hi all , im not at all a bass player , in fact my guitar skills arent right up there either... im a drummer actualy and i was wondering about recording bass guitar. Is it best to mike up the cab or go di?? i dont have a di box just an alesis quadraverb gt and a boss me30 multi effects pedal. What sounds best with bass?? i dont have a bass to try things out on but if i could just get an idea of what sort of effects (if any) people put with bass guitar?
bass guitar recording techniques?
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bball jones
New member
I went to guitar satan and plopped $150 down for a squire P. Actually a decent ax. I can run it direct into my mixer. For optimum results, I'll patch it through the 386.
The most efficient and effective way is to get yourself a direct box so you can go XLR direct to mixer. It's quieter than using 1/4", and you can also get a fair bit of distortion even at low levels if your using the 1/4 inch in.
If your going for more elaborate sounds, you can mix in a mic'd amp, but I wouldn't use it alone. If you do add it, it'll work best with a 10 inch speaker. The overtones tend to disperse at varying angles and are harder to capture on a larger speaker.
For most of my own work, I just go direct. But when MCA was picking up the tab, we went all out. We used both a clean direct, and a dirtied up direct, (through a RAT pedal). As well, we mic'd a Ampeg SVT (8x10) with the RAT signal, and mic'd a Trace Elliot 4x10 combo, with the clean signal. It was a great sound, but I'd never spend the time and money myself.
Jeff
If your going for more elaborate sounds, you can mix in a mic'd amp, but I wouldn't use it alone. If you do add it, it'll work best with a 10 inch speaker. The overtones tend to disperse at varying angles and are harder to capture on a larger speaker.
For most of my own work, I just go direct. But when MCA was picking up the tab, we went all out. We used both a clean direct, and a dirtied up direct, (through a RAT pedal). As well, we mic'd a Ampeg SVT (8x10) with the RAT signal, and mic'd a Trace Elliot 4x10 combo, with the clean signal. It was a great sound, but I'd never spend the time and money myself.
Jeff
Gear_Junky
New member
Tech 21 Sansamp Bass DI
Just a little info here. If you get the Sansamp Bass DI, keep in mind that it's not really a preamp (as I learned), but it does color the sound nicely. You'll still need to preamplify it with either an external unit or the built-in pre-s ("trim" or "gain") in your mixer/recorder.
Advantages: it has an additional 1/4" "dry" out, which can be used to track separately or as an FX loop. If you only mic the cabinet, then put the Sansamp between the bass and the amp, it'll warm and fatten things up nicely and has some compression (mild).
Just a little info here. If you get the Sansamp Bass DI, keep in mind that it's not really a preamp (as I learned), but it does color the sound nicely. You'll still need to preamplify it with either an external unit or the built-in pre-s ("trim" or "gain") in your mixer/recorder.
Advantages: it has an additional 1/4" "dry" out, which can be used to track separately or as an FX loop. If you only mic the cabinet, then put the Sansamp between the bass and the amp, it'll warm and fatten things up nicely and has some compression (mild).
Gear_Junky
New member
Re: Art Tube MP
Ahem, ElBarto, which "this mic tube preamp"?
El Barto said:
Ahem, ElBarto, which "this mic tube preamp"?
enemyofthesun
New member
Direct is best and will give you a good punchy sound. Its the most standard way to go.
In my own band though we are just guitar,bass and drums and to get a deep ambient sound we use effects (muff and delay) on certain slow sludgy parts. In this case and for any band thats sound highlights predomoninte bass it best to mike the cab.
If you are going to mike the bass you need to get a mike designed for that purpose. There is a seinheisser and a akg that are designed to pick up bass very well. They are both about $300 each.
In my own band though we are just guitar,bass and drums and to get a deep ambient sound we use effects (muff and delay) on certain slow sludgy parts. In this case and for any band thats sound highlights predomoninte bass it best to mike the cab.
If you are going to mike the bass you need to get a mike designed for that purpose. There is a seinheisser and a akg that are designed to pick up bass very well. They are both about $300 each.
Slackmaster2K
Gone
Gear_Junky....
First of all I agree with you that in order to get a good direct sound out of the Bass Driver DI, you need to plug it into a decent preamp. I plug it into my ART Tube MP. If you twiddle around with a setup like this, you can certainly get anything from a punchy direct sound to a very close approximation of a mic'd cabinet (using the Drive knob).
