A Blues On The BK!

[BluesKing777]

 

Hot of the recorder - a blues played on my Blues King - just a Neumann KM184 mic direct to the mixer, splash of reverb, that's it. Recorded very nicely!:

 

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

 

[j45nick]

Tasty, BK!

[BluesKing777]

 

Thanks Nick!

Guitar is lucky 13 years old now and really seems to be coming into its own. It is the strange choice of Bubinga/Sitka.

It all re-affirms the uneducated choice I made by...feel, when buying the L-00. Yesterday morning I shuffled a few guitars around the rack and guess what popped up?

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[BoSoxBiker]

Nicely done again, BK! Your recordings are usually done well, but I especially liked the tone of this guitar. Got a nice glimpse of it ringing out right around 3:20 that sound quite rich.

Edited April 9, 2020 by PatriotsBiker

[BluesKing777]

 

Thanks PB!

I have to tell you I put the mic in front and pressed record. That was all. The Neumann KM184 was a great buy for my purposes, though I did have to hold my breath as I was playing so I don’t get loud ‘plosives’. ......couldn’t do another verse.😁 The L-00 and other small body guitars are way easy to record, no boomy bass to fight off.

I would have liked to be a fly on the wall when someone decided at Gibson to use Bubinga on the Blues King. It is just not a very common wood in guitars and why use it on an L-00, bastion of small body mahogany-ness? You know, did a load of Bubinga fall off a truck? Or did they make Bubinga L-00 prototypes and blew everyone away? Hmm, I have a suspicion someone said: “Use that wood over there in the corner up!”

Oh yeah, another thing - in England they call the toilet the “Loo”, so they are fine with L1 or even an L0 or L2, but L-00......?

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

 

[kelly campbell]

oh hell yeah..great stuff BK  thanks   I needed that right now.

[BluesKing777]

 

Thanks KC!

Yep, I was playing it for a while, just put it down when the guy out the back fence got his brushcutter out, and something has just ‘clicked’ with the guitar. The glue has finally dried after 13 years? Who knows?  It is Good Friday morning here and I am about to have some fresh hot cross buns that I braved the Virus for to go to the bakery! And then I am going to plug the BK in!

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[BoSoxBiker]

On 4/9/2020 at 7:29 PM, BluesKing777 said:

 

Thanks PB!

I have to tell you I put the mic in front and pressed record. That was all. The Neumann KM184 was a great buy for my purposes, though I did have to hold my breath as I was playing so I don’t get loud ‘plosives’. ......couldn’t do another verse.😁 The L-00 and other small body guitars are way easy to record, no boomy bass to fight off.

I would have liked to be a fly on the wall when someone decided at Gibson to use Bubinga on the Blues King. It is just not a very common wood in guitars and why use it on an L-00, bastion of small body mahogany-ness? You know, did a load of Bubinga fall off a truck? Or did they make Bubinga L-00 prototypes and blew everyone away? Hmm, I have a suspicion someone said: “Use that wood over there in the corner up!”

Oh yeah, another thing - in England they call the toilet the “Loo”, so they are fine with L1 or even an L0 or L2, but L-00......?

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

 

You've described that KM184 before. I guess that's the hazard of small room recording is the sensitivity of some mics pick up everything that might have otherwise dispersed into bigger spaces.

I agree about the smaller bodies being easier to record, generally speaking. In the past, I could not even play a Les Paul unplugged without getting modal ringing. More my latest, which had a whole different sonic goal, I close miked both the HB and SJ-200 with a mic from my Rodes MP5 - similar shape to your 184, but much cheaper and less sonically pleasing. It was the exact opposite of what I needed for a mix, but the mission was to play with warm tones after the past decade of shrill. 

[BluesKing777]

9 hours ago, PatriotsBiker said:

You've described that KM184 before. I guess that's the hazard of small room recording is the sensitivity of some mics pick up everything that might have otherwise dispersed into bigger spaces.

I agree about the smaller bodies being easier to record, generally speaking. In the past, I could not even play a Les Paul unplugged without getting modal ringing. More my latest, which had a whole different sonic goal, I close miked both the HB and SJ-200 with a mic from my Rodes MP5 - similar shape to your 184, but much cheaper and less sonically pleasing. It was the exact opposite of what I needed for a mix, but the mission was to play with warm tones after the past decade of shrill. 

 

I have a number of Rodes mics including a tube K2, a NT1A and a pair of the NT5s (same shape as the KM184).

I honestly have not touched them since I bought  the Neumann KM184.....the 184 records acoustics just how I want.  With vocals, I like my old, old Shure SM58 run to my Boss VE8 with a bit of its reverb/delay and a guitar with a decent pickup in the other (Boss) channel. I like singing right into the Shure SM58 to get the old fashioned proximity effect - if you get too close to a KM184 when singing, you could pop a meter or even a rivet!

 

BluesKing777.

[BoSoxBiker]

The 184 ends up in focus every time I look into mics. The next mic purchase might be this year, actually. It was on a very short list of things I had left for the home project studio. I went with the MP5 a couple years back just for something along the lines of the smaller, focused signal. It fit a budget that had been demolished by 2 Gibson and 1 Martin purchases and a studio room gear upgrade and eventual room rebuild.

I did get a Kemper Profiler amp last week, to sort out some really bad electric guitar tones. (and boy oh boy, does it impress) The next mic is probably the next thing in line. I need to sell off some older stuff first, which is not happening right now due to the current situation.

[BluesKing777]

 

Well, you know, just because I like the Neumann KM184 doesn’t mean you will....a great brand but they may have others to suit better.....a Neumann TLM102 perhaps? A bit cheaper too. One I would like next is the stage model Neumann KMS105, to do the same things I mentioned I use the Shure SM58 for. Even though it is a stage design, it is still a great mic and it might suit you more than a KM184? Also a bit cheaper.... (on Heart Of Gold live, Neil Young and a cast of many had 105s everywhere including lead vocal!).

