Johnson J-Station :: Favorite Bass Tones?

M

Mountainmirrors

kaleidoscopic renegade
Hey All --

I've been using pretty much the same settings for my bass tones - Rock amp, bass 10, mid 3, treble 4.

Does anyone here have any tips on getting a great Paul McCartney-esque tone with the J-Station, either with plugin effects applied or with the JS alone? Thanks!
 
I've got myself a J-Station also that I use for recording my bass. I've actually never been really happy with the bass sounds. I mean, it sounds better than plugging my bass directly into my Mbox, but it doesn't do anything for me. I've got a couple sounds that don't sound too bad, but I can't get any twang out of it whatsoever. If you learn any good ideas, let us know :)
 
Well, "twang" would be anathema to a McCartney sound, which if I understand the question correctly is more a function of the Hofner bass anyway.

I use the J-Station exclusively for recording bass at this point, despite having a bunch of good amps. The acoustic problems of bass amps in the studio makes using a modeler of some type almost a necessity. I could use the XLR outs on my Ampegs and SWR, but I prefer the J-Station for convenience.

Point one: If you're not using J-Edit, you're probably not using 5% of what's available to you. Without J-Edit, the J-Station is nothing.

I usually use the Ampeg SVT amp model (#15 Rock) with any number of cabinet models. I think that's probably where you are going to find the sound you're looking for among the bass amp models. Pick the amp model, turn off effects and just scroll through the cabs that look attractive to you. It's amazing how much difference they make. Don't neglect to use guitar models as well. There's no reason not to try them.

Doink around with the compression a bit and EQ. My own secret weapon for big sound is to record in stereo with the "Analog Pong" effect set to one single iteration at full volume and tweak the delay somewhere between 10ms-35ms until I hit a sweet spot with no phasing problems. What this means is that you have the note and (say) 10ms later it's repeated once in the right channel and 20ms later repeated once in the left channel. It's undetectable as an effect. It just sounds really fat.

Here's a list I made of the actual J-Station models in the v.2.0 firmware. It may help you narrow down the search:
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Guitar & Bass Amp Models

00 J Crunch (based on a JM150 Millennium "crunch" setting)
01 J Solo (based on JM150 Millennium "solo" setting)
02 J Clean (based on JM150 Millennium "clean" setting)
03 Boutique (based on a Matchless DC30)
04 Rectified (based on a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier)
05 Brit Stack (based on a Marshall JCM900)
06 Brit Class A (based on a '63 Vox AC30 top boost)
07 Blackface (based on a '65 Fender Twin Reverb)
08 Boat Back (a piezo acoustic guitar)
09 Flat Top (a dreadnought acoustic guitar)
10 Hot Rod (based on a Mesa Boogie Mark II C)
11 Tweed (based on a '57 Fender Tweed Deluxe)
12 Blues (a dynamic blues setting)
13 Fuzz (a '60s fuzztone)
14 Modern (based on a Trace Elliot bass amp)
15 Rock (based on an Ampeg SVT bass amp)

More A1 (based on a HiWatt Custom 50)
More A2 (based on a '78 Marshall master volume)
More A3 (based on a '81 Marshall JCM800 w/EL34s)
More A4 (based on a '72 Fender Bandmaster)
More A5 (based on a '65 Fender Bassman)
More A6 (based on a SWR Interstellar ODrive)
More A7 (based on a '83 Fender Concert Head)
More A8 (Direct - no modelling)

