Moderately prices Microphone for a Bass isolation Cabinet

[JM_of_BOFP]

Hello all.
Looking into building an iso cab for bass. Likely will use the Eminence 12" bass guitar speaker, and am looking for a mic that won't break the bank, but will allow respectable sound with full range sound.

Condenser? I don't thing a sm57 will have enough on the low end (unless the closed chamber of the iso cab helps to better capture lows.

Any help folks?
thanks
-j

[Ulysses]

I can't see throwing a condenser in a bass iso cab unless it was something like an fet47 and that wouldn't fit the budget. I would stay away from the eggs as well. The first mic that comes to my mind would be an RE20. You still have the large diaphram and although you need to take some kind of shockmount precaution considering the application, you won't have the problems a condenser might give. The RE20 will be much flatter as well and give you good mid content and detail when it comes times to sculpt your sound at mixdown. You can pick them up used on Ebay for a reasonable price, nearly impossible to break, and they've been a pro-studio industry standard for decades. It's also a mic you can keep in your arsenal no matter how sophisticated things might get. Great multi-purpose utilty mic and you will not find a major pro-studio without one.

[JM_of_BOFP]

Thanks! I'll check it out.
-j

[zenfreud]

Have you used iso cabs for bass before? Depending on how tight the dimensions are, I'd expect some degree of lumpy response. I'd vote for taking a d.i. on the bass.

But to answer your question regarding mics, a Heil PR40 is a good mic for capturing loud low end. You can use it anywhere you'd use an RE20, and at about $300 new, it's about $100 cheaper too. For a tighter budget still, I'd probably go with a used Audio Technica ATM25 (they're discontinued).

[Ulysses]

But to answer your question regarding mics, a Heil PR40 is a good mic for capturing loud low end. You can use it anywhere you'd use an RE20, and at about $300 new, it's about $100 cheaper too. For a tighter budget still, I'd probably go with a used Audio Technica ATM25 (they're discontinued).


I'm a huge fan of anything Bob Heil does and I love the PR-40 as an all purpose dynamic much like my 441. I actually have an all gold 1953 Les Paul that belonged to Bob and has a "Ye Olde..." sticker on the headstock. I agree the PR-40 is an amazing dynamic but I if I went with a Heil I think I would try a PR-30 which is even a lot less money than the PR-40 if bass only was the application. The Heil PR-40 is much more versitile than the PR-30 but has more presence on top as well as a rounder low end which will probably give you a slightly more scooped sound than the PR-30 which I find much flatter. At this point we are splitting hairs but I really think the PR-30 would give slighlty more muscular mid content in a mix. There needs to be more said about the PR-40 though. You can do a lot of damage with this mic, especially for the money.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y127/swlabr/sticker.jpg

[Jan Folkson]

My go-to for a bass cab is usually a sen 421 or ev re20. I've also had good experiences with a shure sm7. Never used the Heil stuff for bass, but I'm sure it'd be good too.

Without knowing more about your iso cab, I really couldn't give a good response though as the frequency response could vary greatly. And I personally haven't had much success with iso cabs in general.

ymmv.

[testing1two]

Bass iso-cabs have a lot of challenges to overcome since bass frequencies don't fully develop over such short distances. A few alternative options to consider:

1. Axe Trak mini iso cab for bass: http://www.jlhproducts.com/axetrak/axetrakbass.asp

2. REDDI box: http://www.adesignsaudio.com/reddi.html

3. Sansamp Bass Driver DI: http://www.tech21nyc.com/bassdriver.html

4. Sadowsky Preamp/DI: http://www.sadowsky.com/audio/index.html

[Jan Folkson]

As testing mentioned above, the sans amp rbi is a pretty great box for not a lot of money. For a straight up DI, Avalon makes a great one for bass (the U5).

[JM_of_BOFP]

New idea -
I'm just going to build a box with one face open, and strap it to the front to the cabinet. Use weather stripping to get the seal, and those hi-tension straps you can get at hardware stores to keep it tight. Seems like the cheapest solution, and.... convertible!