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Double Bass Acoustic Image let down
- Thread starter chicagodoubler
- Start date
Regular or deep fried twinkie?
If you don't believe me, that and other choice delicacies at the NC State Fair are depicted Link Removed. Mmmmm ...
Jake deVilliers
Commercial User
- May 24, 2006
- 6,349
- 607
- Disclosures
- Owner of The Bass Spa, String Repairman at Long & McQuade Vancouver
Bingo! Make life a lot easier.
And a lot shinier...
I'd hate to waste this full head of hair (gloat, gloat).
I like the design, although I can see some places that the downfiring woofer wouldn't be the greatest. Augmenting the combo with an extension cabinet works well, as well as lifting the combo off of the ground. I place mine on top of my Aguilar GS112, and it sounds great without being boomy(HP filter is great too).
I have the current model (most likely look left and you'll see it...)
and love it at low volume or with a mic. As mentioned before, LOVE it with the electric! For whatever reason it really seems to get tubby (too much 200 hz, maybe) as soon as I crank it. Alot of guys seem to be putting it on top of an extension, but that defeats the whole reason I bought it- to be able to wheel into a gig with everything I need, with a hand free.
and love it at low volume or with a mic. As mentioned before, LOVE it with the electric! For whatever reason it really seems to get tubby (too much 200 hz, maybe) as soon as I crank it. Alot of guys seem to be putting it on top of an extension, but that defeats the whole reason I bought it- to be able to wheel into a gig with everything I need, with a hand free.
The extension cab only comes out when I am doubling. I'd rather play fully acoustic, but when I need a "bit more" the Contra does a great job of that. You could notch out 200 hz when cranking it up instead of using the High Pass filter.
just sold my ai contra series three and bought a markbass 112 combo -- couldn't be happier. I was hipped to markbass by two other graduate bass players here at de paul and love whats happening in all playing situations . . . not saying that ai is a bad product, but the three of us all really dig the markbass thang.
A jazz guitar player told me way back in the late 80's that "Jazz musicians never get laid."
I know, I know, if you've ever played in a rock band like I have, this gets real confusing.
IME this worked well too. That is, getting the combo off the ground, but putting it on top of a hard surface, like a chair, or an extension cab. The downfiring woofer is designed to have a surface near by to "push" against in order to properly load the driver. But decoupling it from the floor makes it less muddy.
Understood.Alot of guys seem to be putting it on top of an extension, but that defeats the whole reason I bought it- to be able to wheel into a gig with everything I need, with a hand free.
The bottom line on the downfiring woofer thing for me is that it creates a diffuse and somewhat more ambient sound as compared to a front firing driver. The problem I personally have with this is that just about every other factor in play on most bandstands - other instruments (especially drums), room noise, including crowd noise, and simple dispersion of sound over space - creates the same basic effect with a front firing cab. At least with a front firing cab, the sound still has some point on/direction to it while on the bandstand and in the front row, whereas with the downfiring speaker, it's already "diffuse" just inches from the source. When I listen to the difference between the way my front firing cabs sound on the bandstand and from 15-20' away, it's the sound from out front that I'm going for, so I put up with the edginess of the sound onstage to achieve that. IMO, YMMV, YMWCB, etc.
Good points, Chris. Ironically, I find the AI sounds great 10+ft away. Usually when I'm pissing and moaning at the end of the night about the sound, the other guys in the band are loving it and wanting to know more about the little floor tom on my shoulder...
Anybody tried flipping the dang thing on its side?
Anybody tried flipping the dang thing on its side?
Ahhh... the AI love/hate relationship. I personally love my SIII Contra for upright gigs. A few things I have done that greatly improve the tone and my ability to hear on the bandstand what I'm playing:
1. Lower the "bass" in the EQ. I sometimes find that when I run the "bass" control at 12:00, it's too much. This thing puts out more low end than what is percieved. 10 to 15 feet from the stage, there's plently of lows in the mix. Much of the muddiness comes from just having too much low end in the mix with my current setup.
2. On carpet, use a piece of wood under the amp. I have a 16inch square that I sprayed with a high stain black paint. It makes all the difference in the world when playing on carpet, and really puts the sound "out there" rather than having it die in the rug.
