How do I mic my acoustic bas?

[agroupuk]

Hey all.

I have a Tanglewood acoustic bass and I dont really find the tone plugged in with the under saddle piezo to be as good as the unplugged tone.

I have a Genz Benz shuttle 3 head and was wondering what (if its possible!) I would need to use an external mic from the bass to the amp.

Would it be: Bass>Condenser Mic>phantom power supply>main in on amp?

Would that do it? and if so any low budget recommendations to fill my needs?

Cheers!

Edd

[escholl]

how low of a budget are we talking here?

[url="http://www.dv247.com/invt/20338/"]This[/url] should cover the preamp needs, about the best cheap preamp there is. No idea what mic to suggest though without knowing a price range.

Financially, and from a tone point of view, it may actually make more sense to get a new preamp for the piezo element -- although that's up to you. But if you're playing at any sort of volume, then it may be tricky to get a good tone out of a cheap mic live, or even at all.

[cheddatom]

Can you put another pickup in it? I would think a condensor mic would be impractical for live use, but it depends how close you are to your amp and how loud you get. I've done live gigs using an SM57 before when I forgot my battery and it sounded good.

[Paul Cooke]

specifically about miking acoustic guitars, but the principles are the same

[url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug01/articles/recacgtr0801.asp"]http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug01/arti...ecacgtr0801.asp[/url]

there are internal piezo pickups which actually pick up the vibrations of the wood, rather than the strings at the saddle.

Here's one such...

[url="http://www.dangleberrymusic.co.uk/Boston_Acoustic_Guitar_Pickup:_Internal_Piezo_Transducer_(Bug)_for_Acoustic_Guitars-pr-5102.html?et_gBase"]http://www.dangleberrymusic.co.uk/Boston_A...2.html?et_gBase[/url]

you've already got a suitable hole in the Tanglewood but it would mean effectively disabling the saddle pickup system and tying the existing connector back so that it doesn't rattle while you experiment with one of the above...