Equipment:

I have to admit that I never thought I’d ever be a big enough NET NERD to put up a website, much less create a “gear page” for it. Yet here we are, on my gear page. Why does this page exist? Two reasons:

1) One of the most common questions I get asked on a regular basis - both online and off - is, “what kind of _______ do you use and/or recommend?”, which is a perfectly valid question. I’ve asked plenty of people the same type of questions plenty of times, only to forget the answers or forget how to ask how to find the gear I was asking about.

2) I’ve spent a lot of money on gear over the years, some of it good gear, some of it bad, and some of it downright UGLY. Most of the really good gear that I now use and love is not available in many localities, and is not only hard to find, but also can be hard to even hear about. This is my chance to spread the word about some stuff I use regularly and really believe in. If even one person saves him or herself the trouble and expense of buying cruddy gear and then having to replace it by reading this, it will have been more than worth the trouble.



Bass and Pickups

- Double Bass: My main bass is a New Standard LaScala hybrid designed by Arnold Schnitzer.

I just can’t say enough good things about this bass. Before I got it, I could easily get worn out trying to pull the sound out of my old bass – which I like a lot – over the course of a two hour gig. With the LaScala, I never get any joint or muscle pain, and the sound is right there from the downbeat. Check out its recorded sound under “Todd Hildreth Trio” links on the soundclips page.

My second bass is an anonymous Czech carved bass, only a few years old, that just happens to have a sound that I like.

I played a lot of great music on it for a few years, and made some good recordings with it (Check out the recorded studio sound under “Java Men” links on the soundclips page). It currently resides in my office at the university, where I use it for rehearsals, lessons, and as a practice instrument. I think it’s really important to have a good backup instrument, and I’m lucky to have this one.

Buying double basses is always a crapshoot, and I have no suggestions other than play a lot of them before buying, and get one that plays well and has a sound that pleases you. Those curious to read numerous reviews on various bass models currently being made would do well to check out the Double Bass forums at www.talkbass.com. I’ve learned more about basses and gear there than I could shake a bushel of sticks at.

- Strings: I’ve used Thomastic Spirocore “Stark” gauge strings for a few years , and was hooked on them for several years. They are quite thick for a steel string, and are among the highest tension strings made, but nothing I’ve ever seen growls and sustains with half as much “testicular fortitude” as these strings. (used on all the trio and up recordings on the soundclips page).

Just recently I’ve changed from the Starks to Thomastic Dominants. They have similar tension as the Starks, but sound somewhat drier and with slightly less sustain, which accentuates the attack. You can hear the Dominants on the soundclips page on the duo version of “My Foolish Heart”.

- Pickups: Like many players, I’ve been through a lot of double bass pickups in search of THE SOUND. which in my case means “sounds just like my bass sounds acoustically, only louder”. Pickups I’ve tried and/or owned and gotten rid of include: Polytone (too muddy and inconsistent), Fishman (too much string noise and feedback), Underwood (better than the Fishman, but same basic complaints), Realist (nice at low volumes, but too dark and muddy at higher volumes), and Barbera (too “quick” and immediate, but better than the others). I’m currently using a blend of a pickup and a mic. The pickup is a Fishman Full Circle, which I stumbled onto by accident as it was installed on my New Standard when I bought it.

The pickup sounds very good by itself, but like any pickup, it lacks that essential element of “air” which defines a truly acoustic sound. To add this “air”, I use the AMT SB-25 mic.

The AMT is pricey, but worth every cent. By itself, it sounds amazing at low to moderate volume settings. For louder settings, it sounds wonderful when blended with the Full Circle. I can’t recommend any piece of bass amplification gear more highly than the AMT. You can hear a live sample of the AMT/Fishman blended sound on “I’ve Never Been In Love Before” on the soundclips page.

Before discovering this combination, I used two products by K&K - a “Double Bass Max” pickup paired with a “Trinity” mic which attaches to the bass at the bridge.

Together with a mixer/preamp, these products can produce a wide variety of timbres, from subtle and acoustic to completely in your face. For sound samples of what these pickups sound like going through the “dreaded bass direct”, check out “sometime Ago” or “Funk in the Deep Freeze” from the soundclips page. (<---hyperlink???) Needless to say, they sound better live, but that gives you an idea. They’re also relatively inexpensive as such things go. These items can be ordered from (All Hail) Bob Gollihur at www.urbbob.com . Bob’s a great guy who only sells products he believes in, and stands behind what he sells. This pickup system remains on my backup bass, and sounds good enough that there’s no real reason to change it.

