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Amps for acoustic basses


john_the_bass
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Now then. I have an Ashdown ABM300 Evo that I previously used for electric basses. I've no plans to play the bass in the future and am thinking of parting with my basses now, while the going is good on the guitars I want with a view to picking up another P bass in the future.
In the meantime, I thought I would pass on my rig to my dad, who has an electro/acoustic (ie piezo) fretless 5 and currently uses a Roland Cube 60.

Is there any reason why you wouldn't use a normal bass rig with an acoustic bass? I know from looking at acoustic guitar amps, that some of them tend to be more full range than electric guitar amps, presumably because of the frequencies you would like to reproduce, but I have no idea about bass amps in this context.

A mate of mine slapped an upright bass through an ABM500 and an Eden 210XLT and that sounded quite good.

Any reason not to?

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[quote name='john_the_bass' post='447979' date='Mar 28 2009, 11:28 AM']Now then. I have an Ashdown ABM300 Evo that I previously used for electric basses. I've no plans to play the bass in the future and am thinking of parting with my basses now, while the going is good on the guitars I want with a view to picking up another P bass in the future.
In the meantime, I thought I would pass on my rig to my dad, who has an electro/acoustic (ie piezo) fretless 5 and currently uses a Roland Cube 60.

Is there any reason why you wouldn't use a normal bass rig with an acoustic bass? I know from looking at acoustic guitar amps, that some of them tend to be more full range than electric guitar amps, presumably because of the frequencies you would like to reproduce, but I have no idea about bass amps in this context.

A mate of mine slapped an upright bass through an ABM500 and an Eden 210XLT and that sounded quite good.

Any reason not to?[/quote]
Can't see why there should be a problem there. I use a 4 string fretless Washburn AB20 thru my Mark Bass rig and use electric thru it on the next song. Use of EQ is obviously soemthing to look at but the Washburn's eq sorts that out.

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If the amp has some form of parametric EQ it might be better suited to acoustic bass as you then have more scope for sorting out feedback, eliminating problem frequencies etc. but essentially there isn't any reason why you can't. A few bass amps have notch filters to help with the troublesome nature of amplifying acoustics and my old H&K BassBase 600 had such a thing built into the 2nd of its 2 channels to accommodate said acoustic basses.

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So in theory, if you plugged the bass into one these TC Dual Parametric EQ jobs:



And then in to the rig, that should do the job? I've found that adding a pickup to an acoustic guitar for example, doesn't give you a real true interpretation of the guitar's sound, but that these jobbies work wonders.

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[quote name='john_the_bass' post='448648' date='Mar 29 2009, 01:17 PM']So in theory, if you plugged the bass into one these TC Dual Parametric EQ jobs:



And then in to the rig, that should do the job? I've found that adding a pickup to an acoustic guitar for example, doesn't give you a real true interpretation of the guitar's sound, but that these jobbies work wonders.[/quote]

That would do the job spot on. If that is a preamp as well as EQ you could try putting that into the effects return and thus bypass the main amp preamp and just utilise the power amp section, just an option.

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I'd recommend using a cabinet with 10" speakers, or a very efficient 12". You'll want as much articulation as possible when using an acoustic instrument - mud is definitely not your friend!

Why the change of instrument? It'll be a bit strange having a 'john_the_guitar' around here :)

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Not being an acoustic player I may be talking through my hat here but I'd imagine you'd be looking for something fairly "hi-fi", i.e. doesn't add any colouration to the sound.

I'd have though a good multi-way full-range cab would be required, E.g. a BFM Omni 15. Would a keyboard amp be nore appropriate than your average bass combo?

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='448681' date='Mar 29 2009, 02:03 PM']That would do the job spot on. If that is a preamp as well as EQ you could try putting that into the effects return and thus bypass the main amp preamp and just utilise the power amp section, just an option.[/quote]

I don't think it is a preamp, I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure it's just an EQ.

[quote name='acidbass' post='448862' date='Mar 29 2009, 07:13 PM']I'd recommend using a cabinet with 10" speakers, or a very efficient 12". You'll want as much articulation as possible when using an acoustic instrument - mud is definitely not your friend!

Why the change of instrument? It'll be a bit strange having a 'john_the_guitar' around here :)[/quote]

[url="http://www.myspace.com/27brigade"]This band[/url] split up about this time last year - actually, I think May bank holiday was the last gig as a three piece after one lad left, I didn't look for a band to play bass in as I was still playing guitar in another band and I think I've taken a bass out once since then to record a bass track and that was about it. I think I want to try and jump on a 335 while it's still within a realistic price range and then look at buying a P once I get another job and get myself back in the manner to which I had become accustomed! I think that's probably why I can't bring myself to sell my rig and have passed it on to my auld fella for the time being.

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[quote name='walbassist' post='451719' date='Apr 1 2009, 05:07 PM']I've recently switched to Euphonic Audio from Epifani and the difference is amazing with my acoustic basses and guitars. I think my Wal sounds better through EA too.[/quote]

My old Acmes were amazing with acoustic instruments, and although I haven't tried them like this I'm sure my Big Series cabs will be equally nice, especially with the optional tweeter. When you know what an instrument sounds like acoustically the benefits of less coloured speakers becomes much more obvious!

Alex

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