Double Bass REMIC Red and FELIX

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As I've said before, just a little goes a long way. Be careful with gain staging preamps into other preamps or poweramps.
I keep the remic red way down (you can get a fair bit more volume before feedback with the notch filter) But I have noticed that my new plywood beast, makes the Red feedback much sooner. I can only really use it for FOH, while on my other basses, it does not feedback so quickly. So a lot depends on your bass and other factors. But ideally you run the Felix straight into the power amp not THRU the front end of the amp which is another preamp. Although I have had lots of success doing that too, you just have to have reasonable expectations for how much volume you are going to get before feedback...and be very aware where all the volume knobs are at. But you definately cannot turn the Remic past 10 o clock and even that is the outside edge before feedback....depending on speaker placement.
A lot of cats throw a mic into the mix and wonder why it does not sound good, but they have left their speaker just where it was, on the floor, coupled to the stage. Unless it is the MAS 16 then chances are the mic will be way more useful the higher off the floor (and away from the Mic) the Cab is.
One of the reasons the Remic sounds so good is that it is an OMNI mic but so little and shielded by the foam and fingerboard that it gets decent feedback rejection. (In other words it gets a lot of the bass signal into it loud so that even though it picks up bleed, the BASS is loudest.)

 

[Adam Booker]

As I've said before, just a little goes a long way. Be careful with gain staging preamps into other preamps or poweramps.
I keep the remic red way down (you can get a fair bit more volume before feedback with the notch filter) But I have noticed that my new plywood beast, makes the Red feedback much sooner. I can only really use it for FOH, while on my other basses, it does not feedback so quickly. So a lot depends on your bass and other factors. But ideally you run the Felix straight into the power amp not THRU the front end of the amp which is another preamp. Although I have had lots of success doing that too, you just have to have reasonable expectations for how much volume you are going to get before feedback...and be very aware where all the volume knobs are at. But you definately cannot turn the Remic past 10 o clock and even that is the outside edge before feedback....depending on speaker placement.
A lot of cats throw a mic into the mix and wonder why it does not sound good, but they have left their speaker just where it was, on the floor, coupled to the stage. Unless it is the MAS 16 then chances are the mic will be way more useful the higher off the floor (and away from the Mic) the Cab is.
One of the reasons the Remic sounds so good is that it is an OMNI mic but so little and shielded by the foam and fingerboard that it gets decent feedback rejection. (In other words it gets a lot of the bass signal into it loud so that even though it picks up bleed, the BASS is loudest.)

Yeah, I tried that and couldn't quite get the volume I needed. The Phil Jones gear is voiced pretty flat to begin with, so I'm cool running it through the front. A few extra db's in the gain structure are worth it, and the Felix can handle any problem frequencies, as well as being dead silent.

 

[lrhbass]

I was noticing this too. Is it one of the internal switches?

I think the switches on the Felix are for adding more DB to the gain structure. I guess we can ride the blend feature until it howls .

 

[Ric Vice]

I think the switches on the Felix are for adding more DB to the gain structure. I guess we can ride the blend feature until it howls .

Irhbass,
Various jumpers have different functions, I only know this because I had to go inside mine to configure J2 when I got mine back from Grace after they repaired it. The gain was way to hot, for my M700 power amp.

J2 does allows you to increse the instrument gain range.

Ric

 

[ParanoidJones]

Little update on life with the Remic. I know it is expensive and Nathan and I are prolly the only cats with Remics BUT 2 things: Last couple of gigs I got the brilliant idea to wedge the Remic into the F hole on the G side. Killing sound. Way MORE sound before feedback. I am loving this mic in a duo setting by itself and with a pickup rolled in minimally. I was getting frustrated that there are only really 3 places for it, under the tailpiece, under the bridge and under the fingerboard. Where I really wanted it was just under the g side bridge foot....well I want to be able to put it other places. In comes the H clamp: wedged under the H clamp I have a lot more possibilities for placement, mostly over near the F hole or G bridge foot.
Stuck in the F hole there isnt any of that woofy too muchness that other mics have, I dont know why, but turning it a little this way or that gets you a thicker or more treble sound. Really digging it and looking forward to getting that Felix....

The reason it doesn't get muddy in the f-hole is that the mic element is omnidirectional and uses baffling to prevent bleed. omnis have no proximity effect like most mics people use for live sound reinforcement.

