redd Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 Hi guys, Ive just bought meself a phil jones bass suitcase rig and love it, im using a fishman bp-100 pickup and was thinking of adding a second sound source to give myself a little more warmth as the bp-100 is a little 'thin'. The phil jones has a second input with its own eq, active/passive settings so i was thinking of sending a mic input through there and using a blend of the fishman and some sort of mic. ive had a look at the 'golden bullet' mics from k and k, but was wondering if any of you guys had any ideas?? any help would be most apprecitated ps. anyone interested in a 5 string Ned Steinberger EUB? going cheap!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 [quote name='redd' post='289065' date='Sep 22 2008, 11:53 AM']ps. anyone interested in a 5 string Ned Steinberger EUB? going cheap!![/quote] Do you a straight swap for an NS WAV-4 in the rare amberburst colour... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 The bp-100 is probably the least successful of the pickups soundwise, although easy to install. And there is no doubt that miking a bass will produce the truest sound. It's not quite as straightforward as that, however. Unless you plug the mic into the front of house PA you will get feedback problems that are difficult to manage. You will be reliant on someone else to set your levels and will have little control over the sound. What you hear in your backline will be the signal coming from your pickup. If you play in a band that has a good PA rig and soundman I may have exagerated the problem but at most of my gigs I have to rely on my backline. So although a mic is quite do-able it is not simple. I'm sure that some of our posters may disagree but IMO unless you have a good two channel backline amp with phantom power and notch filters (Acoustic Image would do nicely) I would concentrate on upgrading the pickup. As I said, the BP-100 is the least successful, it was one of the earliest pickups and progress has left it behind a bit. There are some players who actually get a reasonable sound from it but the generally held view is that it works better on a solid wood bass rather than a lami one. A bp-100 will generally have impedance matching problems with the amp so a buffering preamp would improve its sound. Fishman Pro-eq would do, or more expensively the Platinum Pro-eq which is a fine piece of kit. A good pu upgrade would be to use an Underwood which has been around for a while and is favoured by lots of players. I still like it a lot although I now use the more expensive Fishman Full Circle. This will, however, entail skilled fitting by a luthier if you don't already have an adjustable bridge. Do you know what I'd recommend? Get ahead of the curve and buy the latest hot ticket, the Planet Wing. The guys in USA are raving about it and it is so easy to fit, sliding between the bridge wings on the E side. It costs about £150 and you can get it direct from the makers in Denmark. Just google 'Planet Wing' and you'll find their address. I've just had one delivered but I'm too damn busy to fit it right now. As soon as I get in installed I'll do another post. This is not to rule out a microphone solution but I really think your energies will be best spent on first getting a good pickup sound, and then progressing in a while to try a mic. That way, if the mic doesn't work out you'll have the pu to fall back on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrkelly Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 +1. Pickups have come a long way since the Bp 100 was designed back in the 80's. Swapping it for a Full Circle or Realist will give much more bottom end and warmth through your amp. I wouldn't use a mic for monitoring through my amp, way too many potential problems (feedback, need for seperate mic pre etc). However a good mic like a km185 on an H clamp sent to FOH will sound great in the hands of a good sound guy, then use the pickup through your amp for on stage monitoring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redd Posted September 25, 2008 Author Share Posted September 25, 2008 (edited) thanks for the responses guys, certainly food for thought. like the idea of the h-clamp sent to front of house. Chrkelly by the 'Realist' do you mean the david gage realist? Edited September 25, 2008 by redd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakenewmanbass Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Hey Andy, I think all the advice so far is sound. AMT do a high rejection condenser mike (expensive though) that is mounted on a bar that clamps (with neoprene) onto the body of the bass see [url="http://www.appliedmicrophone.com/products/show/11"]here[/url]. Pete Turner (in Manchester) has one and says they are great up to certain volume levels. I could put you in touch if you like. I use an underwood which is a bit stringy in the sound but sounds good with my Alembic pre and a Schroeder 212L. I bumped into a chap (great player) Tom Mason on a gig in London, he had a Realist with a Sansamp DI through a makrbass combo and it sounded amazing. He said that with the Sansamp he could basically dial out any offensive frequencies. Give me a call if you want to chat about it mate. or PM. Jake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBod Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 With a good preamp (LR Baggs) I can get a decent tone out of the BP100 on my Clifton EUB - but that's already going into an active onboard Bartolini circuit for buffering. Take some of the upper mids and scratchy top away and you're left with a good sound. However, the Realist sounds "better" even if its plugged straight into an amp - much darker with a good thump. Sending a mic to the house and using the pickup mainly for stage monitoring is the best option - but not much use on my EUB! BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 The pre-amp is SO important in getting a decent sound from a piezo pick-up. As for mics to FOH, try an Audio Technica ATM350. Not overly expensive and really great to my ears (obv ymmv). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redd Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 Cheers for all the advice guys, think i may try out the realist and pick up a sans pre in a few weeks to bulk it out. Has anyone ever used more than one pick-up? Btw Jakesbass, when you moving back up north so i can get more lessons from ya? heh heh, hope all is well mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakenewmanbass Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 [quote name='redd' post='296167' date='Oct 1 2008, 08:44 AM']Btw Jakesbass, when you moving back up north so i can get more lessons from ya? heh heh, hope all is well mate[/quote] Too much fun in the sunny south mate!! Music is great mate ta! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redd Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 sunny? not this year manchester is up to its usual tricks, raining for 14 days at a time, you know the drill. Might be down your neck of the woods soon so if youre around be good to buy you a pint? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakenewmanbass Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 [quote name='redd' post='296384' date='Oct 1 2008, 11:44 AM']sunny? not this year manchester is up to its usual tricks, raining for 14 days at a time, you know the drill. Might be down your neck of the woods soon so if youre around be good to buy you a pint?[/quote] Definitely let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redd Posted November 5, 2008 Author Share Posted November 5, 2008 UPDATE Just thought id let you guys know i bought the planet wing pickup, pretty awesome bit of kit, loud too! thanks for all the good advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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