A sunny Saturday afternoon at a summer street festival was the gig. I've done it/them before using my el upright, Aria Custom Shop, and never had a problem with the SVT supplied stage amp. So, yesterday I decided to take my carved upright, w/Wilson pickup, and just in case I took along my TC 450 to help get a quicker sound because you've only got minutes between acts and I've never been an SVT-guy. .... Well, by the title, you can guess volume was at an all time low because of the feedback coming from my bass and the big, I'm guessing 4x10, maybe 6x10", SVT cab. ..... Any of my single 12" cabs would have filled the stage with little or no problem and the PA and sound man would have done the rest. Lucky for me, the Wilson does a nice job and I could hear the mains and had a small monitor in front to help me but, I felt I was digging in too deep in my playing, because of the lack of stage sound, to enjoy the gig. ..... I know this has been addressed before but maybe someone can suggest how to get around this problem in the future because I'd like to bring the 'big boy' out for these, 'quick turnover where sound check is limited to plug and play, we'll fix it later', festival occasions.
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Double Bass Hollow Stage Horror
- Thread starter Acoop
- Start date
I got by this problem exactly with my Full Circle at festivals by adding one of Clark Biesele's wonderfully natural sounding electromagnetic pickups and blending the two through an old Raven Labs PMB-1 preamp. Even with an SVT on stage, sound guys have told me it was the best, most natural upright sound they'd heard live. [I had big time feedback problems beforehand.]
Hey JM ...... Then I might as well us my el upright which is more the sound that magnetic pickups give. But blending the two together is a good idea.
Here's a couple of samples:
(1) Victor Krauss using the pickup with Lyle Lovett's band on David Letterman's show:
(2) Less inspiring perhaps, me using my combination at 2013 Halifax Jazz Festival with big rig right behind me:
Clark makes all the pickups by hand in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia which is about an hour's drive southwest of me. You can adjust just about every aspect of the pickup including individual string gains, phase, etc. The sound is remarkably good, very acoustic in character and without any piezo quack. Here's Clark playing his pickup only on his ancient, clunky upright. The somewhat dry, plucky sound is what that bass sounds like acoustically (I've played it).
(1) Victor Krauss using the pickup with Lyle Lovett's band on David Letterman's show:
(2) Less inspiring perhaps, me using my combination at 2013 Halifax Jazz Festival with big rig right behind me:
Clark makes all the pickups by hand in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia which is about an hour's drive southwest of me. You can adjust just about every aspect of the pickup including individual string gains, phase, etc. The sound is remarkably good, very acoustic in character and without any piezo quack. Here's Clark playing his pickup only on his ancient, clunky upright. The somewhat dry, plucky sound is what that bass sounds like acoustically (I've played it).
^^ interesting thing about that video is how far the amp has been raised off the floor. Hard to do when you're relying on a supplied backline.
Personally I would be reluctant to rock up to an outdoor festival stage and use a supplied backline - too many uncontrolled variables. I've recently discovered the joys of a powered wedge on a speaker stand. Set up your amp 3 feet away at ear level and hear yourself clearly without needing to compete with the stage. The rest of the band can hear you through their own wedges and drum fills if necessary.
The last gig I did was unreasonably loud for an upright bass but I could still hear with the K10 pointed straight at me.
Personally I would be reluctant to rock up to an outdoor festival stage and use a supplied backline - too many uncontrolled variables. I've recently discovered the joys of a powered wedge on a speaker stand. Set up your amp 3 feet away at ear level and hear yourself clearly without needing to compete with the stage. The rest of the band can hear you through their own wedges and drum fills if necessary.
The last gig I did was unreasonably loud for an upright bass but I could still hear with the K10 pointed straight at me.
If you mean the video with me in it, the supplied backline 410 is on top of a 115 or 118 which is in turn resting on the floor. GK 800RB. There was no trouble, and you can see my little Raven Labs preamp resting on top. Did another festival stop immediately thereafter with a backline SVT and 810. Again, no trouble and very positive tone feedback from a bass colleague in the audience and the sound guy way back in a cabin.
That Lyle video is old. ...... I remember years ago going through this and settled on an el upright for such gigs, but now wanting to get back to a upright feel and tone with my Wilson, which is a very good pickup. .... I think I'll go check out the Headway preamps I've been reading about. ..... Anyone would like to chime in about your Headway experience please do.
