I usually play in orchestras so I haven't really thought about amping my bass. I recently joined a Middle Eastern group (Light of East Ensemble).
Some of our gigs are acoustic but a few have been at festivals and so on. Micing the bass has always been a problem. All the usual stuff - getting the mic close enough; feedback; hearing only the E and A string; etc.
Then I remembered a photo of Charlie Haden with a mic wrapped in foam and stuck in the bridge with the wire strung through the strings near the tailpiece to keep the mic still.
We had a gig last night at a bar (London Music Club) and tried this arrangement running through the PA. It worked great.
I play arco most of the time but sometimes I pizz. Other things I do are pizz holding a small egg-maraka, sometimes I put an egg-shaker between the hair and the leather fingergrip (I play German) and sometimes I hit the strings with the egg-maraka.
The mic pick up the bass tone very well across the strings and up into thumb position. Plus, it picked up the shaker sounds. I could move with the music a bit, as well. I'll definitely be using this arrangement again.
Some of our gigs are acoustic but a few have been at festivals and so on. Micing the bass has always been a problem. All the usual stuff - getting the mic close enough; feedback; hearing only the E and A string; etc.
Then I remembered a photo of Charlie Haden with a mic wrapped in foam and stuck in the bridge with the wire strung through the strings near the tailpiece to keep the mic still.
We had a gig last night at a bar (London Music Club) and tried this arrangement running through the PA. It worked great.
I play arco most of the time but sometimes I pizz. Other things I do are pizz holding a small egg-maraka, sometimes I put an egg-shaker between the hair and the leather fingergrip (I play German) and sometimes I hit the strings with the egg-maraka.
The mic pick up the bass tone very well across the strings and up into thumb position. Plus, it picked up the shaker sounds. I could move with the music a bit, as well. I'll definitely be using this arrangement again.
