Bass/Guit DI solutions- what do you use?

[fat_fleet]

if there's an older thread that addresses this, feel free to point the way. i couldn't find one in the few minutes i spent looking.
so what do you use?
i picked up a cheapo used (line6) bass pod rackmount unit a few weeks back just to see what it could do for me. so far i'm not that impressed and all my tones sound thin and farty. granted the unit i got was one of the first ones made and they might have improved in recent years, but i'm finding there's pretty much only one setting on the thing that gives me a believable bass sound. its hard for me to believe there isn't something else out there better suited for the job.
also looking for something for electric guitar, any advice appreciated.
thanks!

 

[msb3671]

I have decent results using little guitar amps (-30 watt) with line outs. Minus the crappy lil 6" or 8" inch speakers, they sound nice. Faux DI, available at pawn shops all over the universe.

Solid state, of course, and I don't roll all the mids off; to the contrary, I roll them in more depending on how much 'growl' I want. Sometimes even their built in OD is usable - I like the lil Marshalls best for that. Not the belt buckle one, but they have a cool little 40w 6" that ripps. And the 20-35w Crates from about 10 years back have neat chourus, almost flange like. One of the Crates has delay too, but mine went bang!

 

[bdenton]

I have two Park amps (a Marshall budget line from 10 or so years ago) and they give great sound through the line outs...

 

[ranjam]

Tech 21/Sans Amp. Guitar or bass. The bass stuff is excellent, and the RBI has a loop so you could add say a compressor. You'll wonder how you survived without an RBI. The guitar stuff is good, and I am sure the next ones that come out will be amazing. Depending on what kind of tone you want for the music you are playing, the AMT preamp 'pedals' are awesome. Well, if that's the tone you want. Between the tech 21 character series and AMT you can't say getting a great and believable guitar tone is difficult.

 

[TyphoidHippo]

Amp emulation software has finally gotten "decent". I wouldn't call it good quite yet, but I'm not completely 100% opposed to all amp-sim software like I used to be. I've heard some believable and natural amp-sounds lately that were recorded straight into an instrument input on an interface and run through some kind of ampsim plugin.

Greg_L used (maybe still uses) the Guitar Rig plugin on some of his tracks, and it sounded pretty good:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...christmas-greg-his-little-demon-elves-274461/

This guy used the Gearbox plugin on his guitars, which also sounded like a real amp:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ic/new-hard-rock-mix-looking-feedback-301860/

The guitars are discussed on both threads, but unfortunately both of the audio links are broken

 

[msb3671]

I have two Park amps (a Marshall budget line from 10 or so years ago) and they give great sound through the line outs...

Yep, I had a Park; came with the budget model Ibanez 7-string I 'had to have' about 10 years back. It was a decent lil guy. Didn't have EQ, as in 'low', 'mid', or 'high' knobs, just a 'presence' dial.

What I'd like to find is a "Gorilla" amp. I don't know if it would record well, but it had a nasty fuzz tone.

I have a guitarist friend who has a setup with 3 or 4 mini amps run thru a power amp into a Marshall half-stack cab. He somehow has them footswitchable; changes amps like they were pedals. Kooky.

 

[moresound]

Just a straight DI? I love using a Radial di the "JDI" their passive di works great!

 

[fat_fleet]

Just a straight DI? I love using a Radial di the "JDI" their passive di works great!

actually looking for an active DI with some decent modeling options. sorry, shoulda been more specific. thanks for the recommendation though!

I have decent results using little guitar amps (-30 watt) with line outs. Minus the crappy lil 6" or 8" inch speakers, they sound nice. Faux DI, available at pawn shops all over the universe.

I have two Park amps (a Marshall budget line from 10 or so years ago) and they give great sound through the line outs...

i'm pretty happy with my two main amps (Fender Deville 4x10 and Ampeg V4) in terms of room sound but i've been having a tough time getting a good miced sound from them, mainly cuz of my own lack of experience but also cuz of amp hiss. on only one or two tracks it's not too noticible but once i stack 5 or 6 guitars on top of each other (which happens frequently as i like to double-track to "beef up" certain things) it gets really hard to ignore in the mix.

