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Double Bass Poor Man's Mic Setup - SM-57 & Four Elastics

#61
My apologies to Uncletoad. I do indeed have an attitude, but don't live to be an offense, so I apologize for being offensive. My attitude pretty well remains, but you are right, there was no need to get involved.

I just hear a tone to the whole reporting-back request thing and don't really get it: It seems like there is this exercise of 'regard' for masters on a forum where you have only established this very tenuous relationship with people, and it just gets a little presuming. Fine, I don't get it, I don't have to hang then. Troll remark is well-taken, I shall depart and unsubscribe, and take my attitude where it might be more constructive.

Peace.
 
#62
I have played with a 609 in that very spot on my ply bass. I was looking for another opinion of it's use from another to compare to my observations. Perhaps a bit terse but that's to be expected coming from me. I didn't mention it first because I wanted an opinion uninfluenced by mine.

I liked the 609 very much. I ended up with an old 409 which I like even better as it is darker and richer sounding. The 609 was significantly brighter but still nicely detailed in a way the 409 is not. With the pickup on my ply bass the 409 didn't really give me much I could use but the 609 seemed to add some definition the full circle lacked on that bass.

Using the 409 on my old bass in that spot is really great. There are pictures somewhere around here of that asparagus rubber band hanging job Nnick thinks looks totally hillbilly. I have contemplated doing that with a 609 on my ply bass especially since I've been using it lately as my old bass is under the knife.

They are a good sounding cheap alternative for a mic I think. Cheaper than the beta57, not quite as good sounding as that but easier to suspend. Better sounding than a regular sm57.

The foam is a really good idea. I think Fuqua just uses old undershorts. Considering his ass I think the foam is an considerable upgrade.
 
#64
PAPATOWED - with the 609 I usually get them to roll way off the bass frequencies and then everything else is kinda flat, but the two places I use the mic the most, you could almost play acoustically, so there's a lot of information coming off the bass itself.


Now is it just me, or does it seem like there are a lot of little braves trying to count coup lately?
 
#65
Ed Fuqua said:
PAPATOWED - with the 609 I usually get them to roll way off the bass frequencies and then everything else is kinda flat, but the two places I use the mic the most, you could almost play acoustically, so there's a lot of information coming off the bass itself.


Now is it just me, or does it seem like there are a lot of little braves trying to count coup lately?
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You are talking about your 409 right not the 609. The 409 is very dark compared to the 609 and yea, needs less low in the rump. I use a high pass on that rolling 100hz or so down pretty steeply. The 409 is a great sounding mic on the DB. I think the 609 without the pickup doesn't do the bass justice.

Yes Ed, there is a ton of chatter around here these past weeks. Some of it very entertaining.
 
#66
Sorry, yes 409. I don't have a 609.
It's been a little while since I've been in a venue large enough that I had to use the amp/pickup and the mic/house system together, I don't think I've got a clear picture of what that sounded like anymore.

As to the other, well school starts back up soon...
 
#68
Well if you're talking to me, I don't really "blend" it. If I use an amp and pickup for stage volume, the mic goes through the house system to put the sound of the bass in the house. I'm not trying to get the amp sound out there at all.
I generally play acoustically if I can make it work. Places like Birdland or Sweet Rhythm are just a little too big to make that work (and still leave room for nuance) so I only use the mic there.

The last time I used the mic and pickup/amp was at the theatre at PACE University and for some big band gigs a million years ago.

I don't put the mic through the amp, if that was the question?
 
#69
Yes Ed said:
You know, I'm all for anyone coming to this forum. They can be the baddest of the bad or someone just starting to play. I really don't care about the skill level. However, I do care about civility and respect. Always have and always will! How hard can it be to have a passing knowledge of basic manners as well as civil discourse (conversation)? :cool:
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#70
Ed Fuqua said:
Well if you're talking to me, I don't really "blend" it. If I use an amp and pickup for stage volume, the mic goes through the house system to put the sound of the bass in the house. I'm not trying to get the amp sound out there at all.
I generally play acoustically if I can make it work. Places like Birdland or Sweet Rhythm are just a little too big to make that work (and still leave room for nuance) so I only use the mic there.

The last time I used the mic and pickup/amp was at the theatre at PACE University and for some big band gigs a million years ago.

I don't put the mic through the amp, if that was the question?
Click to expand...

Thanks Ed,

This question was for all three using the 409/609.

