Double Bass Ampeg Baby Bass Rig

[ironfingers80]

i just recently bought a baby bass and am wondering what the best amplifier/cabinet setup would be. the gigs that i'll be using it on range from small clubs to outdoor festivals. does anybody have any suggestions on what to use to get the best out of the baby sound or know of any common rigs that people use these days or have used in the past? thanks!

 

[ctxbass]

tubes

 

[Uncletoad]

On the '67 Baby Bass I use an early 70's Ampeg SVT head with a 90's 810 cabinet. I use an outboard preamp (a bartolini NTBTG 18 volt) as a preamp for the bass with the bass full blast and the tone control completly turned down. It sounds like the god of thunder itself. Not a double bass tone at all. Kind of like the biggest baddest low note fretless slab tone. It shudders the walls of the club and makes the weak weep.

I just got a reissue Baby made by Azola. It has the original pickup structure plus a nice K+K bassmax in it. It has the traditional Baby sound as well as the typical Electric Upright tone. With the Bart preamp it's even deeper.

Mix that with Spirocore Solo's tuned to standard pitch and well...it's just stupid good.

 

[Aleph5]

I have a BB and can't see how even the biggest rig can get much low bass out of that tinny mag pickup. Maybe there is if you attenuate enough of the thin frequencies as you perhaps have(?).

Outboard pickups are another story. Barry Bales gets some MIGHTY thunder from his Azola on Forget About It from the newest AKUS Live recording!

I think the answer to the question depends on musical style, but I would recommend ditching the original internal pickup unless that tone is loved (eg, for latin/salsa, etc.). Mine is a Fishman BP-100 with flat plates cobbled on the bridge under the pickup clips. It's not bad. I've not tried a K&K, but that's probably a good bet.