Double Bass Microphone inside the bass?

[Robert]

Hello guys,

I've seen some bassists stick a microphone inside their bass, fitted with foam in the F-hole. This is setup is of course for live purposes, and from I what I can remember it sounded quite good blended with a pickup.

Does any of you have any experiences from this?

When talking about loudspeakers the tonecurve inside the speaker is identical to the outside sound except for a -12dB / octave tilt. Can this be true for the double bass as well?

 

[Adrian Cho]

I've not tried it myself but I know others that have. The endpin mic originally made by Ampeg (amplified peg) was an attempt at this and it it didn't last long. Someone recently brought out a new mic on an endpin - not sure how it sounds. You can also put a mic in through the f-hole which is the technique used by a couple of guys I know.

The sound inside is pretty mushy and boomy. To counteract the harshness of a pickup, it can be useful but on its own it's useless. Simplistically, there are two ways to create an amplified sound:

a) reproduce the sound
b) recreate the sound

My aim with the bass has always been to do the former, hence items like the AMT, Dyn-B, Pub. As soon as you introduce a not so great pickup, you're into b).