A few questions regarding Pre`s.

[Nakatira]

I currently am a very happy owner of a Presonus Firepod.
I`ve done a good deal of recording on it,
one of my main dissapointments was recording the bass Direct, it sounded very flat and dull.
I tried compressing it and a little eq here and there.
But it sounded much better miced from the the bassamp.
Basses that I`ve tried are a cheapo thing,and to Fenders Pre and Jazz.
I allways opted for the miked version, as did my friends.

But from what I`ve read many of my favorite recordings (albums) are DI`d bass.
Example Queens Bohemian Rapsody, if I`m not mistaken most of the early 70`s Prog era as well.

Now I wish one day to be a happy owner of a classic preamp, but today my money dont cut the cheese.
Are there any "cheap\midranged pres that make the bass "sing".

its probbably a silly question but Its been buggin me for some time.

 

[Newbie dude]

I have no idea about your preamp situation, but I have a firebox and my direct bass didn't sound so hot, as well. However, I added a few decibels off 100 Hz and 22.5 KHz and it made it sound alot better. If you haven't tried boosting those frequencies, you might wanna check it out. It might work out for you lke it did for me.

 

[scrubs]

The Brick.

 

[Nakatira]

The Brick.

I just read your suggestion of the brick on an other post.
thanks I`ve heard good things about it as a pre.
I`ll scout for prices

 

[thewanderer24]

Do you have a decent bass head??? Most decent bass heads will have DI's built in. The quality of these DI's varies, but many are pretty damned nice, and if you have a head with a DI, you might wanna try that into the line input on the Pod.

If you want to buy a new pre, would it just be used for bass? There are some very nice Pre's from a variety of makers that are designed specifically for Bass. I'm not sure how well they work on other instruments -- I'm primarily a bass player.

Also, how much would you be willing to spend?

 

[Nakatira]

I`m thinking around the amount of 500-600$.
I know I might be asking for a lot but I would love both gettin the bass down and pherhaps beefin up my vox a bit.

As long as the bass really sounds 70`s I`m very happy.
I`ve come close, but only with dirty distorted bass the clean prog sound is still far from completed.

I know I might be asking a lot for the price.

the brick might be the answer to my problems.

How about the focusrite stuff.
The twintrack looks kinda cool, havent read much about it.

 

[Nakatira]

I dont have a good bass amp either, only a peavy midrange amp.

 

[Dogman]

I have a Sansamp bass DI, and it is somewhat tuneable, and seems to get decent sounds. I think it was around $200.

 

[Pro Tooler]

I'm not a bass player but i've read a few articles on the net (not sure of the links any longer) about some heavy dudes in the industry that actually add synth bass lines to really fill in the missing sonic aspect of a sound down in the lower freq's... look around i'm sure you'll find some articles on that subject. Hope that can help ya!

 

[thewanderer24]

I dont have a good bass amp either, only a peavy midrange amp.

I am not familiar with Peavey's heads. If it has a DI on it, you might want to try that before anywhere else. Someone mentioned the sansamp. That was a cheaper one I was gonna mention.

Another thing to consider is the bass itself. If you don't think the bass sounds good to begin with, you might be better off spending the money on a bass that sounds good to you instead of a pre.

 

[MadAudio]

I have a Sansamp bass DI, and it is somewhat tuneable, and seems to get decent sounds. I think it was around $200.

+1 on the Bass SansAmp. I recorded a band recently and the bass player used my SansAmp in place of an amp. He was floored by how it sounded. I was stunned he had never heard of it before! It's perfect for direct recording, and works well with a regular amp, too.

 

[Nakatira]

I am not familiar with Peavey's heads. If it has a DI on it, you might want to try that before anywhere else. Someone mentioned the sansamp. That was a cheaper one I was gonna mention.

Another thing to consider is the bass itself. If you don't think the bass sounds good to begin with, you might be better off spending the money on a bass that sounds good to you instead of a pre.

I love the way the jazzbass and the presciscion sounds, but the amp aint doin them justice.
So instead of buying a new amp I was more into gettin some thing to record with.

The sansamp looks good, thank Mad, and Dog, I havent seen them here in Norway.
I`ll do some searching.

 

[MadAudio]

The sansamp looks good, thank Mad, and Dog, I havent seen them here in Norway.
I`ll do some searching.

Maybe we can work out something to send you one from here if you decide you really want to buy it. Just a suggestion.

 

[Nakatira]

Maybe we can work out something to send you one from here if you decide you really want to buy it. Just a suggestion.

Thanks mate, I`m looking at them on ebay now.
I will check at the store were I work .If I can get it.
I will take you up on the offer, thanks a bunch man.

Now, if you ever need any Norwegian herring or salmon, I`ll hook you up.

 

[MadAudio]

Now, if you ever need any Norwegian herring or salmon, I`ll hook you up.

If it's cured anything like in that Turbonegro DVD, ummm, no thanks, I'll pass!!!

 

[Dogman]

Nak, if you can't get it there, let someone over here know, and we can see what we can work out.

 

[MadAudio]

Nak, if you can't get it there, let someone over here know, and we can see what we can work out.

That's the HR spirit! And, BTW, I really dug your sticking up for RAMI over at djclueless's thread. You're a good man.

 

[Nakatira]

Nak, if you can't get it there, let someone over here know, and we can see what we can work out.

Thanks Dogman.
I will take you up on that offer if I cant get it.

I 2nd the statement of Mad, your really a great guy

 

[peopleperson]

The Sans Amp stuff is all pretty good. Don't be afraid to poke around and look at some older, affordable stuff. I have a 60's pre made by Viking that absolutely kills for bass amoung other things. I think I got it for about 300. The Ampex 350's are a little more pricewise but also sound incredible. As a general rule of thumb, I kind of figured out that it's best to bite the bullet and spend a tad more than 200 per mic pre, then you're getting into a really nice range.

 

[noisedude]

Does anyone fancy sending me a couple of Yamaha i88x interfaces? They're $1400 over here and $400 in the States. Both MISTERQCUE and Treeline were going to be doing it for me but for various reasons it's taking a while and it's getting urgent for me.
If either Ed or Norman fancy it, tell me and we'll talk Paypal.

ON TOPIC - Naka - try the Hartke Bass Attack VXL preamp/DI pedal. They're only £90 retail and very good. Usable 'harmonics' distortion and the shape control is obviously great, seems to be doing a good job for me so far, and it has NO digital crap in it, and can run off the phantom power of your pres. Look into it! Ford Van/Sonusman will tell you that the Behringer DI100 passes 20-20 better than most DI boxes, so if you plug that into the mic inputs on your Firepod you should get much better results for only £25 too. Give them a go before you go spending your rent money!