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is it normal to mic up a bass rig?

N

Nickskill

Feb 16, 2009
2
0
#1
right.... Ive been playing with a Russian big muff through an ampeg rig which gives a nice warm but powerful distortion, this has now become essential to our overall sound as a 3 piece.
My problem is that when we did our sound check the sound guy DI'd the amp to the PA and while using the big muff I got this awful "trebley" clangy bastard sound. I usually turn the master and gain pretty much full on my rig, so while playing through the PA I needed to turn the volume down by at least half! So there are two problems here, bastard clang, and low volume coming from my cab.
Now here is my question, would it be beneficial to just mic up my bass rig (instead of DI) so I can keep that big muff sound that I'm used to, and to still crank up the volume on my rig so I have more back volume to hear myself live..
Next time I play I want to ask the sound guy to mic my rig up, but was wondering if it was the done thing to do, or if it was a complete pain in the ass. If anyone could shed some light on this it would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2
With your rig, I'd say yes, mic the amp.

DI's are great, I use one all the time but I also use a VT Bass and a Sansamp GT2 for my tone which works well with a direct feed.

You'll want to use a good mic to capture that sound. My suggestions would be (in no particular order):
EV-RE20
Shure SM7B
Senneheiser MD421

If you can't get one of those, you could use a trusty old Shure SM57. I'd consider using the Terry Manning modification to the 57 if you go that route (costs nothing, is very easy and effective but requires some soldering).
 
#3
Based on your question, it seems that you have two separate issues; the first is that the sound you get from your amp doesn't translate through a DI. For that reason, miking the DI sounds like the appropriate action. But...

If your stage volume is so loud o that you have to cut the volume in half to be put into the PA, you only have two options - either bring the stage volume down or don't mic the amp.
 
#6
Thanks for the reply's guys, great help.
I play through an ampeg B1-RE head with B-410HE cab.
When playing through the PA my amp settings looked normal ie, not turned all the way up, which is the way I usually have it. I'm not sure why this is, but i'm not going to worry about that one, its the Big Muff sound which took me by surprise when I played that first gig with a new band.

If its just as simple as using a decent microphone I would do that every time, problem solved. Though,, you've got me thinking, is there a way you can get the sound of your cab without having to mic it up?
 
#7
not really. the mic is the best way really, unless your cab cant produce really deep lows without getting muddy, then you want DI. if using effects, i would mic because i think effects sound a lot different coming through different set ups. "your sound" is adjusted to your cab, so why not give that source to the FOH? just be nice about it or tell him your line out doesnt work otherwise he will hit the suck button (seems this is typical no matter what, anyway).
 
#8
I use DI and Mic combined every gig. DI being clean, mic being dirty.

The mics in prferential order for my sound (according to our FOH guru):

AKG D112
Sennheiser MD412
Beyerdynamic M 88

I normally wouldn't have expected the AKG to be the one considering the other two are held in higher regard but our FOH guy says they D112 sounds fantastic for the grunty dirty sound and pairs well with the 'clean' signal from the BDDI I run, which probably isn't that clean in reality....incidentally we both resoundingly disliked the Shure Beta 52A.

Try a few mics and see what is good for you, man.
 

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