Low budget microphone options

[Beer of the Bass]

At present I play in a fairly quiet acoustic outfit without a kit drummer, and around a third of our tunes use the bow. I have a Revolution Solo II bridge wing pickup and an AKG C411 condensor contact mic. The AKG is more natural sounding and is listenable for arco playing but lacks a little detail for pizz work, though it can work with the right EQ.
The RSII is not my favourite on this bass, as even when run into high impedance inputs it has too much direct string sound, like that DI'd pickup sound which was fashionable in the 70s. I can't get enough body on the G string either, and it's seriously unflattering for arco work. I think this might be a consequence of the tall bridge on my particular bass, as I've heard it sounds more natural on other basses. I think it just doesn't suit mine.
So I'm looking around for other options, and wondering if a microphone would be a good addition. I often run straight to FOH rather than using a backline amp with my current band, so I may be one of the people that a mic could work for.
Has anyone tried one of these;
[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_ovid_system_bass_bundle.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...bass_bundle.htm[/url]
It looks like it's been "inspired" by the DPA 4099 mic, but is obviously much cheaper. If I did try one, I would probably keep the AKG as a backup (and for louder applications) but move the RSII on.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Beer of the Bass

[Guest Jecklin]

Arco playing in my group was exactly why I ditched a pick up.

I didn't need to amplify for stage volume luckily, but would send a Mic signal to FOH as required.
I initially used a cheapo tie clip Mic (yup seriously) clipped to the bridge and the results were great!

An omni capsule gives you a more natural sound, but is more prone to feedback.

I have no experience with the Mic you linked to I'm afraid, but the specs are very similar to a lot of other small clip in mics. I didn't notice if it includes a converter box to go from mini xlr to full size.

There is a guy who sells through ebay who will do full size xlr wired mini clip on mics.
I'll see if I can dig out his details

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='Jecklin' timestamp='1396368432' post='2412773']
There is a guy who sells through ebay who will do full size xlr wired mini clip on mics.
I'll see if I can dig out his details
[/quote]

Would that be something like this one? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/48V-PHANTOM-POWER-MINI-TIE-CLIP-ON-LAPEL-LAVALIER-MICROPHONE-XLR-3P-PANTOM-POWE-/231087519248?pt=UK_Music_Instruments_Microphones_MJ&hash=item35cde3b610"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item35cde3b610[/url]

I feel like the gooseneck arrangement on the Ovid might be worth the extra, and I wonder if the cardioid pattern might give me a little more volume before feedback compared to an omni mic.
Although I've just had a bit of a brainwave; I've seen players using SM57s and similar mounted between the bridge legs using elastic bands or hair ties. I think I'll try this with the Rode NT3 I already have before thinking about spending money on anything...

Edited April 2, 2014 by Beer of the Bass

[bassace]

Looks like a DPA knock-off to me but at a crazy price. Worth a try, perhaps?

[Jezyorkshire]

cant see any frequency specs for the Ovid? but the other ebay listing will need something to tame the low end as it goes down to 20hz?

[Beer of the Bass]

Having had a quick play around, rather than try the Ovid straight away I'm going to experiment with my Rode NT3 shockmounted between the bridge legs. It sounds very good through my Zoom H4n, nicely balanced and not too harsh arco but with enough detail and air played pizz. It's behaviour at gig volume may be quite different, but it's got to be worth a go. I'm not sure why I didn't think of that earlier! If it works out, I'll change the thread title...

[Jezyorkshire]

http://youtu.be/nTEJ0vndNO0

[Guest Jecklin]

Sorry for slow reply, been away without my phone.

There was some hype over mounting an sm57 between the bridge legs on talkbass a few years back.
I tried it with a different dynamic and it worked well with the use of a high gain pre-amp, but it was a heavy lump ofic to have dangling near my bass top so I looked for other options.

If you can get the nt3 to work it will give as good, if not better sound than other cheap options so stick with it

Nice work!

