I turned to The Realist after having used as a beginner the Fhisman BP-100 classic series. The latter gave way to much treble and isn' t handy since it's not permanently fixable to the bass (you can easily loose parts...). I was advised by my bass teacher to The Realist. For me it is a good alround pickup that picks up sufficiently all frequencies in a balanced way, without causing feedback to easily. The sound ofcourse highly depends on your further amplifying equipment as well as the playing environment. Sometimes it really sounds good, sometimes the sound is a pain. You'll never get the sound of a condenser mike, but this pickup does what is has to do: allowing to amplify the double bass. For concerts I use also a condensor mike on the bass, which goes into the PA, while the Realist signal goes to the monitoring, so at least the audience has a really nice sound :-)