When I was researching basses, one luthier I talked to regarding the Shen Gemunder 7/8 (which I did buy) said: "Oh, you mean the one with the built in sub-woofer".
That's probably the reason I'm willing to lug a 7/8 size bass around. I love that 'kick in the gut' low end that it has. Rich, full, and powerful. I have now managed to get an amplified sound of that bass that, I think, is virtually indistiguishable from the true acoustic sound.
First, to get the best acoustic sound to my ears, I switched from being a long-time Spirocore Mittel user to Evah Pirazzi Weichs. I did so at first to get more bow-friendly strings since I was playing in a community orchestra. Now, however, I play 98% pizz and I LOVE these strings on my bass.
The next piece of the puzzle for me was getting an Ischell Microphone. I've always preferred the natural sound of a mic for the bass over a piezzo, but the common problems of feedback and bleed were always there. Enter the Ischell: because it is a 'contact mic' sealed to the table of the bass with putty, there is no direct open-air access to the mic. Both feedback and bleed are virtually gone, leaving only the pure, natural sound of the bass. I also have a Lifeline pickup mounted which I often mix with the Ischell - especially if I want a little extra 'punch' in the low end.
The next piece is my pre-amp. I have been happily using my Headway EDB-2 for years, but it had developed some scratchiness in the volume pots which I couldn't knock out with De-Oxit. The good folks at Headway sent me new pots (for free) which I just had installed yesterday.
While I was waiting to get the pots installed (I tend to procrastinate) I bought a Zoom A3 pre-amp as a backup. This is an amazing little box that has two channels - one for pickup, one for mic. It provides phantom power if you need it. It also allows me to pre-set two different settings - I set one for pizz, one for arco and can toggle between them with the footswitch. I can choose from a number of effects from which I can assign 2 and adjust them via pushbuttons and knobs via an LCD menu window. Among other things I can include BOTH a Graphic Equalizer AND a dual Parametric EQ. (It also has numerous other effects such as Flanger, Reverb etc etc which are probably more useful for an acoustic guitar and which I don't bother with).
The next item in the chain (and arguably the least important is the amplifier. I have been using a GB Shuttle 3.0 which worked very well and could be used direct without a pre-amp as it has a 1 megohm input AND a semiparametric mid). I recently traded that for a Shuttle 6.2 which hasn't arrived yet. Meanwhile I am using a Crown power amp in bridged mode which gives me 700 watts at 8 ohms (more than I need).
The final and very important piece is the speaker cab I just got - a used Acoustic Image Contra EX series 3 with a 10 inch down-firing woofer and a 5 inch and a tweeter facing forward.
It seems like forever that I've been reading here on TB that you don't need or even WANT a speaker that reproduced your lowest fundamental. The 1st and 2nd harmonics and 'Psycho-Acoustics' are said by many to be more important (and Francis has made a successful cottage industry out of providing his much loved Fdeck pre-amps to minimize those very low frequencies. While I understand and appreciate the problems posed by sub-harmonics and overextension of your speaker cone, I am unwilling to give up that fat, low end sound which is the reason I chose my particular DB.
Check the frequency specs on your speaker (or a speaker you'd like to get) and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that your -3 DB point is probably 60 hz or above (if it's even given). I may be in the minority here but remember, I bought the bass with the built in sub-woofer. My AI Contra goes to 40hz at -3db and 30 hz at -10db. For the first time I can hear the fundamental low notes thru my speaker.
Just for context, I usually play in quieter to mid-loud settings where the drums are NEVER miced and the grand piano is usually not miced (except with the quintet I work with). Perhaps none of this would apply if I played Psychobilly or some such, but I don't.
Bottom line: it's been a long gear-filled slog to get to where I am, now having a sound that, to me, is as close to studio recorded sound as I can hope to get in a live setting. Perhaps it's time to find some other outlet for my OCD tendencies.
Cheers
The Gear Junkie
That's probably the reason I'm willing to lug a 7/8 size bass around. I love that 'kick in the gut' low end that it has. Rich, full, and powerful. I have now managed to get an amplified sound of that bass that, I think, is virtually indistiguishable from the true acoustic sound.
First, to get the best acoustic sound to my ears, I switched from being a long-time Spirocore Mittel user to Evah Pirazzi Weichs. I did so at first to get more bow-friendly strings since I was playing in a community orchestra. Now, however, I play 98% pizz and I LOVE these strings on my bass.
The next piece of the puzzle for me was getting an Ischell Microphone. I've always preferred the natural sound of a mic for the bass over a piezzo, but the common problems of feedback and bleed were always there. Enter the Ischell: because it is a 'contact mic' sealed to the table of the bass with putty, there is no direct open-air access to the mic. Both feedback and bleed are virtually gone, leaving only the pure, natural sound of the bass. I also have a Lifeline pickup mounted which I often mix with the Ischell - especially if I want a little extra 'punch' in the low end.
The next piece is my pre-amp. I have been happily using my Headway EDB-2 for years, but it had developed some scratchiness in the volume pots which I couldn't knock out with De-Oxit. The good folks at Headway sent me new pots (for free) which I just had installed yesterday.
While I was waiting to get the pots installed (I tend to procrastinate) I bought a Zoom A3 pre-amp as a backup. This is an amazing little box that has two channels - one for pickup, one for mic. It provides phantom power if you need it. It also allows me to pre-set two different settings - I set one for pizz, one for arco and can toggle between them with the footswitch. I can choose from a number of effects from which I can assign 2 and adjust them via pushbuttons and knobs via an LCD menu window. Among other things I can include BOTH a Graphic Equalizer AND a dual Parametric EQ. (It also has numerous other effects such as Flanger, Reverb etc etc which are probably more useful for an acoustic guitar and which I don't bother with).
The next item in the chain (and arguably the least important is the amplifier. I have been using a GB Shuttle 3.0 which worked very well and could be used direct without a pre-amp as it has a 1 megohm input AND a semiparametric mid). I recently traded that for a Shuttle 6.2 which hasn't arrived yet. Meanwhile I am using a Crown power amp in bridged mode which gives me 700 watts at 8 ohms (more than I need).
The final and very important piece is the speaker cab I just got - a used Acoustic Image Contra EX series 3 with a 10 inch down-firing woofer and a 5 inch and a tweeter facing forward.
It seems like forever that I've been reading here on TB that you don't need or even WANT a speaker that reproduced your lowest fundamental. The 1st and 2nd harmonics and 'Psycho-Acoustics' are said by many to be more important (and Francis has made a successful cottage industry out of providing his much loved Fdeck pre-amps to minimize those very low frequencies. While I understand and appreciate the problems posed by sub-harmonics and overextension of your speaker cone, I am unwilling to give up that fat, low end sound which is the reason I chose my particular DB.
Check the frequency specs on your speaker (or a speaker you'd like to get) and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that your -3 DB point is probably 60 hz or above (if it's even given). I may be in the minority here but remember, I bought the bass with the built in sub-woofer. My AI Contra goes to 40hz at -3db and 30 hz at -10db. For the first time I can hear the fundamental low notes thru my speaker.
Just for context, I usually play in quieter to mid-loud settings where the drums are NEVER miced and the grand piano is usually not miced (except with the quintet I work with). Perhaps none of this would apply if I played Psychobilly or some such, but I don't.
Bottom line: it's been a long gear-filled slog to get to where I am, now having a sound that, to me, is as close to studio recorded sound as I can hope to get in a live setting. Perhaps it's time to find some other outlet for my OCD tendencies.
Cheers
The Gear Junkie
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Sir, the sound of modern jazz was built on juzek!
