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mic or DI


Kevin Dean
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Guest bassman7755

Personally I don't think a bass should be miced up in a small/medium PA situation because your incurring two layers of speaker colouration which IMO overly compromises the basic sound integrity.

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Hmm. What if you want the first layer of speaker colouration (your cab) and the second layer (the PA) is reasonably flat and accurate?

My amp and cab is a big part of my sound, especially when using overdrive/fuzz and you need that natural top end rolloff. If I had the choice I would go for a mic every time. Needs to be a decent uncoloured mic that captures the low end though, the ones that get talked about most on bass forums are the Heil PR40, Shure SM7, Electrovoice RE20, and the Sennheiser MD421 (with the latter being the cheapest and what I would probably go for). Best to buy your own mic and stand and bring it with you rather on relying on what the sound man might have lying around, you don't really want to have to use a kick mic or one that robs your low end. If you only have an SM57 to hand, then blending that with a lowpassed DI is a good solution.

If you like a clear accurate representation of your bass and don't use distortion, then DI all the way!

Edited by dannybuoy
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Guest bassman7755

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1397649510' post='2425998']
Hmm. What if you want the first layer of speaker colouration (your cab) and the second layer (the PA) is reasonably flat and accurate?
[/quote]

IME the latter wont be true for the vast majority of PAs in use in pub and club environments since you need very high spec gear t o get what I would class as "flat and accurate" (e.g. martin audio) and I cant remember the last time I saw such gear in use at a music venue. I dont really see much point is micing up a £500-£1000 premuim quality bass speaker and then putting it through a £250 peavey/yamaha PA speaker.

Edited by bassman7755
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[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1397651022' post='2426034']


IME the latter wont be true for the vast majority of PAs in use in pub and club environments since you need very high spec gear t o get what I would class as "flat and accurate" (e.g. martin audio) and I cant remember the last time I saw such gear in use at a music venue. I dont really see much point is micing up a £500-£1000 premuim quality bass speaker and then putting it through a £250 peavey/yamaha PA speaker.
[/quote]

I agree.

Plus, most DIs have a through signal anyway, so send one signal to the PA (where they can set the EQ as they wish) and the other straight into your amp and you can then set your cab/on stage sound how you want without affecting the PA. You then have the option of setting two sound without the need for a mic.

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[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1397651022' post='2426034']
IME the latter wont be true for the vast majority of PAs in use in pub and club environments since you need very high spec gear t o get what I would class as "flat and accurate" (e.g. martin audio) and I cant remember the last time I saw such gear in use at a music venue. I dont really see much point is micing up a £500-£1000 premuim quality bass speaker and then putting it through a £250 peavey/yamaha PA speaker.
[/quote]

You could equally argue the point about plugging in a £500-£1000 premium quality bass guitar into a cheap DI box and PA.

It all boils down to what kind of sound you want in the PA. If you want a clean uncoloured representation of your bass, then the best source is a DI. If you use distortion and the amp/cab colouration is vital to that sound, then the best source is a mic. The quality of the PA system shouldn't really be a factor in deciding between the two.

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I go DI all the way these days. The speaker sim in my EBS MircoBass tames any nastiness from any distortions I use and I know exactly what sound is going to the PA.

Bass -> various effects > Tronographic Rusty Box > EBS MicroBass > PA

The Rusty Box acts as my amp head and the EBS (set pretty flat on the drive channel) acts as my speaker, and any bass amp ontage is really just for mid-heavy monitoring. I've had many compliments from engineers about how i) good the sound is and ii) how easy I make it for them.

Edited by ahpook
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i had a thread on this a while back, love the sound of my amp and cab mic'd just sounds fat and the distortion and fuzz sounds are much better. hence on our recording thats all we used, can rem what mic it was but looked like a large kickdrum mic if i rem, however live a little bit of the di mixed in is ok still want the main meat to come from the mic tho.

never had a problem with feedback or bleed as i do try and keep my stage volume very controlled, when running into the pa. so my vote goes for mic, however if its a tiny venue you wnt need to di or anything so its no problem, i ask now if they mind micing up my cab normally if my cab is staying put they dnt have a problem, and as its an 810 it normally is.

might sound a bit diva esq but i like the sound i get from a mic, but i dnt make a scene if they have to di i always make sure they take it from my head tho! not from a di before the amp, but as i said before if they can mic it then ill have that please!

andy

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