I'm a aging beginner with an unusual six-string, fretless, upright, acoustic bass. I have aspirations of playing blues and jazz with other serious amateurs in somebody's living room once a week--and that's it.
My current plan is to amplify my odd bass with a triple-headed K&K Pure Bass transducer through a K&K Pure XLR Preamp and into a small combo amp that is suitable for practice and light jamming with friends only. All of the user reviews for the Acoustic amp combos tout their clear, undistorted tone and unexpected volume for 20- or 50-watts. They also have a feature I very much like: A 1/8" input for mp3-type sources, which apparently will allow me to play play-alongs through the speaker while simultaneously amplifying my bass.
Unlike the AB50, the B20 does not have an output that could be used for direct recording, but a couple of reviewers have indicated that you can mic its speaker output well. I would want to record only to hear myself along with my play-alongs so as to evaluate my improvement. Audiolobe, my MacBook slow-downer, will let me play a play-along and also record myself with it at the same time, right through my MacBook mic, which records music surprisingly well--not studio quality, of course, but certainly good enough to evaluate my own play. Of course, with the AB50, I could record directly from the output jack. The AB50 has only three tone controls; the B20 has four.
Anybody see a problem with this idea? Or do you recommend a better way of doing this for my meager purposes? Or different equipment? (I haven't bought any of the above hardware yet.)
My current plan is to amplify my odd bass with a triple-headed K&K Pure Bass transducer through a K&K Pure XLR Preamp and into a small combo amp that is suitable for practice and light jamming with friends only. All of the user reviews for the Acoustic amp combos tout their clear, undistorted tone and unexpected volume for 20- or 50-watts. They also have a feature I very much like: A 1/8" input for mp3-type sources, which apparently will allow me to play play-alongs through the speaker while simultaneously amplifying my bass.
Unlike the AB50, the B20 does not have an output that could be used for direct recording, but a couple of reviewers have indicated that you can mic its speaker output well. I would want to record only to hear myself along with my play-alongs so as to evaluate my improvement. Audiolobe, my MacBook slow-downer, will let me play a play-along and also record myself with it at the same time, right through my MacBook mic, which records music surprisingly well--not studio quality, of course, but certainly good enough to evaluate my own play. Of course, with the AB50, I could record directly from the output jack. The AB50 has only three tone controls; the B20 has four.
Anybody see a problem with this idea? Or do you recommend a better way of doing this for my meager purposes? Or different equipment? (I haven't bought any of the above hardware yet.)
