Need help picking out Bass Microphone...

[R Baer]

I want to start Mic'ing my Genzler Bass rig at a big church I play at and wanted some good recommendations for a good Mic to do it with. I've never mic'd my rig before so I need some good suggestions of products that have been used my the TB brethren.

Personally, I would stick with going direct in that situation and I think the difference in the overall mix would be pretty negligible. If your tone relies on the sound of a specially voiced cab or combo, like say an Ampeg B-15, then sure, mic it up. In any other instance though, I would just go direct and save yourself and FOH the trouble of having to deal with another mic and any bleed through issues.

 

[hogman22]

I have the Heil PR40 and I have Shure SM57. To my ears the Heil is hands down the better sounding mic

 

[the slug]

It’s just a bass guitar.

heretic! string him up!

 

[andykeating]

I have my AKGD112 on my cab fairly regularly and our sound guy always gets a nice sound blending that with the DI. Gets a fair hammering on here but I think it does a good job and isn't expensive either.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

This is my recommendation too if your sold on using a mic. As a lot of people suggest a direct out from your amp or a DI box is an easier solution and should work just fine.

Totally agree! To your point... Reminds me of a funny ritual I end up doing over and over... I often record DI + mics at the same time, agonizing over mic placement, only to mute the mic’d tracks and just use the DI on the final mix.

Usually the only time mics seem to be a noticeable improvement over DI to me is when using an overdriven, distorted or fuzzed out sound. Especially through a tube amp.

 

[DriesG]

Our tech always uses a Beyerdynamic M160 on my cab: sounds incredible on a good cabinet.
Electrovoice RE20 is also a good, reliable and tested option, but a bit more dark sounding.

fyi: amp out / mic = 50/50 mix on the board.

 

[mellowinman]

I said the differences were insignificant. Rather than post a link, why don't you find out what the differences are by comparing the two? Don't forget to experiment with the ball off and on. That way, you'll have actual knowledge.

BTW, It's "miking" not "mic'ing". "Micing" is what cats do.

This is a common misconception. "Mousing" is what cats do. "Micing" is illegal for cats, and the penalties are severe. Many a cat family has been left homeless over parents incatcerated and sometimes, even decatpitated. Incidentally, just to make sure we are completely transparent, a "loser" is one who loses, whereas "looser" is less tight. Also, "for all intensive purposes" is so wrong, that it can cause cancer in lab rats.

 

[mellowinman]

Mousing is what cats do.

mousing in American
(ˈmaʊsɪŋ)
noun
1. the act of Invalid Link Removed or catching Invalid Link Removed
2. Nautical Invalid Link Removed strung across the Invalid Link Removed between the point and Invalid Link Removed of a hook to keep something attached from slipping off

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This detracts from my joke. Always have to be a smarty pants, eh?

 

[Xandrell]

EV Re20

THIS

 

[Slevage]

I never mic bass cabs. If I did, I would reach for an AKG d112, or a Shure beta 52.
Audio tecnica makes a low frequency mic with both condenser, and dynamic capsules (2 cables) that might be sweet.
One of the hurdles to micing a bass cab is the tweeters. If they are part of your sound you're going to have to move that mic back about two feet, which may compromise your attack.

Best answer I’ve seen.
You need a microphone that can handle high pressure levels to do it right.
If you have a tweeter, you can ignore mic’ing it and get the highs by mixing a direct signal.

 

[Slevage]

I said the differences were insignificant. Rather than post a link, why don't you find out what the differences are by comparing the two? Don't forget to experiment with the ball off and on. That way, you'll have actual knowledge.

BTW, It's "miking" not "mic'ing". "Micing" is what cats do.

Micing snd mic’ing are two different words.
In English, the ‘ is used to replace the missing letters. Mic is short for microphone.

 

[Slevage]

Honestly, there’s hardly a nickel’s worth of difference in the sound of an SM57 and an SM58 with the ball unscrewed. Actually, the ball works nice on BG. SM58 w/o ball is my favorite Leslie cabinet upper rotor mic.

The act of placing a microphone for the purposes of recording or amplification is called miking. Mick miked Mike’s drums with mics.

Mic’ is short for microphone.
Mic’ing is a different word than mic’ing.
I’m not sure where mik comes from.

