DPA Mics

[acidbass]

Hi guys

Recently ventured into the realms of the double bass - picked myself up a lovely Shen laminate bass - seperate love thread to follow! Anyway - as well as learning how to play the thing, I have a million questions!

Eventually I'd like to play it at gigs, and have been looking at options for amplifying it.

Gig wise I will mainly be doing gigs on large stages so I have been looking into mounting a mic onto the bass instead of a pickup, which I hear take away a lot of the acoustic qualities of the bass. Style wise I hope to play folk and jazz type stuff, mostly pizz.

I see a few nice mics in the DPA catalogue - does anyone have any experience of them?

I will mainly be using in-ear monitors or a small Promethean combo.

Also - would a mic benefit from being used with a preamp?

Thanks in advance guys!

Danny

[henrywillard]

Personally, I found the DPA a nightmare, and a very expensive mistake. (I put it through a pre-amp).

When it was just me on stage with my bass, the DPA picked up the sound of my bass beautifully. Really, really lovely, natural sound. However... as soon as you brought the rest of the band into the mix (I was playing with acoustic/folk bands at the time, nothing overly loud), the DPA would constantly feedback, and adjusting the angle of the DPA, and my positioning on stage/angle of my bass in relation to other band members seemed to have very little effect.

I was working with very skilled and experienced sound engineers, so am entirely confident they were doing everything they could to try and keep my sound under control, but after the gigs they would always just stare at the DPA, puzzled & frustrated.

Unfortunately, as wonderful as it sounded on its own, it most definitely doesn't get my recommendation.

Personally, I would highly, highly recommend checking out the Wilson K4. There are plenty of pickups out there though, and everyone will have different experiences & recommendations.
It's one of those things where we generally have to part with a lot of money just to test out a pickup and see how we like it. If it's 'the one', like I have found with the Wilson, then perfect. I went through a lot of pickups before the Wilson though, and always had to sell them on on eBay, always making a loss, of course.

Wilson aren't cheap, but it's the best I've ever used on my bass by far! Good luck! [url="http://wilson-pickups.com/product/k4/"]http://wilson-pickups.com/product/k4/[/url]

[Earbrass]

I've very recently acquired a DPA 4061, but I'm using it on a nyckelharpa rather than a bass. Only tried it out at home so far, and it sounds very good. I got because it was highly recommended by Vicki Swan, who uses one for live work (also on nyckelharpa) and says it's brilliant, though I don't think she's using it in a large band. I'm using it with a Headway EDB2 preamp. I'd be interested in hearing others' experiences with these - do's and don'ts etc.

EDIT: to add that the EDB2 has a sweepable notch filter with adjustable width, and also a phase-reversal switch, either or both of which may help with feedback issues - but as I say I haven't used it in a live situation so can't comment on how effective it would be.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Earbrass

[mtroun]

Have you considered the troll microphone? Got to be honest though, the realist can get a decent sound at reasonable volume levels that seems to work well with a band (as long as they are decent players)

[TheG]

Hey AcidBass Great that you have bought a double bass you will love it!

My current set up includes a DPA mic and a Schertler Dyn-B contact mic. I usually play with 2 acoustic guitars that both use clip on mics and a contact mic. My DPA goes to the PA out front ONLY. Sound engineers love them. My Schertler then goes to my EA Doubler connected to 2x10 inch EA Whizzys for my own monitoring.

Although Ive not had many problems at all the Schertler Dyn-B contact mic can feedback if situations are correct but they have a cool switch on them that adjusts the phase which can instantly take you out of the feedback zone.

Plugging the DPA straight into the amp has had very mixed results as far as feedback goes both good and bad. Although I have had much more consistent results when using a Behringer Feedback Shark between them as well. But it does have to be set up which can be fiddly.

If I play in louder situations though with drums for example I use a Fishman Full Circle and occasionally blend that with the Schertler as well which is a nice sound.

Like HenryWillard above I too have parted with a lot of money trying pickups (and strings) out. It was a bit much paying nearly £400 for a DPA mic but I only bought one originally because I found a cheaper second hand one here on Basschat.

Ive seen those Troll mics but never used one. You could always possibly try out this style of mic'ing with a cheaper mic that you or someone you know already has but it would only be a guide really when compared to a dedicated mic like The Troll.

The Realist, I have heard loads of people and reviews rave about them but I haven't had a Great success with mine. But that goes to show that it works on some basses and amps and style of playing and not on others. That can be said for all pickups actually.

On another note Ive watched around 20 different bass players on the Smalls Jazz Club live video streams (New York) and as far as I know all of them were using Fishman Full Circle pickups apart from maybe the odd one without. You can't say that just because all those bass players use that pickup it will be completely right for your set up but it is a bit of an insight into what people are using.