Amp emulation software has finally gotten "decent". I wouldn't call it good quite yet, but I'm not completely 100% opposed to all amp-sim software like I used to be. I've heard some believable and natural amp-sounds lately that were recorded straight into an instrument input on an interface and run through some kind of ampsim plugin.

Greg_L used (maybe still uses) the Guitar Rig plugin on some of his tracks, and it sounded pretty good:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...christmas-greg-his-little-demon-elves-274461/

This guy used the Gearbox plugin on his guitars, which also sounded like a real amp:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...ic/new-hard-rock-mix-looking-feedback-301860/

The guitars are discussed on both threads, but unfortunately both of the audio links are broken

yeah, i've heard some pretty decent sounds from sims round these parts lately so i've started to get alot more interested. i still (maybe superstitiously) lean toward a setup where i can do all my tone-modeling "in the box" before the signal hits the interface. wish those links worked, but i guess they're old threads. i've checked out Greg's stuff before and he does get some awesome sounding guits, i've just never used totally software-based sims before and i'm nervous about my rickety windows system having "too much going on at once". maybe that's silly, but also tell me this: can i use just the Gearbox or Guitar Rig software plugging straight into my Motu interface or would i actually have to get the whole shebang with the TonePort or RigKontrol or whatever? i wish there was a way for me to try a trial version or something before making a $ commitment.

Tech 21/Sans Amp. Guitar or bass. The bass stuff is excellent, and the RBI has a loop so you could add say a compressor. You'll wonder how you survived without an RBI. The guitar stuff is good, and I am sure the next ones that come out will be amazing.

i really like what i've heard from these so far.


anyways, thanks for the responses guys, guess i've got a little more homework to do before decision time!

 

[loveofjazz]

I'm going with ranjam on SansAmp stuff. Just posted a recording I did last night using their ParaDriver DI for bass and SansAmp Classic for guitar. I ran some cabinet emulators as well, but these both sounded great to me.

I also use a Line 6 POD XT Live for recording. I recently purchased the Bass Expansion pack and was rather pleased with the results.

As far as software goes, I can vouch for Softube's Bass Amp Room and Vintage Amp Room (for guitar) as well as Amplitube 2 (including the Fender Amp and SVX for bass VST's). It's really nice stuff.

I rely heavily on recording direct. I'd prefer to mic an amp more often, but you'd hear my kids or animals in everything most likely.

 

[fat_fleet]

I'm going with ranjam on SansAmp stuff. Just posted a recording I did last night using their ParaDriver DI for bass and SansAmp Classic for guitar. I ran some cabinet emulators as well, but these both sounded great to me.

MXR makes the M80, a comparable bass driver that looks alot like the Tech 21 but with a lower tag and a fuzz option. i like their stompboxes alot so i'm definitely interested in learning more.

As far as software goes, I can vouch for Softube's Bass Amp Room and Vintage Amp Room (for guitar) as well as Amplitube 2 (including the Fender Amp and SVX for bass VST's). It's really nice stuff.

just saw this vid
YouTube - Amplitube 3 versus Guitar Rig 4
in which Amplitube 3 completely smokes Guitar Rig 4 for a wakenbake.

 

[TyphoidHippo]

i still (maybe superstitiously) lean toward a setup where i can do all my tone-modeling "in the box" before the signal hits the interface. wish those links worked, but i guess they're old threads. i've checked out Greg's stuff before and he does get some awesome sounding guits, i've just never used totally software-based sims before and i'm nervous about my rickety windows system having "too much going on at once". maybe that's silly

Well, what are the specs on your computer? Audio work takes very little processing power, it's nothing like gaming or video editing or anything like that, but you might have a valid concern if you're using an exceptionally old computer.

but also tell me this: can i use just the Gearbox or Guitar Rig software plugging straight into my Motu interface or would i actually have to get the whole shebang with the TonePort or RigKontrol or whatever? i wish there was a way for me to try a trial version or something before making a $ commitment.