3. You can use the amp like a home subwoofer. I find that the amp's position relative to a wall or corner greatly affects the tone. Too boomy or muddy? Pull it away from the wall a few inches. I'm usually able to tweak the tone by just moving the amp a few inces one way or the other without touching any knobs. I really only use the HPF for some subtle tone control rather than Q'ing out certain frequency bands.
-Pat
1. Lower the "bass" in the EQ. I sometimes find that when I run the "bass" control at 12:00, it's too much. This thing puts out more low end than what is percieved. 10 to 15 feet from the stage, there's plently of lows in the mix. Much of the muddiness comes from just having too much low end in the mix with my current setup.
2. On carpet, use a piece of wood under the amp. I have a 16inch square that I sprayed with a high stain black paint. It makes all the difference in the world when playing on carpet, and really puts the sound "out there" rather than having it die in the rug.
3. You can use the amp like a home subwoofer. I find that the amp's position relative to a wall or corner greatly affects the tone. Too boomy or muddy? Pull it away from the wall a few inches. I'm usually able to tweak the tone by just moving the amp a few inces one way or the other without touching any knobs. I really only use the HPF for some subtle tone control rather than Q'ing out certain frequency bands.
-Pat
Luckily, I play mostly in low-volume situations where the AI Contra (I have a series II) is just ideal. I've said this before here, but it took me while to get my head around the idea of the Contra's "ambient" sound as opposed to the direct, punch-you-in-the-gut amplified bass sound I grew up. Everyone I play with loves it, especially drummers.
As I've also noted here, if your bass has tonal deficiencies, the Contra will not go out of its way to mask them. My bass is somewhat nasal on the G string (I have a Christopher hybrid), and no amount of knob-twiddling seems to help hide it.
As I've also noted here, if your bass has tonal deficiencies, the Contra will not go out of its way to mask them. My bass is somewhat nasal on the G string (I have a Christopher hybrid), and no amount of knob-twiddling seems to help hide it.
Yup. I forget who suggested it here on TB, but it was a while ago. You'd have to try it to see if you like it. It is a different sound, but I can't describe it here in words and do it justice.Anybody tried flipping the dang thing on its side?
As I said earlier, I believe the downfiring speaker is designed to have a surface close by to "push" against to properly load the driver. You lose this loading when it's on its side. Or on its back rather.
The 5" fires up in the air, which is sort of like a monitor if you are standing over the top of it. That's where most of the mids and intonation information came from for me anyway.
Mine tended to roll to one side. It was a Series I. I used an ash tray or something to keep it from listing.
+1 on all that, 'cept I never tried #2.
My Series I did not have a high pass filter, so I used to turn down the Bass knob too. Often wonder now how it would have sounded with an external HPF like fdeck's HPF-Pre.
And re: #3, that works for me even with my front-firing cabs. Real important to me where the cab goes relative to walls and corners.
very similar to me.I was never happy with ai contra (even hated the shape of the box) and sold it .bought old GK 200MB (speaker reconed) after compared both amps on the stage, on different rooms.never had better amp than 200MB.
I think pickup choice, string choice and setup have a lot to do with what kind of cabinet you prefer. I use a BP-100 and Spiro Mittels with a medium action. When I use a front firing speaker, my bass sounds uncomfortably like a big fretless. When I use a down firing speaker, it sounds like an acoustic bass with a nice woody sound. For me, the front firing speaker brings out the punchy low mids in a very direct way EB sort of way. The down firing speaker very effectively diffuses those frequencies. Back in the old days when I wanted a piezo-y sound, the Poly and GK were great but I get a much more natural sound out of the AI speaker cabinet with the other gear that I'm using.
I imagine that if were using a something darker like a Realist or less live sounding strings, a front firing speaker would match my system better.
mark
I imagine that if were using a something darker like a Realist or less live sounding strings, a front firing speaker would match my system better.
mark
I am a newbie to this thang, so bare with me.... I have a AI Coda and feel the same way. One room is great and the next sucks~! Been using it for about 8 years now. I have been thinking about looking into a AI Focus 2R to use with a 2X10 Bag End. I am playing in a louder group and need a little more sound. Anybody tried this before and had any luck?