Cabinet Models

00 - No cabinet
01 - Brit 4X12 (Marshall 1960A w/75W Celestions)
02 - Johnson 4X12V (loaded w/Vintage 30 Celestions)
03 - Fane 4X12 (a HiWatt SE4123 w/Fanes)
04 - Johnson 2X12 (open back w/Vintage 30 Celestions)
05 - American 2X12 (a Fender Twin 2X12)
06 - Jennings Blue 2X12 (a '63 Vox AC30)
07 - Tweed 1X12 (a Fender Deluxe 1X12)
08 - Blonde 2X12 (a Bassman 2X12)
09 - Bass 4X10 w/Tweeter (an SWR 4X10 w/tweeter)
10 - Folded Horn 1X18 (an Acoustic 360)
11 - Flexi Bass (an Ampeg Portaflex)
12 - Green Back 4x12 (a Marshall 1960B w/25W Celestion Greenbacks)
13 - Mega 1516 (a Peavey 1x15 and 2x8)
14 - Boutique 4x12 (a HT 4x12 w/Celestion V30s)
15 - '65 Tweed 1x12 (a Fender '65 Deluxe)
16 - Goliath 4x10 (an SWR Goliath)
17 - Ivy League 1x10 (a Fender Harvard)
18 - Bass Man 4x10 (a Fender Bassman)
 
hmm, I never had as much luck in my limited time owning a bass with this unit, I ended up micing the amp. I guess I'm just chiming in to say don't be afraid to try the guitar models, cause for acoustic guitar, I actually use the rock bass selection, it seems to work best for me. :D
 
Bongo, got any patches to pass around? I have an okay bass sound, but I know it could be better. I can share the patch, but it's not the mccartney sound the first guy is looking for.
 
Daenn said:
Bongo, got any patches to pass around?
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Not at this location or machine. What sounds good with my instruments and strings (strings are everything with bass sound) would probably only be blah for you and your rig anyway. That's how I find other people's patches.

Here's what I suggest for a starting point for a neutral, old-school sound:

Get into J-Edit and bring up a screen and select #15 for the SVT amp, turn off all effects and set a neutral EQ (tone controls). Fool around with the original cab and EQ and then try cabs #13m #16 & #18, which most people regard as the best bass cabs for general purpose bass patches. Fool around back & forth with cabs and EQ until you find your desired tone with your bass. If you can't with this amp and cabs, try some more amps and/or cabs. If you're in J-Edit, you can do all this in less time than it took for me to write this paragraph. It's super-fast and super-intuitive.

Monitor the output though a good, full-range system that doesn't add its own coloration.

You'll get tweak fatigue, so take a rest and hit it again a little later if everything starts to sound the same.

Once you have your amp, cab & EQ selected, you can fool around with the effects, but I only use that delay tweak I've described and some compression in a recording plugin. I haven't messed with the native J-Station compression, but it is very configurable in J-Edit.

I really think that without some sort of hollowbody bass, however, it's going to be tough to get the classic Beatles bass sound.
 
bongolation said:
You'll get tweak fatigue, so take a rest and hit it again a little later if everything starts to sound the same.

QUOTE]

Yea, that happens to me really fast. I do use J=edit for everything, but like I said I had a very limited time with a bass to mess with things, so I guess you could say I never got to tweak a really great sound out of it. Probably my biggest problem I actually had was not turning off the effects and crap to start with, especially the Cabinet modelling, although that was more for running the Jthrough an amp, it always seemed too muddy to me, and starting simple, then adding stuff. I think your advice is spot on however, and I'd love to try it, but I don't have a bass anymore :D ...
Click to expand...
 
badassmak said:
it always seemed too muddy to me, and starting simple, then adding stuff. I think your advice is spot on however, and I'd love to try it, but I don't have a bass anymore :D ...
Click to expand...
Some models and even factory presets sound dreadfully muddy - under some playback conditions.

The muddier sounding stuff usually sounds totally different at high volume and some stuff that sounds right at low volume sounds tinny at high volume. It's sort of like stompboxes in that regard. For recording I definitely have amps/cabs that I don't use, though by swapping cab models with what is normally a muddy amp profile for your purposes you can often get an acceptable sound. Tweaking EQ and - especially - gain can really change things around. I always start with low gain and work up.

Like I say, you have to tweak things around to fit your particular purpose.
 
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