Hi Guys. So I think we are speaking to two different things here. FOH is a whole other matter. IF we are talking FOH then there are literally dozens of choices and I dont even think about it, it isn't really my job. I send a line from a mic I have on the bass or I don't and let them mic it as they please. I am talking here on TB almost always about personal amplification: what you hear coming thru what ever you schlepted to the gig.
Flatback,
While I do have ocassion to play in auditoriums, nearly half my gigs are performed in peoples backyards, patios, country clubs ect. Honestly, I don't even take my Mirecourt DB on those gigs
If they want DB I take my Clevenger. When I do play the Mirecourt, I'm lookin' for as great a sound as possible to send to the house, mostly because I have heard countless concerts with
master jazz bassists that run a tap of the amp directly from a Realist or Full Circle and sound really afwul. So once I heard Larry Grenadier playind into a Schoeps CMC6 MK41 I was hooked.
I've had to many terrible experiences being miked by sound technicians, who have no idea what their doing, to let them decide what mike to put on my instrument.
I am sure the new Xlson is a fine mic, it may even be the best personal mic available, I don't know. If Peter would like to send me one, Im sure based on what you cats have said (I no longer can make any sense of recordings of pickups or mics ...too many variables) I could put it to use, but my point is that after spending thousands of dollars already on the latest this or that, and really going thru a lot of different possibilities for live sound, I dont think that the answer for personal monitoring and stage amplification is jumping on the NEXT greatest mic.......
It's likely you would be able to try one out. I've had really good luck listening to you and others describe their experiences with new gear. You might be really surprized by the Xlson
But If you gave me an Underwood with the Felix and MAS I would be happier then starting from the other side of the equation. I am not looking for some perfect representation of my bass idealized louder in a group, I am hoping to be inspired to play well and be heard clearly but not obtrusively night after night in the various mostly imperfect settings that I am required to play in.
Agreed, the musics the goal not the gear, what I'd really like to do is show up for the gig with a microphone and my bass.
When I take a solo with the TD and I can hear that it sounds more like a bass then a piezo and cuts thru and has some air and does not feedback and the sound is easy to find, I am stoked.
But when I hear as much bleed as I do coming thru the recording of the Xlson I cannot imagine wanting to spend $1300 to have that to contend with coming out of my amplifier. Especially when the Remic is similar and I already own it and dont use it that often for the same reason.
The TD gets pretty damn close with no feedback no bleed and an array of clever useful options for a reasonable price. My only point about the Xlson is that it seems to have arrived some years late. Even 3 years ago I would have been GASing for it but it has some far more economical competition that has solved more of the problems (for my application)
If we think back I remember when both of us were bemoaning the cost of the Grace Felix, and couldn't imagine spending that amount of money on a preamp, much less a MAS powered speaker
but her we are.
It's hard to explain but the although you can hear the bleed into the mic through the Felix DI, you just dont notice it coming through the MAS 1/8. The Xlson is expensive, so it's
likely more of a cost decision than a sonic one. Remic's used to cost what was it? $1,200.00 but they certianly came down in price. All a mater of perspective I guess.
Since we obviously have crossed over the Xlson and ToneDexter threads, we are definitley comparing apples to oranges.
