Bass recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter hsc
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hsc

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Hi, I am a drummer/guitarist, and I am gonna get a bass some time soon so I can record the "whole band" myself. I was wondering, since I don't want to get a bass amp, could I just plug the bass into a Boss GEB-7, and from there to my soundcard? I was also thinking of getting a Zoom 506II but I don't really need effects, and the Boss EQ would be cheaper probably. Does the EQ pedal amplify the signal at all, in other words, is this pedal what I want/need?

http://www.rolandus.com/PRODUCTS/MI/BS_CPBE.HTM#GEB-7

Thanks.
 
Try a bass pod..... a bit pricer than it sounds like your into paying, but worth it....

Joe
 
J-Station ($149) has some great bass amp models and since you are a guitarist too, probably some decent guitar sounds too....if you will be recording I think you would rather it to a stomp box....it also has effects and compression (which youll want to record bass).......i dont think that the EQ box in that link will boost your signal, but the other ones should....
 
Start with just lining the bass and seeing how that sounds too you. If you don't like it, figure out whats wrong and buy whatever fixes that problem. :)
 
Would it work if I just plugged the bass in my sound cards line(or mic) in? I read somewhere that if you plug a bass into a guitar amp, the amp will break, so would the sound card break for the same reason. What IS the reason btw?
 
hsc said:
Would it work if I just plugged the bass in my sound cards line(or mic) in? I read somewhere that if you plug a bass into a guitar amp, the amp will break, so would the sound card break for the same reason. What IS the reason btw?
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Well, you COULD plug into the line jack, but the signal will be very weak. Of course could the volume of the signal be increased after it has been recorded, but this would also amplify any noise that has been recorded as well... and you don't want that, right?

IME, guitar AMPS can handle basses just fine - it's when you try to make it sound like a bass amp you will have problems with the SPEAKERS. Speakers made for guitar can not handle the low frequencies you'd want from a bass rig. But using your guitar amp just to amplify the bass's signal might work. Heck, Dusty Hill of ZZ Top has played through guitar amps all of his life... :)
 
Oysterman said:
IME, guitar AMPS can handle basses just fine - it's when you try to make it sound like a bass amp you will have problems with the SPEAKERS. Speakers made for guitar can not handle the low frequencies you'd want from a bass rig. But using your guitar amp just to amplify the bass's signal might work. Heck, Dusty Hill of ZZ Top has played through guitar amps all of his life... :)
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For what it's worth, I've blown the clean channel on a Peavey Bravo by playing a bass through it.
 
Originally posted by hsc
Would it work if I just plugged the bass in my sound cards line(or mic) in?

Line in, maybe. Mic in, yes.
 
For $150, you cant go wrong with the J-Station. It does guitar as well as bass too and the SVT model is very nice! I tried everything to get my bass recorded direct. I got pretty close with a SansAmp Bass DI to my Hartke bass amp through the headphone jack to the sound card. But it had no presence and was lacking compression. The J-Station fixed it right up.
 
Hmm. OK, I'll have to check out the J-Station. Are there any similar products(bass/guitar fx) from other companies? Just asking because I want to try them out and see what is best for me.
 
There are the POD's and the V-Amp, but the J-Station has electric guitar, acoustic guitar and bass guitar amp models. It is the only one that I know of that does guitar and bass. The quality is pretty good too, I was expecting much less..
 
Back in the olden days, the best bass tracks were always done with a P-bass plugged right into the board, the instrument volume turned way down and the board turned up.

The bass was played hard and monitored through headphones.

There was a great Ike Turner story about him demonstrating that to some studio visitors and saying, "THAT'S how you record bass!"

Nowadays, you record bass with a keyboard. 8-)

I bought a J-Station the other day at GC for $127 just as a goof.

These things never seem to get much respect and I can sort of see why, but I can't help but think they're useful for something besides a tuner and a somewhat bloated practice RockMan.

I'd love to find a venue or thread that discusses the more sophisticated implementations of the J-Station. Thrasher distortion models leave me cold. It seems to me that all the J-Station presets are overdone/gimmicky, like they have to hit you in the face in a noisy store environment so you'll be adequately impressed to buy it.

There have to be people with the patience to have fiddled around enough to come up with some more tasteful treatments, though, stuff subtle enough to be used by grownups.

Thanks for any help with this.
 
With the J-Station you have to tweak and resave the presets. Even the manual tells you that. I've gotten some good guitar amp tones out of it and the SVT model can be tweaked to a very convincing tone. It is just the matter of dialing them in.
 
dabluesman said:
With the J-Station you have to tweak and resave the presets. Even the manual tells you that. I've gotten some good guitar amp tones out of it and the SVT model can be tweaked to a very convincing tone. It is just the matter of dialing them in.
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Yeah, but I was under the impression that these saved profiles were easy to save and swap with friends and that there would be a fairly bustling traffic in this sort of thing on various J-Station fan venues on the net. Haven't found any, except a few from one or two people on the J-Station site.

Wonder what happened with all this...presumably I'm not looking in the right places.
 
Another choice (actually two) would be a mic preamp like the ART MP which is about $95. It will handle bass guitar inputs and has XLR and 1/4" outputs. The 1/4" would be used with a cable that has 1/4" on one end and 1/8" on the other to go into the sound card. A DI box with a 1/4" line out would also work. I think Whirlwind has one for under $80.

Peace, Jim:cool:
 
I know you said you weren't interested in effects.. but for what it's worth, I just purchased the Zoom 506II and am so far very happy with the results... I've tried recording DI with just a bass and no amp.. and it never quite gave me the punch and character in the rhythm I needed...

I only spent a few minutes with the 506 and I was able to come real close to my favorite Justin Chancellor-esque (Tool) sound.. Plus I've got some extra effects if a song requires a different bass timbre...

Anyway.. just a little food for thought..

Cy
 
Bit off topic...

Has anyone used the POD (not the bass POD) to record bass. How about using the preamp setting to boost the signal and then tweeking the effects to your liking. Has anyone found any of their guitar amp sims good for recording bass?
 
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