Newly developed:

Swiss Made pickups and onboard electronics.
For basses, made exclusively for Duvoisin ®
By the Haute Ecole ARC Ingénierie.

Information about the new pickups from Duvoisin & Co, Swiss Made guitars

From now on, new basses coming out of our workshop, which specializes top-of-the-range guitars and basses, can be fitted with our new pickups and their associated electronics, developed with an eye to the future.

WHAT’S NEW ?

Keen to keep their promise to keep everything nearly 100% Swiss Made, while developing new methods, we have produced a new combination of pickups and onboard pre-amplifiers. In this work we have been lucky to enjoy the collaboration of the la Haute Ecole ARC Ingénierie.

The race for higher voltages for bass pre-amplifiers is, in our opinion, nonsense. Such high voltages (sometimes 27 volts!) often imply a gain adjusted close to zero! The amplifiers were not designed to work in this area. Le choices made with the Haute Ecole Arc to use a power supply of 3 volts, coupled with the latest and most advanced technology, allows us to adjust the gain to its optimal setting (midway) all whilst guaranteeing optimal sound quality.

Many bass players seek “transparency” in their instruments and turn to passive basses. Our solution offers the desired transparency by favouring sound produced by the selected wood. The chosen approach goes against current fashion by keeping to 3 volts and relying on the latest technological advances all whilst offering an extremely powerful range of settings. Our pickups are truly innovating and after a short period of adaptation, you will be able to get the best out of your instrument.

These were the goals we set ourselves:

1. To produce a top-of-the-range product with outstanding performing qualities.
2. On top of the usual buttons for bass and treble, to add two buttons for the mid-range – one to choose the frequency range, the other to adjust the volume of the range chosen.
3. To try to include an automatic check of the state of battery when the jack is plugged in, with automatic disconnection in the event of the jack’s being left in the instrument.
4. To achieve a bandwidth above that currently available, in line with those of the best amplifiers on the market.
5. To reckon on a life-expectancy of the battery in line with the best of our competitors.
6. To manufacture a product as insensitive as possible to herzian pollution and other sources of interference often found at gigs.
7. To keep our price below that of the best pickups available.

This was setting the bar very high, but the nature of the challenge appealed to the directors of The Haute Ecole Arc Ingénierie, and especially to Mr Gérald Huguenin and his students.

Here is a link to the Haute Ecole Arc Ingénierie website about the project.

We supplied Mr Huguenin with the specifications of what we needed, while we went ahead making the instruments into which the prototypes would be placed. 
At the same time, we arranged tests under practical conditions, with professional bassists (Pascal Kaeser, Olivier Nussbaum, Chuck Rainey).
Mr Gérald Huguenin was responsible for the technical development of these ideas and of the circuit, proposing strikingly original and ground-breaking solutions to the problems faced. He also manufactured the pickups.

After more than a year of development work, tests and adaptations of the goals, we can now present our clients with a truly excellent product, in the forefront of modern technology. The best magnetic and electronic materials, resulting from developments in clock-making microelectronics, have been used for the development and production of this system.
All objectives have been met, and even, in some cases, exceeded.

For those with specialist interests: the second point, about adding greater control of the mid-range, has meant our taking into account the unanimous specialist advice of the professional bassists testing for us. At first, a button for the mid-range which was reckoned to provide a control of frequencies (from 250 to 800Hz), with a second button which raised or lowered the gain on the mid-range section chosen. The bassists agreed that reducing the mid-range had the effect of killing the bass. We therefore decided to modify that goal in providing a more simple boost to the mid-range if desired. The result was an instant improvement.
Of course the bassist retains the ability to increase and decrease both the bass (+/- 20dB) and the treble (+/- 15dB).

The bandwidth extends from 10Hz to 12kHz. You need to remember that most bass amplification has a passband of between 3 and 6 kHz.
Tests have been made up to 20kHz ! The harmonics produced by basses are audible up to around 12 kHz.
Only very sensitive ears are capable of detecting these harmonics. On the other hand the difference between 6 and 12 kHz is very noticeable; that is the consideration which informed our final choice. Good amplifiers allow up to 20 kHz of passband.
To put it in non-technical terms, a Duvoisin bass will sound to you more real, more defined, purer and more crystalline.
According to an expert in acoustics, the difference is similar to the difference between listening to a number on a mini-cassette and then on a CD player. The difference is particularly marked in slap.

We are happy to announce that Pascal Kaeser and Oliver Nussbaum will soon be giving demonstrations of this new equipment at St-Blaise. To be informed of the dates, which aren’t yet fixed, keep an eye on the news section of the site, or sign on the mailing list:
http://www.duvoisinguitars.com/list_inscription.htm

The first 6-string bass with this new equipment can be seen on the site. It was played in February 2009, by the Swiss bassist, Olivier Nussbaum, playing with the ensemble Grand Reportage at the Havana Jazz Festival. 

The controls are as follows:

1 volume button
1 balance button with centre point
1 mid-range button
1 button to choose mid-range frequencies (clockwise to increase the bass effect)
1 double button with centre points for bass and treble.

Because of the originality and technical advances built into our new equipment, it cannot be linked to equipment from other manufacturers generally available. The sound-palate is so extensive that even the most demanding of bassists will find it well exceeds their needs.

For electronics buffs, here are the technical specifications of these pickups and their associated electronics:

• Power supply: 3V (2 X AA) with an automatic check of the state of battery when the jack is plugged in (LED)
• Automatic sleep mode after 3 hours.
• Battery life: about a year, counting 2 hours a day playing time.
• Reserve battery life after warning by LED: at least a week, at 2 hours a day playing time.
• Output Impedance: < 10 kΩ
• Bandwidth : 10 Hz to 12 kHz

Bass-treble control:
Bass:      Boost   +17dB (+14dB à 50Hz)
                Cut        -17dB (-14dB à 50Hz)
Treble :   Boost   +12dB (+9dB à 640Hz)
                Cut        -12dB (-9dB à 640Hz)

• Parametric Mid-range control:
  Frequency control: 250 à 830Hz
  Boost:          +20dB à 250Hz (+17dB à 120 Hz et 550Hz)
                       +16dB à 830Hz (+13dB à 550Hz et 1.2kHz)

For details of the Haute Ecole Arc Ingénierie: gerald.huguenin@he-arc.ch
For details of Duvoisin & Co: info@duvoisinguitars.com

As seen on TV Swiss Romande 2009