Double Bass Oh what the hell?!

[Bass.]

Is it really so hard?

is it Really.... so hard to take the sound that you make acoustically and amplify it?!

All I want to do is make the sound my bass produces louder


How can it be that hard?! I play acoustically and I've developed a decent sound, not a great sound but something I can be happy with. I have a markbass cmd121p which sounds Amazing with my lakland 5594 but when I plug in my acoustic and try to get anything louder than a little Push it sounds like crap... Ive worked with it for Hours on end which eventually turns into days and only leads to frustration

it sounds hollow, and has too much midrange. Im using a realist and I have a "schroeder" upright with a carved deck with some old velvet garbo strings.

Any suggestions as to what I could be doing wrong?

What can I do right..

I dont' want to spend a million dollars but I need something to make it sound "decent"!

 

[Bass]

....Any suggestions as to what I could be doing wrong?

The first thing you did wrong was selecting a username similar to mine! That username was already taken, so you add a period? C'mon.

You wouldn't want to be mistaken for me, would you?

 

[Bass.]

Haha! My original intention was to put the period!


you know.....

as though BASS was it... period... end of discussion

 

[MatticusMania]

I have only a little experience with acoustic basses, and was never able to get a great sound from it (it wasnt mine). I would suggest maybe adding an eq pedal for your acoustic playing, so you can have a set eq just for your acoustic bass, since your amp already sounds good with your electric.

 

[whitespike]

Man, I really hate acoustic basses. Haven't heard one I think sounds any better than a good electric for any application. If you must go there, get an upright!!!

 

[BassBrass]

You need something like a Fishman Dual Parametric EQ. Then you can take out the rude non-nice frequencies that plague acoustic instruments and leave the warm ones intact.

 

[Francois Blais]

Man, I really hate acoustic basses. Haven't heard one I think sounds any better than a good electric for any application. If you must go there, get an upright!!!

That's exactly what he's talking about...
We're on the DB side, no?

 

[PaperbackRyder]

Heard great things about the Markbass amps but their input impedance is low for a piezo pup...Try the little box from FDEK to get the impedance matched between the piezo pickup and the BG guitar amp.

 

[Bass.]

If you must go there, get an upright!!!

I have one..
That's what we're talking about

 

[Bass.]

Yeah man markbass is killer

everytime I've plugged into a gk though it sound a bit better... even their lower end stuff

Is it that they're just voiced more for that?

 

[Don Sibley]

+1 on the impedance matching issues with Markbass, and most other EB amps. I

BTW, it's never going to sound just like your acoustic tone. It is always a compromise of one form or another.

Have you looked into any bass mic systems? The good ones are very expensive, but for mid-volume settings, nothing beats a mic.

 

[Bass.]

Ive never looked into a serious mic system.

I used a dynamic mic once that sounded horrible fed back like crazy before it was loud enough...

what kind of mics are generally recommended?

 

[EtoBb]

I shared a bass with a guy who insisted to mic as follows:

Take a microphone; wrap it in a towel; shove the wrapped mic between the bass and the tailpiece.

I have a pretty nice pickup on my bass and it sounded better than my bass/pickup configuration. That could just mean that his bass sounds better all round, of course.

One bit of a warning: As the night went on the mic got loose and we had to take turns holding it in while the other person played. Very obnoxious, not worth the trouble.

If you decide to go this route, make sure you can get it wedged in there proper.

 

[Don Sibley]

I've had a sound guy try this "wedge technique" on me. I'm not a big fan.

Eric Revis, Branford Marsalis group, points a regular diaphram mic at his f-hole and sounds pretty killer. Patitucci and Rufus Reed use the AMT mic. That's what I'm saving up for.

You have to have a reasonable drummer. If it's a loud drummer, forget about it, the mic will never get enough volume without feedback.

 

[Marc Piane]

 

[Bass.]

yes! thank you fingers for the visual aid!

my markbass has an xlr input ill try it with a couple of mics I have lying around

edit:
OK tried the mic situation!!

with a random cheap audio technica... worlds better!!
oh man. I can get to the volume where I know Ill need to be and no feedback and a much nicer midrange!

I think a big part of it was the impedence matching as Paperback brought up.. even an inexpensive mic with proper
matching sounds pretty decent Ill ahve to look into either the fishman eq or the fdek

thanks gents!

 

[Don Sibley]

yes! thank you fingers for the visual aid!

my markbass has an xlr input ill try it with a couple of mics I have lying around

Which model is that?

 

[Ric Vice]

I've had a sound guy try this "wedge technique" on me. I'm not a big fan.

Eric Revis, Branford Marsalis group, points a regular diaphram mic at his f-hole and sounds pretty killer. Patitucci and Rufus Reed use the AMT mic. That's what I'm saving up for.

You have to have a reasonable drummer. If it's a loud drummer, forget about it, the mic will never get enough volume without feedback.

Now I haven't seen Rufus live in quite a while but, according to Chris Fitzgerald he is using the DPA 4099 now. T Bal just traded an AMT in the Talkbass classifieds. There have been several for sale there for very reasonable prices recently.

Ric

 

[Ed Fuqua]

BASSPERIOD - what size speaker are you using?

 

[Les Fret]

The first thing you did wrong was selecting a username similar to mine! That username was already taken, so you add a period? C'mon.

that is indeed not so smart. Maybe Bassperiod should change his name to avoid confusion.