Bass amp for home recording

raven46

raven46

New member
I know nothing about bass amps and what would deem a good recording amp. All I know is I dont want to have to turn it up to a stupid level to get a good sound. My budget is about €400 but of course the cheeper the better. I won't need it for live use its strictly for recording. I have an SM57 and a SE2200A and will be buy the XML A55 kicker with the amp. I've narrowed it down to the Ashdown 5:15 mini stack, Gallien Krueger Backline 110, Hiwatt Maxwatt B60 but I'm leaning towards the Ashdown EB 15-180 Combo(not the evo 2) would this be too loud? There is very little if any reviews on the Asdown 5:15 mini and HiwattB60.

Is 1 15 better than 2 10's?

Any opinions on these amps and other amp recommendation would be great. Tks
 
Buy a nice bass preamp. All the manufacturers make one these days. Spare yourself the time necessary to get a great sound out of an amp especially when you are needing a quiet level. The pres from Aguilar, SWR, Eden, even the Ampegs are going to give you superior performance in a recording setting.
 
I don't use a bass amp, don't even own one. Always go right into my mic pre 's DI jack.

Are you using an interface? Would you be able to plug directly in?
 
cavedog101 said:
Buy a nice bass preamp. All the manufacturers make one these days. Spare yourself the time necessary to get a great sound out of an amp especially when you are needing a quiet level. The pres from Aguilar, SWR, Eden, even the Ampegs are going to give you superior performance in a recording setting.
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Thats a great suggestion, I'll have to look into it more as I know less about pre amps than I do about bass amps and I never considered a pre amp
Chili said:
I don't use a bass amp, don't even own one. Always go right into my mic pre 's DI jack.

Are you using an interface? Would you be able to plug directly in?
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Ya I've a Focusrite saffire 40. I've always gone direct usig Ik Multimedia Ampeg SVX. I recently started micing my guitar cab and borrowed a pos 20watt bass amp from a friend and mic'd it. I really liked being able to mix the two mic signals and I prefered the sound compared to all my previous direct recordings
 
ugh the sound of DI bass makes me puke in disgust. i'm apparently the only and most anal bass player alive when it comes to tone.

unless you can get an AMAZING amp simulator, just use some mics and mix those with a low DI signal. i have a sansamp BDDI for when i feel like being lazy..i've used that amplitube ampeg thing before, and out of all of the settings/amps, there was only one good sounding head, and that's that classic like b52 or whatever that first ampeg bass head was. the rest just sound like trash. i've used the SM57 to mic up my cab before (i mic up my sunn 4x15, and have a gallien krueger backling 600 head running it) but i also mixed that with the e609 and an MXL condenser...then, i do an XLR direct out (EQ on non-bypass) and i mix that into the mixer as well, but really low, just to bring out the clarity and high end, since my 4x15'se are from the 70's and there's no horns in that cab at all...all in all, i end up mixing 4 different sources into one bass track.
 
Yeah I'm not a fan of direct bass. It works if you want it to, but I prefer an amp. I use a 300 watt Ampeg 2x10 combo with a 57. No muss, no fuss. Dial in a tone and let er rip.
 
mmm that sounds like it'll produce some nice tones...does it have a horn in it? if so, do you mic the horn seperatley and mix em? i wanna get a small 4x10 cab with a horn just to run along side the 4x15 to mic up the horns with
 
I use one of these (not the tube version) with a 3630 compressor and like it a lot. Liked it a lot more than the Sansamp actually, don't like the onboard opto comp though.

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Also, just personal preference but I prefer 10" drivers to 15" or 18" drivers for bass.
 
ZoSo58LP said:
mmm that sounds like it'll produce some nice tones...does it have a horn in it? if so, do you mic the horn seperatley and mix em? i wanna get a small 4x10 cab with a horn just to run along side the 4x15 to mic up the horns with
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It does have a horn, and no I don't mic it. I mic it like a guitar amp. 57 right on the grill, center of the cone, a little off-axis.

You need to simplify holmes. 4 different sources for bass? a 4x15 cab? That's insanity. :D

I'd ditch the 4x15 and just use a 4x10 or 4x12. 10's and 12's are fine for bass. They make plenty of low end. Unless you're playing Madison Square Garden or trying to release a stuck bowel movement, four 15's is ridiculous. :laughings:
 
Greg I've been on a long ass break from recording. I had a gig with a busy covers band for the last 1/1.5yr. Between that and the regular job just did'nt get the time. I've since quit that gig and am back recording my shite tunes, its good to see some familiar names still kickin' about

Please forgive my stupidness while I get this right. A pre amp goes between an instrument and an interface(or whatever) and is such just like going direct?

Would most people agree with this? Quoted above by Caverdog101 "The pres from Aguilar, SWR, Eden, even the Ampegs are going to give you superior performance in a recording setting."

If so any reason why I should'nt buy Aguilar Tone Hammer instead of an amp and mic and save myself a few €. I have a Tc Electronics C300 comp
 
The huge difference between a simple DI input and a dedicated bass preamp is having the type of tone stack that you like. Kinda like the one thats amplifying the hundreds of bass speakers with that 1000 watt amp. I have several very good mic pres with DI's on them and I still like the sound of a dedicated bass pre.. I use an SWR Interstellar Overdrive (out of production) and have used the Alembic and even the cheap little Bass Attack floor pedal from Hartke to great effect.

