fishman pro platinum bass

**bass dan** · #1 01-30-2009, 11:22 AM

i have been considering getting the fishman pro platinum bass pre/di, but wanted to hear if the way i plan on using it will work well. i have a AI contra combo amp that i plug a rev solo II pickup into then run the direct from the combo to a mixer for foh sound. this works really well and am really happy with the results.

i have done a search and it seems most folks are using the fishman to run to their bass amp. i dont need it for this because the contra is fine on its own. i was wondering if i would get good results running the fishman straight to the mixer via the xlr out? if it works well like this it would give me the option of just bringing the fishman to gigs were i dont need the contra as a monitor. i play with minimal stage volume, so the contra usually does not get up past 9:00 or 10:00 on the gain anyhow.

i basically am using the pa system for foh volume and run some bass in the onstage monitor for the rest of the band and have my contra behind me. the contra is compact and light enough its not a big deal to bring it to gigs, but the thought of just bringing the fishman to gigs and getting similar results is very appealing. anyone doing this with good results?

adbass · #2 01-30-2009, 11:53 AM

That's what it's designed for; I did this a couple times with very good results.

My initial inclination was to use the proplat as a pre amp in conjunction with a power amp. While that experiment didn't really work out, the handful of times I used it to run directly to the house to forego lugging an amp to the gig it worked great.

Take your time to experiment with the eq settings on the device though, b/c you can get drastically different sounds from that box.

**bass dan** · #3 01-30-2009, 12:22 PM

cool. i thought that is was designed for this application, but upon a search it seemed like more folks were running them to their bass rigs rather than straight to the pa. thanks.

adbass · #4 01-30-2009, 12:29 PM

well, it's good for that too. You can really refine your sound beyond what most bass amp eqs offer.

but it really is best served when using it with a PA.

Hopefully some other folks will chime in with their experience

SteveC · #5 01-30-2009, 01:36 PM

I think it's a great little preamp/DI. It has a lot of nice features that work pretty well - compressor, nice EQ, depth/feedback controls, tuner out, pre/post DI. Not bad.

Gearhead43 · #6 01-30-2009, 03:24 PM

+1

Great preamp / EQ / DI with very nice feedback fighting features.

If you wanted to run a power amp using the Pro Platinum, just run the preamp into an Art Tube MP, then into the power amp. The Art MP has a ton of gain, more than enough to run a power amp.

I did this while waiting on my Sansamp Para Driver to arrive, and honestly the Pro Platinum sounded great right into my power amp, boosted by the Art.

adbass · #7 01-30-2009, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gearhead43

+1

Great preamp / EQ / DI with very nice feedback fighting features.

If you wanted to run a power amp using the Pro Platinum, just run the preamp into an Art Tube MP, then into the power amp. The Art MP has a ton of gain, more than enough to run a power amp.

I did this while waiting on my Sansamp Para Driver to arrive, and honestly the Pro Platinum sounded great right into my power amp, boosted by the Art.

Huh. Go Figure.

I could never get enough gain out of the fishman with my power amp, but the thought of carrying three boxes . . . . . well, let's just say the AI Focus is serving me well.

DownLow · #8 01-30-2009, 03:31 PM

I often use the Fishman Platinum Pro Bass direct into the PA. If you use the XLR out it runs on the PA's phantom power and you don't have to worry about batteries.

I use it for both my acoustic upright (with a K&K Bassmax pickup) and my NS EUB. The settings I have to use are completely different but the unit is very flexible.

I have had very good results with a number of different amps and different PA's.

I'm really happy with it. I tried units from Sans Amp and LR Baggs before I settled on this one.

**bass dan** · #9 01-31-2009, 07:48 AM

i think i will give it a shot. i will be putting it into a peavey xr8600 powered mixer run to a pair of jbl mrx515's most the time. then at clubs with pa provided i can just plug and play. really love the contra, i may miss that thump right behind me, but the fishman is inexpensive enough to give it a try.

wow i'm really getting lazy, i dont even want to carry a 30 pound amp to gigs anymore! pretty lame i know. the reality is i am really only using the preamp and di from the contra, i'm not trying to get alot of volume out of the amp anyway. so its kinda like carrying a 30 pound pre/di.

thanks for the responses. like anything else, you dont know till you try. i may be wrong but it seems like i am in the minority wanting to play straight into pa without a bass rig. i guess it really depends on your gigging needs. i think for my situation, which is a acoustic string band, this will work. sometimes i feel like i may be making a mistake because it seems so few play without a bass rig.

