Does anybody have any first hand experience with this concept - either the old Ampeg or a new version? It seems like an easy way to mic a bass. Just put a small format condenser omni on the endpin with some isolation. Jon
Just conjecture, but if mics are supposed to be like ears, I don't see how this could work. Nobody I know has listened to the bass from the inside, and even if you could I doubt it would sound very good. I know they do it with acoustic guitar, but that's a different frequency range and volume level.
Do you know this one: http://www.amplistring.de/english/index.htm I don't believe that it sounds good. The db's sound is originating outside the instrument, not inside.
You know, I can't recall in over 30 years of playing where a mic stuck inside the body of an acoustic instrument sounded good. All those frequencies bouncing all over the place and the boominess inside the body add up to mud.
I thought it was interesting to learn that Ron Carter uses (or used) a pickup somehow integrated with the soundpost on his bass. The Sept. 2003 edition of Bass Player magazine which featured Ron on the cover says at that time he was combining a Realist with "a Kurmann system, which is built into the soundpost inside the bass."
The Kurmann Soundpost is out of production. But they still offer the violin version. You'll find their link at my website: http://www.doublebassguide.com/4_pickups.html