Second, I'd like to add that if the battery is even SLIGHTLY dead on the Bass Driver, it sounds like shit. I use phantom power from the ART pre to keep it kicking.
Thirdly, I'm curious as to why you would say that the Bass Driver is not a preamp? And I'm not being a jerk, I'm really just curious. 1) The Level and Drive settings both amplify the signal enough to plug it into any line input directly. 2) The Bass and Treble controls are both active in that turning them above the midpoint will actually boost those frequencies (not just lessen the filtering as in a passive system). Obviously there is some amplification going on.
So is there some sort of official definition for preamp? I've always just thought of a preamp as any device that brings a low level signal up to or close to or a bit over line level. If I plug my bass directly into my soundcard with no amplification...it's not really audible. However I can easily overload my soundcard's line input using the Bass Driver box.
Thanks,
Slackmaster 2000
First of all I agree with you that in order to get a good direct sound out of the Bass Driver DI, you need to plug it into a decent preamp. I plug it into my ART Tube MP. If you twiddle around with a setup like this, you can certainly get anything from a punchy direct sound to a very close approximation of a mic'd cabinet (using the Drive knob).
Second, I'd like to add that if the battery is even SLIGHTLY dead on the Bass Driver, it sounds like shit. I use phantom power from the ART pre to keep it kicking.
Thirdly, I'm curious as to why you would say that the Bass Driver is not a preamp? And I'm not being a jerk, I'm really just curious. 1) The Level and Drive settings both amplify the signal enough to plug it into any line input directly. 2) The Bass and Treble controls are both active in that turning them above the midpoint will actually boost those frequencies (not just lessen the filtering as in a passive system). Obviously there is some amplification going on.
So is there some sort of official definition for preamp? I've always just thought of a preamp as any device that brings a low level signal up to or close to or a bit over line level. If I plug my bass directly into my soundcard with no amplification...it's not really audible. However I can easily overload my soundcard's line input using the Bass Driver box.
Thanks,
Slackmaster 2000
Gear_Junky
New member
Slackmaster:
No, man, your question's valid. I used to think that my Sansamps were "preamps" and I was telling everybody that. Then I started experimenting with recording and realized that the Bass DI doesn't give me a strong enough signal w/o a real preamp, so basically it's a DI, just like it says. It maybe an active DI, but I don't think it qualifies to be called a "preamp", because it doesn't amplify the signals to line level.
Basically, a Boss EQ pedal, CS-3 compressor and even ZOOM 505 can amplify signal somewhat, but they're hardly preamps. At least in the conventional sense - you still need to preamplify them before recording. They're all designed to be put BEFORE a guitar or bass amp, which have a built-in preamp. Yes, the Bass DI can be sent "directly to board", but most mixers have mic preamps and that's implied.
That's how I see the matter. I'm no authority on this, of course, so it's all just IMHO.
I think it's good that you brought it up. I like the Sansamp units still, but instead of raving about them, like I used to, it's nice to help people see an accurate picture of what they are. It'd be disappointing to get one of those and not get the results you expected. There's definitely a learning curve with them for RECORDING. With live sound - they're a breeze.
No, man, your question's valid. I used to think that my Sansamps were "preamps" and I was telling everybody that. Then I started experimenting with recording and realized that the Bass DI doesn't give me a strong enough signal w/o a real preamp, so basically it's a DI, just like it says. It maybe an active DI, but I don't think it qualifies to be called a "preamp", because it doesn't amplify the signals to line level.
Basically, a Boss EQ pedal, CS-3 compressor and even ZOOM 505 can amplify signal somewhat, but they're hardly preamps. At least in the conventional sense - you still need to preamplify them before recording. They're all designed to be put BEFORE a guitar or bass amp, which have a built-in preamp. Yes, the Bass DI can be sent "directly to board", but most mixers have mic preamps and that's implied.
That's how I see the matter. I'm no authority on this, of course, so it's all just IMHO.
I think it's good that you brought it up. I like the Sansamp units still, but instead of raving about them, like I used to, it's nice to help people see an accurate picture of what they are. It'd be disappointing to get one of those and not get the results you expected. There's definitely a learning curve with them for RECORDING. With live sound - they're a breeze.
I always use a JOEMEEK VC6Q to track bass and get great results.