SVT VR/810 & upright bass

[JimmyM]

Sounds good!
Now, hopefully, the weather will clear up for Sat.
Do you 'dampen' your upright for this scenario at all Jimmy?
I've got 2 'upright' gigs & one funk/soul gig all this Sat. & once I'm there, I'm there, so, I'm going to have to take a kit bag with a few bits of foam etc with me I think

My upright is an Upton Hawkes that has a Clef Revolution Solo II pickup on it. I have never needed to dampen it under any circumstances. The only time I ever needed to dampen an upright is when I've been supplied an upright on a road gig that has a Fishman BP100, or as I call it, the worst upright pickup on the market. Witht hem, I'll take gaff tape and put it over the F holes. Makes it look like crap, but at least it's usable.

 

[rodl2005]

Ok cool. I'm thinking of trying the Realist under the treble side bridge foot ,- see how that goes, might be able to eq back in some bottom end.
It's fine, at the moment really tho, just as an experiment

 

[Jim Carr]

Ok cool. I'm thinking of trying the Realist under the treble side bridge foot ,- see how that goes, might be able to eq back in some bottom end.
It's fine, at the moment really tho, just as an experiment

OK, but let's just be sure you understand.
You will still need 2 DIs!

One for the Electric which also goes to channel 1 (no DI out on the SVT, right?), and a second (that is the Fishman).

If you don't get a separate channel for each in the FOH, you are doomed, IMHO.

I agree with Jimmy's advice: No damping!

 

[GeneralElectric]

Also, for its worth, Chris Wood from Medeski Martin and Wood uses an upright with his SVT. You might want to check into his set up.

 

[rodl2005]

Thanx Jim, yes 2 D.I.'s. The Fishman Platinum + is a D.I anyway & afaik, the SVT-VR has a DI out on its rear, does it not?
I could be wrong of course, as I've only used a VR a few times. But, as I used the same amp at a festival last Christmas, I thought it had a D.I.
No probs if not, I've got the VT Dlx I could use, & the sound hire co. will have one there.
2 channels too! I'll insist on that. Thanx!
Also thankyou re the MMW tip, I hadn't thought of looking up Chris Wood's set up.
Weather forecast is 'rain increasing'
:-/ typical!
Anyway, will find out all tomorrow.
I'll report back after the gigs

 

[Tim1]

You are right, Rod, the VR does have a DI out at the back and it is actually quite a reasonable sounding one - at least I have never had any complaints from sound guys about it anyway. There is a slotted screw head just to the left of it if you need to adjust output level, although factory setting was fine on mine.

 

[walterw]

i've seen "punkabily" acts in small clubs with uprights into old SVTs, usually with an underwood-type pickup; done right, it sounds awesome, and at plenty of volume, too.

the pickups that wedge into to side of the bridge or the realist-type seem to have a lot of output and a lot of low end; this means the gain and bass levels can be backed down in the rig, giving pretty strong volume before feedback.

 

[walterw]

...a Fishman BP100, or as I call it, the worst upright pickup on the market.

heh.

i took one of those things and "re-purposed" it for a customer, gluing the two discs brass face down to either side of a little 1/8" thick maple "coin", then tucking that into the wing/foot gap, shimming it 'til it was snug but not tight.

sounded huge, a million times better.

 

[JimmyM]

Ya Walter, I've heard of folks doing similar things, like gluing the discs to the bridge with a hot glue gun and getting much better results. What you did is very similar to the Rev Solo's design. But most folks use those crappy clips and they sound like crap and have no output. Unless of course you're Stanley Clarke. For some reason he can rock a bass with a BP100 clipped onto the bridge.

 

[rodl2005]

Thanx for all the replies.
A beautiful morning here! Hope it stays this way for the show!
I ain't afraid of adjusting eq controls (hey, I owned a Streamliner tho usually don't have to adjust much on good tube amps like the VR
Looking at the morning sky 2 mins ago

 

[rodl2005]

Ha ha ha! 5 songs & DOWN came the rain!
Didn't end up taking the upright out of the van

 

[GrowlerBox]

The only time I ever needed to dampen an upright is when I've been supplied an upright on a road gig that has a Fishman BP100, or as I call it, the worst upright pickup on the market.

I'm glad you didn't elaborate on how you dampened that bass.

I think Barcus Berry pickups have to run close, but then Ron Carter used them, sounded OK .

 

[hansfrank13]

i didnt read all the comments but i use a realist pickup on the bass side of a 1930s carved german bass with a 2x15 cab and an svt iip preamp/alembic sf2 (great preamp combo btw). i stuff some sound dampening foam under the tail piece and sometimes under the fingerboard, a nerf foot ball can work, you'l loose some of the acoustics of the bass obviously but thats better than getting feedback. it can also depend on where the sound post is on your bass, that will effect the resonce of the bass.
Try to keep your amp as far from you as possible, try having it on the other side of the stage, or next to you but not directly behind you, and stay away from the drum set, If you just send it trough the house the rest of the band wont be able to hear you,, get a small practice amp you can use as a monitor in front of you and face it back towards you and have the bigger cab on the other side of the stage. that tends to work best. Chris Wood uses both electric and upright basses but only uses his svt for his electric basses, but he stacks another cab on top of the electric bass cabinet for his acoustic and uses two seperate rigs, if you can get the speakers above the body of the bass it can work. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3272/2776088145_c3a892bae0.jpg also if you get an Underwood pickup you can use that with stage volume and not get feedback, and send the realist out into the PA, thats what Chris Wood does, and they play pretty loud live.
Medeski Martin & Wood think - YouTube