The key here is having the gain stage with the tone stack. And the OP needing a quiet rig. I still, on occasion, record my bass through an amp. I love that sound also but its not better than the bass pre (not a DI) just different. And unless you are a bass player as I am and have a dozen basses, its pretty easy to dial up the perfect sound for your bass in your room and simply set and forget.

BTW...My favorite bass amp for recording any style of music has always been a Fender Deluxe Reverb turned way down low and mic'd heavily. Usually a ATM25 with a Kel HM-1 through an API.
 
lol greg, pardon my french but fawkkkk thaaaat. lol i'm not getting rid of this thing dude; idc how heavy the thing is, you should hear the tone it's got. it sounds nothing like that shit out there today man. on top of it, things worth a good amount, and i'm not gonna go selling it to buy a 4x10. plus, teh look on soundguy's faces is priceless when i come rolling into a gig with that bitch! then i blast all those douchebags away, bc every soundman i've dealt with (except for one, the dude who runs The Saint here in NJ) is a piece of shit....especially the douchebags at the stone pony here in NJ...and in NYC? forget about it. a buncha little douchey 20 year old hipster douchebags who think they know shit about sound. i have such a bad attitude towards soundguys since i started gigging that now i'm happy that i'm the asshole who overpowers everything and makes their job hell lol

like i said, i do those four just to hear what the diff tones sound like...sometimes i like how the 57 sounds, sometimes the 609 sounds better..the condenser helps get a little 'room' into it, and the DI is just for the high end...i'm pretty anal about my tone haha
 
Favorite bass amp I have recorded: Mesa Titan
Favorite bass cab I have recorded: Ampeg 6X10 classic
Favorite mic on said bass cab: AKG D112

I usually don't even bother having the bass player hook up his house rattling 15/18" as it's pretty pointless for recording (if 10" are available that's what I'm using).

The pre I posted is for when (good) bass amps aren't available... which is pretty often.
 
ZoSo58LP said:
lol greg, pardon my french but fawkkkk thaaaat. lol i'm not getting rid of this thing dude; idc how heavy the thing is, you should hear the tone it's got. it sounds nothing like that shit out there today man. on top of it, things worth a good amount, and i'm not gonna go selling it to buy a 4x10. plus, teh look on soundguy's faces is priceless when i come rolling into a gig with that bitch! then i blast all those douchebags away, bc every soundman i've dealt with (except for one, the dude who runs The Saint here in NJ) is a piece of shit....especially the douchebags at the stone pony here in NJ...and in NYC? forget about it. a buncha little douchey 20 year old hipster douchebags who think they know shit about sound. i have such a bad attitude towards soundguys since i started gigging that now i'm happy that i'm the asshole who overpowers everything and makes their job hell lol

like i said, i do those four just to hear what the diff tones sound like...sometimes i like how the 57 sounds, sometimes the 609 sounds better..the condenser helps get a little 'room' into it, and the DI is just for the high end...i'm pretty anal about my tone haha
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I hear ya. I've been gigging for over 20 years. I hate all sound guys. They're all fucking stupid.
 
ZoSo58LP said:
ugh the sound of DI bass makes me puke in disgust. i'm apparently the only and most anal bass player alive when it comes to tone.
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Most anal, perhaps. You're not the only one who cares about tone. I generally record direct and if needed re-amp or send the signal thru a modeller of some sort. A bass preamp is a good idea but you don't necessarily have to go the rack mount method there are a lot of preamp stomp boxes these days that sound amazing from the SansAmps, Eden DI and many others. I have several that I use depending on the tone needed: Submarine, Yamaha NE1, Alembic Distillate and a Zoom B2.1u.
 
personally, i cannot for the life of me get a good sound out of my Sansamp that makes me want to use it more often for recording. i just can't..i've fiddled with the settings so often on there, but i can't get a good tone that i like...anyone have any suggestions? lol


"I usually don't even bother having the bass player hook up his house rattling 15/18" as it's pretty pointless for recording (if 10" are available that's what I'm using)."

guitargodgt, i have to disagree with you man. the point of what i'm saying is that my cab is vintage; it has the original speakers, and the sound i get from it accounts for like a goooooood chunk of my tone! therefore, why would i go DI or use another cab when it's going to sound completely different? and believe me, it does. at our practice place i use my buddies 4x10 fender cab with my same head, and it sounds completely different than my 4x15 sunn. so yeah, the reason i use that is because my cab itself gives me a good portion of my tone, and since i'm happy with my tone, i'd be pissed off at any producer in a studio who tells me to DI when i tell him where my tone comes from.



also raven, cool idea. i actually used one of them in NYC at a gig in some dump ass basement of a shithole called the national underground (if any of you ever get offered to play there, deny it. place is shit.) and that thing got LOUD!! the assholes upstairs even came downstairs and told us to turn down haha..at first i looked at it and laughed because it was so tiny, but it produced a good sound and kept up very well with the drums and guitar!! here's a pic from that night:

IMG_6150.JPG
 
I bought a Sans-Amp bass gadget when they first came out and like you I could never get a sound that sat easily in a mix. Solo'd up it was pretty good. I have a couple of Sans-Amp plugs in the UA cards and only use them for dirtying up acoustic guitars.

Yes, the foot pedal pre/DI has become quite the deal these days. That Alembic box is really good .
 
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