaliga riskima hakata) huuliku, millesse auk puurida. Vaja läks drilliotsa paksusega 5.5mm. Puurisin augu läbi huuliku, mis oli fenoolvaigust plastmassist valmistatud. Kruvisin siis Pasoana külge. Proovisin siis arvutisse natuke salvestada pilli ja tundub, et võtab pilli sama hästi üles, kui sopranklarneti.

Helipea huuliku küljes / Pickup attached to the mouthpiece

Since last May I had used a Shadow piezo pickup to amplify my bass clarinet. Even though it enabled me to experiment with electronics (particularly fruitful were the attempts to process it through an analogue synthesiser), the basic sound itself was a bit dull in terms of frequencies as well as a bit too saxophone-ish for my liking. Plus the piezo element (glued to the reed) had a tendency to loosen off the reed at concerts.

I solved the problem by deciding to attach my trusty Pasoana clarinet pickup (so far used on my b-flat clarinet) to the instrument. To this end I first purchased a second mouthpiece (so that I would not ruin the original in case the experiment backfired) for the instrument. Then I borrowed a drill with a 5.5mm drill bit. I drilled the hole into the mouthpiece made of phenol resin (a hard plastic). I screwed the Pasoana into the new hole. Finally I made an attempt to record some of my playing and I managed to get a good sound out of it. Pasoana works just as alright for the bass clarinet as it does for my b-flat clarinet, amplifying from the mouthpiece fairly good.

Salvestamas elektriklarnetit / Recording the electric clarinet