In serach of..."An Awesome Bass Guitar Sound".....

[powerjoe]

Hey kids, it's me! Mr. Nobody! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!


I am still using this 002 mini desk and still love it. Well, now I have come to point in the road where I really want to concentrate on a great bass sound. Here is what I have to work with:

Digi002
PTLE 6.9
MusicMan Stingray Bass(es)
Waves Platinum Bundle
SansAmp Bass Driver DI


Right now, I have a pretty good bass sound, but I want to get the most I can from my equipment. Currently, I run my MusicMan Basses into the SansAmp, then (via xlr) to my first input on the Digi002. I use an RComp on my mono Bass tracks, and when mixing, some slight eq. It is a pretty good bass sound that is smooth and punchy if need be. But, I want to do my best with what I have and am considering a compressor just for my bass sounds. Ultimately, I love rock bass, but want to find more of that Paul Denman (Sade) sound. I lvoe the idea of running a paralell track with a ton of compression on it and mixing that with my basic bass track that features the chain above. I cannot use a real amp for sound in any way, so I need to do what I can with what I have and perhaps some outboard gear. As stated, I am keen to purchase a good compressor and/ or preamp for just this.

Thoughts?

~J

[rpowell]

Great compressors for bass: 1176 LN, Crane Song Trakker, Distressor

Great DI's: Great River NV, Avalon U5, Telefunken V76 (the TAB Funkenwerk DI would probably be killer, haven't heard it in person, though). Sans Amp DI often works well, too.

RP

[powerjoe]

Which is your compressor of choice rpowell and why?? Is there a big difference in DI boxes? is the SansAmp on the "low rung"?

~ J

[Matt Whritenour]

I have the Sansamp RBI and love it.

Things that will dramaticly change the bass sound,
Strings
Pickup's
Musician
Musician playing around with the tone controls on an active bass not knowing what they do.
that's y i dont like active bass's for recording

[powerjoe]

I have the Sansamp RBI and love it.

Things that will dramaticly change the bass sound,
Strings
Pickup's
Musician
Musician playing around with the tone controls on an active bass not knowing what they do.
that's y i dont like active bass's for recording

Thanks for the feedback, but I am not certain this information can help in anyway. I agree with having good bass strings, Bass (as you can see, I am using a very good and popular bass), musicianship (given?)and "tone controls"? Yes, well, I am certain we all agree these are could be factors, but are they not all "givens" with the information I provided?


Anyone else? Please?

[Joe Evans]

I have the Sansamp RBI and love it.

I use a Sansamp RBI into a Yamaha GC2020B compressor. I have a Peavey Millennium bass with Seymour Duncan pickups. I use very little compression to record and mainly just to smooth out my less-than-stellar technique. I try to keep the "once you add compression, you can't take it away" theory in mind and add any additional compression during mix down via either the provided Digi plugs or with the IK Multimedia T-Racks compressor. (I actually like the sound of the T-Racks plugs, though not many people here do).

I have tried many other methods of recording bass guitar except for using an amp since I am limited to the amount of noise I can produce while living in an apartment. The Sansamp / compressor combo has given me the best sound so far. I have also achieved semi-decent results by going through a Presonus TubePre into my 002r and them use some of the bass presets on Amplitube.

I am currently using round-wound strings but I am considering a switch to flat wounds since I am trying for a more mellow sound most of the time on my original material. The SD pickups also made a huge difference in my sound, but you have to consider that the bass I am using is fairly bottom of the line by default. I am a guitarist first and foremost and bought the bass after trying various patches on my hardware and software synths. I just never could get that real bass sound without a real bass.

Hope this helps.

[Calvin]

Any powered DI will give you a better sound than a regular non powered DI. Even the Behringer Powered DI is better than any whirlwind stuff. The Sansamp DI is pretty good for a basic tone. If you have the waves bundle I usually throw my bass sound through a Rcomp and a Rbass. I really like the ultra low tone that you can get from a Rbass. However I don't really think anything beats a live bass tone coming out of an amp and speakers since they are deffinately a tone factor. If you use the PSP bundles the mix saturator is very good on bass as well. Although I will say that I am not at all a fan of Musicman basses. I tend to think that they are only good for one style of music where a trully good basist needs to be able to get a great tone no matter what style of music they play.

[rpowell]

Which is your compressor of choice rpowell and why?? Is there a big difference in DI boxes? is the SansAmp on the "low rung"?

~ J

Caveat #1: I like to track bass guitar with analog compression going in. Some people would prefer to record an unadulterated signal and process it later.

Caveat #2: if you have a stellar player playing a stellar instrument, the rest of the signal chain is just icing on the cake.

If I had to pick one of the 3 compressors I listed, I'd probably pick the CS Trakker. Basically, because it is more flexible than the 1176 (can use it on a lot of things like vocals, other instruments, and has different settings that can emulate different compressors), and can do "clean" compression better than a Distressor. The Distressor is great for getting gritty sounding compression for character. The 1176 is a more of a one trick pony than the other 2, but it has a tried and true compression and limiting character that works way more often than not; and the "crush" mode (all 4 ratio buttons pushed in) is useful for other applications like the "NYC drum compression" trick. I have had some success with lesser cost compressors like DBX 160x and Aphex 651, but you asked for "killer", and these are it to me, bass compression-wise.

The SansAmp Bass DI has probably showed up on more commercial recordings than you might think. Its main value is as an amp emulation box as well as a straight DI, and it works well for the price. The Avalon U5 just seems to pull the tone out of the bass, especially if you fool around with the selectable tone setting. Wnhat I mean by "pulling the tone out" is that, compared with running a bass into a garden-variety DI box, there seems to be a more revealing and full sound character there. The Great River NV preamp has bottom end for days and also seems to pull the tone out of the bass. The Telefunken (and its descendents) are classic tube pre designs that add a touch of pleasing harmonic distortion to the sound, but with punch and clarity, and is a tried and true design.

RP

[pk_hat]

Universal Audio M-610.
Awesome DI for bass, a rather unanimous opinion.

[rpowell]

Universal Audio M-610.
Awesome DI for bass, a rather unanimous opinion.

So I've heard. Went to a studio that had one, the guy said bass DI was all he ever uses it for, considered it pretty useless on anything else because of its wooliness. If you search for opinions on the 610, it's a love it/hate it thing, except as pk_hat indicates, most really like it for bass DI.

The Great River NV-series (1 and 2 channel versions) get lots of raves for their DI but lots of good marks (from me, too) as an all-around mic pre for other applications.

Definitely 2 kinds of animals, would love to have both and many others if the budget allowed.

RP