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Double Bass Searching for The Ultimate Rig

Ric Vice

Ric Vice

Supporting Member
Jul 2, 2005
14,293
12,461
Olivette, Missouri
#1
I had the opportunity this Saturday to play for a benifit where I had to use someone elses bass and amplifier. It was kind of a revelation. This particular players rig was a very modest setup a Fishman BP-100 running straight into a SWR Workingman's 10. It sounded very good and cost virtually nothing compared to most rigs. His bass is a lower line Pollman. He did have the amplifier up on a chair to decouple the cabinet with the floor.

This is the kind of thing that makes me just want to shake my head and laugh. If I hooked my bass up to his setup it would probably sound awful. While a lot of us obsess (me included) over the various configurations of our super hi fi rigs, this guy takes the opposite approach. It's makes me wonder

Ric
 
#2
My teach does the same thing and plays with some big names now and then. BP-100 -> Polytone. You can thumb your nose at it but he sounds terrific! I think I'm running into this more and more. Considering that Ron Carter strictly uses a GK with those Labella Tapewounds, Dave Holland with an underwood, and NHOP with a string charger for a long time, it sure makes things confusing. And on the other end, Rufus Reid is using an AMT mic with 2 other pickups on his bass.

With that, I think it's safe to say that there are no holy grails. Everybody's looking for something different.
 
#3
I'm not sure that anybody really knows what they sound like. There's the acoustic sound coming off the instrument, and the sound coming from the amp. Somewhere out in front they mix.

If you have a soundman hopefully he's tweaking the sound. And room to room it's going to be different. Yadda yadda yadda

IMHO, it's still best to stick hi-fi to give yourself more options to tune the sound for different rooms. There's just not a lot of hi-fi options out there.
 
#4
The other crazy thing to think about. Unless you've got some body listening to you in the house (where it all sounds totally different ) you really don't know what you rig sounds like.

When you do set your amp to sound good in the room it usually sounds terrible on stage and vice versa.

I guess the best way to go, is to put a mike on the bass and run that to the house. That's the only way to get the two sounds you need.

Ric
 
#5
Every bass sounds and responds differently as well. You need to try out as many combinations as possible....always remembering that at least 70% of the tone is in your hands and how much you have developed. A hi-fi setup won't necessarily sound hi fi out front.
 
#7
Here's another thing. Let's say we are in a typical club with around
200 or so seats. Unless someone is sitting in a pretty direct line of sight with your cab, they aren't going to hear the sound of the amp really well and since everyone (with perhaps the exception of the percussionist) is miked nowdays, it's probably more realistic to use an AMT or something similar so you're sound gets into the house mix.

No matter what you run into you're hi fi amp, it probably only sounds good about 10' from the stage and changes drastically after that. So, effictively what most of us are doing is providing a
nice sounding monitor for ourselves and the other players in the bandstand, since what we hear on the stage dosen't carry that far.

Now I'll admit to really liking and using at "really expensive hi fi monitor, but IMHO very few people actually hear that sound besides me.

Ric
 
#8
Interesting thread (and hello Ric!). You know, I think the bigger point of your original post is that so many things interact that it's hard to say one rig or bass, etc. is 'better' than another in all situations. So much has to do with the specific room we are playing, combined with the volume level on that particular night, combined with the number of people in the room, the make-up of the band, the tuning of the drummers bass drum, the frequency of the ride cymbal... etc.

I own so much stuff, and I find some combinations of very high end gear sound horrible together, whereas other combinations that might not be considered 'audiophile stuff' sound great.

However, all things being equal.... if you spend the time matching things up properly.... the expensive, high power, audiophile stuff sounds better :D


PS.... where's that LDS 3x8 review? It sounded GREAT out in the audience... and I was 40 feet back :)
 

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