Muddy Bass using Sansamp driver

[ardy77]

Hi...I have tried all sorts of different settings on my Sansamp Bass Driver...but the bass seems to always come out muddy and undefined...I am using a 5-String Soundgear Bass with Strings that are about a year old (not sure how often I am supposed to change the expensive bass strings) and I am going from the sansamp into a line input of an emu 1820m. I am monitoring with Event ASP8s...

brand new batteries in the bass and the sansamp.

should I be going into an additional preamp from the sansamp?

When I a/b against other reggae mixes I hear their nice tight bass and I'm not sure what I am doing wrong...It's hard to explain but it is as if the bass sound is "is very open and bland"....when I strike a note, the sound muddies the entire mix and ugly overtones seem to leak into all the frequencies.

could be: pickups? strings? buy a better bass? room acoustics? EQ? mixing? better bass di?

also, bass is not my first instrument so I know that is contributing...but I have played in other studios and despite my sub-ridiculously-tight-bass-player status..I have still gotten a good sound.

I have heard so many good things about the Sansamp being great for improving bass tracking in lower-end home studios...any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[ocnor]

A new set of strings will do wonders for your tone.

[Halion]

Agreed. First get some new strings.

The sansamp is a fine unit, I doubt that's the culprit (sp?). The room acoustics could be a problem when monitoring, but I doubt that's it either. The bass a decent bass, but nothing special. Personally, I don't like the soundgears that much at all (even when compared to other cheap basses like the Yamahas or Peavys), however, it should do the trick. Cut some lows, but not the subs (120 to 250 perhaps, try it and mess with it), might help. But really, get new strings first. I change mine every 3 or 4 months, depending on how much I've played.

[stetto]

String changing, for bass players, is a preference issue. Some bass players I've known NEVER changed strings unless they started to corrode from skin pH or they broke one...I've also known bass players who changed strings when they changed underwear (be aware, however, that some of them only changed strings once a month or so... )...

When I was touring in the 80s I was "allowed" a string change every 2 weeks, unless I wanted to pay for them myself. The guitar players changed daily, sometimes more. We played a lot of Rush, Boston and some Yes, and I was very much into the crisp piano-string sound, which to me entailed a frequent change...I have learned since those days that a "seasoned" set of bass strings, wiped down often and kept clean, develops a great punchy tone, and I can still get some piano string tone by changing my attack technique...

...Don't ask about string brands, I've gone from Rotos to Ken Smiths to Boomers to Markleys and back, and found good strings from all of them, though I always felt the Swing round wounds held their initial tone the longest...Of course you paid for the privilege...

Ah shit, went over two cents, sorry...

Eric

[stetto]

Hey, is the bass pre-amped or just active eq? If it has a passive mode you might start there, as you can easily create an overdrive situation in the signal chain...

Eric

[notCardio]

Originally Posted by stetto

We played a lot of Rush, Boston and some Yes, and I was very much into the crisp piano-string sound

Now yer talkin'!

What kind of bass, BTW? 4001?

[jake-owa]

Change those dang strings. A year is a long time for a set of strings. The change will make em growly and bright.

DO IT!

[stetto]

Originally Posted by Cardioidpotent

Now yer talkin'!

What kind of bass, BTW? 4001?

Uh oh, we're in the wrong forum now!!

Yeah, I had a 4001 for a time...Also a Gibson EB-3 that I loved more than Mom...Several others, including a Washburn that, if you weren't looking could have swore it was a Rick...Ah, those were good times...

Eric