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Anyone bring their own amp mic to gigs?

B

brobot

Jun 29, 2008
25
1
Philly
#1
I was at a show last night and the bass rig was being mic'd by an SM57. It didn't sound that sweet to me, so it got me thinking about bringing my own mic to my gigs. Does anyone do this? If so, what's your mic of choice? (Also, are the sound guys cool with it?)

Justin
 
#4
I usually bring my MD421 with me. Fat bass AND fat mids. (contrary to some Kick-Drum mics which I absolutely dont like for Bass - id rather use an SM57 anytime...)
I prefer the EV20 even a little more, cause it sounds clearer but I dont have my own yet.

If the soundguy recommends me to rather use the DI of my amp, then its ok with me but ill never just let him DI my Bass only. My SVT is part of my sound - I do not schlep around that thing for stage sound only. :smug:
 
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#5
I like SM57s on bass cabs :hiding: To answer your question, yes; I bring two SM57s just in case (although I've *never* had a Shure mic fail on me, knock on wood).

I usually use my rig as a monitor for myself and feed the snake from my preamp. I use a Line6 Bass POD xt Live for all my tones, including amp, cab, and mic-on-cab modeling, and you get less set-up & tear-down hassle, no feedback, better signal-to-noise ratio, etc this way.
 
#6
Make sure you mark those mics and watch em like a hawk. I brought a Shure to gig and after the tear-down I collected all my stuff including the mic bag, went home. Later when I opened up the mic bag, it was not my Shure in the bag but some pos mic. Someone pulled the swaperoo on me.
 
#8
actually, i normally have no problem with a 57 and occasionally use them on my amp in the studio (although the Sennheiser MD421 and Audio-Technica 4047normally get the nod)... maybe it was sound of the rig. Either way, I think I'm going to start bringing the MD421 with me.

Another thing - have any of you marked the ideal mic position on a speaker? I played with a touring band a few weeks back and they had tape on the guitar amps to show where they should be mic'd. I thought that was interesting.
 
#9
brobot said:
actually, i normally have no problem with a 57 and occasionally use them on my amp in the studio (although the Sennheiser MD421 and Audio-Technica 4047normally get the nod)... maybe it was sound of the rig. Either way, I think I'm going to start bringing the MD421 with me.

Another thing - have any of you marked the ideal mic position on a speaker? I played with a touring band a few weeks back and they had tape on the guitar amps to show where they should be mic'd. I thought that was interesting.
Click to expand...

Just to take this one step further where do you point your mic? I usually go just a bit off center of the cone. (if I'm miced)
 
#10
Scottgun said:
Make sure you mark those mics and watch em like a hawk. I brought a Shure to gig and after the tear-down I collected all my stuff including the mic bag, went home. Later when I opened up the mic bag, it was not my Shure in the bag but some pos mic. Someone pulled the swaperoo on me.
Click to expand...

My mics are engraved on the body, and also have a hidden engraving, in case somebody steals them and scratches out the visible one and I have to prove it's mine. I have something similar on my instruments and everything else that goes with me to gigs. :bassist:
 
#11
Scottgun said:
Make sure you mark those mics and watch em like a hawk. I brought a Shure to gig and after the tear-down I collected all my stuff including the mic bag, went home. Later when I opened up the mic bag, it was not my Shure in the bag but some pos mic. Someone pulled the swaperoo on me.
Click to expand...

+1 to marking the mics
Funny story, I used to work on the house tech crew for the venues at my college, Lee University. We had some mics walk off so they decided we needed to engrave "Property of Conn Center" on all of our mics. The two guys they tasked with this got creative on a few of the mics. My favorite was the SM57 that they engraved "Property of the Conn Center located in beautiful, historic downtown Cleveland, TN". It took up the whole side of the mic. The tech director was not happy... :D
 
#12
I don't fly with it, but when I play locally I bring a Heil PR 40 and a Z Bar. What's a Z Bar, you ask? Maybe this gratuitous posting of my new stage rig will answer:

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When I fly, I usually have them use what's on hand or I'll just DI. Now that I got a VT pedal, DI'ing isn't as annoying to me as it used to be.

BTW, the 57 and 58 may not be the world's greatest bass amp mics, but I've used them many times and always had a great sound in the PA.
 
#13
L.A. Moore said:
Just to take this one step further where do you point your mic? I usually go just a bit off center of the cone. (if I'm miced)
Click to expand...

on axis (pointed at the center/just off the center) yields the best highs,
that's usually where i start for rock stuff(fuzz/delay effects etc.). if it's too bright for foh (usually never a problem) i'll turn the mic out toward the edge (off axis) before changing amp settings. if i'm doing something which relies on the horn, i'll position the mic off axis of the speaker, but turned toward the horn.
i use a z-bar mount instead of a mic stand to save space, makes changing position easy....
 
#14
In all seriousness, Bardley, my "labels" have my toll-free number (forwards to my cell phone) and email address, in addition to my name. Saying just "Dave Muscato" or even "Property of Dave Muscato" or your band name, etc, doesn't make it easy to reunite item with owner unless you happen to be right there. This is especially true if you're on the road... you might be in another city by the time someone realizes it, and how are they going to reach you if they don't recognize your name as being with [x] band, or if they forget your band name? Sometimes things are just left behind, not stolen, and you want to make it as painless & quick as possible for legitimate finders to return your gear to you. Works me for me, anyway!

JimmyM said:
BTW, the 57 and 58 may not be the world's greatest bass amp mics, but I've used them many times and always had a great sound in the PA.
Click to expand...

+1, esp. the 57. I also have a Beta 57A but we usually stick that on the guitar amp.
 
#15
Heck, I like the sm57 for bass cab mic'ing.
Keep it about 4-5" from the cab, near the edege of a driver, at about a 45 degree angle...

Heil mic: niccce. I was just reading a brochure on them.
That's the same cat that ran Ye Olde Music Shoppe in Marissa Illinois back in the day, I bleeb. He was inventing all kinda net FOH stuff back in the 70's.
If you rolled in there at the right time, you could score great deals on road gear from the likes of Allman Bros and many other national touring acts.
 
#16
Chef said:
Heck, I like the sm57 for bass cab mic'ing.
Keep it about 4-5" from the cab, near the edege of a driver, at about a 45 degree angle...

Heil mic: niccce. I was just reading a brochure on them.
That's the same cat that ran Ye Olde Music Shoppe in Marissa Illinois back in the day, I bleeb. He was inventing all kinda net FOH stuff back in the 70's.
If you rolled in there at the right time, you could score great deals on road gear from the likes of Allman Bros and many other national touring acts.
Click to expand...
Yep, Bob Heil.
 
#17
i borrowed off a friend a AKG D112 which is commonly a kick drum mic but it sounded pretty good on the rig i was using at the time. Either that or its a SM57 or a Beta58a but i don't tend to use the 58a for micing up
or i just use the di on the amp
 
#18
JimmyM said:
I don't fly with it, but when I play locally I bring a Heil PR 40 and a Z Bar. What's a Z Bar, you ask? Maybe this gratuitous posting of my new stage rig will answer:

Um. You do realize that the PR-40 is a side address condensor mic, don't you? Not trying to be a jerk, but the front of the mic is the side with the logo on it. If you point the round end (top of the mic) toward the speaker, your speaker is edge-on to the condensor element.

<edit> My bad...the PR-40 is, in fact, an end address mic. Ignore me. </edit>
A P
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