**bass dan** · #10 02-13-2009, 07:28 PM

got the fishman about a week ago. sounds really good at the house. have not had a chance to use it on a gig yet, but wendsday i'll have a chance. i'll probably bring my contra just in case, since i know how to coax a good sound out of that.

interestingly enough i really like this pre amp for slab. it is a very versitile box with great eq. i like a clean bass sound even on eb and this gives me that. i have a sans amp bddi that i usually play eb with, but i like the fishman better (at least this week). surprised that more eb players dont use this pre.

akmusicfreak · #11 02-15-2009, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bass dan

got the fishman about a week ago. sounds really good at the house. have not had a chance to use it on a gig yet, but wendsday i'll have a chance. i'll probably bring my contra just in case, since i know how to coax a good sound out of that.

interestingly enough i really like this pre amp for slab. it is a very versitile box with great eq. i like a clean bass sound even on eb and this gives me that. i have a sans amp bddi that i usually play eb with, but i like the fishman better (at least this week). surprised that more eb players dont use this pre.

I use it on my slab, and I love it. It really warms it up a bunch.
I use the Fishman on my Ergo EUB, and my Czech DB as well. It is a great little tool to have if you are a bass player.

**bass dan** · #12 02-18-2009, 11:24 PM

got a chance to use this on my gig tonight. this thing is really fantasic. i brought my contra just in case the pro platinum didnt work out, but never turned the amp on. the contra has a really hot di and usually i cant get the gain on the pa up over about 10o'clock before it gets to be to much. the fishman straight into the pa was really great, i did have the input gain at about 3 o'clock and the volume on the pre at about 2' oclock, so it was pretty close to maxed out and my volume on the pa head was at 12'oclock. this was plenty loud for what we were doing, the bass fit right into the mix really well. about the only concern i had was after the gig i found myself wondering if there is enough volume using the pre straight into the pa. this gig it was just perfect for, but if i need it to be louder i'm not sure i can get much more volume out of this set up.

i guess if need be i could always run the fishman into the effects return of my contra and run a line to the pa. like i said earlier the di fom the contra is ultra hot, cant image needing more volume than i can get out of the di from the contra.

anyhow the experiment went extremely well. the fishman straight into the pa head was great, really warm, phat sound that i was after. the contra is a graet amp and maybe i just need to learn to eq it better. i usually run it flat on the eq. the fishman i ran with the eq setting they had in the manual for their "fishman peizo" setting. it didnt hurt that we played though some jbl mrx 515's, really nice sounding pa speakers.

akmusicfreak · #13 02-19-2009, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bass dan

i did have the input gain at about 3 o'clock and the volume on the pre at about 2' oclock, so it was pretty close to maxed out and my volume on the pa head was at 12'oclock. this was plenty loud for what we were doing, the bass fit right into the mix really well. about the only concern i had was after the gig i found myself wondering if there is enough volume using the pre straight into the pa. this gig it was just perfect for, but if i need it to be louder i'm not sure i can get much more volume out of this set up.

Most PA's have a trim/gain knob and a volume knob/fader.
The trim/gain pot is first in the signal path on the channel strip, this functions to adjust the signal going into the channel so it is not to "hot" or to weak, so you can tweak the level of the signal before it goes through the channel's EQ and auxes and finaly the channels volume fader/pot.

The signal put out by the fishman should be more than adequate to go straight to PA, a lot of dynamic microphones have a lot less output than a preamp or DI and they work fine being plugged into a mixing board.

You might need to turn up the trim (#5 in attached picture) on the input channel a little bit more if you run out of headroom on the volume knob/fader (#14 in attached picture).

Now if your mixing board doesn't have trim settings and only a volume knob it's probably time for you and your bandmates to chip in some cash for a new board.

Good luck.

**bass dan** · #14 02-19-2009, 08:08 AM

we are using a peavey xr8600 powered mixer that does not have a volume fader. the gain pot is also the volume on each channel. maybe i need to look at the pa head closer and see if im missing something. we had lots of room on the main output volume, we were only running that at about 9 o'clock so i guess if we can get a good mix between the channels there is plenty of space for more volume overall.

being this was the first time using this pre at a gig i was curious if it was normal to have the input gain and volume at such high levels? with the input gain at 3 o'clock i was getting the clip light to just flash when i would play a open e hard, so i know i wasnt clipping the pre with the gain up that high. i am using a rev. 2 pickup.

bolo · #15 02-19-2009, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bass dan

the contra has a really hot di ...

You might already know this, and I am not sure what series Contra you have, but ... On my Series III Focus, if the Post EQ button is pushed in, then the (input) Level knob will effect the level of the signal coming out the DI. You can use this to tame the DI if is is too hot. If the Post EQ button is not pushed in, then yeah the DI signal is pretty hot.

