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Bass amp Mics

G

Greyvagabond

Aug 17, 2007
1,317
452
#1
Hey guys,
Just had an interesting encounter at a gig this weekend. It was at a college, in a fairly large sized cafeteria. I brought my Traynor YBA200 into an Ampeg SVT HLF 4x10 setup, which has a KILLER sound. While setting up, the sound guy came up to me with the dreaded, tone-less DI box (I forgot my sansamp!). I politely asked if he would mind simply miking my amp. When he asked why, I kind of laughed and said, "Well...because I like the way my amp sounds!" He kind of muttered a bit, and said he only had some SM57s, which were no good for bass. Now, I know SM57s are fine for guitar, but I was very skeptical about this. I ended up going direct for simplicity, but I was wondering if any of you have experience with a really top end mike for a bass cab. I'd love to carry if with my, and just ask the sound guy to mike that bad-boy up! If he says "...only have SM57s", I can whip out my mike! Any ideas on what is a good Bass Amp mike? I'm thinking my limit would be $150, +/- $50. Thanks!
 
#2
Greyvagabond said:
Hey guys,
Just had an interesting encounter at a gig this weekend. It was at a college, in a fairly large sized cafeteria. I brought my Traynor YBA200 into an Ampeg SVT HLF 4x10 setup, which has a KILLER sound. While setting up, the sound guy came up to me with the dreaded, tone-less DI box (I forgot my sansamp!). I politely asked if he would mind simply miking my amp. When he asked why, I kind of laughed and said, "Well...because I like the way my amp sounds!" He kind of muttered a bit, and said he only had some SM57s, which were no good for bass. Now, I know SM57s are fine for guitar, but I was very skeptical about this. I ended up going direct for simplicity, but I was wondering if any of you have experience with a really top end mike for a bass cab. I'd love to carry if with my, and just ask the sound guy to mike that bad-boy up! If he says "...only have SM57s", I can whip out my mike! Any ideas on what is a good Bass Amp mike? I'm thinking my limit would be $150, +/- $50. Thanks!
Click to expand...


Most Bass/Bass drum mics in that price range are good.

AKG D112
Audix D6
Shure Beta 52

All those are pretty comparably average for clean bottom end. If you can scrape up even a little bit more, you could find you something really nice like a RE20 or a 421.

I have used SM57's with good results. It really depends on the application, process, and flavor (taste) and how you use it.
 
#4
Yep, definitely try and find the thread from a few weeks ago, it had some good (differences of) opinion. I really like the sound of my Audix D6, but it's not for everyone and tends to scoop the mids a little. A 57 will do the job provided it's placed well and EQ'ed even better, but find yourself a nice hypercardioid bass instrument mic that suits you for that set-and-forget convenience! :D

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried out those new Audio Technica AE2500 dual-element mics in front of a cabinet? They're bl**dy expensive, but damn I'd like to hear it - two mics in one! :eek:

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#5
If someone were going to mic a rig to get the their sound why use a kick drum mic that sucks out the mids and boosts the bottom and high end? Isn' that defeating the whole concept? I would think that a mic with a reasonably flat response is a better choice to accurately reproduce 'your sound'.
 
#7
Jeff Scott said:
If someone were going to mic a rig to get the their sound why use a kick drum mic that sucks out the mids and boosts the bottom and high end? Isn' that defeating the whole concept? I would think that a mic with a reasonably flat response is a better choice to accurately reproduce 'your sound'.
Click to expand...

Yes. If you are considering "kick drum mics" take a look at the response graphs - a lot of them are tailored to feature the lower portion of the drum response and the beater, with a big midrange gap in between.
 
#11
in a perfect world, yes, youd use a flat mic. Live sound is a far from perfect world. Mohawk is right, in a pinch id use a 57 and a DI. You can use the eq on the board to cut through with the 57. People always claim a kick mic isnt suited for bass. Its not, but blended with other sources its great. It brings out the boom you kinda want live. Ive used a d112 many times live with compliments. Any tom or kick mic would work great. The only mics that are really flat are condensors, and those are more work than they are worth live. If I had my choice id put a 421 and a d112 on my cab live, but most of the time this would be unrealistic.
 
#12
i_got_a_mohawk said:
Why not use an SM57 and DI.

The DI would keep the foundation of your bass sound, and the mic would add colouration from the amp?
Click to expand...

Most of the "character" of your sound that comes from the powerstage/cabinet of your rig is well within the dynamic range of a 57.

If you have a sound guy that is willing to pull two lines for you, you can get a great sound with that set up.

The risk is, as soon as the sound guy starts fighting the room, stage volume or any other oddity, he's probably going to kill the mic send and go DI only.
 
#13
I find the kick mics too scoopy, plus too much low end can turn you to mush with the kick.

57's sound great, but maybe consider a Beta57 or Sennheiser e609 if you want a tiny bit more lows and less stage bleed. Sennheiser MD421 or Beyer M88 if you pocket is a bit deeper.
 
#15
My mic needs are primarily for recording, a DI is fine for live gigs. When recording, I want to get all the glorious tone from my Rickenbackers run through my Princeton Reverb amp into one of my bass cabinets. I can get a perfect growl with the PR at the right settings.
 
#16
Using a mic in the effort to preserve your tone is a waste of time and effort if the PA is not set to a completely flat response, and that's not going to happen. Whether you like it or not your tone in the PA will be whatever the soundman wants it to be. Pissing him off from the get go by complaining about his rig isn't going to help matters.
 
#17
Disclaimer: I sell pro audio mics & gear.

The D112 has been a popular kick mic partly due to it's big scoop in the mids. It was designed to get a basketball-like smack on kick, not particularly ideal for bass cabs if you want the mids to punch. Though it's a bit out of the stated range at about $300, you should give a listen to a Heil PR40 microphone. It's a large diaphragm dynamic mic with great low-end extension. Any place you might use an EV RE20 the Heil PR40 is a great substitute.
 
#18
I have found the D112 to work best in live situations although you do need to EQ it a bit to get really good results. I have a YBA200 too and like how the D112 picks up my midrangy distorted tones from that head and an Ampeg 810E combonation. If there's an extra channel available I also run either a Radial J48 or Countryman DI in front of everything and blend it with the mic which makes for a really nice fat sound.
 
#19
it is unfortunate that most sound engineers make a bass sound muddy and indistinct. They go to a lot of effort to make the drum set sound killer and then the bass is just this mud underneath it all... My tonal preferences run more to the Squire/Camp/Lee sound, than the boomy, dubby tone that comes out of most PAs on any given evening.

I had the wonderful opportunity two winters ago to see and hear Chris Squire from about 6' away with his Ampeg rig about 12' from me. Nothing like unadulterated RM1999 tone! :)
 

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