I think Gearbox requires some hardware, but Guitar Rig can be used alone. Here's the trial: GR4 Demo Download Mac and PC - it's worth a shot... being free and all

edit: Oh yea, I forgot about Amplitube - here's it's trial link: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/amplitube/download/

 

[fat_fleet]

Well, what are the specs on your computer? Audio work takes very little processing power, it's nothing like gaming or video editing or anything like that, but you might have a valid concern if you're using an exceptionally old computer.

its a Dell Studio laptop with a t6600 processor and 4GB of RAM. i'm sure it can handle the audio processing on it's own, but Windows in my experience can be funny with the interactions between multiple programs running at the same time.

Here's the trial: GR4 Demo Download Mac and PC - it's worth a shot... being free and all

edit: Oh yea, I forgot about Amplitube - here's it's trial link: AmpliTube 3

thank you!!! i'm definitely going to take these for a test drive later tonight!

 

[c7sus]

Radial JDI.

Works as a re-amp too.

 

[TetraFish]

i picked up a cheapo used (line6) bass pod rackmount unit a few weeks back just to see what it could do for me. so far i'm not that impressed and all my tones sound thin and farty.

I can't comment on an old bass POD but I know on my POD X3 you had to go into the settings and tell it what you where connecting to. When I first got it the thing was set up in one of the "Studio" modes and it sounded like crap connected to an amp.

check for output modes, the X3 Live has

“Studio” Modes (for direct connections to a mixer, recorder, PA, or headphones)"
and
“Live” Modes (for feeding a guitar amp, without speaker/mic/room simulation, and with a set of controls
for On/Mute and Pan for Tone 1 and Tone 2 that is independent from the Studio/Direct Mix settings)

 

[moresound]

actually looking for an active DI with some decent modeling options. sorry, shoulda been more specific. thanks for the recommendation though!

Then the Sans Amp is what you'll need to get a hold of!

 

[fat_fleet]

I can't comment on an old bass POD but I know on my POD X3 you had to go into the settings and tell it what you where connecting to. When I first got it the thing was set up in one of the "Studio" modes and it sounded like crap connected to an amp.

check for output modes, the X3 Live has

“Studio” Modes (for direct connections to a mixer, recorder, PA, or headphones)"
and
“Live” Modes (for feeding a guitar amp, without speaker/mic/room simulation, and with a set of controls
for On/Mute and Pan for Tone 1 and Tone 2 that is independent from the Studio/Direct Mix settings)

yeah, the one i picked up is oooooooold, before the XT i think. its pretty bare bones and the tones are awful. i'm sure the technology's improved but the equivalent X3 is like $700.

 

[fat_fleet]

Then the Sans Amp is what you'll need to get a hold of!

yeah, i'm leaning toward that but i really like some of these sims on Amplitude too..

 

[Captain Ego]

I have an old zoom stompbox multipedal. I don't use much of it, just as a DI. I guess some of the amp models sound alright but I don't have the real amps to compare them too, but I guess it does what it's supposed to I can't really complain maybe because I don't know what I'm missing.

 

[loveofjazz]

I had good luck with this setup yesterday.

Telecaster > SansAmp Classic > Alesis 3630 compressor > Peavey Q215 EQ
> Xenyx502 mixer > Delta 44 interface > Amplitube 2 (cabinets only, stomp boxes & amp bypassed) in Reaper

Maybe you could try something similar...BASS > BASS POD > INTERFACE > DAW SOFTWARE...then run an amp simulating software, but disable/bypass any stomp boxes, effects, pre amps, and amps and just leave the cabinet simulator active...or try a cabinet simulator software like ReCabinet.

 

[fat_fleet]

i just got turned onto AcmeBarGig's Head Case.
it's really really great sounding sim software still in the development stage. you get a functional beta version for $26 which comes with membership in a "testers forum" where you give feedback influencing the direction of the software's development. the $26 also covers any updates, including the finished commercial version when it's made available. well worth the $.