low budget live blues recording

[blues dog]

So I need some help


I'm not rich or anything like that but I'm involved in our local blues scene (Dallas TX) and on low budget, starting with a inherited Alesis HD24 and a Soundcraft Spirit FX16, I went to my storage and pulled an old DBX 160 A, my old Lexicon MPX1 (I used work in live sound a long time ago (80's) before getting married and raising kids) and bought a second hand DBX 231 to help the room since I'm recording live jams at our clubs. The first few recordings went with begged and borrowed mics (came out quite nice, surprisingly). Since then, I've started to buy up used and new (eBay) mics to start a basic mic package. I was tought by old school engineers. So far, I have 2 SM 58, 2 SM 57, 1 AKG 835, 1 AKG 845, a matched pair of MXL 993's for OH (can't afford 451's right now), 3 Sennheiser 604's for Toms and 2 Sennheiser 609's for guitar. I plan on using the SM 57's on the snare til I can get a Beyer 201. I go on the premise (outside vocals), that the kick mic and bass cab mic (I own a great active BSS DI for bass already and want to keep on using 2 channels for bass) are going to be my most important elements to to come up with clean recordings. Not knowing whats out there these days, I thought to buy a AKG D12E for the kick and a EV RE20 for the bass. I wonder if ya'll know something I should know that might safe us some money since the 12E's and the RE20 (if in decent condition) still fetch a hefty price even used (still dreaming about buying Sennheiser 421's for our horns... wish I could afford them right now). Any advice and thoughts towards this will be greatly appreciated.

ps: at some stage there will be a B3 plus Leslie's present. We used to use SM 57's to mic the Leslie's for pa and I wonder wether thats good enough for recording... and what do ya'll know about picking up horns these days if you record live? HELP !!!

Thanks

[Pohaku]

Less expensive alternatives that are commonly available on e-bay would be Audio Technica ATM-25 or Audix D6 for kick and bass. Can be picked up for $100 each with some judicious shopping. See if you can listen to them first somewhere though and see if you like the sound. If you can't audition them first, the ATM-25 is IMHO the "safer" choice (the D6 has a more "distinctive" sound).

[dshay]

akg d112 and an re20 sound like they're right up your alley.