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[BoSoxBiker]

3 minutes ago, BluesKing777 said:

 

Well, you know, just because I like the Neumann KM184 doesn’t mean you will....

 

Not sure why you felt compelled to dive down that path again, but I'm glad it's out of the way and we can move on. The MP5s I mentioned were an effort to see if that style would work in my old room acoustics and otherwise dip my toes into that side of things. I've read some positive things about the Warm Audio offerings, too, for around 1/2 the price. That small condenser type design (with the cardoid pattern?)

I've got a SM57. Not sure why. I barely remember doing it. I think it was something I let a salesman talk me into 6-8 years ago. A few years earlier, for my first non USB mic ever, I waltzed into a store one time to get an SM58, but they offered me a Beta 87A for the same $$. Small shop - I figured they needed the money. Long story short, it is not right for me on acoustics because I have to bump the signal up so high that the noise floor caused by noisy home electrical system gets in the way. That part is better than it was since replacing the interface, but not good enough. I didn't know about that stuff 10+ years ago when I got it. It is decent for vocals, though, as long as I am right on top of it. You've heard my vocals. Not a good thing to be on top of a mic.  It might be better now.

For now, most things I do, I use the ETL Myrtle. I don't think it cancels out enough when it's getting a solid signal, like a dynamic mic would, but it does sound very nice. Especially with a little dip at 3.2kHz exactly where I need it. If you've got good headphones on, you can hear it in action on their website, complete with the residual noise/sound I'm talking about.

You're probably right on the SM58. My only hesitation is I see too many folks say you got one, you don't need the other. No idea if they know what they are talking about or just repeating mantra. I think more than one salesman has said that to me as well. I mean, crap. It's only $100, right? Why not get it? Sell the 57 when the used market re-opens.

[BluesKing777]

 

Warning! The Shure SM57 and 58 are exactly the same internally, but with different cover for vocals (58) and loud instrument (57).

All you really need is to use a fairly clean preamp on your 57 before plugging to your mixer. I have my little Allen and Heath 4 channel mixer with great input preamps and gain, for the money. Few hundred bucks! More useful than a lazy preamp sitting there!But even a cheapie Behringer preamp will do the trick.

(many years back, I bought a new fangled at the time Tascam digital 8 track mixer and recording with the old 57 was absolutely useless. No level, more hiss than a black snake. Took it back and wanted my money back. The guy plugged in some other mic he had and of course, it was beautiful. No hiss, plenty of level. Hmmm. He asked what mic I was using........Tascam still in a box in a cupboard somewhere........).

So sort out a cheapie preamp for the 57 and then record your Bird with the 57 facing your guitar lower bout.....guaranteed fab!

BluesKing777.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by BluesKing777

[BoSoxBiker]

I'm supposed to have good pre-amps in my UAD X6. Very low noise, too. Much better than I had with the UAD USB Twin.

I do have a way to sent a miked signal into a Session SI/PreAmp. I can go line-in on the UAD Apollo. Perhaps I'll try that sometime soon.

[BluesKing777]

46 minutes ago, PatriotsBiker said:

I'm supposed to have good pre-amps in my UAD X6. Very low noise, too. Much better than I had with the UAD USB Twin.

I do have a way to sent a miked signal into a Session SI/PreAmp. I can go line-in on the UAD Apollo. Perhaps I'll try that sometime soon.

 

I meant something like this:

Behringer Tube Ultragain MIC100 Microphone Preamp

 

Cheap and cheerful but your 57 will sound incredible with just a little gain and volume BEFORE you go in the X6.

A funny little stand alone thingy could be nice to use on your guitar amp’s mic channel to fix the 57 as well. (If you have an acoustic amp). And you would get a surprisingly different sound if your guitars have a factory pickup! It has a little tube in the preamp.

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[BoSoxBiker]

 

4 hours ago, BluesKing777 said:

 

I meant something like this:

Behringer Tube Ultragain MIC100 Microphone Preamp

 

Cheap and cheerful but your 57 will sound incredible with just a little gain and volume BEFORE you go in the X6.

A funny little stand alone thingy could be nice to use on your guitar amp’s mic channel to fix the 57 as well. (If you have an acoustic amp). And you would get a surprisingly different sound if your guitars have a factory pickup! It has a little tube in the preamp.

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

Interesting. I see the thought process on this for the under-powered problem. Simple gain staging in the very least. Starting a signal with better tone is a nice bonus, with caution to the inherent signal cooking possibilities.

I do currently have at least 2 ways to do simple gain staging with XLR converted to TS(and TRS) as a source. Well, more than  that once I've converted the signal. And ways to get it back to XLR should I want to go into the Unison (UAD digital preamp emulations encoded into the mic-pre and AD conversion stage)

 

[BluesKing777]

 

Another gadget punching way above its weight is my Boss VE8.

The Shure SM58 sounds terrific, no drama, just add reverb, lots of level, plug your guitar with pickup in the other channel, balance the volumes to suit. Boxes like these make you forget how useless a 58 was to record with once. It also has 3 or 4 ways of getting the sounds OUT - XLR x2 for stereo, mono if u want, 1/4” x 2 for stereo or mono, and USB out.

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[BoSoxBiker]

I've got 3 Boss products for sale right now. I've heard good things about the VE8, though.

I just got a Kemper Profiler. The two guitar processors are history as soon meeting someone to sell it is possible. It takes a lot of work to get a realistic amp sound. The Kemper never NOT sounds like a guitar amp. Rare piece of gear that does what the hype says. The acoustic AD-10 is listed too, but I understand folks have profiled acoustic guitar amps.