 

[flatback]

I had the opportunity to play the other night where I had FOH and happened to have the FElix and Remic Red on hand and man did that sound good. The Remic Red, like I have said before is such a killing mic ( no handling noise or brackets or bass damage) it is a mini omni so the sound is just dimensional and really natural. With the pickup going thru the tube pre and the Remic FOH I was super happy...This other bass player did the thing I am getting used to of walking around the corner and expecting to see all that Phat sound coming out of a really big bass, but the Contrabassetto just somehow comes out with this huge tone.

 

[flatback]

I posted the above 3 1/2 years ago, but just had the same thing last night. Damn. This time I had the Remic Red in my bag from a recording thing and just decided to plug it into my rig (since there was an open mic channel on the Focus) Was using the StatB/Yamahiko thing and the MAS 46 on a stand. With a blend from the Remic Red (up under the fingerboard) I had an incredible bass sound on the Contrabassetto. Admittedly a quiet trio and space but MAN! what a great bass sound. Somehow when it is right it can make you feel and sound stellar. Love the Remic Red. records fantastic too.

 

[Ric Vice]

I posted the above 3 1/2 years ago, but just had the same thing last night. Damn. This time I had the Remic Red in my bag from a recording thing and just decided to plug it into my rig (since there was an open mic channel on the Focus) Was using the StatB/Yamahiko thing and the MAS 46 on a stand. With a blend from the Remic Red (up under the fingerboard) I had an incredible bass sound on the Contrabassetto. Admittedly a quiet trio and space but MAN! what a great bass sound. Somehow when it is right it can make you feel and sound stellar. Love the Remic Red. records fantastic too.

Piro,
It's one of those remarkable microphones that when it works, man it really works!. I use the Remic Green ( occasionally the Remic Red) on my Kolstine Busetto Travel Bass, all the time when there's a FOH PA and sometimes where there isn't

You're doing everything right in your particular scenario. The MAS 4x6 is up high enough to project out to you, the band and the audience (sure wish I had a stand mount on my powered MAS 4x5.5. I've had it elevated on a platform like that

and it was killin'. If I use that cabinet, with the Remic Red and the Grace it's pretty astounding. Sometimes I think Mike would have been better off sticking with the 4x__ approach. Then my smaller 1/8 is great as well. It's just the big MAS 1/8

that has issues, mines down for the count because something's wonky with the Power amp. Fortunately, it's got a bypass so you can plug a amplifier into the cab.

 

[flatback]

cupla tings: Since I bought the focus recently I have been bypassing the power amp on my MAS18....sounds way better as in, I think there is something seriously not great about (I suspect the built in HPF) Mike's Amp builds. I dont use the MAS16 amp either... with the Focus both sound WAY better (even if bypassing the eq) But truth is since I got the Focus I have been addicted to the MAS46, I fricken love that box.It is true wrap around sound and no matter where I play the sound is dark chocolate with champagne highs. That array of small speakers in the middle is SO killing, with the 6's wrapped around. I cant believe they are not made anymore. The design is so excellent for upright players and really small for how much it puts out. I'll bet the MAS45 is the perfect sweet spot. The sound of the Remic thru this speaker is just sublime.

 

[Ric Vice]

............ But truth is since I got the Focus I have been addicted to the MAS46, I fricken love that box.It is true wrap around sound and no matter where I play the sound is dark chocolate with champagne highs. That array of small speakers in the middle is SO killing, with the 6's wrapped around. I cant believe they are not made anymore. The design is so excellent for upright players and really small for how much it puts out. I'll bet the MAS45 is the perfect sweet spot. The sound of the Remic thru this speaker is just sublime.

The nice thing about the 4x5.5 is that it's got almost as much coverage as the 4x6 but it's the size of the older 4x5's so it's easier to schlep around. I think you're on to something with the HPF in the "newer" powered MAS 1/8 (their all old now) I have a powered 1/8
from one of the earlier runs without that box that houses the amp section. It initially had to be sent back to Mike, but it hasn't given me a lick of trouble, since he worked on it and it's a lot lighter than the "high power" 1/8's. Originally, I tried to talk Mike into
putting a "bypass" on the first 1/8 I bought, but it apparently wasn't possible.