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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

I've yet to record with the WA... (we keep getting snowed out here in Virginia) but I am looking forward to it. I'm sorta' at the mercy and whim of an engineer who prefers to mic cabs than record from a di source.:banghead: I'm hoping to convince him that the other live mics in the room (we're tracking live takes in the same room) will give him the "air moving" he keeps talking about. We'll see...

I did a recording just recently blending a DI and an RE20 in front of the WA+Berg HS210. The engineer was surprised at how similar the 2 tracks sounded - almost indistinguishable.
 
I am NOT a fan of any kick drum mics on bass. Although many Live FOH will use it to mic my cab along with my REDDi.. I dont like the Peaky type of tone or weirdness the Shure 52 or AKG 112 does..
My all time two bass cab mics are the EV RE20.. And Neuman u87.. You can usually get a U87 in a studio, but in all my years of gigging i have never nor do i expect to ever see a neuman U87 or 47 on a live gig... too much $$$$
But an RE20 is rugged and sounds GREAT since it has a large diaphragm and is dynamic in style.
Ive had good results with a SM57 too.. it all depends...
JimmyM has had some goood results with a Heil mic that is a RE20 Clone in many ways and much less $$

But when i can, i avoid a kick drum mic ...
Will the crowd notice.. Most likely not but if you are on IEMs you will hear it.
 
The only issue with Mic and DI when tracking is making sure the phase of both channels are aligned... A few milliseconds forward or back can really change the tone of the bass.. Some in good and some in bad.. Back in teh day there was no moving a track milliseconds ahead or back in Protools.. Thats so easy these days.. Engineers would come out and move a mic near or far ( i mean inches) from teh speaker grill... then they had teh 180 degree flip on the neve or ssl.. then they came out with digital delay to time align. Oh the old days ha...
At times I work with two engineer guys that just do it visually in Protools and its real cool.. They have been showing me how to align DI and Mic so when i do tracks at my home studio DAW , i have it down.. And the WA sounds great with a mic on it... Very thick.. Quite a unique little amp...
 
I have an old Sennheiser E602 that I use both live and in recording as well. Better IMHO than the Shure or AKG when I compared them way back then. Can't speak on the E602-II, mixed opinions online about the changes.

I would like to pick up an RE20 though, as I got to try one before and it was nice.
 
I'm just going to forward a link to this page to our engineer... it's great to have access to informed experience. Thanks guys!
 
Hi all,

To help preserve the tone and punch, I am running a GT10-B though the effects loop on the WA. The effects I am using are compressor ("160 rack") full time, and occasionally a distortion patch and several synth patches. About 90% of the time it is used with just the comp and I love adjusting my volume by foot pedal and not damaging the tone as I would if I was using the GT10B in between the bass and the amp and/or adjusting the volume on the bass. Bass is Lull MV5 with his custom vintage Duncan and use them in passive with pan to suit the song. WA input is on passive.

The trouble I am having is getting the synth to sustain with the WA and somehow I am not having the same trouble with similar setup with a Aguilar TH500. Maybe because the TH500 doesn't have a cut in the effects loop and the WA does?

Any ideas?

Thank for any advice.
-Bob
 
Hi all,

To help preserve the tone and punch, I am running a GT10-B though the effects loop on the WA. The effects I am using are compressor ("160 rack") full time, and occasionally a distortion patch and several synth patches. About 90% of the time it is used with just the comp and I love adjusting my volume by foot pedal and not damaging the tone as I would if I was using the GT10B in between the bass and the amp and/or adjusting the volume on the bass. Bass is Lull MV5 with his custom vintage Duncan and use them in passive with pan to suit the song. WA input is on passive.

The trouble I am having is getting the synth to sustain with the WA and somehow I am not having the same trouble with similar setup with a Aguilar TH500. Maybe because the TH500 doesn't have a cut in the effects loop and the WA does?

Any ideas?

Thank for any advice.
-Bob

Have you tried running your effects direct into the amp's input? If the problem goes away, it's something related to the effects loop.
 
I have also had great luck recording with my WA and doing DI + Mic'd cab. For me the best DI+mic'd cab combinations I can remember have been a Berg CN212 (mine), and then a no name TL606 cab that was in a particular studio I did some work in - had that cool, earthy/barky/woody low mid loaded Bag End sound to my ears.

The WA DI certainly sounds great by itself, but adding the mic'd track too, really brings the joy IME. added depth, "air", punch, ect. FWIW, while good DI's sound good (reductive statement I know), to me, even good DI's can sound kind of "flat" or neutral (not in the best acoustic sense of the word). I always like to add a mic'd cab track when I get the option to warm up the DI quality.

I'll add that I tried out a Behringer B1 condenser earlier in a small home recording venue this year and was really surprised at how nice it sounded. It's certainly no Neumann or even an EV RE, but for $100 it punched way above its expected weight class.
 
I know that someone asked about effects that we use with our WA amps. I have a pedalboard with an Eventide Pitchfactor, a Zoom B3, and a Darkglass B3K.
I only use the Pitchfactor as a detuner, as I don't like drop-tuning my E string. I use the Zoom B3 for the SVT amp simulator. I have used these effects with my Carbine M6 for a while now; the high-end grind of that SVT simulator with the punch of the Carbine sounds great. The B3K gives me overdrive for some songs.
Now that I have a WA, the only effect I think I'll ever use with it is the Pitchfactor, if I need to tune down. The overdrive from the WA is better than anything I can generate with the B3K, and the SVT simulator doesn't do anything to improve the WA's sound. It truly has made my life easier!
 
I know that someone asked about effects that we use with our WA amps. I have a pedalboard with an Eventide Pitchfactor, a Zoom B3, and a Darkglass B3K.
I only use the Pitchfactor as a detuner, as I don't like drop-tuning my E string. I use the Zoom B3 for the SVT amp simulator. I have used these effects with my Carbine M6 for a while now; the high-end grind of that SVT simulator with the punch of the Carbine sounds great. The B3K gives me overdrive for some songs.
Now that I have a WA, the only effect I think I'll ever use with it is the Pitchfactor, if I need to tune down. The overdrive from the WA is better than anything I can generate with the B3K, and the SVT simulator doesn't do anything to improve the WA's sound. It truly has made my life easier!

Yea I asked about running effects with the WA. I love the sound of the B3K and VMT thru headphones and the WA, but wow does the overdrive on the WA kick some serious butt...makes me seriously just consider going back to guitar -> amp
 
Yea I asked about running effects with the WA. I love the sound of the B3K and VMT thru headphones and the WA, but wow does the overdrive on the WA kick some serious butt...makes me seriously just consider going back to guitar -> amp


I don't blame you; I will be doing the same for certain shows. I'll need the thick, pasty overdrive from the B3K cuz I do Anesthesia, but other than that, I'll be turning up the gain on the WA.
I also tried out various effects on the Zoom B3; the Tube Screamer sounds really good through the WA.
 
A real cool Duo sitting in my messy den...
But the WA head sounds GREAT with this cab in 3 way or 2way V-Vibe mode.
The WA sounds pretty good with the 1155.. Im going to to pull the WA head from the combo and use just the head with the 1155 today..

Here is todays photo set up.. Crummy iphone pic with lens distortion giving a slight fisheye effect.. But you get the idea

photo-8.gif
 
Just plugged the WA in last night for the first time since getting a Way Huge Pork Loin. Wow. My P and J basses sounded wonderful with that pedal. My hope was to compare the WA overdrive with the Pork through my other clean amps (Buster & Monique). However the WA with the Loin was dreamy.