Double Bass Big Band Players...

[Ed Fuqua]

Ed, man, if you are using the eq on th Woods the way it's set on channel one, you are pushing that lil ol' speaker to max. 1200 watts of 42' string length punishment! Wow, that's like the cave man guy in Lou Reed's band or something.

First, It's a LowPower (120 watts) so for it to push 1200 watts with ANY setting would be pretty surprising.

Second, I play through Channel 2 , I usually put a minidsic player through Channel 1 to play music when we take a break so no special events co ordinators get all nervous at 45 seconds of continuous silence....

 

[mrpc]

Oh, my bad, I see now, I guess Walter made low power models with that face plate. Looks like my Ultra. All of the ones (100 watt) I've seen have been older. Nice litle rig there, BTW.

In any case, I think any decent 100-200 watt combo amp should work well with an all acoustic big band. Otherwise tell the drummer to turn down! That's what I used to do anyway!

 

[bobbykokinos]

Just an update on an old thread....

I've been running my (2) Aguilar 12s and I like the sound but they are becoming a pain to carry around at 44lbs a piece. So, I've ordered (2) Epifani UL110's to run off of my GK700RB. I do have some reservations going from 12's to 10's but I don't think it'll be a problem.

I'll report back once they come in and I have a chance to play a couple big band gigs..

 

[conte2music]

I use the Acoustic Image Series 2 Contra R with the ext cabinet. I also bought an extra long speakon so I have the ext cab sit under the bass bone's butt. The whole band is able to hear me very well and I'm at a good mix to the audience.

Is the pickup on your bass correctly fitted? A guy I knew was having the same problems and all it was the pickup fit.

Best of luck,
Chris

 

[RevJPBass]

hey all,
I've been playing in a big band for about two years now- started off running a Fishman BP100 (i know, i know) through a Fishman preamp into a (yikes!) Peavey TKO 115- a 75 watt amp pushing a 15 in a huge, 80 pound ported cabinet. Finally ended up with a RS II (sometimes) into the Fishman preamp- primarily so I can adjust volume on the fly and sometimes direct, into a EA i500 Wizzy combo. All this fueled by my 41 Kay running Kolstein Heritage strings. Each piece that I've changed has gotten me closer to the sound I want and the Wizzy has unlimited headroom. In various rooms I will put the amp on a milk crate to uncouple it from the floor, and in some rooms, some setups, the bone section will not hear me well, but all in all its very satisfactory. The Wizzy, besides having lots of oomph, lets me vary my tone dynamically (think the choruses at the end of "In the Mood") a great deal.

 

[farmerdude]

I play in a loud arse big band and went the other way…I wanted to go more old school so I ditched the pickup and started using a mic through a 210 cab. Set it so I can hear the bass just enough to play in tune...Feels and sounds much better to play “the bass” instead of the pickup.... On loud sections you can just dig in and move more air....Takes a good directional mic. I use the AKG C3000 something or other....you have to deal with proximity effect but you can also use it to your advantage....By the change in my attitude from trying to be out front with my sound (pickups & power) to putting the bass as more of a pulse in the mix, from where I stand in the back...the band dynamics were much better....

 

[Dave Whitla]

You do understand that this was most likely NOT by choice; the expense and liklihood of damage while traveling with a real bass not to mention the refusal of many airline gate staff to even allow a double bass on the plane, has neccessitated a wide variety of responses by groups who travel.

Wow, not to get off topic, but it's nice to see good punctuation for a change. I'm pretty sure that's the first decent use of a semicolon I've seen on this site. Far too many members don't even seem to be able to manage spelchek That said, I think you hit the "c" key one too many times in "necessitated" (I know: picky, picky)

Back to the thread: I haven't done a real big band in ages, but for really loud gigs in big rooms without a PA I've had success with my AI Coda III and an EBS 1x12 cab. Nice comments on the sound from critical listeners. (and yes, I'm aware that that wasn't a sentence!)