Recording Guitar and Bass with Mackie 1402

[gaffer]

Still learning...
I've been doing Hard disk recording for about 3 months now and have been getting pretty good results recording trumpet with band in the box, cakewalk pro audio 9, and cool edit pro.

My next project will be with Live guitar and bass in my small in home makeshift studio.
I use a darla 24, mackie 1402, and 2 AKG D770 instrument mics and an Apex 430 Studio large Dia. mic.

My question is: can I plug the guitar and bass directly into the Mackie without using a preamp for recording to hard disk and get good results?

If so, where do I input them on the mackie, and do I need anything special like a step down trasformers to match impedences, or what?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Gaffer

 

[AlChuck]

You can probably make do with that approach, but it's not likely to sound very fabulous. A cleanly-amplified electric guitar sound is usually very sterile and uninteresting. It's the interaction of the signal from the pickups and the preamp/power amp/speaker(s)/cabinet(s)/microphone combination that makes for an attractive sound. Give it a try, though... it might work for you, especially for the bass.

That said, if you do record a guitar like this, you can always run it through DirectX or VST effects and make it sound better. There are amp simulators like Alien Connections' ReValver, and others that add tubelike "warmth" and distortion to a signal.

If you have a good amp that you like the sound of, and already have a Mackie 1402, just mic up the amp... there are a lot of tips all over this site and others about how to get the best sound this way.

Alternatively you can use a amp modeling device like the Line 6 POD, Tech21 SansAmp, Yamaha DG-Stomp, Johnson J-Station... there are others by Zoom and Digitech too... these use software emulation to achieve a good sound very simply. The nice thing is that they usually have models of many different kinds of amps and speakers, so it's almost like having a guitar store full of different amps to choose from. And you can record direct and get a blasting loud rock tone without bothering the neighbors. The disadvantage is it's not the "real" thing... but I find my POD sounds quite acceptably excellent in my little home studio.

-AlChuck