mic'ing the bass cab

[Nubus]

what are you guys using to mic bass cabs? Everybody seems to use a dI 'cause it's easy, but I know you've tried some mic'ing. What works?

The best results I've gotten recently is a large condenser (Rode K2) about two feet or so away. The cab is a 15 on bottom, but the mic is up closer to the 2x10 on top. I've tried the live sound style of mic'ing where the mic is right in almost touching the speaker. It seems to be a more accurate representation of what the thing sounds like to me when I back up the mic a bit. I like a slightly crunchy sound so its a tube amp, into a tube mic, into a tube pre with the gain pushed. Too many tubes ? Never!

[dagosto]

I've got one of those BLUE 8-balls. It is an LDC and it really excells at bass insruments. Wanna borrow it?

[Nubus]

I'd try that out. I dig the blue one on guitars.
I get a little too much bleed from the drums into the bass mic with my current setup. Maybe supplement the LDC with a dynamic or DI, but I don't want to mess up the tone. I have that JDI just sitting there.
Sounds great when theres no drummer!

[Jared Kubokawa]

I used to use a D112 or the Beta 52 dynamics (about a foot or so from the grille) but I was never quite happy with the sound. Then I was in a studio and the engineer was using an AT4047, which is a capacitor mic. I don't know very much about capacitor mics but the sound was right on. I've been searching for that No Means No bass sound for years and it came fairly close, closer than I've ever gotten.

Cap mics can handle high SPL's but you could use the pad either on the mic or on the mixer if the signal's too hot. You have to switch off the bass roll-off on the mic to capture the low lows. Most bass instruments generate high harmonics as well as deep fundamentals, so it can make a difference using a cap mic. Capacitor mics tend to have a more open quality at higher frequencies, like a condenser, but they can handle the low slow moving waves and the high SPL's.

Try out a capacitor mic if you get a chance and tell us what you think. There's also the AT4051A, Samson CL2 Pencil and probably countless others that I'm unaware of.

[smopo24]

I've used an Electrovoice RE20 about 6 inches away on a 410 Hartke cab. It worked ok, but sounded better when I paired it with a 57; though the DI'd sound from a Vipre was much better, same with the DI on the Avalon.

[Nubus]

good suggestions, and I do use the capacitor. when the amp is iso'd a few feet away is great but lately i've got the amps all in the same room, still getting bleed into the bass mic. it's not interfering with the mix much. Mic I'm using right now is the Sennheiser e something or other, its a huge mic with a lot of bass to it. combined with the DI it makes it nice and easy to hear the lows in the headphones which seriously helps the playing. I've tried both speakers, 15 and the ten... i dunno which ones better yet. I'm playing through one or two distortions pedals at times. Whoopysnorp gimmie da mic.

[SorenP]

mmm yeah just get an avalon so incredible

I'm a big fan of the RE20 for bass cabs too. If you have the time and are lookin for some cool tones try recording it direct and re-amping it through 2 or 3 different amps (or even the same amp with big EQ differences) and blend the 2 in the mix. you can get some cool textures that way.

[Nubus]

Originally Posted by SorenP

mmm yeah just get an avalon so incredible

I'm a big fan of the RE20 for bass cabs too. If you have the time and are lookin for some cool tones try recording it direct and re-amping it through 2 or 3 different amps (or even the same amp with big EQ differences) and blend the 2 in the mix. you can get some cool textures that way.

I like reamping the bass track but sometimes it makes me have too many options. Its a good way to start over though cause you can really really control how it sounds then.

[Bellringer]

I have to give props to the Avalon U5 as well. You can't mess your sound up if you tried. (Well maybe, but you'd have to try!). For mics, I would blend a 112 and a 57 on an Ampeg cab. With some baffles these work pretty well for many styles.

[dagosto]

The Cascade Fathead Ribbon mics are pretty good on bass cab. They have a natural high end roll off that makes them particularly appropriate for bass.