NEED OPINIONS ON COMBINING BP-100 WITH GOLDEN TRINITY MIC

[brianturk]

i already have a bp-100, and i'm thinking about combining it with that k & k golden trinity mic. has anyone out there tried this specific combination? i don't have an amp, so this will always be going through the pa (along with fiddle, guitar, and mandolin).

thanks for your advice!

[conte2music]

You possibly won't need a pickup at all. Without drums in your group, bleed would be pretty low. I think the GT alone will work fine for this application...however get the preamp with the blender, so if you do choose to use it with an amp in the future you can then mix in some bp-100 to help reduce feedback.

[fingers]

The GT is not very good on its own. It is pretty noisy and it is hard to get lots of gain before feedback. I liked it when paired with the Realist through an amp but tried sending mic only to the pa a few times and never had good luck.

The GT works fine through an amp. If you are going to be mainly in the pa I'd get a different mic. I'd stick with a dynamic mic though. I've had good luck with the Shure Beta 52, Beta 57a, Audix D2, at a lower price-point. If you want to spend more both Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic make sure nice mics. This 'mic only' topic has been discussed at length 'round here.

[AMJBASS]

Agreed. The Golden Trinity mic on its own doesn't work all that great by itself. I don't think it would be a significant improvement with the BP100. A preamp(if you don't have one already) would be a HUGE improvement, more so than the addition of the mic. I also agree with getting a dynamic mic if you must go that route. I sometimes use my Shure Beta 57A with the H-Clamp by itself and it sounds great. Plenty of gain before feedback if you mic it up close.

[conte2music]

My experience with the Golden Trinity has been very different than Fingers and Adrian. I used it for many months of touring with good results before I purchased my AMT. I prefer the AMT, but it is a much higher price point.

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I found it to be a reliable product that was very straight forward to use. It provided me with a strong output to both house pa systems and gave me plenty of volume through my amp. The sound quality was pleasant, but the main draw is the ease of use.

However, maybe purchasing just the best mic you can would be a better idea. With the GT you're also paying for the hip little gooseneck, the preamp/blender, stereo cable, velcro strips... This extra stuff would eat up some of your dough when you could just purchase the best mic possible.

+1 on Adrians preamp suggestion

[fingers]

Originally Posted by conte2music

My experience with the Golden Trinity has been very different than Fingers and Adrian. I used it for many months of touring with good results before I purchased my AMT. I prefer the AMT, but it is a much higher price point.

I think it is a really good product at the pricepoint and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to add a mic to their setup at a reasonable price. I used mine mixed with the Realist for about 2 years. I just never had luck with it as a stand-alone unit.

[brianturk]

right now, i'm trying to decide between these options:

1. go with the cheap k & k mic and 2-channel preamp and mix in the bp-100 .

2. mix together the bp-100 and a shure sm57 or 58 (wrapped in foam under the tailpiece) using a d-tar solstice.

3. get a fishman pro-eq (or some similar basic preamp) and forget about blending in a mic.

4. forget about the bp-100 alltogether and start from scratch with a realist or some other (better) pickup.

isn't it better, in general, to blend a mic and a pic-up? actually, i bet that's a question of personal preference.

which of these four choices do you think is best?? if you had to pick one...

[fingers]

I choose option 4

[bolo]

Originally Posted by fingers

I choose option 4

+1

I mean what he said, option #4.

Then do the mic blending thing later.

[ Edit - Welcome to TB. If you can fill out your profile, that can sometimes help us help you too. ]

[bolo]

Hey Brian. I just reread your original post. You said you don't have an amp, you just use a PA, and you play with other acoustic instruments. You might have even more luck going with a new option 5 - just a mic on a stand in front of your bass thru the PA.

But checking out other pickups is still worthwhile IMO.

[Mark Perna]

I have a question for you: Does the BP-100 sound good on your bass?

If it doesn't, then get rid of it. There is no working with the BP-100 if it doesn't sound good out of the box. Get a Realist or something or use a mic alone.

If it does (and it sounds WAY better on my main bass than the Realist, Underwood, Shadow, Bassmaxx, Stat-B or Dyn-B, and a number of other pickups in most circumstances), then you have something to work with. Try adding a pre-amp (Fdeck here on TB makes one that I HIGHLY recommend-it sounds better than any other preamp that I've tried and I've tried a bunch of them and it is significantly cheaper) and blending in a mic.

mark

[bolo]

Originally Posted by calivox

I have a question for you: Does the BP-100 sound good on your bass?

If it doesn't, then get rid of it. There is no working with the BP-100 if it doesn't sound good out of the box. Get a Realist or something or use a mic alone.

If it does (and it sounds WAY better on my main bass than the Realist, Underwood, Shadow, Bassmaxx, Stat-B or Dyn-B, and a number of other pickups in most circumstances), then you have something to work with. Try adding a pre-amp (Fdeck here on TB makes one that I HIGHLY recommend-it sounds better than any other preamp that I've tried and I've tried a bunch of them and it is significantly cheaper) and blending in a mic.

Yes, listen to calivox. This is a better approach that what I posted before.

And +1 on the HPF-Pre recommendation. Even if you get another pickup later, its still a good thing to have in your gig bag.

Then, if the BP-100 just isn't happenin' on your bass even w/ a suitable preamp, then ok try our other suggestions.