issue with barcus berry pickup bridge?

[Martin Byrne]

Which Barcus pickup is it Dave?
I had the system that you clamped onto the bridge and hung its preamp off the tailpiece. I have to say that I was never happy with the sound, from your symptoms, I suspect there is a fault with the Fishman pre.
Pickups on Double Basses are a real case of trial and error. I have a Gauge Realist on my number one Bass, it sounded great so I put one on my number 2 Bass......awful. I replaced it with a Fishman Full circle and thats the pickup that works on that instrument....go figure.