Hey all, I have a short question to throw out.
In dealing with the whole mic vs. pickup quandry on a gig (or combination of the two), I ran into a situation the other night that I need some input on. It was a sort of bar gig with a stage that tended to really resonate and exaggerate the bass frequencies, not to mention having the drums, a guitar, and two horns in the mix. The stage wasn't very big, and I had my amp behind me, facing a bit away from me, with my body between the amp and the bass. I barely had any gain on the mic to start with, but had a pretty good thing going before the band started playing. Once the band started, the mic had to go because I was starting to feed back if I turned up too much. I had the gain about 1/4 of the way up, but the volume was a bit higher. I switched over to mainly the pickup after that, and fought the whole night with a sound that felt uncontrollable to my ears and hands. Way too much amp and too much to deal with in terms of hearing what I was playing clearly. It just felt like mud onstage. Now, when I tune up an amp to deal with a pickup-only signal, I tend to roll off a ton of the treble (almost all of it) and roll back the midrange a bit to smooth it out. Aside from that, what adjustments can be made to make the signal a little bit more natural? I know that what can sound like crap on stage sounds good out front, and judging by what the audience said, it did sound good. I'm not into a pickup-type sound though, and I really can't think clearly onstage and articulate ideas when I'm dealing with too much amp and too much pickup sound. Aside from asking the band to play quieter (which I did), what do you guys do to cope with situations like that? Here's the equipment I tend to use in given situations...
Mic/Pickup or Mic Only Gigs-
SWR Workingman's 12 (occasionally w/ extension cab)
K&K Bass Max + Golden Trinity + K&K Preamp/blender
Pickup Only Gigs-
Same as above for amp, or a Fender BXR100 15" (works really well for preserving a deep low-end)
K&K Bass Max + Sadowsky Outboard Preamp (a little smoother than the K&K for the pickup only)
My bass is a Kohr K64 carved-top with Kolstein Heritage strings. Again, if I know the drummer and the circumstances surrounding the gig, I'll plan as much as I can for the equipment, but sometimes I just don't know. In those cases I go with the most flexible setup, which is the first one.
Thanks in advance... sorry for being long-winded.
In dealing with the whole mic vs. pickup quandry on a gig (or combination of the two), I ran into a situation the other night that I need some input on. It was a sort of bar gig with a stage that tended to really resonate and exaggerate the bass frequencies, not to mention having the drums, a guitar, and two horns in the mix. The stage wasn't very big, and I had my amp behind me, facing a bit away from me, with my body between the amp and the bass. I barely had any gain on the mic to start with, but had a pretty good thing going before the band started playing. Once the band started, the mic had to go because I was starting to feed back if I turned up too much. I had the gain about 1/4 of the way up, but the volume was a bit higher. I switched over to mainly the pickup after that, and fought the whole night with a sound that felt uncontrollable to my ears and hands. Way too much amp and too much to deal with in terms of hearing what I was playing clearly. It just felt like mud onstage. Now, when I tune up an amp to deal with a pickup-only signal, I tend to roll off a ton of the treble (almost all of it) and roll back the midrange a bit to smooth it out. Aside from that, what adjustments can be made to make the signal a little bit more natural? I know that what can sound like crap on stage sounds good out front, and judging by what the audience said, it did sound good. I'm not into a pickup-type sound though, and I really can't think clearly onstage and articulate ideas when I'm dealing with too much amp and too much pickup sound. Aside from asking the band to play quieter (which I did), what do you guys do to cope with situations like that? Here's the equipment I tend to use in given situations...
Mic/Pickup or Mic Only Gigs-
SWR Workingman's 12 (occasionally w/ extension cab)
K&K Bass Max + Golden Trinity + K&K Preamp/blender
Pickup Only Gigs-
Same as above for amp, or a Fender BXR100 15" (works really well for preserving a deep low-end)
K&K Bass Max + Sadowsky Outboard Preamp (a little smoother than the K&K for the pickup only)
My bass is a Kohr K64 carved-top with Kolstein Heritage strings. Again, if I know the drummer and the circumstances surrounding the gig, I'll plan as much as I can for the equipment, but sometimes I just don't know. In those cases I go with the most flexible setup, which is the first one.
Thanks in advance... sorry for being long-winded.
