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Double Bass DPA 4099 vs AMT SP25B

#482
I can honestly say that I cant! FC, Realist, Underwood were designed while there were couple of DB players around to put their .02 cents worth in! With the DPA you can't fault the performance but as I said the design have a hole in it! I am sure that they are also reading these treads and I wont be surprised if they realized now that a short cable will do and once the XLR preamp is attached on the back of the tail piece we can just run a proper lead into our amps! I do The same now except I have a 6 foot coil neatly coiled in there that I dont really want, I wrote to them praising their product and politely asking how they come to the conclusion about the weak fragile cable but no answer at all!! In any case I love the sound I get out of it!

Roger Davis said:
Tim

Ecstatic pleasure went out of my life many years ago. So for now pragmatism takes over! A shorter cable would be great, especially as DPA now do a bass version. Could you see a Full Circle with 1+metres of cable?
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#483
SteveFreides said:
Could someone talk about what you'd need to get if you wanted a multi-instrument DPA 4099? E.g., if I wanted one mic to be able to use on my son's trumpet and my upright bass? Obviously not at the same time.

Just wondering if a single mic plus multiple adapters does the job or if you'd need a different version of the mic. For me, if I bought one, it would be great if I could use it for trumpet, acoustic guitar, and upright bass on an as-needed basis.
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I could be all wet but, yes, I think so Steve. If you can order the trumpet mount separately, which I have to believe you can, I think you'd be all set.

I'd swear I saw DPA 4099's on trumpets, trombones, and violas at a concert earlier this year. I think there is a post earlier in this thread about how to decouple the actual mic from any of the bass / violin / guitar mounts, and switch mounts.

I think in your scenario multiple (as in two) XLR adapters would be great too, as in having one w/ the high pass filter and one without. For DB, I choose the adapter without the HPF, but only because I have two adjustable HPFs I can use. For guitar or trumpet, the adapter w/ the HPF would probably be the most plug and play.
 
#484
shwashwa said:
just attach the xlr jack to your tailpiece. use a regular mic cable from there to get it into any preamp. coil the excess thin cable into a little circle and tie it up with a twist tie from a loaf of bread and just suspend it there behind the strings in the tailpiece.
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Same here, although I used plastic zip ties. The same ziptie(s) hold the XLR jack and the looped cable discreetly in place behind the tailpiece. I also put a small piece of carpet padding between the back of the tailpiece and the XLR jack to minimize any potential buzzing.
 
#485
I reply hope that someone from DPA are reading these notes. I find it sad that all these dedicated DB players improvising with zip ties, piece of carpet, access cable in the f-hole, coils dangling or hidden behind quiver and so on! In all and all for the safety of the microphone and its integrity the cable should not be longer than the FC or Realist cable! I will contact them to see if I send it to them could they shorten the cable or not!

bolo said:
Same here, although I used plastic zip ties. The same ziptie(s) hold the XLR jack and the looped cable discreetly in place behind the tailpiece. I also put a small piece of carpet padding between the back of the tailpiece and the XLR jack to minimize any potential buzzing.
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#486
just an fyi, the reason there is a long cable is because its one mic made for many different instruments, not just the double bass, and not all double bassists mount the mic in the same place where you mount it. some of us need the longer cable. the reason the cable is so thin is because its a micro mic, and a large cable simply wouldnt fit on that mic. and, the cable is not flimsy, its actually lined with kevlar, a very strong material. (they make bullet proof vests from the stuff)

timobee4 said:
I reply hope that someone from DPA are reading these notes. I find it sad that all these dedicated DB players improvising with zip ties, piece of carpet, access cable in the f-hole, coils dangling or hidden behind quiver and so on! In all and all for the safety of the microphone and its integrity the cable should not be longer than the FC or Realist cable! I will contact them to see if I send it to them could they shorten the cable or not!
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#487
Great news!!!!!! I have been talking to the relevant people and they assured me that I am not the only person rocking the boat, apparently shortening the lead is a common request they just did a job for a trumpet player and DPA is seriously looking into it. They are out to please with they great product and know full well that they can't come out with a mic putting a B behind DPA 4099 and not considering the circumstance that instrument is under. the only warranty void is on the new micro connector but that is individually guaranteed buy the professionals doing the shortening, they DPA product suppliers so its within the family. I am on my way to get it done now so I can use it for a gig tomorrow night. takes 10 minutes. great!
 
#489
timobee4 said:
Great news!!!!!! I have been talking to the relevant people and they assured me that I am not the only person rocking the boat, apparently shortening the lead is a common request they just did a job for a trumpet player and DPA is seriously looking into it. They are out to please with they great product and know full well that they can't come out with a mic putting a B behind DPA 4099 and not considering the circumstance that instrument is under. the only warranty void is on the new micro connector but that is individually guaranteed buy the professionals doing the shortening, they DPA product suppliers so its within the family. I am on my way to get it done now so I can use it for a gig tomorrow night. takes 10 minutes. great!
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Timobee,
Where are you taking the cable to be modified? Is it possible to do this in the United States?

