Double Bass Upright bass amplifier settings

[Derek Kay]

Unless it is for an extremely loud band there should not be any soundpost under the E string bridge foot.

Unless it is for an extremely loud band there should not be any soundpost under the E string bridge foot.

Where the sound post is situated under, or more correctly adjacent, to the bridge foot is very important for the sound.
Have I described it poorly?

Without a soundpost the top would eventually collapse.
Where should it be positioned?

 

[Don Hergert]

With a single sound post double bass the sound post should be just south of the treble bridge foot. The exact position should be determined by someone familiar with how a sound post position changes tone, for example by a double bass luthier.

There are double basses which are fitted with multiple sound posts, when tends to decrease the acoustic volume of the instrument under amplification, which is often desired to reduce feedback in "crazy loud" situations, for example like with Rockabilly and/or Psychobilly music.

 

[Wasnex]

If it is bottom heavy.the sound post under the E string foot of the bridge needs moving fractionally towards the G string.

Have I described it poorly?

Yes. Your comments suggest the sound post is under the E string side of the bridge. It should be under the other side of the bridge.

 

[dylanjohnson]

Many bass amps have exaggerated low and high end, which does sound good for electric bass, but can be challenging to deal with on upright. My favorite amp du jour, the GK MB200, requires me to turn down the bass EQ a fair amount to get it into the ballpark for upright.

I think that is the biggest difference in the newer GK stuff. I could be wrong but it seems that the older amps and combos had a pretty sharp roll off in the low end. @fdeck did you find that when you did that analysis of your GK backline and the newer amp?

 

[oren]

I run my rig pretty close to all the eq controls right in the middle. That’s a fully carved 2018 Hungarian bass by Akos Balazs wearing Helicore Hybrids and a Full Circle into a Markbass CMD-121P combo. I might nudge the eq a bit one way or the other depending on the room. I had a lot more of a problem with boominess on my old bass, a Juzek ply with Spirocore Weichs and a Lifeline. The fdeck definitely helped tame that one.

 

[BassiklyAC]

I’m curious to know what others are doing with their amp settings. My rig: Upright bass with Full Circle pickup into a Red Eye preamp into a Traynor amp.
I often get boominess (a word?).
It seems like I need to keep the bass eq way down to avoid it, but then the overall sound isn’t right. Mids? Treble way down.
I’d like to see what others are doing to EQ their upright sound?
I know it also relates to the room but maybe there’s a common setting?
Thanks

Hey Sid, I’ve always wanted to pick fellow bassist’s brains on TB about this very topic (regarding amp settings for double bass specifically), so thanks for launching this thread.

I’m going to document a little bit of my “EQ journey” on my gig tomorrow night. Maybe this will help and, if nothing else, invite more insightful discussion.

Cheers.

 

[Derek Kay]

Yes you're right, I got the orientation reversed.
Thanks for the correction

 

[fdeck]

I think that is the biggest difference in the newer GK stuff. I could be wrong but it seems that the older amps and combos had a pretty sharp roll off in the low end. @fdeck did you find that when you did that analysis of your GK backline and the newer amp?

Now that I've updated my measurement rig, I'll have to test them again side-by-side. I never measured the MB200 all the way to the speaker terminals, because it's a switchmode amp with bridged output. But I now have a nice DI box with a speaker setting that I could plug both amps into.

 

[BassiklyAC]

Turns out tonight is an electric bass gig. Have a couple dates on upright coming up that could be interesting; one with a house rig, the other with my own gear.

Stay tuned.

 

[Martin Beer]

Many bass amps have exaggerated low and high end, which does sound good for electric bass, but can be challenging to deal with on upright. My favorite amp du jour, the GK MB200, requires me to turn down the bass EQ a fair amount to get it into the ballpark for upright.

I do the same with my MB200 - I can't remember precisely where your measured flat settings were, but with double bass I usually start with the bass and treble around 9 o'clock and the high and low mids at 1 o'clock, and tweak to taste from there.

 

[fdeck]

That's close enough for jazz!

 

[sidonbass]

If I purchase the FDeck series 3, can I eliminate a preamp?

 

[DoubleMIDI]

If you haven’t good EQ on your amp, yes. If you do not have good EQ (or none at all) on your amp or powered speaker then no.
The HPFpre‘s are only impedance buffers with a high pass filter. In some cases it might work, but if you don’t have at least a three band EQ behind you might not be able to modify your sound so it fits to the room acoustics.

 

[BassDuex]

If I purchase the FDeck series 3, can I eliminate a preamp?

Yes.
Question - How loud do you play?

The FD will buffer your piezo signal so that’s perhaps the most important first step, it gives you a more even and workable signal.
Using that may be just what you need to help you get better results from your Traynor’s tone and eq.
When I fight boominess, I start with the HPF to cut out any excessively low notes/overtones. If boominess persists, that’s when I start bumping down the lows a bit - I find that if they are too strong, it affects transparency in other areas - like it bleeds over. Look for a good clean but strong tone in your lows, then focus on sculpting anything else necessary.

If you play at loud volume or of your particular rig seems feedback prone, you may want preamp features beyond impedance matching and HPF, such as phase adjustment or notch filters.

 

[sidonbass]

Thank you! Very helpful!

Yes.
Question - How loud do you play?

The FD will buffer your piezo signal so that’s perhaps the most important first step, it gives you a more even and workable signal.
Using that may be just what you need to help you get better results from your Traynor’s tone and eq.
When I fight boominess, I start with the HPF to cut out any excessively low notes/overtones. If boominess persists, that’s when I start bumping down the lows a bit - I find that if they are too strong, it affects transparency in other areas - like it bleeds over. Look for a good clean but strong tone in your lows, then focus on sculpting anything else necessary.

If you play at loud volume or of your particular rig seems feedback prone, you may want preamp features beyond impedance matching and HPF, such as phase adjustment or notch filters.

 

[Ric Vice]

If I purchase the FDeck series 3, can I eliminate a preamp?

It depends, if the EQ and Volume from the amp is all you need then you're good to go. . The HPF/Buffer Preamp. only boosts the signal enough to compensate for it's addition to the signal chain. It wasn't designed as a standalone preamp.

 

[BassiklyAC]

Over the last few days I've had two gigs with different amp scenarios...
Gig #1:
Vibrato Jazz Club - They have a backline rig by Trickfish, very nice but a more electric bass type rig. Huge amounts of low-end so, as you'll see, I ultimately rolled off bass and low-mids down to zero. This was a good setting to use my Red-Eye preamp.


Gig #2: Jazz trio gig, used my own rig. With the Acoustic Image amp & ACME cabinet, I actually prefer the sound without a preamp in front (a little more open or "airy" maybe?). At first I had the lows & mids also rolled all the way off but made an adjustment after the first tune (about 9:00 and 10:00 respectively). HPF was at about 1:00, treble flat. Really good sound; the EQ setting was a nice approximation of the sound of the bass acoustically and I was able to set the volume low enough to where it was difficult to tell where the acoustic sound started and the amplified sound began.