Double Bass fishman pro platinum bass

[akmusicfreak]

Low cut and high pass are pretty much the same thing. Just different way of saying it.

If you find issues with "boomyness" you should be able to fix it with the HIpass/ low cut on the DI.

Another tip is don't go crazy boosting the bass on your pick up.
If you find the sound to be nasally try cutting some mids instead of boosting bass.

Try to avoid floor wedges directly in front of your bass, this will cause feedback at moderate levels 80% of the time. If you are using a floor wedge stick it behind you or off to the side.

If your using a PA try and pull some of the muddyness out of the speakers by using the EQ and make a slight cut in the 110 to 220 hertz area it should help a lot.

As far as the pro plat goes try playing with the phase switch on it sometimes it helps a lot and other times does nothing.

I would suggest if you know anyone who is a (good) sound engineer buy them a six pack of their favorite brew, or a nice hand rolled cigerette if thats their thing and have them show up to your gig and just check out how you are setting things up.
They might catch some self made problems you guys are having.

If your technique has an issue you'd want to see an instructor.
If your bass had an issue you'd want a luthier to check it out.
If your sound has issues you'd want a sound engineer to check it out.

I make my living as a sound and lighting guy, and have been doing this for years now, so I'm not talking out my butt.
Just trying to help.

 

[burnunit]

Low cut and high pass are pretty much the same thing. Just different way of saying it.

If you find issues with "boomyness" you should be able to fix it with the HIpass/ low cut on the DI.

Another tip is don't go crazy boosting the bass on your pick up.
If you find the sound to be nasally try cutting some mids instead of boosting bass.

Try to avoid floor wedges directly in front of your bass, this will cause feedback at moderate levels 80% of the time. If you are using a floor wedge stick it behind you or off to the side.

If your using a PA try and pull some of the muddyness out of the speakers by using the EQ and make a slight cut in the 110 to 220 hertz area it should help a lot.

As far as the pro plat goes try playing with the phase switch on it sometimes it helps a lot and other times does nothing.

I would suggest if you know anyone who is a (good) sound engineer buy them a six pack of their favorite brew, or a nice hand rolled cigerette if thats their thing and have them show up to your gig and just check out how you are setting things up.
They might catch some self made problems you guys are having.

If your technique has an issue you'd want to see an instructor.
If your bass had an issue you'd want a luthier to check it out.
If your sound has issues you'd want a sound engineer to check it out.

I make my living as a sound and lighting guy, and have been doing this for years now, so I'm not talking out my butt.
Just trying to help.

Thanks much for the tips!

I'm not the OP and don't mean to hijack, but I very much appreciate the work that you sound guys do. My Contra II (purchased from Gollihur music, of course) has been a great help with these issues.

 

[bass dan]

great advise from admusicfreak. well the gig went better than ever. i think i have found my sound i've been looking for. not having the bass radiating from my amp on stage seemed to help quite a bit.

i play in a 3 peice string band. without a drummer i am usually pretty much keeping the time for the band and am usually fairly reluctant to stray to far from the the main groove of the song fearing the song will fall apart . i dont know if i could just hear everything more clearly or what, but had a great time tonight. was able to take some leads and still be able to come back and the song was still alive.

the fact i didnt have the amp on stage really seemed to help me hear how the bass was sitting in the mix. usually with the amp behind me, i usually felt like the bass was too loud, although most of the time people felt like they needed to hear more bass, i was reluctant to turn up because from where i was standing the bass was plenty loud.

i went ahead and jacked the volume to full on the preamp and had my input gain at about 2' oclock (just enough to have the clip light come on when i played the e string hard). had my gain on the pa at about 12 o'clock. had great bottom and really wrapped around the music quite similar to the way a good p-bass wraps around a mix. couldnt be happier with the fishman. didnt even bother to bring my amp tonight.

 

[akmusicfreak]

Good to hear your gig went well. IMHO the Plat Pro is one of the most useful pieces of gear I've had so far. I take it to any playing gig I have whether it's BG, DB or EUB.

I also appreciate any time I can play my DB without an amp. It tends to keep things real natural and organic. A DB is a PITA enough to drag around, so not having to drag an amp around also is nice.

 

[bass dan]

natural and organic is a good way to describe the tone i was able to get with the fishman. again i just used the suggested setting out of the manuel for piezo pickups and instant good tone. the difference was night and day in that club.

i have another gig tonight in a venue that has pa already in place. we have played there quite a bit and the sound guy has been able to dial in a great sound for us. i will see how he likes the di from the fishman. he never had any problem with the di from my contra so i'm looking forward to tonight. this, to this point is the best $80 bucks i have spent on bass gear.

