Double Bass A great pickup can make you forget how good your mic sounds... until it doesn't

[Hasty]

Ever since I paired the Yamahiko with the ToneDexter (and without sometimes)... I've sort of neglected the Remic Green 5400. It's really a shame because it's an excellent microphone, but most places I play are really too loud for it (maybe).

Last night I played a Big Band dance gig, so I was expecting lower volumes. I thought I would start with the Remic and see if I still loved it like I used to. I've been using the Yamahiko/ToneDexter combo exclusively for a while now and feel like the tone is nothing short of superb. That said... the Remic absolutely blew it out of the water. Just so natural and warm sounding, it was great. Pizz, Arco, it didn't matter... it all sounded so nice.

Then we hit the second set and the band decided to start playing louder because the crowd was getting into it and more people were hitting the dance floor. I had to up the volume a little, but it reached that point where I was at the verge of feedback and the attack and clarity were getting a little lost in the mix.

At this point I would normally blend the Yamahiko and the Remic and go on with my life, but I also had the electric bass so both amp inputs were in use. So between tunes I swapped the Remic for the Yamahiko. The rest of the night I played with the Yamahiko and it sounded really good, but just not quite as good as the Remic. However it was much easier to dial into the room and the drummer was much happier because the clarity from the first set was back.

Now that I remember just how good that Remic sounds I'm probably going to start chasing down a way to incorporate it into more gigs. I still love the Yamahiko... but I think I love the Remic just a little bit more again... until that times comes when I don't. Life is cyclical.

However, this is a great reminder that I can absolutely bring it on my trio gigs. So I'm glad I decided to experiment last night.

 

[Ric Vice]

Remic’s are great I’ve also had great luck with the Green and Double Bass on stage.

 

[Don Hergert]

Feedback is the pits... Even when it isn't happening, it forces us to change direction. I love using my mounted mic, but I won't even try when I'm playing with drums, horns or amp'ed instruments. For me it's just easier to go with my piezo/pre-amp setup instead.

One of those facts of life I guess.

 

[Hasty]

One of those facts of life I guess.

I agree, but I also feel like we're in a pretty awesome spot right now. Technology has progressed to the point where I have a few great options that all sound pretty awesome. The first time I tried to get into DB in college (early 90's) I gave up before I started because the idea of amplification was too difficult, no one around me really had suggestions on where to start, and I didn't have any resources to pull in. So I absolutely gave up on the idea and stuck to electric bass for a while... then quit playing altogether when my life went a different direction.

Now I have (almost) all the information in the world available at my fingertips, a pretty awesome forum of people that have either paved the way for me or can point me in the direction I need to go. I also have technology available to me now that just blows my mind because it's so capable and sounds so amazingly good. Some of it existed way back when... but at the time, the best piezo I owned was a little suction cup from Radio Shack that was originally designed to attach to a phone handset to record phone calls. 1990 me believed that to be the pinnacle of musical technology.

I guess on reflection, my "lamentation" is more of a celebration of just how many fantastic solutions are available to us when we take the time to explore them and learn how to use them in context.

 

[Don Hergert]

I installed a piezo on my banjo and on my mandolin in ca. 1975. I bought pretty affordable Barcus-Berry equipment that was made for acoustic stringed instruments. I wasn't playing double bass at that time, so I don't know what was available for them way back then.. But these little B-B devices were amazing; I still have a functional one somewhere. B-B's experimentation was happening a long time before that, starting around 1963. I'd imagine that there must have been at least some experimental work before them too.

As you've described, what has changed, dramatically, is availability of information, and that's still changing. We have the equivalent of a library at our fingertips, on our desks, in our pockets and even on our wrists now.

Personally, I vastly prefer the sound of my double bass and my other instruments through a mic, but like you I am very happy that there are other good, easily available alternatives.

 

[AGCurry]

I installed a piezo on my banjo and on my mandolin in ca. 1975. I bought pretty affordable Barcus-Berry equipment that was made for acoustic stringed instruments. I wasn't playing double bass at that time, so I don't know what was available for them way back then.

Personally, I vastly prefer the sound of my double bass and my other instruments through a mic, but like you I am very happy that there are other good, easily available alternatives.

My first double bass - a Kay - had a Barcus-Berry bridge. The piezo element was built in to it, and there was one wire coming out from its underside. When that bass was smashed in a bus accident, I cut that bridge up and glued the pertinent piece to the bridge of my new Schroetter bass. It sounded bad and fed back readily on either bass, but that may have been largely because I knew nothing of impedance buffering and preamps.

I too am happy that we've progressed.

 

[Ric Vice]

I remember that bridge at the time Barcus Berry also had the “sliver bar” piezo that attached to the underside of the bridge with
white putty. They also had a small battery powered preamp. It sounded very nasal even with the preamp. Moving forward to 2023
there are many fine pickups and preamps, especially the Red Eye that really improves the sound. I receive no compensation from Fire Eye
for this, I just think it’s a leap forward in improving a Realist Lifeline’s tone quality. Just my take.

 

[rickwolff]

As much as I love the sound of my bass through a mic (when conditions suit) I always have my KNA piezo mounted as a backup. Sometimes, like last Saturday, after trying both it was obvious the pickup sounded better in that room. Go figure. I'm a big believer in having a Plan B ready to go.

 

[Hasty]

As much as I love the sound of my bass through a mic (when conditions suit) I always have my KNA piezo mounted as a backup. Sometimes, like last Saturday, after trying both it was obvious the pickup sounded better in that room. Go figure. I'm a big believer in having a Plan B ready to go.

Based on some of your reviews I can’t help but think you usually have a plan A,B,C, and D.

 

[DrayMiles]

I have the DPA, the Remic Green/Red, the lifeline, an underwood, and a Grace Felix…
And I’ll let you know what it sounds like if I ever play a gig or have a sound check long enough for ME to mix and match.

 

[Ric Vice]

I have the DPA, the Remic Green/Red, the lifeline, an underwood, and a Grace Felix…
And I’ll let you know what it sounds like if I ever play a gig or have a sound check long enough for ME to mix and match.

Great point! It’s just a whole lot easier to use a pickup and send the mic FOH. Blending a pickup and microphone is a an art for sure.
I just like to keep it a simpler setup. Just my take however.

 

[bassically_eli]

I'm kind of in the opposite camp right now: a decent mic can make you realize how much pickups suck. BUT, I'm sure that will change at some point. At some point I will probably start playing loud gigs again, and aside from the obvious feedback concerns, I know that the more compressed and mid forward sound of a pickup can help cut through a dense mix.