Subkick on a bass cabinet?

P

pointfive

New member
Has anyone used a Yamaha Subkick on a bass cabinet? I'm considering getting one primarily for use as a kick mic; but if it could be used successfully to mic my bassist, that would be a big plus.

From what I've read, the subkick's not a great standalone mic, but really enhances the low-end when used along with other mics.

Here's an example of the bass sound I'm getting now:


The setup for this demo was a mix of a SM57, Rode NT1A (set further back), an AT4041, and the direct signal. I'm pretty happy with the result, but I'm hoping to gague whether the subkick would make a noticable improvement.
 
well yes and no.


yes because it never hurts to try and it would seem logical to progress from a kick to the bass cab, just to see what happens. However, that probably means you'd have to go easy on the EQ. Something like a subkick, in conjunction with DI would probably get you good angles to work with.

I wouldn't trust it by itself.


No, because in all honesty, it's going to be more problematic than functional. The subkick is nothing more than a commercialized version of an old engineers trick.

You used to reverse wire a speaker to get the same effect, but I wouldn't count on getting great definition from the sub kick alone.

It's a great supporting tool, but not enough to stand on it's own. Plus the pick up of all that extra subharmonic stuff is going to cause more trouble than anything.

If you notice, commercial mixes tend to be a little shy on the bass for that reason. You want low end to translate well on boomy speakers, as well as flat speakers.

So the extra subwoofing effect is probably not going to be nessessary. Of course, there are always a few exceptions.
 
Gotcha, thanks for the reply. I was worried that, as you warned, all the extra subharmonic frequencies would be more trouble than the benefits of the mic are worth. We'll see eventually, though. I ordered the Subkick, so the next time I'm tracking bass I'll experiment with it. I appreciate the info; now I'll be a little better prepared when that time comes.
 
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