Miking a bass amp. which mic do you prefer?

i have available to me a md421, d112, beta 52, and a d6.

also, i'll be recording a 15" speaker, what kind of mic placement would you suggest??

I like the md421 or the d112 blended in with a direct/pre-amped signal.

depends where the meat of the tone needs to come from and how the mic'd track needs to sit in the mix with the other instruments.. the d112 and b52 both have certain bark areas that might help your cause. Often I will put an sm57 on the bass amp and get the bottom from the DI. the kick drum mics, particularly the D6 have presence peaks that help a kick drum but might sound band-passy on an amp..

i actually really like the idea of the 57.

my new favorite is the Heil Pr40, it just sounds right on any bass amp. But, the venerable 57 can do some cool things for you. HPF it, flip the phase when combined with the DI...you should be able to come up with a tone. not that you asked but i really like the GT brick as a bass DI too

Either the D112 or MD421. The reason I don't care for the beta or D6 is the curve of both of those mics. It makes bass tones sound good solo'd but when you throw it into a mix all the low mids seem to disappear and it makes for a muddy sounding bass tone....

IMO of course

I love the D112 for bass tones personally.

I love an RE20 for a full range amp pickup. So I'd go with the 421. Closest thing. The RE20 is full range yet flat. It gets the low, but it gets everything else too. Growl, string noise. It's all there. If you've got a vibey amp tone, why hide it with a scoop. Capture it with a flat mic.

Having said that... I will frequently use the 57 on a guitar amp with a DI trick as well.

Note: With the 421, make sure you use the right filter setting. I think it's "M" for music which means no high pass engaged.

I have not used all the mics you mention. But the D112 up there is a love hate mic of mine. Never liked it on Bass Drum, but at least for live, it always sounded great on a bass cab. I do have a D6 and can see where it could be way too scooped for a Bass Guitar. I have a D4 I would probably reach for. However I tend to just DI bass tracks mostly, as I don't have a bass amp at home.

Of the mics available, I'd probably gravitate to the 421. I also like the idea of a 57. That could really work well sometimes...dunno if I've ever done that, or if I have, it's been a while!

I use a PR40 or a PR30 for bass cabinets most of the time, but have also used a Lawson L251 and an Audio-Technica AT4060, all with excellent results.

I like LDC's on bass cabs. Used to use the Beta 52 because I thought of it as a "bass" mic, but it always came over a bit muddy and generic sounding, not to mention that it left me with a bass and kick that had been filtered through the same mic, which makes it harder to get them clear sounding.

When recording bass for the songs I'm working on at the moment, We used an ampeg, and chose the 4x10 or 1x15 cab depending on whethe we wanted clear and quick, or phat but slow bass sounds. Then I used a an LDC and dynamic mic, LDC for the full range sound and the dynamic for the gritty midrange. Was careful for phase issues of course.

Of the mics you've listed I'd use the 421 and blend in some 112 if you felt it's lacking balls.

You get a very focused sound, I think it's good if you've got guitars with lots of low end or busy kick drum work, but there's no real low end and the treble it a bit dirty sounding so on its own it'll sound a bit crap. Not that anyone else ever needs to hear it like that.

Cool, that sounds about how I'd expect it to sound. It's when you don't need a really low-end, big-ass sound. That sounds pretty good, and it'll have enough low end that it's still good.

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LDCs on a bass cabinet is a pretty sure way of getting a good bass sound, especially since they'll frequently pick up that sort of "growl" that a rock bassist will often have.

ok guys, i ended up using a 57 on the cab and running DI into a UA 610. i was running a catalinbread WIIO into an ampeg BA300. it is honestly the best bass sound i have gotten (granted i have not been doing this long). right now i couldnt be happier with what i've come up with. thanks