 

[slamsinger]

I’ve always used a sm57
They def enhance the mids
And you’ll get more than enough low end from the DI
I always DI and mic
The mic I put a low pass on and use it mainly for the mids and cab sound
Helps get the bass more in the mix live
They work fantastic on bass cabs and it’s a fairly inexpensive option vs the optional bass drum mics that are popular
Just my opinion

 

[bass40hz]

Audix D6

 

[flatfender]

Most of the stages I play on are tight so I use an AKG P2 and an AmpClamp VT-Pro eliminating a mic stand

https://www.akg.com/Microphones/Dynamic Microphones/P2.html?dwvar_P2_color=Black-GLOBAL-Current#start=1

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Here's a crappy enlarged pic showing it on my GK 2X212 stack (with the horns turned off).

 

[Gizmot]

Honestly, there’s hardly a nickel’s worth of difference in the sound of an SM57 and an SM58 with the ball unscrewed. Actually, the ball works nice on BG. SM58 w/o ball is my favorite Leslie cabinet upper rotor mic.

The act of placing a microphone for the purposes of recording or amplification is called miking. Mick miked Mike’s drums with mics.

The SM58 and SM57 actually use the same transducer, so over most of the response range there isn't much difference. What difference is there is caused by the change in proximity effect by varying the distance between the source and capsule. Both of these mics have a rising response into what's called the intelligibility range (this is a big peak reaching into the 4,000 - 6,000 Hz range).

well..the obvious answer is that there are a lot of mic companies that make good mics..every mic company makes mics that cover a variety of frequency ranges..so for bass..you want to get a mic that covers the low frequencies..having worked for a sound company for a lot of years..I can speak from experience..I always use a 421 Sennheiser for kick drum and bass guitar..frequency response goes down to 30 HZ..has a 5 position bass rolloff select switch..and will handle high sound pressure levels..retails for $380..buy with a discount coupon during certain times of the year and you can get 15 to 25% off..many others will do the job..but the 421 is the king of low frequency..the AKG D112 is also a very nice mic..it will go down to 20HZ its around $200..the Heil PR 40 is very good too..it goes down to 28 HZ and costs close to what the Sennheiser does..the Electro Voice RE 20 is also a good mic..and will go down to 45 HZ..the Electro Voice RE 320 will go down to 30 HZ..Shure 57 will go down to 40 HZ and Shure 58 will go down to 50 HZ..

The biggest difference in the sound quality of some of these mics is how much proximity effect (up-close bass boost) they have. The EV RE-20 and RE-320 are designed to minimize the proximity effect (that's what all the ports on the side of the mic do). Another factor is whether the capsule is a large diaphragm or not. The AKG D112 and the EVs have large diaphragms (1-inch). The Shure's only have a 0.5-inch capsule, and there is no way that they will go as low in response. Forget what the specs say - listen to them.

 

[Boundary Effect]

This one is probably over kill for your application; however, the Beyerdynamic M88 is an outstanding choice.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

...'cause if they have horns and the sound you prefer has the horns as part of it, mic'ing the speaker will fail to get the treble from the horn into the signal. bass cab mic'ing usually happens with tweeterless cabs and a more lo-fi rock tone overall.

This is especially important if, like many cabinets, your high-mids actually cross over into the horn/tweeter (I always wince a little in the amps forum when I hear "I don't like horns, so I turn mine off," knowing that their woofers very well could not be full range and they are essentially throwing a blanket over their cab). It is possible to still capture a two-way cabinet with one mic, particularly if it has a cardoid pattern, but you can't really effectively close mic one (IMHO), which means you take up a larger footprint and have to compensate for the distance between the drivers and mic with much more gain at the desk.

With that said, I use a Heil PR40 on my one-way cabinets and absolutely love it. While not a traditional guitar mic, it kills in that application too - both very full sounding and super detailed.

 

[Big Hoss]

For the money, and for the consistency I'd just go DI. Of course I could really stir things up and say that in a church there's no discernible difference between a $700.00 Riddi, or a $20 behringer.

Does your Genzier have a direct out?

FWIW, in one of the churches we attend and play in, we use DI for the main worship service stage. The youth / mid week service sanctuary stage uses a Crate BX-100 of which I have some prior knowledge (I donated it), and a Behringer XM8500 mic, again I donated it.... It works great for the venue at hand.

 

[Bassworship1]

My cab's will be the Genzler array Cabs so they are different from normal bass cabs in that they don't have a Horn and instead run a array of smaller speakers.