sm57 and bass cab

B

blipndub

New member
Hey all,

Trying to get a decent bass sound (who isn't right?).

Using a SM57 on my bass combo (1X12) the amp is tilted against the wall about 35 degrees and now i have the 57 aimed at the center or a little left of center at about a six degree angle from the floor there's probably a 65 degree angle between grill cloth and the mic. But I'm still not getting a good loud signal even with moderate volumes. Do i just need to crack the amp, or is there a better mic placement?

Mic placement is a dark art and I'm just learning something about it so forgive my ignorance.

Thanks
 
the closer the better(most times) but you cound try compression and even eq. or like you said just crank up the amp!

the sm57 is'nt really made for bass amps. mosty, guitar amps,snares,toms,ect,ect, i wound get a better mic(for the bass cab) i heard about a trick where you record bass on 2 tracks. one you record the bass trough a direct box. and on the 2 track you record the bass by micing the cab(for low-end.) try that recording the bass on 2 tracks simultaneously. i use a shure beta 52 for my kick drum and bass guitar and it does the job!


good luck,

zeke
 
I have been playing around with direct and mic and that's usually the ticket, for some reason tho I'm getting good sound out of my "live rig" and i wanted to grab it!

It's Am St Jazz with SD Antiquities into a Boss eq pedal with gain boosted and mids pumped into a (shudder) Fender BXR 60. A noteably shitty amp.

I've got the mic right up on the grill cloth. I'm finding through experiment that louder is better, i just need to roll off some of the lows as the volume goes up. But I"m still missing something. The 57 range is like *I* right?
* I *
*I*
I
 
:D I'm not sure about those I's. But yea, the 57 has a natural bass rolloff to it that I'm not sure would be ideal for getting all the really low lows.

Your best bet would be to swap the 57 for whatever it is you're using on the kick drum.
 
you need a good direct box (Countryman DI) and a decent compressor/limiter.........

or a Joe Meek preamp (with compression)...they are SWEET for bass.....
 
A consensus seems to be building (as stated elsewhere) that going direct is the way to go.

Sorry about those *I*'s my lame attempt at sketching out a cardoid pattern! But now that I look twice the pattern is graphic-ed out on the mic itself. Kind of a bubble with more forward than i thought.

But read in Tape Op that a good trick was to angle the sm pretty hard.
 
The reason for the angle has more to do with what it's pointed at.

The little round thing in the center of the speaker (don't you love my technical jargon? :D) will give you a lot of definition and high end -- basically all the picking if you're using a pick . . . the slap and pop if you're doing any of that, etc.

The stuff on the side surrounding the little round thing in the middle (again, more elaborate terminology here :D) is where the low low stuff comes from, so pointing/angling it to the side will give you more low-end stuff, while pointing it straight on will give you more high-end stuff.

Going direct really is the way to go, but if you have an amp that just sounds awesome, then by all means try to get that to work. Check and see what it sounds like if you go direct out of the amp, provided it has a line out (or even a headphone out).
 
Thanks for input all.

A slight adjustment of direction and more midrange is helping a lot. The mic is pointed JUST right of the cone, like on the ridges and I've got lots of boost from the eq in the mids and high mids up quite a bit on the combo. Sounding really good, very punchy. Also finding that severly rolling off the treble on the bass and then putting the highs in the eq is a great way to beef up the sound. Also discovered this on my tele, have the tone at only about 20% it's squawkin' baby squaw-kin
 
direct box

you can also use the speaker out of the amp, provided you attenuate the signal with the -4- or -20db pad.
 
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