Ric
 
#490
I believe so! I have been corresponding with a very friendly guy at DPA, he is a sax player himself so he understood my pain when I have explained to him in great details all my concerns, and believe me more you think about it more it makes much more sense to have nice short lead semi permanently attached to the back of the tail piece and high quality XLR cable to the amp. I'd imagine that in the USA you'd have to ask the distributor to make the modifications, they will cut out the the access cable from the middle starting near the micro connector leaving the connector intact! I am picking it up soon an will post some pictures later. Also, I will send you a pm with the email of Ken from DPA so he can direct you to the right people in case you hit a snag. T.
 
#491
Yeah, my cable was shortened and I am looking at semi permanently fixing it to my carved bass strung with Gamut. I can also offer comparison between my DPA & My good mates AMT! We both have the same rig (AI Clarus) and we managed to put both microphones onto the same bass at the same time, utilizing the two identical inputs, the bass is over 100 years old German baby switching between the two inputs was interesting , they both produced wonderful tones, cranking it up was no problem with the DPA nor with the AMT although the AMT had an extra attenuator in the circuit. Sneaking a little signal in from the Realist was great and the FC was awesome, The DPA was slightly more natural so I am happy with the result and will get another one that I can use on my other bass and on my didgeridoo.
 
#495
just a little note that if you use the flat adaptor, you really need some kind of hpf to control the extreme low end that is not only going to get picked up, it's going to be accentuated, thanks to the proximity effect ... or, in plain english, without a hpf, like a headway or fdeck, you can face rumble city, which is gonna do nothing but eat up the power in your amp and/or blow things up.

it remains the best sounding rig on the planet.

jeff.

b1644 said:
bolo is correct... mine, the bass version, arrived today from Sweetwater with the 6001 (flat response) adapter.


- Martin
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#496
OK, so I've played a couple of gigs with the DPA and here are my impressions...

On its own, through an AI Coda head and pole-mounted Acme B2 cab, I don't like it so much... it sounds like "a bass going through a mic" rather than "a bass"... what I mean is the sound lacks a solidity, immediacy, directness.

However, When blended with a Turner UB-1 piezo pickup, I get a great sound!

The Turner on its own puts out a huge, fat low end but sounds "plasticky" and unnatural higher on the fingerboard (very typical of a piezo pickup in my experience)... the DPA fixes this beautifully by adding in some of the natural sound of the bass. It doesn't take a lot of mic signal to make the sound come alive. The combined result is a beefy, punchy yet articulate sound.

I'm really happy with this combination. It's the best amplified sound I've ever had and I've been through a few mics and pickups (Realist, Golden Trinity mic, Schertler Dyn B, Upton Revolution).

One side effect of the DPA that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that when aimed at the top of the bass (as opposed to the f-hole) it picks up reflections of crowd noise, drums etc. This isn't a big problem except maybe for when recording.

And blending the mic with a pickup is awkward because it requires phantom power. I'm currently using one channel of the Coda for the DPA (the Coda provides phantom power) and an old Raven Labs PMB-II to handle the (high-output) Turner pickup and my EBG if doubling. The PMB-II doesn't have an XLR input so it can't be used with the DPA... I tried a matching transformer (i.e. XLR to 1/4") but that defeated the phantom power from the PMB and the DPA wouldn't work. I've ordered a D-Tar Solstice pre-amp (with phantom power AND XLR inputs) which should be a better solution for blending mic and pickup signals in the one unit (easier to mute/unmute when switching back and forth to EBG) leaving the other Coda channel free for EBG.

So, blending the DPA with a pickup means a few extra cables and controls to fiddle with but for me it's been worth the minor hassles and fairly major cost for the DPA (and now the Solstice pre) for the great sound.


- Martin
 
#497
I tried the DPA with a Solstice preamp and it did not work well at all... I could hardly get any volume from the mic... had to crank the gain way up which created a lot of hiss.

It seems the DPA performs best with more phantom power than the Solstice provides (15v). When I use the DPA straight into my Acoustic Image Coda which has 48v phantom power I get plenty of volume.

Arrggh! Now I need to look for another preamp or maybe a mini-mixer.

Suggestions?


- Martin
 
#498
b1644 said:
I tried the DPA with a Solstice preamp and it did not work well at all... I could hardly get any volume from the mic... had to crank the gain way up which created a lot of hiss.
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b1644 said:
It seems the DPA performs best with more phantom power than the Solstice provides (15v). When I use the DPA straight into my Acoustic Image Coda which has 48v phantom power I get plenty of volume.
Arrggh! Now I need to look for another preamp or maybe a mini-mixer.Suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you are comfortable with only having one channel of EQ then the Headway EDB-1 is a very nice box. It has a 18 volt power that powers up the 4099 very well (not as well as the AI mind you). It has 3 different meg ohm loads, phase reverse, and a three way low cut switch and a variable notch fliter.

Ric
 
#500
Bill Amatneek said:
Any recommendations for a preamp that would deliver the full 48 volts the DPA 4099B asks for, AND has a high pass filter built in, AND was small and light?
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Hey Bill. Amen.

As you may know, the grace m501 meets these requirements. Itchin' to try one. $545 US.

But I really want an adjustable rolloff point for the HPF (like my AI Focus), not fixed (at 75 Hz) like the grace ...

The Golden Age Pre-73 gets nice reviews, and brings 48V for the DPA, but no HPF. $300 US.

Help?
 

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