Kick Drum with Bass into Amp

DBCrocky · #1 10-27-2011, 09:48 AM

Ok, I am thinking about the idea of mixing the kick drum in with the bass and putting the mix through the bass amp. I am thinking this would give the bass more punch and help me really tighten up with the drummer. This would only be for practices and small gigs where the drums were not being miked into the PA.

Has anyone done this with successful or unsuccessful results?

Joey3313 · #2 10-27-2011, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DBCrocky

Ok, I am thinking about the idea of mixing the kick drum in with the bass and putting the mix through the bass amp. I am thinking this would give the bass more punch and help me really tighten up with the drummer. This would only be for practices and small gigs where the drums were not being miked into the PA.

Has anyone done this with successful or unsuccessful results?

Not quite like that, but I did know a couple guys who were doing some basement recordings, and thought that mic'ing the bass drum and running it through a bass combo would be a good way to EQ it.

Of course, that lasted all about 8 seconds before the cone ripped in half.

So...yeah.

T-Bird · #3 10-27-2011, 09:54 AM

Hi.

If it's Your bass cab, don't.

If it's someone elses bass cab, ask for their permission first.

The amp will be fine, the cab, not so much.

Plenty of people use bass cabs and amps that are capable of amplifying a BD, but generally we won't do that either.

Invest in PA.

Regards
Sam

john m · #4 10-27-2011, 09:56 AM

With a high quality, solid 18 with a JBL.

Compression was also used.

babebambi · #5 10-27-2011, 01:43 PM

for rehearsal, I feed the BD (with some compression) into the low section of a bi-amp rig
the low goes to my BigBen's

works out pretty well, mind you it wasn't super loud rehearsal

PDGood · #6 10-27-2011, 01:54 PM

I'm no expert, but it seems like the issue would be that whenever the bass and kick are not hitting together the cone would be trying to move two different ways at the same time. People do this in P.A. systems, so I guess it can be done, but I'm not sure that support has the same demands as primary sound. Maybe someone with more knowledge can jump in. I'd exercise caution.

will33 · #7 10-27-2011, 03:32 PM

It won't make the speaker try to move both directions, doesn't work that way. It could be done with a proper cab. Drum mic's and bass DI all into a mixer, out to poweramp, out to good 3way cab with a good woofer in it, just like a mini, mono pa system.

billfitzmaurice · #8 10-27-2011, 03:51 PM

The main point of having your own rig, as opposed to a communal system, is so you can hear you and only you through that particular source. I've tried using my cab as a monitor for other stuff, never cared for it. IMO that's what true monitors are for. I've also tried monitors only, with no dedicated backline, and REALLY hated that. Your own amp for you, monitors for everything else, remains the preferred setup for most of us.

JimmyM · #9 10-27-2011, 10:49 PM

Ya, not a great plan. You don't want anything competing in your amp to be heard over you. Maybe a second little combo would work, though. Or you could go the cheap route and just stand near the guy and play at a volume that allows you to hear what he's doing.

nysbob · #10 10-27-2011, 11:37 PM

I've done it successfully running the kick mic into channel 2 of my SVT through my two JBL 15"s.

The only reason I agreed to do it - it was a pretty small room and I knew I had beaucoups headroom on the bass anyway.

We were stuck with a vocals only PA, and I knew we'd sound better with with a little kick reinforcement....and we did.

I wouldn't try to do it in any situation where I have to crank more serious bass into the room.

SpecialBlender · #11 10-28-2011, 12:14 AM

We play pretty small rooms with PA support only for vocals, fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar and have 2 guitar players with amps. Due to the fact I'm set up a little away from the drummer we mike his kick and line my bass into a small 4 channel mixer on my amp head and I control the mix of the 2 from that. This gives me the opportunity to eq his kick around my bass and works well for us. We're not playing large volume and this way we get a little more kick out front and makes it much easier for me to lock in with him.

It took a while get things set up properly but I can get a pretty solid kick and bass mix without with my speakers farting.

The key is were not pushing a lot of volume so it works for us.

Munjibunga · #12 10-28-2011, 12:20 AM

Get one of these, and put your bass (from DI) in one channel and the kick drum mic in another. Then run the output of the mixer to your amp. That way, you can control the relative volumes of your bass and the kick drum.

anonymous02282011 · #13 10-28-2011, 05:08 AM

I sometimes put a Beyer M88 in the kick drum and run it through the second channel of my old SVT.

I use a home-made high impedance mic cable (XLR for the Beyer, 1/4" for the SVT) so it doesn't really start sounding through the amp until the volume knob is at about noon, which would normally be deafening. A sound-guy friend of mine turned me onto the idea and made the cable for me.

nysbob · #14 10-28-2011, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adbass

I sometimes put a Beyer M88 in the kick drum and run it through the second channel of my old SVT.

I use a home-made high impedance mic cable (XLR for the Beyer, 1/4" for the SVT) so it doesn't really start sounding through the amp until the volume knob is at about noon,

My drummer had an XLR to 1/4" transformer of some kind - it worked, but I didn't need to raise the gain that much. Funny we both did it into old SVTs.