Good bass amp for recording?

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Chadivision

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I'm wondering if anyone has an recommendations for me. I'm looking for a fairly inexpensive ($250 - $350 maybe) electric bass amp to use for home recording.

I'm not really a bass player, but I play guitar and can double on bass for some simple tracks. I won't be doing any soloing or a lot of slaps and pops or anything...basically just playing simple lines for a backing track. So I'm thinking that I could probably get by with an inexpensive amp and an SM-57 or other similar dynamic mic.

Any ideas? Thanks.
 
if it's strictly for recording then you don't need much.
I actually often use my little Marshall MG-15 which is a total POS guitar practice amp. I close mic it and get a pretty good bass sound out of it.

So I think most of the little bass amps in the price range you're looking at would do ..... let's see ...........

http://backstage.musiciansfriend.co...-Mini-Stack-Black.site1sku484906000001000.sku .... I kinda want this 'cause it's a cute 360 look-alike

http://backstage.musiciansfriend.co...gle-12-Bass-Combo.site1sku481776000000000.sku .... can't go wrong with Ampeg

http://backstage.musiciansfriend.co...AX-115-Bass-Combo.site1sku481445000000000.sku

http://backstage.musiciansfriend.co...s-Combo-Amplifier.site1sku482036000000000.sku .... my big rig is a SWR and I love it!

http://backstage.musiciansfriend.co...Bass-60-Combo-Amp.site1sku480993000000000.sku .... Rocktron stuff consistantly sounds good

that was just a quick search ..... LOTS of stuff at that price level.
 
For now, based on your situation, I'm with Track Rat ... go DI. There's a number of free plugins out there if you want to experiment with your tone.
 
a decent DI can be had for cheap...although not quite as cheap as me. :o

:D
 
Dogbreath said:
a decent DI can be had for cheap...although not quite as cheap as me. :o

:D
Click to expand...
Ooooh Doggie............:eek:


Ahem, this is the one I use and it's pretty good. You can also play guitar through it.
I would experiment with a guitar amp and DI as well as varying combinations of the two. I find there are almost as many different bass guitar tones as guitar ones, even though to alot of people it's 'just the bass'.
You can find these on ebay.
 
grimtraveller said:
Ooooh Doggie............:eek:


Ahem, this is the one I use and it's pretty good. You can also play guitar through it.
I would experiment with a guitar amp and DI as well as varying combinations of the two. I find there are almost as many different bass guitar tones as guitar ones, even though to alot of people it's 'just the bass'.
You can find these on ebay.
Click to expand...


(buuurrrrp)

excuse me. :o

:)

Actually I've used a Bassman before with pretty good results.
And I agree, experiment around with a DI and amp blend. I've used DI, mic'd amp and a blend of the 2 but I usually end up with a DI mainly cuz I'm a lazy bastid.

:drunk:
 
I own a Crate BT25, it's 25 watts with 1 x 10" speaker, I actually bought it while touring the UK, and used it on stage at the small gigs. It's not loud (as it's only 25 watts) but it has great tone and I have used it for acoustic style gigs and on recordings several times.

For the bass heads, my main stage rig is a Gallien Krueger RB800, 2 x EV 15" TL cabs and a 2 x 10" cab. Of course this sounds great recording as well.

Alan.
 
Thanks for all the input.

I'll probably give the Sansamp box a try, since it seems that others here are having some good experiences with it (although I think I'll have a look at that Bassman 100 too).

I find there are almost as many different bass guitar tones as guitar ones, even though to alot of people it's 'just the bass'.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. I'm not saying that the sound doesn't matter because it's just the bass. My point was that I'm not really a bass player, just a guy who can fake it well enough for a piece where the bass plays more of a supporting role rather than being an out-front component of the music. So as long as I can get a good basic tone that should work for what I'm doing.
 
I'm gonna go in the exact OPPOSITE direction of everyone else, and tell you one little bass amp to avoid. I usually love Peavey gear, and it's often a great value, but their little 15-watt, 8" practice bass amp is garbage. I'd suspect that ANYBODY'S little 15-watt, 8" practice bass amp would be garbage, too, but the Peavey is the only one I have owned (it came with a decent lefty Peavey bass I bought, used and quite cheap; after I sold the amp, I was only in the bass and gig bag for about $40, so it worked out.)
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Or get a Countryman Type 85 and have a pretty solid claim on "world's best direct box".
Click to expand...

yeah but bass, to me, rarely sounds good direct.
Just like a guitar ...... basses really benifit from an amp and the alterations in freq spectrum and slight distortion you get from an amp.
A sansamp isn't really a direct box per se ........ it's more like a modeler but it's all analog and does a great job of sounding and reacting like an actual amp.
 
Lt. Bob said:
yeah but bass, to me, rarely sounds good direct.
Just like a guitar ...... basses really benifit from an amp and the alterations in freq spectrum and slight distortion you get from an amp.
A sansamp isn't really a direct box per se ........ it's more like a modeler but it's all analog and does a great job of sounding and reacting like an actual amp.
Click to expand...

Eh, I've rarely heard an amp or modeler actually improve on a good sounding bass direct. Once in a while a song will demand something different from the bass or the instrument will be so crappy that you have to hide it with resonance and distortion, but otherwise it's direct for me.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Eh, I've rarely heard an amp or modeler actually improve on a good sounding bass direct. Once in a while a song will demand something different from the bass or the instrument will be so crappy that you have to hide it with resonance and distortion, but otherwise it's direct for me.
Click to expand...

gets to be a matter of personal taste for sure but , to my ears, a direct bass sounds crappy.
I don't like digital modelers too much either but the Sansamp is analog.
Personally I way prefer the sound of even a crappy bass rig mic'd to direct.
I haven't heard a single bass that couldn't use a amp-as-buffer.
I feel like a direct bass is the bass equivalent of an acoustic piezo p'up. Too round with too much 'tink' to the tone.
When I do bass gigs with supplied PAs I never let the soundmen run a direct box to the bass ....... I want either a mic or a send from my amp so I have control over the EQ'ing and such.
And by distortion, I'm not talking about distortion in the sense of the sound being fuzzed out ....... it's really not an audible distortion as much as a thickening of the sound.

But different strokes and all that. That's why there are so many choices. Not everything works for everybody.
 
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