**bass dan** · #16 02-19-2009, 09:20 AM

i have the series 2 contra. i just looked at it and it does not have a pre/post eq option. the di signal does not seem to be effected by the input gain. i could be wrong about the input level effecting the di level. i usually ran the amp at about 9'oclock or 10 o'clock on the input and at 1 o'clock on the master. maybe the master has some effect on the di level? i was really surprised of the difference in signal between the contra di and the fishman. i know on some preamp/di boxes the directions sometimes recommends running the volume at max on the pedal. i know this was the case with a sadowsky pre/di i had. maybe if i jack the volume to max on the fishman i could turn down my gain on the mixer?

the important thing is that it worked beutifully and was really happy with the tone.

bolo · #17 02-19-2009, 10:02 AM

Weird. The Series II manual does say "in the Coda combos" (?) the DI is affected by the Input knob. Not sure what's happenin' then with the Contras and the SII heads.

But as you said, good tone is good tone. And reliable. Never had a single problem with my assorted AI gear, going back 10 years now.

burnunit · #18 02-19-2009, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bass dan

i have the series 2 contra. i just looked at it and it does not have a pre/post eq option. the di signal does not seem to be effected by the input gain. i could be wrong about the input level effecting the di level. i usually ran the amp at about 9'oclock or 10 o'clock on the input and at 1 o'clock on the master. maybe the master has some effect on the di level?

I also use a Series II Contra. The Input Gain does indeed control the DI level and the Master has no effect on it at all. I usually have my Gain set to about 10:00 and the Master at noon. That gives me plenty of stage volume and I can stay out of the monitors. Glad that Pro is working out for you - It would be nice to leave my amp at home and use a direct box, but I couldn't live without the Contra filters.

**bass dan** · #19 02-19-2009, 10:49 AM

burnunit do you have a really hot di with your input at 9 or 10 o'clock? i guess the reson i didnt think the di level was controlled by the input gain is because i dont have the input gain very loud at all and the di level is super hot. this is based on me usually having my gain on the pa head at only about 8 or 9 0'clock as opposed to the fishman box that had my input gain on the pa head at 12 o'clock for roughly the same volume. using the pad on my channel i could turn the input gain about 12 or 1 o'clock for roughly the same volume as unpadded at 8 or 9 o'clock. the bass seemed to loose its "soft" feeling with the gain on the pa head much over the 9' oclock setting, started to sound kinda harsh, this may be a eq problem rather than a volume issue.

i too was affraid i would miss the high pass filter on my contra and the thump on stage. i think the depth control on the fishman is a low cut filter that seemed to be as effective as the high pass filter on the contra. i,m not sure about the compression knob on the fishman. i just set it up with a pre set suggestion from the fishman manuel and it sounded great right away so i didnt bother tweaking anything. all that being said it was only one gig and it was outdoors. i do have anouther gig tonight that is a indoor bar that is brick with lots of glass. we have played there before with decent results in the past, but this will give me a chance to try it in a somewhat challenging room.

burnunit · #20 02-19-2009, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bass dan

burnunit do you have a really hot di with your input at 9 or 10 o'clock? i guess the reson i didnt think the di level was controlled by the input gain is because i dont have the input gain very loud at all and the di level is super hot. this is based on me usually having my gain on the pa head at only about 8 or 9 0'clock as opposed to the fishman box that had my input gain on the pa head at 12 o'clock for roughly the same volume. using the pad on my channel i could turn the input gain about 12 or 1 o'clock for roughly the same volume as unpadded at 8 or 9 o'clock. the bass seemed to loose its "soft" feeling with the gain on the pa head much over the 9' oclock setting, started to sound kinda harsh, this may be a eq problem rather than a volume issue.

i too was affraid i would miss the high pass filter on my contra and the thump on stage. i think the depth control on the fishman is a low cut filter that seemed to be as effective as the high pass filter on the contra. i,m not sure about the compression knob on the fishman. i just set it up with a pre set suggestion from the fishman manuel and it sounded great right away so i didnt bother tweaking anything. all that being said it was only one gig and it was outdoors. i do have anouther gig tonight that is a indoor bar that is brick with lots of glass. we have played there before with decent results in the past, but this will give me a chance to try it in a somewhat challenging room.

I don't think my DI is particularly hot; in fact, the only comment I have gotten from a sound guy was that it was a little low set at 9:00.

Haven't tried the Pro Plat, but I have some interest - let me know how your gig goes tonight if you don't mind. I spent a lot of time (pre-TB and pre-Contra) fighting that boom and feedback!