Double Bass Playing a big outdoor festival

[Damon Rondeau]

Yep. Nicely, but that's exactly what you say.

 

[mchildree]

Leave your pickup at home and you won't have to worry about diplomacy. Just shrug a lot and say "No Habla..." and point at the microphones and smile really big....

 

[schneidy]

I believe I can shed some light on this situation as I just played a big outdoor festival in Germany about 2 months ago. Oddly they too had me "going direct" which meant running my pickup into an SVT and one of those ridiculous refrigerator sized cabinets.

Good God man, I implore you to resist this by all means possible. While great for ear splitting rock, this is the worst sounding, most feedback inducing set-up on the planet. Plus, nobody in the crowd will hear it anyway. In my case, I couldn't turn the SVT up even to point where I could hear it with out creating a ton of feedback and the best part was I told them that this swould be the case. Finally, I convinced them to take my signal direct from my own preamp.

I agree with the previous posts telling you to only use the AMT mic which will be the most natural sound. Bring your pickup and maybe a decent direct box too as a backup, but don't tell them you have it unless there is a problem with the AMT.

 

[godoze]

that was going to be my next question...thanks !

 

[Aleph5]

My limited experience agrees with others: big P.A./monitors or rock amplification kills tone--badly. So does anybody know how Viktor Krauss gets such awesome tone using a big rock amp stack (and a bunch of old Fishman BP-100 pickups on the bridge)?

See http://www.viktorkrauss.com/links.html

 

[simandlhandle]

I agree with what the other guys say about puting a mike on the bass and no DI. Don't, however, assume that the sound man is an idiot who knows nothing. I have usually found that they are very good, better than me, at getting the sound they want out of the gear available. The thing is , when the sound guy hears the word "bass" ,he knows what a bass sounds like, which is not the sound of an acoustic bass that we all know and love.
Try saying "just treat it like an acoustic guitar". They have usually had experience with them, and wouldn't think of plugging one into an SVT through an 8x10 cab.

 

[godoze]

I spoke to the soundperson again yesterday and explained my rig (my AMT came in over the weekend) so he and I are now on the same page !

thanks for all the help everybody !

 

[Bob Gollihur]

My limited experience agrees with others: big P.A./monitors or rock amplification kills tone--badly. So does anybody know how Viktor Krauss gets such awesome tone using a big rock amp stack (and a bunch of old Fishman BP-100 pickups on the bridge)?

See http://www.viktorkrauss.com/links.html

I heard him in A.C. with Lyle Lovett a couple years ago, and he is an incredible player. Too far away to see the pickup arrangement, but no stack, just an angled monitor on the floor. The sound was wonderful, warm yet distinct and with detailed and tasty string/fingerboard artifacts during quiet and solo passages.

His sound is in his hands, no doubt.

I think the best you can do is to not let pickups/mics get in your way.

There is obviously no "one size fits all" solution for double bass-- for either individual basses or individual players.

FYI, there were stacks of PA speakers on each side of the stage, the room a crowded venue of perhaps 2500?? (guessing). There was a discussion in another forum recently, commenting on what sound folks often do to the mix that kills bass sounds. Too many have been brought up in the BOOM Generation- I went to a pop concert a couple years ago, large indoor/outdoor place in Jersey, and all you could hear was the bass drum- the bass player needn't have shown up.

 

[Aleph5]

Bob, if Viktor tours w/ the same pickups (& bass?) he uses with Bill Frisell (when I saw him), he's got several old Fishman clip pickups on his bridge and at least one mic (don't know what kind). I think at least one the "Fishmen" went direct to a tuner, though.

Apparently he doesn't use the big amp stack (Warwick per the link) w/ Lyle.

 

[Marcus Johnson]

Man, do I love Viktor Krauss. Fattest sound in the world, and he just...knows...exactly...where to drop that note.

 

[JohnThomasson]

Bob, if Viktor tours w/ the same pickups (& bass?) he uses with Bill Frisell (when I saw him), he's got several old Fishman clip pickups on his bridge and at least one mic (don't know what kind). I think at least one the "Fishmen" went direct to a tuner, though.

Apparently he doesn't use the big amp stack (Warwick per the link) w/ Lyle.

I haven't seen Viktor play with Lyle in a while, but I doubt he uses that big warwick stack on his website. In-Ears and a good floor wedge is he would need. I am actually on a tour right now of large outdoor venues in the 6000-10000 range and I play my double bass on a couple of songs. I can get really loud on stage with my Full Circle > Fishman Pro EQ Platinum (with low mids rolled off)> Ravens Lab USIP > Stewart world 2.1> Bag End 4-10. The problems I have come from my monitors. I like a lot of kick in them for the rocking electric stuff, but the kick and the male singers voice tend to make my double bass feedback. In-Ears or a different mix for the acoustic stuff would solve it. My other problems happens when I am bowing higher passages and the low strings start to resonate and make a bunch of noise. I'm not sure how to fix it because I even have that problem with my NS Designs EUB.

I am on a two week break from the tour, but the next leg on the west coast starts next weekend and will be all acoustic and direct without amps. I'll let you know if I learn anything from it.