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Double Bass In Your Opinion, Where Is The Weak Link?

M

musicman5string

Inactive
Jan 17, 2006
1,188
17
#1
Here's my setup:
German bass circa 1900.
Underwood and Realist pickups.
GK MB150.

The bass unamplified sounds great. Amplified not so much, especially lately. Is it my pickups? The GK? Both? I've been hearing alot about the Full Circle and Focus amps. Are they vastly better than what I've got now? Also, seems everyone is using a mic as well to some extent.

Any and all opinions are welcome and appreciated.
 
#3
The only real way to tell without actually seeing you play the bass both amplified and unamplified would be for you to post a soundclip of you playing into a large diaphragm condenser mic in a good sounding room, then recording a track direct with the pickup and then another through the amp. Without this info, it's all just guesswork. What strings are you using?
 
#4
musicman5string said:
No one with an opinion at all?:eyebrow:

Gimmee somethin'.....

"FC is way better than realist or underwood"

"GK is the problem"

"use a preamp"

anything to help feed my neurosis for wanting to redo my setup.

Grazi.
:D
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat. Love my acoustic sound but my amped sound needs work. I have a Shen SB-90, BassMax pickup, was using a SWR LA15 cube. So I just invested in an AI clarus and a Shroeder mini12+. Great improvement but still a bit to go. I'm trying to decide whether its pre-amp time or another pick-up or add a mic. I quick scan of the "for sale" forum will give you an idea of what people have tried and not dug (at least for their sitch). I guess the answer is there is no answer and keep throwing money at it. Trial and error seems to be the norm around here. :crying:
 
#8
Chris Fitzgerald said:
The only real way to tell without actually seeing you play the bass both amplified and unamplified would be for you to post a soundclip of you playing into a large diaphragm condenser mic in a good sounding room, then recording a track direct with the pickup and then another through the amp. Without this info, it's all just guesswork. What strings are you using?
Click to expand...


Chris-
I recently recorded some stuff at home with a Studio Projects conderser mic and wasn't convinced the mic was picking up the bass as naturally as I would like, but more than that, I really haven't got a clue as to how to load up some (mp3's?) of my stuff, so I've got to speak to a few people in the know about that....

also, I'm using heliacore hybrids.
 
#9
Luke73 said:
I've heard very good things about that GKMB150 amp.

But, as previously mentioned, without soundclips isolating each component - it's very difficult to tell from the other side of the keyboard.

;)
Click to expand...

sure; Dave Holland and Charlie Haden both use it.
I swear, in the the past, my old underwood and the GK served me ok enough, but the new realist and new underwood are sounding like ass to me....but then again, that GK always sounded less than great to me...but it is sooo light and has a carrying case....

eh.
 

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