Birtrum Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Can anyone advise me on what is the best way to amplify my double bass on a budget. There are so many makes of Transducers out there with one, two and four pickups and Rufu Reid talks about a microphone unit on his DVD. I'm a new convert to the upright bass and have not had the balls to play it in public yet. I play Jazz/Blues and not that slappy Rockerbilly stuff. Thanks Birty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakenewmanbass Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 As you say yourself there is a lot of choice out there, have a troll through earlier threads in this section and you will find quite a bit of discussion about the various merits of the different options out there. I personally have tried mics, transducers and the stick strip type and found the transducer to be most reliable in the widest variety of settings. Good luck. Jake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birtrum Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 [quote name='jakesbass' post='310349' date='Oct 20 2008, 12:35 PM']As you say yourself there is a lot of choice out there, have a troll through earlier threads in this section and you will find quite a bit of discussion about the various merits of the different options out there. I personally have tried mics, transducers and the stick strip type and found the transducer to be most reliable in the widest variety of settings. Good luck. Jake[/quote] Thanks for the reply, do you use a two head transducer or a four head one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teej Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 [quote name='Birtrum' post='310381' date='Oct 20 2008, 01:04 PM']Thanks for the reply, do you use a two head transducer or a four head one?[/quote] I use the underwood pu, two transducers slotting into the bridge wings. Used to have a sticky guitar bug under the neck for slap, but abandoned that ages ago, I get enough slap without it. If you can afford it, it's well worth shelling out for a pre-amp to boost your signal going into your amp/pa. By the way - slap's not an exclusive rockabilly thing - all the blues guys would have played that way, Willie Dixon and Big Crawford certainly did ten years prior to Bill Black, and all the jazz guys in the '20s & '30s probably had to to get heard. Check out youtube vids of Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan et al. There's a slapped double bass in either Casablanca or To Have and Have Not, both early '40s. Anyway - however you do it, get that bass out there and have yourself some fun... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 +1 for the Underwood. You can get involved in all sorts of discussions as to which is the best transducer/mic setup but at the end of the day (or the start of the gig), and as a new convert you need something that'll get you reliably started and get good instant results. Only after a few years' of gigs will you need to start considering other options. You may want to use your bass guitar amp initially to save you the cost of a more DB-oriented amp ( Gallien Krueger 150MBS is a very good place to start). If you use your bass guitar amp you will probably experience a mismatch in impedence (transducer is much higher than bass guitar pickup). So get a Fishman Pro eq, or better still a Platinum Pro eq, preamp. This will not only buffer the impedence but will shape the tone, reduce feedback by a phase inverter and in the case of the Platinum act as a DI and more besides. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teej Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 [quote name='bassace' post='310729' date='Oct 20 2008, 07:46 PM']...get a Fishman Pro eq, or better still a Platinum Pro eq, preamp. This will not only buffer the impedence but will shape the tone, reduce feedback by a phase inverter and in the case of the Platinum act as a DI and more besides. Good luck.[/quote] +1 back for Fishman Platinum Pro eq preamp! I use mine all the time, straight into the pa - don't bother with my amp anymore. Excellent bit of kit, truly one of those 'what did i do before?' things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birtrum Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 I'm intending to use my old Peavey 150 watt bass amp to start with, as I may end up back on my old electric bass if my first gig is a failure. The pre amp looks a good idea, as I could turn up on open mike evenings and use whatever amplification is there. Thanks everyone for you input. Birty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviedee Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 I bought a K&K bass max which I'm quite pleased with, I was looking at using my sansamp bddi as a pre but it's a bit overkill I think, so I have just bought PJB Bass Briefcase which incorporates a bass buddy, so I was hoping I could DI at bigger gigs monitor with the briefcase , we shall see..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teej Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 [quote name='steviedee' post='313033' date='Oct 23 2008, 03:30 PM']I bought a K&K bass max which I'm quite pleased with, I was looking at using my sansamp bddi as a pre but it's a bit overkill I think, so I have just bought PJB Bass Briefcase which incorporates a bass buddy, so I was hoping I could DI at bigger gigs monitor with the briefcase , we shall see.....[/quote] ooh - looking forward to hearing how you get on with the briefcase, let us know please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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