 

[bass dan]

gig went really well. sound was as good as ever. the fishman has performed well in a outdoor situation, a bar with bad acoustic and a club with a pro sound guy. this thing is a keeper. while i have found this to be more useful to me than my contra amp, the contra is still a great combo and wont be parting with mine. i'm thinking that maybe i have not learned to eq the contra properly. i basically always left the eq flat, while somtimes cutting some tremble and mids, looking at the way the fishman eq is set is anything but flat. lows boosted with depth control at about 12 o'clock, low mids a little boosted, mids flat, high mids cut off, tremble flat. the compression set at about 11 o'clock. i have left the eq like this for 3 straight gigs and have not had a need to tweak anything once the gig has started.

it sure is nice to be able to leave my amp at home and just throw this di in my bag with a 1/4" plug and a xlr and be done.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Pro platinum users - I'm considering trying out one of these units, and everything here (and the review from Trey, who has great taste in amps) sounds great. I'm curious about a couple of things:

1) The frequency of the "low" band is listed at 30hz, and the frequency of the "low mid" band is listed at 125hz. I'm wondering where on the curve the low cut filter actually starts? (fdeck? drurb? Bueller?)

2) What does the compressor sound like in practical usage? What would be nice is if it gave a more "solid" sound for when that's called for, and then could be basically turned off when you want nuance. For instance, on a DB only gig, if a funk tune was called, could you pretty easily crank the compressor up and dial in a more Bromberg-ish sound? That would be a neat tool to have.

3) In practical use, do the guys who use this thing use the phase switch much?

Thanks in advance.

 

[akmusicfreak]

Pro platinum users - I'm considering trying out one of these units, and everything here (and the review from Trey, who has great taste in amps) sounds great. I'm curious about a couple of things:

1) The frequency of the "low" band is listed at 30hz, and the frequency of the "low mid" band is listed at 125hz. I'm wondering where on the curve the low cut filter actually starts? (fdeck? drurb? Bueller?)

2) What does the compressor sound like in practical usage? What would be nice is if it gave a more "solid" sound for when that's called for, and then could be basically turned off when you want nuance. For instance, on a DB only gig, if a funk tune was called, could you pretty easily crank the compressor up and dial in a more Bromberg-ish sound? That would be a neat tool to have.

3) In practical use, do the guys who use this thing use the phase switch much?

Thanks in advance.

1) just guessing by ears, but I'd say about 20hz, the adjustable Hipass is great really helps get rid of the crap you don't need and keep the stuff you want relavant to the space you are in are type of music you are playing.

2) 1 knob comp works well on my DB as well as my BG. It's not most versatile comp, but effective.

3) I have used the phase switch a couple of times, sometimes it makes a difference, and other times nothing. 10% of the time you will hear a drastic difference.50% of the time you'll hear a very subtle difference, and %40 of the time it doesn't seem to do much. But it's like a spare tire it's nice to have even if you don't need to use it

 

[Marc Piane]

I use one with my GK and like it. I'd recommend trying it.

That said I think you get what you pay for. By that I mean it has a ton of features for not very much money. I find that none of the features are great but all are functional.

The HPF and phase switch work well taming feedback which is my primary use for it.

The EQ is just ok. Not terribly musical. I actually end up doing any eq on the amp. There seem to be large differences between the bands and there are frequencies that you just can't get to. Part of that is the lack of bands but I think the overall curve is a little harsh.

The compressor is pretty weak. It is really just for taming transients. I'm not sure you can dial in a Bromberg-esque funk sound.

I'm a die hard user but you just have to be realistic about what the thing can do.

 

[Gearhead43]

I love my Pro Platinum. It is the only piece of gear I won't even think about selling. As far as cost versus features, out of what is on the market for DB preamps right now, it's pretty hard to beat.

The HPF will start to suck out "usable" low-end but only towards the end of the knobs travel - it mostly gets rid of infrasonics (which is GREAT for slap bass ) but also cuts alot of boomyness about halfway thru it's travel. This seems to help tighten-up the low end alot which I really like.

For guys who play loud enough to find out - that phase switch can be a feedback lifesaver. I play in a classic Country band and we play at pretty decent volumes with me thru two 2-10s and that phase switch really helps kill feedback.

I agree with Fingers on the graphic EQ section seeming notchy. A three band with semi-parametric mid control would have been better, IMO. Between the Pro Plat and my amps EQ I have plenty enough control, however.

The optical compressor is not overly powerfull seemingly, but that's what I like about it! I hate compressors usually , but this one knob deal is nice and gradual. For electric bass you can crank it a bit and get a nice punchy sound. For DB, a small amount is enough to smooth out the peaks, which is just right. Slap bass on gut strings puts a BIG demand on a bass amp and some gentle compression seems to help alot.

Batteries seem to last a VERY long time in this preamp also. It also adds a bit of warmth that seems to help tame that piezo quack quite a bit. Overall sound quality is very good, especially considering the price.