Amps, Preamps, and Speakers

- Amps: Similar to my experience with preamps, I’ve tried a lot of amplification gear, also (of course) in search of THE SOUND. I’ve owned amps/speakers by Fender, SWR, Peavy, Gallien-Krueger, Polytone, Yamaha and Bag End. most of these were fine for bass guitar, but for double bass I feel there are two aspects to the HOLY GRAIL of amplified sound: Transparency, and Headroom. I found the first of these with the Acoustic Image Clarus, which is a great sounding amp for smaller gigs, but at 200 watts lacks the headroom to cut through in high volume situations. Finally, in the last year, I found and purchased what I hope will be the last bass amp I ever need – the two channel Acoustic Image Focus. Only slightly larger than the original Clarus, the two–channel Focus is a 600 watt (at 4 Ohms) digital amplifier that weighs 4 pounds (count ‘em, four!) and fits in between the legs of an upturned gig stool.

The Focus is amazing in many ways, but probably the greatest of these is the way it allowed me to shave about 30 lbs. and a lot of space off of the amount of stuff I have to carry to the gig every night I go out. The two-channel preamp has an XLR in for the AMT on channel 1, then a standard 1/4” in on channel 2. I used to have to carry a blender to mix signals, but no more!

The amp that the Focus relegated to backup status for me is the Euphonic Audio iamp 800. It’s a digital switching amplifier the provides 800 watts of clean transparent power in a 2 rack-space 19 pound package.

It has a built-in 4 band parametric EQ, so there’s no limit to the tonal EQ possibilities you can access, but the beauty of the amp is that is sounds so good that I almost always run it flat. It’s pricey, but for double bass, I’ve never played anything except the Focus that can touch it for clarity, and nothing that could touch it for power (in my opinion, of course), and that includes Walter Woods. If I still doubled on electric bass, the iamp would go with me to every single gig.

- Speakers: I searched for a long time to find speakers that could handle and transmit double bass signals without breaking up or coloring the sound, and finally found them with EA speakers. I currently use a VL108 or VL208 for all of my live gigs, and have never been happier with my live sound. The VL 208 (pictured below) is considered by many to be the “Holy Grail” of Double Bass speakers.

Unfortunately, the VL line of speakers is discontinued, but I’m hearing great things about EA’s NL series, and also about the “Wizzy” cabinets – some even say they compare favorably to the Vl208. I can’t say enough good things about this company and their products, so I’ll shut up about them after mentioning that EA gear is also available from (All Hail) Bob Gollihur at www.urbbob.com.

- Preamps: Before I got the Focus, I used a Raven labs PMB-1I as a Preamp/Mixer for my K&K pickups and mic, and it’s a great unit - very versatile, as it also doubles as a great DI for those recording sessions where the engineer wants to mix a direct signal with one from the mic. It’s a bit bulky, however, and for some situations, I’ll use a K&K 2-channel mixer, which sounds almost as good and comes in at about 1/4 the size and weight. At the time of this writing, Steve Rabe of Raven Labs has retired, and the PMB-II is now discontinued. You can still find ‘em used, and I also hear great things about a new blender called the D-TAR Solstice.

- Recording Gear

I’m no expert here, so I’ll just list what I’m using and say that I like the stuff that I’m listing. Unfortunately, most of the soundclips on this site are recorded on older gear, but I’m hoping to get some new ones up soon on the current setup. Currently, only “My Foolish Heart” was recorded on the current gear.

• Soundcraft Spirit M12 mixer: good basic input router, includes decent mic pres and direct outs. Also very affordable.
• M-Audio SP8B Powered Nearfield Monitors: Sounded better than anything else in their price range.
• MOTU 1224 PCI Interface: A solid workhorse, good clean sound.
• Mac G4 800: A great machine; no crashes in four years of service. Solid as a rock.
• Digital Performer 4: beautiful user interface, good sound both for MIDI and Audio, and simple enough that even a technodummy like myself can use it.
• M-Audio DMP3 and Tampa Mic Preamps: I love the way these sound, and they’re affordable. ‘Nuff said.
• M-Audio Solaris and Luna Microphones: great sound, solid, reliable, and idiot proof. What more could you ask for?