Ah, so you mic only through PA and the pickup through the amp. I'd like hear the mic through my amp. I've had the sound techs set up something for me at the King Center in Melbourne and it was great but I forgot what the mics were. Probably something out of my price range.
 
#71
DrBassie said:
Thanks Ed,

This question was for all three using the 409/609.

Ah, so you mic only through PA and the pickup through the amp. I'd like hear the mic through my amp. I've had the sound techs set up something for me at the King Center in Melbourne and it was great but I forgot what the mics were. Probably something out of my price range.
Click to expand...
Unlike Ed I don't play straight no-amp very much. I have come to prefer the mix of pickup and mic in my amp tone and send that front of house if there is one. Mic only through an amp sounds like crap to me. I use the Mic to give my pickup sound a more authentic tone and some acoustic air. Both the 409 and 609 do that function well, the 409 being darker the 609 brighter and less complex. If I was doing like Ed and using a mic only through FOH I wouldn't use the 609, it sounds cheap by itself. The 409 is really great by itself in a PA though.
 
#73
DrBassie said:
Ah, so you mic only through PA and the pickup through the amp. I'd like hear the mic through my amp.
Click to expand...

I have two articles on blending up on my website if you're interested, and a third that I'll be uploading soon. It's a tough subject that I may be about to jump back into on my own gigs, as I have some higher profile ones coming up and want to sound my best... and I'd like to improve the tone on my G string.

















(wait for it...)
 
#74
Chris Fitzgerald said:
I'd like to improve the tone on my G string
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I notice when I'm mixing my mike and the pickup that my G string always sounds better and more up front in the mix than when I'm just using the pickup. Lately not using a mic with the Cleveland I notice it's hard to get much from the G string amplified.
 
#75
Uncletoad said:
I notice when I'm mixing my mike and the pickup that my G string always sounds better and more up front in the mix than when I'm just using the pickup. Lately not using a mic with the Cleveland I notice it's hard to get much from the G string amplified.
Click to expand...

Just so. It's better with the Flightcase amp, but the tone of the G is still missing something without the mic. I'm going to try using the Focus 2 as a mixer in the FX loop of the flightcase for higher profile gigs (or whenever I want to sound noticeably better on the G). There was a really interesting looking new euro blending device somebody linked to recently that would be fun to try, but I can't find the link at the moment.
 
#76
Chris, can you run the new AI amps without a load on the output? If so it would definitely work as a mixer. However I seem to recall that the Clarus/Focus had to have a speaker load at all times or they would fail... I dig the Phil Jones stuff. The 5" speakers really seem to do a good job of keeping the sound natural.

The only time that I had luck using a mic right into an amp was with a Beta 57 into into a Series III Contra(with the XLR/1/4" input). Rolled of a bit of low end, and it had a pretty nice sound. Blending still seems to get the best of both worlds. However I have become a bit lazy and the Full Circle on its own generally does the trick.
 
#79
Count Bassie said:
... I'm getting a lot of feedback to my amp.
[...]
Do I stop feedback by:
[...]
4) Should I just get farther from the amp/cab? I'm in a small space, and maybe it's a logistics issue.
Click to expand...
Yes. I get great results with my side address AKG C2000B LC mic wrapped in foam stuck under the TP. I leave the HPF proximity) switch flat and hit the -10db pad switch which allows you greater control of your pre-amp gain. I send this to my AI Series 1 Coda mic input and can set the pre up at 50% and the master can go up to about 70% w/o feeback.

The trick is to setup your amp off-axis in relation to the mic's cardiod pattern ("null-spot"), and pointing up at your ears, which is off and to my right about 8 feet away. It washes across our band setup and everyone hears me fine. Tell the soundman not to put bass into the monitors when you use a stage amp.

Years earlier, when I was a mic novice, I could not get a mic under the TP thing to work well because of feedback from my incorrect amp placements.
 
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#80
Hello All! Here I am to rejuvenate this super useful post so that new generation can benefit from it too!

I got my acoustic db literally days ago. I have been taking my GnL to the Jazz rehearsals and studying at home with my EUB until last night. With a last minute impulse I decided to take my DB this time around.

Next day at the office it hit me though, how the hell am I going to record this thing! (I record everything I do)

Then I ended up in this thread! SM57 was my fastes GAS decision ever!

And here is the result with comparison in a live situation.

 
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