Im not sure about preamps myself though sorry.

[spencer.b]

I've got a dpa 4099b and it sounds great in the right conditions but can often be problematic and if you're using a mic you have to accept you won't have as much level or definition as with a pickup. I've had periods with no pickup on my bass and it does cause issues , some engineers get really pissed off and unfortunately people are now used to hearing the pickup through an amp sound on stage.
I've found a happy medium is having a pickup on the bass and taking a sm57 and an h clamp and a dpa and rather than a bass amp I use a powered speaker which I personally think sounds better than a bass amp with my pickup, so if set up is rushed or the stage is loud I'll just put the pickup through the speaker,if I have more time I'll put the speaker on a stand and try the mics and tbh some of the best sounds I've had have been when I've had a dynamic mic on an h clamp going foh with no amp or monitoring ,

[keeponehandloose]

Never used a mic but the Promethean is a great combo for DB. If your not happy with your amped sound at any point dont question the amp , they are bang on IMO.

[TheG]

Just spotted this microphone holder as well. Never seen one before.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/2188037-upright-bass-microphone-adapter-ur-1p-poplar

[dudi8]

[quote name='henrywillard' timestamp='1462435632' post='3042927']
Personally, I found the DPA a nightmare, and a very expensive mistake. (I put it through a pre-amp).

When it was just me on stage with my bass, the DPA picked up the sound of my bass beautifully. Really, really lovely, natural sound. However... as soon as you brought the rest of the band into the mix (I was playing with acoustic/folk bands at the time, nothing overly loud), the DPA would constantly feedback, and adjusting the angle of the DPA, and my positioning on stage/angle of my bass in relation to other band members seemed to have very little effect.

I was working with very skilled and experienced sound engineers, so am entirely confident they were doing everything they could to try and keep my sound under control, but after the gigs they would always just stare at the DPA, puzzled & frustrated.

Unfortunately, as wonderful as it sounded on its own, it most definitely doesn't get my recommendation.

Personally, I would highly, highly recommend checking out the Wilson K4. There are plenty of pickups out there though, and everyone will have different experiences & recommendations.
It's one of those things where we generally have to part with a lot of money just to test out a pickup and see how we like it. If it's 'the one', like I have found with the Wilson, then perfect. I went through a lot of pickups before the Wilson though, and always had to sell them on on eBay, always making a loss, of course.

Wilson aren't cheap, but it's the best I've ever used on my bass by far! Good luck! [url="http://wilson-pickups.com/product/k4/"]http://wilson-pickups.com/product/k4/[/url]
[/quote]

actually i tried first time last night the DPA, and like henry said, alone in the sound check it sounded perfect, with all the band (without drums!), there was a horrible feedback that i couldn't get rid off, tried everything

Edited May 9, 2016 by dudi8

[bassace]

You can make the DPA work well if you send it to PA or front of house. Then you forget all about it until someone in the audience comes up in the interval and tells you how great your bass sounds.

But to hear yourself playing above the volume of the band you need a pickup to backline.

[TheG]

Hi BassAce how's it going? Yes I have had the exact same experience as BassAce on several occasions.

[bassace]

Hi Mike, yes fine thanks. I'm not doing quite so many gigs these days but I've still got three this week. Most of the time I use pickup only to backline, mainly Lifeline/Felix/Puma 500/OneTen, but tonight I'm taking out an ATM 350 as well. This is similar to a DPA but significantly less expensive and it does the job just as well. Now, where's all these cables?

Hope all well with you.

[Chrismanbass]

I'm lucky enough to be a house engineer at a fairly famous jazz club and we use the DPA 4099 on the bass as well as taking a DI signal from the realist pickup on our house bass

I wouldn't recommend the DPA for use with an amp as its far too likely to start feeding back if you are trying to get significant amounts of volume from it

however if you want a mic that you can send to FOH and will sound great no matter what then its the mic for you I've heard other mics come through with different artists and used a few on various gigs and nothing has sounded close to me just bear in mind it is a mic and has the limitations of a mic, it will pick up other stuff on stage and feedback if you crank the gain too high

Edited May 21, 2016 by Chrismanbass

[hubrad]

[quote name='bassace' timestamp='1462817639' post='3045982']
You can make the DPA work well if you send it to PA or front of house. Then you forget all about it until someone in the audience comes up in the interval and tells you how great your bass sounds.

But to hear yourself playing above the volume of the band you need a pickup to backline.
[/quote]
This, really.. miking up a DB then standing anywhere near the speakers is a perfect recipe for feedback.
We sell DPA in the shop, as our accordion specialist uses them live. SO transparent in tone. I tried one on flute, and it was like there was someone across the room playing a ridiculously loud flute back at me.