- Jul 7, 2013
- 255
- 64
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Orange Amplifiers and Spector Basses
I'm sure this has been covered countless times on TB, but it happened to me this past Saturday and got me thinking.
Like most bassists, I spend a ton of money on my rig, amps and cabs in particular. My main rig is a Spector Euro 4 LX through a pedal board, into an Orange TB1000 into an Orange OBC 410 and OBC 115.
I live in Austin, so most of the venues have a good sound system, and I am very fortunate to be mic'd most of the time. However, at a gig Saturday the sound man was adoment about running me direct. I begged him to even use an sm57 on my rig (not my first choice, but they definitely work for bass), as we are a 3 piece so if the venue doens't have a bass specific mic, they usually have at least an extra 57 for a second guitar. He explained to me that the subs were under the stage, so mic'ing my cab would be bad because it would somehow make my tone pretty inaudible. I gave in and said OK. Bear in mind I'm no sound guy, but my thought process is that I dial in a tone on my bass and head based on the sound that comes out of my cabinets. My concern is that when you isolate one thing without the other (in other words taking a direct signal from a DI box before the bass goes into the head, or even taking a DI from the head itself leaves out a major variable used to dial in the sound: The cabs, and possibly the head too).
After the show, the sound guy told me how treble heavy my tone was, and that it sounded muffled, so he had to dial my highs back a ton. I knew this, as Spectors have that very distinctive, treble and mid heavy tone, especially by themselves, so I always compensate for that by cutting the treble on my Orange head and get my overall sound from a combination of the bass, head and cabs. It makes for an even balance. It bummed me out to know that all of the stuff I thought the audience was hearing me do was probably not even audible. I guess it just makes me think that when a sound guy runs me direct it basically turns my expensive Orange cabinets into overpriced stage monitors.
So now that I've written a novel, my question is what do you guys do to compensate and prepare for situations like this? My first inclination is to buy a beta 52 and when a soundman asks me where my DI is to point to the mic. But if I run into an issue like that again, is there a specific Mic I can use that is good for capturing live bass tone, or should I invest in an EQable DI? It just really seems odd to spend all that money on getting a good bass tone with your entire rig to have a sound guy only use part of the equation when it matters most (when people here it). Thanks guys!
Like most bassists, I spend a ton of money on my rig, amps and cabs in particular. My main rig is a Spector Euro 4 LX through a pedal board, into an Orange TB1000 into an Orange OBC 410 and OBC 115.
I live in Austin, so most of the venues have a good sound system, and I am very fortunate to be mic'd most of the time. However, at a gig Saturday the sound man was adoment about running me direct. I begged him to even use an sm57 on my rig (not my first choice, but they definitely work for bass), as we are a 3 piece so if the venue doens't have a bass specific mic, they usually have at least an extra 57 for a second guitar. He explained to me that the subs were under the stage, so mic'ing my cab would be bad because it would somehow make my tone pretty inaudible. I gave in and said OK. Bear in mind I'm no sound guy, but my thought process is that I dial in a tone on my bass and head based on the sound that comes out of my cabinets. My concern is that when you isolate one thing without the other (in other words taking a direct signal from a DI box before the bass goes into the head, or even taking a DI from the head itself leaves out a major variable used to dial in the sound: The cabs, and possibly the head too).
After the show, the sound guy told me how treble heavy my tone was, and that it sounded muffled, so he had to dial my highs back a ton. I knew this, as Spectors have that very distinctive, treble and mid heavy tone, especially by themselves, so I always compensate for that by cutting the treble on my Orange head and get my overall sound from a combination of the bass, head and cabs. It makes for an even balance. It bummed me out to know that all of the stuff I thought the audience was hearing me do was probably not even audible. I guess it just makes me think that when a sound guy runs me direct it basically turns my expensive Orange cabinets into overpriced stage monitors.
So now that I've written a novel, my question is what do you guys do to compensate and prepare for situations like this? My first inclination is to buy a beta 52 and when a soundman asks me where my DI is to point to the mic. But if I run into an issue like that again, is there a specific Mic I can use that is good for capturing live bass tone, or should I invest in an EQable DI? It just really seems odd to spend all that money on getting a good bass tone with your entire rig to have a sound guy only use part of the equation when it matters most (when people here it). Thanks guys!
. If I did what he asked, out in the room I sound like a generic bass player. It's not ME at all. I prefer to be miced just like a guitar player. As my Acme cabinets are three way, I bought a big EV condenser mic. This picks up the total range from my speakers. When I use it, out in the room I sound like me again. 
