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Double Bass Neumann KM 185 users speak low!

#41
bonaventura said:
Vincent

I used it "pur" -- without anything else. Only way to go, I thought, if I want to hear how well the mic works. But like you, I now feel that the KM 185 is really all I need.

Placement: Still experimenting. But I use an H-Clamp and had the mic pointing at a slight angle "up and in", the tip of the mic was about 8 cm distant from the middle of the area or spot between the G-string foot of the bridge and the round top hole of the F-hole. If I went too far towards the F-hole, the sound got a bit too thick (not enough clarity of the string articulations), but if I pointed it say further in above the bridge towards the middle of the top, the sound was too thin for my taste.

What do you think of that? Your mic seems to be quite a ways out, 20 cm would seem too far for me. What would yours sound like in the position I described?

Bill
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Great to read about your experiences! Especially since you have about the same setup as me: KM 185 + H-clamp. I never really tried to put the mic closer to the top, but I certainly will experiment with your suggested position tomorrow (when no one else is at home, and I have a day off)!

Thanx and cheers,
Vincent
 
#42
Vunz said:
Great to read about your experiences! Especially since you have about the same setup as me: KM 185 + H-clamp. I never really tried to put the mic closer to the top, but I certainly will experiment with your suggested position tomorrow (when no one else is at home, and I have a day off)!

Thanx and cheers,
Vincent
Click to expand...

Just a note to other H clamp users (especially using a condenser like you are) check out the planet waves mic cables. They make one model with a flexible 90 degree xlr jack so that you dont have this big extra xlr barrel off the end...It makes cable routing much easier.
V
I'm really going to try and get my hands on a 185 to try. Thanks for your posts.
The H clamp is really an incredible tool. I really appreciate the attention to detail and the excellent design that Robert put into it. I've been using mine every night and it makes no noise, does not slip and does not mar the bass. I even leave it on the bass with the mic attached and put the case right over it. (I place the mic just under the fingerboard)
 
#44
Vunz said:
Great to read about your experiences! Especially since you have about the same setup as me: KM 185 + H-clamp. I never really tried to put the mic closer to the top, but I certainly will experiment with your suggested position tomorrow (when no one else is at home, and I have a day off)!

Thanx and cheers,
Vincent
Click to expand...

At a practice tonight I discovered that the mic transmits a more natural sounding tone -- less thickness, more like my bass itself acoustically -- if I point it at the middle of the top between bridge and fingerboard. I think this is closer to what you have been doing, only the mic was probably only 10 cm away from target. Even so, I had to turn the amp up a bit to get the good sound.

Enjoy your day off and let's keep the diaglogue rolling. Waar woont je in Nederland, in welke stad?

Bill
 
#46
bonaventura said:
At a practice tonight I discovered that the mic transmits a more natural sounding tone -- less thickness, more like my bass itself acoustically -- if I point it at the middle of the top between bridge and fingerboard. I think this is closer to what you have been doing, only the mic was probably only 10 cm away from target. Even so, I had to turn the amp up a bit to get the good sound.

Enjoy your day off and let's keep the diaglogue rolling. Waar woont je in Nederland, in welke stad?

Bill
Click to expand...

Hi Bill,

I live in Amsterdam (answering the question bill asked in Dutch). I tried the same position as you describe in the quote above, and the result is amazing! Somehow, I never tried placing the mic closer than about 20 cm. But now, placing it in the same angle, and pointing to the same position as shown in my pic earlier in this thread, only closer to the top of the bass (7 cm to be exact), makes my amplified sound even more perfect! I always thought that placing a mic so close to the top made it impossible to pick up the string "noise", which I love and which in my view contributes significantly to the "acoustic" sound of the bass, but the reverse holds true. The mic is able to pick up those sounds far better, resulting in a far more articulate sound. I do not have a gig until next week, but I am dying to find out how this mic position works in a real gig situation.

I will keep you all posted. I love this thread!

Cheers,
Vincent
 
#47
I am enjoying this thread too very much. I have spent lots of time experimenting with mic placement, both w/ my AMT (and its long gooseneck) and my Beyer M 88 w/ an H-clamp. With these systems, the possibilities are many. Even small differences in placement seem to sometimes yield big differences in output and tone.

The distance and the angle of the head of the mic from/to the table, and well as its general location all seem to introduce tonal variances. I too like the way my mics sound halfway between the bridge and the end of the FB. Positioning the mic further away from the table seems in certain spots to get a bigger sound, with more blossom to it. But close in to the table sometimes generates a harder sound that still has lots of wood in it. I bought windscreens for both my mics so I could set them real close to the table if I wanted without worrying about an occasional bump. Got that idea from Bob Branstetter. And I agree, string "noise" and the initial attack and pop on each pizz pluck are critical ingredients for me.

So please keep the posts coming! Always willing to try new things for the most natural sound w/ the most output and least bleed. I will include pics from my end if I come across anything new and noteworthy.
 
#48
bassphase said:
So how do you like the 185 compared to the AMT?
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Hmmm... I like them both. All in all, I think the KM 185 is a higher class mic in terms of the sound coming from my amp (A.I. Clarus 2R III and Wizzy 112). At this stage I am just getting to know the KM 185, am experimenting, so I might want to change these views. But that being said, here goes.

Placement. The KM 185 (on the H-Clamp or other stand) can be fixed to point at any spot, at any distance, from the top. This is a flexibility that the AMT does not have. I find the gooseneck of the AMT is sometimes a factor in itself -- sometimes it stays put, sometimes not. The AMT's gooseneck can also be in the way when bowing, and the flexibility of the KM 185 would allow you to avoid that issue.

Sound quality. My immediate impressions after using the KM 185 at several practices is that the sound coming from my amp is even more natural than the AMT, richer in tonality. Which, I think, is saying a lot. As with the AMT, if the KM 185 is too close or over the F-hole, it tends to a very thick sound, even boominess and feedback. But 1" to the side of the treble F-hole produces a wonderful sound from the amp. Deep full tones, all natural, clear, like my bass without an amp. Still farther inward, pointing to the space between bridge and fingerboard, I heard a very acoustic sound -- just like my bass, hey! eureka! -- coming from the amp.

Feedback. I think the KM 185 will feed back slightly sooner than the AMT. Given the higher level of sound quality, I think I can learn to live with the feed back aspect.

Ease of use. The AMT is quite practical, easy to use. Just attach it and you get a good sound from the amp. I think the KM 185 invites a lot more experimentation because you can put it literally wherever you want. Recommendation would be to contact Jonas Lohse and get an H-Clamp (if you're outside the EU he can send it to you for about EUR 81 -- no sales tax). It comes with some velcro strain resistors so you can attach the cable you're using to your end pin in case somebody walking across the stage trips on your cable, the jerk would yank your mic off if you didn't secure it.

That's my two cents for now. Ask me again in a few weeks or months...
 

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