[Beer of the Bass]

Yes, that talkbass thread was what gave me the idea of trying the NT3. Though I haven't tried it live yet, the signal from it sounds very good when listened to on headphones. If it works for me, I may still look for a lighter small diaphragm condenser, as the Rode is more than 350g and there's a subtle but noticeable muting affect with it mounted between the bridge legs. Some of the smaller ones are closer to 100g, which seems like a better idea...

Edited April 4, 2014 by Beer of the Bass

[Beer of the Bass]

I did my first gig using the Rode tonight, it was a fairly small, intimate affair so I used the mic alone going straight to FOH. It might be the first time I haven't winced at my amplified arco sound. It worked very nicely, and somehow had a different feel to any pickup I've used.
I may experiment with blending the mic with my AKG C411 if I need more volume in other settings, and I'm still wondering if I can find a lighter condenser mic to do the same job, but it seems the idea is a good one.
I've edited the thread title, as it's no longer really about the Ovid mic.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Beer of the Bass

[Guest Jecklin]

That's really cool Beer of the BAss!!

Yeah I had the same experience first time I gigged without a piezo. Bowing sounded like bowing

If you are interested in looking at other mics line audio make a small (not clip on size though) and very nice, relatively cheap cardioid condenser.
They also do a very nice omni condenser which I use for recording, but the cardioid is better suited here.
http://www.lineaudio.se/CM3.html

They come in at about £140 after tax and exchange rate etc

Do yo have a picture of how you're mounting your microphone?
It might be worth coming up with some sort of alternate mounting method??

Thomas

[Beer of the Bass]

My mounting looks like this; I'm using hair tie elastic between the bridge legs at the capsule end and between the G string and E string afterlengths at the connector end. The mic sits at about a 45 degree angle towards the top and doesn't touch the bridge or top.
I think if I can use this mounting method with a lighter mic, I'll have something I can stick with. The Line Audio mics are a little out of my budget, but I could go for something like an AKG Perception 150/170 or an MXL, or one of the numerous far eastern small diaphragm cardioid condensers that are out there under various brands.

[jrixn1]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1396364879' post='2412728']
Has anyone tried one of these;
[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_ovid_system_bass_bundle.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...bass_bundle.htm[/url]
It looks like it's been "inspired" by the DPA 4099 mic, but is obviously much cheaper.
[/quote]

I was curious and bought a "t.bone Ovid" mic (£37) after reading about them in this thread, but have only just got round to trying it out in the field (at a jazz gig in a church).

I used the mic just to record the bass, not to amplify it at the gig itself. (I was using a pickup/amp for sound reinforcement.)

Bad - It seems to crackle on some notes, although perhaps it will not be audible in the final mix.

Good - With a drum kit about a metre to my left, and an open grand piano about a metre to my right, I thought the mic would just pick up everything. However, to my surprise, it is picking up the bass quite strongly.

Here is the isolated recording from the mic. It was mounted in front of the (g string) f-hole, pointing towards the bridge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_F_gKVFu5A

I have increased the volume of the recording, but it's otherwise unedited/unprocessed.

Edited July 27, 2014 by jrixn1

[Beer of the Bass]

That sounds pretty good - it would perhaps benefit from a little EQ but as you say, it's an unprocessed recording. Is that the crackle you mentioned that I can hear from about 0.10 - 0.14? It almost sounds like it might be a mechanical rattle rather than an electrical crackle. Nice playing too!
For my own gigs I've settled on an AKG perception 150 mounted like in the picture above, though it's smaller and lighter than the Rode. It's worked well so far, even on an outdoor festival stage. At that gig the sound guy had to do a little work with the EQ during the soundcheck to stop feedback but once that was done it was quite workable. At smaller gigs it's been surprisingly quick and hassle-free to get a decent sound out of. I still have the AKG C411 on the bass just in case the mic doesn't work out at a particular gig.

Edited July 27, 2014 by Beer of the Bass