Double Bass One setup for piezo-equipped URB, mandolin, and acoustic guitar?

[Phlipper]

(I know I'll regret asking)

I'm managing/producing a young singer-songwriter and find myself recording on URB, mandolin, and two acoustic guitars, all with piezo p'ups. I have a K&K p'up in my URB, a KNA UP-2 on my mandolin, and KNA SG-1s on the acoustics. All are going into a Mesa D-350 and Hartke HD115 which has been pretty amazing at reproduction across the instruments.

While recording I have plenty of time to dial everything in. I'd be switching between all 3 instruments live, and was wondering if adding a K&K Pure pre inbetween the instruments would make dialing in volume/tone easier, even though I'm going to an amp and not the board? Am I not sounding as good as I can even now going to an amp with an impedance mismatch?

My vision of this whole thing is to have a single Pure pre clipped to my belt. When changing instruments for live shows I'd unplug the URB from the pre, strap on the mandolin and plug it into the pre, make a few pre-determined adjustments, and be ready for the next song. Same for acoustics guitar. Quick change-outs and minimal fuss with EQ on the pre.

Not interested in any other preamps, except maybe the Boss AD-2 and Zoom AC-2. Reading up on those as well.

But def interested how you pros handle this. I've always been a bar band hack guitarist or bass player. Never had to think.

 

[Jay Corwin]

If you don't want to do any channel switching, then I would recommend you at least get a good mute/tuner pedal in the chain to prevent the pop when switching from one instrument to the other.

 

[Jeff Kissell]

If you're happy with the amp reproduction, throw a mic on the cabinet too.

 

[Don Hergert]

Yea, for a small home studio I'd suggest you could cover all sound collection with one or more nice LDCs and get better tone. Mandolins, banjos, Dobros, fiddles, guitars, double basses, they all sound better by mics than by piezo pickups. My humble...

 

[Phlipper]

Yea, for a small home studio I'd suggest you could cover all sound collection with one or more nice LDCs and get better tone. Mandolins, banjos, Dobros, fiddles, guitars, double basses, they all sound better by mics than by piezo pickups. My humble...

I've read that a lot on Mandolin Cafe. But we're limited on the number of mics we have for stage. We've already spent a ton of money.

Recording the rough tracks at home I have plenty of time to dial in the amp I'm using for all three. My issue is when we gig, I won't have a lot time to dial in when switching. Was thinking a belt clip K&K Pure let's me dial in for each instrument quicker without walking over and fiddling with the amp.

The mute/tuner idea is perfect for muting the pop. Didn't think about that. Thnx!