Double Bass Phil Jones bass cub vs. Acoustic Image

[Nathan Levine]

It should be--it costs more than twice as much!

I have an AI clarus head that I use with a couple different cabs-it's really great. But I play a lot with a gypsy jazz band, two acoustic guitars, and whenever I had a bass amp on the floor we had enormous feedback problems. I've taken to putting a powered PA monitor on a stand behind me--I can hear myself perfectly and the guitars don't get driven to feedback, and I don't get weird floor/stage woofs.

I too play a lot with a gypsy jazz group and have had a decent amount of luck keeping the speaker on the floor angled up. When I hoist it up a few feet there is certainly more clarity in the bass on stage, but I guess the beauty of playing in a small drummerless ensemble is the ability to hear everything pretty well acoustically.

I read somewhere years ago (christian mcbride interview maybe) that the way to set the volume on an amp and get a natural stage sound was to turn the amp up until you could hear it, then back it off a bit. In the gypsy jazz setting this seems to be great advice, especially if the guitarists are not using amplification on stage.

 

[PB+J]

That makes sense, but the guitarists in my band are using amps on stage, and they insist on using mics too, and having their amps (both AIs) behind them on the floor. So when my ams on the floor it seems to be heading right into their mics.

Sigh... guitar players.....

 

[Roger Davis]

That makes sense, but the guitarists in my band are using amps on stage, and they insist on using mics too, and having their amps (both AIs) behind them on the floor. So when my ams on the floor it seems to be heading right into their mics.

Sigh... guitar players.....

Then turn it towards you.

 

[geoffbassist]

I always have my wizzy mline angled up using the handle on the bottom. It really makes a difference to what I can hear. If Im really struggling to hear I just put it on a chair.

 

[PB+J]

Then turn it towards you.

You can safely assume that this has been tried over the course of years of gigging in small spaces

 

[Nathan Levine]

That makes sense, but the guitarists in my band are using amps on stage, and they insist on using mics too, and having their amps (both AIs) behind them on the floor. So when my ams on the floor it seems to be heading right into their mics.

Sigh... guitar players.....

I wonder if these guitarists would be willing to spread the AI's out to the outsides of the group. Almost like a low lying PA setup.

 

[PB+J]

I wonder if these guitarists would be willing to spread the AI's out to the outsides of the group. Almost like a low lying PA setup.

Sometimes yes, but we play all sorts of "venues" that imagine four musicians can easily the space devoted to, say, a hatstand or a portable ice bucket. The pa monitor on a stick takes up very little space and gets me out of the whole damn floor real estate issue.

Hmm, I seem to be crabby today!

 

[Anthony White]

@ PB+J
Could I ask what you are using as a pre-amp for your Mackie-on-a stick arrangement?

Best wishes,
Anthony