Direct Boxes

[LazerBeakShiek]

I'm getting the sound I want from my GZR PJ (split single humbucking + single) but want a deeper, richer low end.

On my bass rig , the 'deep' comes from the compression stage after the preamp. I use a FMR RNLA in between the power amp. Gooey thick low end..only a compressor has the power to magnify. ADA MB1 - RNLA - ADA B500. You want 10's and at least a 15".

In the box. Use a bit of pedal overdrive for thickness. Then a compressor to enhance the lows in the deep end.

You try to HPF it some to preserve the low at the cost of some high material?

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Where are you at? Can you put up an isolated bass track?..aim for about , what, -6db on the meter..

 

[Ujn Hunter]

GED 2112, YYZ or MP40 from Sansamp have a "Deep" & "Drive" to get some of those LOWS with or without some Crispyness. It's what I use for my bass tracks.

 

[spantini]

On my bass rig , the 'deep' comes from the compression stage after the preamp. I use a FMR RNLA in between the power amp. Gooey thick low end..only a compressor has the power to magnify. ADA MB1 - RNLA - ADA B500. You want 10's and at least a 15".

In the box. Use a bit of pedal overdrive for thickness. Then a compressor to enhance the lows in the deep end.

You try to HPF it some to preserve the low at the cost of some high material?

Gooey thick sounds like what I'm after. I see Thomann U.S. has new FMR RNLA 7239's in stock - I'm looking into that. Do you know if a power supply is included with new units?

I was going to isolate the low end with a LPF, tweak it some on it's own track and combine it with a HPF track - see what I can get outta that.

I have played with the "drive" on my SansAmp plugin pedal.. I haven't tried adding compression to it yet.

 

[spantini]

Where are you at? Can you put up an isolated bass track?..aim for about , what, -6db on the meter..

 

[spantini]

GED 2112, YYZ or MP40 from Sansamp have a "Deep" & "Drive" to get some of those LOWS with or without some Crispyness. It's what I use for my bass tracks.

Those guys have a lot of crunch, though it can be dialed out.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

My bass is a Fender Jazz Bass USA with Seymour Duncan 'Hot Stack' noise canceling pickups. The hotter output can help get there. Yeah, I don't use any active electronics in my setups.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Its in the chains.

Start with a GUI EQ. Pull each displayed peak in the graphical wave down, try to flatten the EQ section out. Make the area not jagged. More rounded. Keep pulling down the peaks until you are out of dots..

Then a distortion pedal at like 10%, at 50 % mix.

The Neve 1073 makes everything sound good..put that in there...

Use the JS Limiter...cause...why not , right? X2...sure. Trim it -6 to -9 db to thicken..50 % mix

BXROOMs or any Ambient reverb VST preset. Preset it. 50 %mix.

Then grab the TECH 21 free VST..Yeah lets get that going in there...


That is the ultimate bass chain with settings for maximum magic. Used in ITBbass post at -6db. Love it..Live it..make huge waves on the scope...


-if any of this sounds good it is coincidence..

 

[ashcat_lt]

The interface does exactly what an active DI or other clean flat preamp is going to do. lit presents a good high impedance to your passive pickups and adds gain. In some interfaces, that’ll be just static gain somewhere around 9db, but in many that’ll be on top of the actual gain knob which should give you way more than enough. In certain cases, you might get better S/N by amplifying a little closer to the bass, but in most cases I don’t think you’d notice it over the intrinsic noise of the guitar itself.

If you want to hit your plugins harder, you can always add a gain plugin before them. If you want to change the frequency content also, then use an EQ plugin instead.

 

[spantini]

Its in the chains.

Start with a EQ. Pull the graphical wave down to flatten the EQ section out. Make the area not jagged. More rounded. keep pulling down the peaks until you are out of dots..

Then a distortion pedal at like 10%, at 50 % mix.

The Neve 1073 makes everything sound good..put that in there...

Use the JS Limiter...cause...why not , right? X2...sure. Trim it -6 to -9 db to thicken..50 % mix

BXROOMs or any Ambient reverb VST preset. Preset it. 50 %mix.

Then grab the TECH 21 free VST..Yeah lets get that going in there...


That is the ultimate bass chain..Love it..Live it..make huge waves on the scope...


-if any of this sounds good it is coincidence..

I did a quick, similar setup with a couple substitutions for plugins I don't have.. it sounded a lot like my Ampeg SVT plugin - not exactly what I was going after. Definitely more, but not quite there. I'll keep messing with it.

 

[spantini]

The interface does exactly what an active DI or other clean flat preamp is going to do. lit presents a good high impedance to your passive pickups and adds gain. In some interfaces, that’ll be just static gain somewhere around 9db, but in many that’ll be on top of the actual gain knob which should give you way more than enough. In certain cases, you might get better S/N by amplifying a little closer to the bass, but in most cases I don’t think you’d notice it over the intrinsic noise of the guitar itself.

If you want to hit your plugins harder, you can always add a gain plugin before them. If you want to change the frequency content also, then use an EQ plugin instead.

My interface is giving me plenty of gain, no worries there. I'll add a gain plugin.. see where that goes.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Are you just preamping it with the DI box then? Cause doesn't the console count as a preamp situation. And then again when mastering. So it needs to be preamped two more times to sound like the radio ...I think.. They are also compressed like 4 times..Bass input raw , then compressor on the line in. Compressor after the preamp, compressor at the mixer. Compressor at the mastering mains..or something

Brainworx has a console emulation demo that explains some of this, but I dont have time to find it.

 

[Gtoboy]

I have found that any direct box or a compressor before the interface gives me a much better DI bass sound, regardless of the bass involved. I have an old ProCo passive that I bought to use back in the days of tape and I also have two cheap as hell actives that work just as well. Radial and Countryman are the best IMHO but to me they aren't necessary since I can get 90% with a mic on a speaker and the DI acts as a splitter. If I am in the control room I use the passive through an old table top DBX 6 MIni Comp , which sounds great.

Frankly, bass plugged directly into most interfaces just sounds terrible to me.YMMV

 

[spantini]

...

Frankly, bass plugged directly into most interfaces just sounds terrible to me.YMMV

Agreed. Anemic, I would call it.

 

[TalismanRich]

FWIW, I have tried to do a direct in on with my Tascam interface and it sounded somewhat lacking. So I put a mic in front of the speaker cab but it was uneven sounding to me. Suprisingly, the solution that I came up with was to pull out my old PODxt, set to a "Tweed Bassman" amp model, with about 4:1 compression ratio. It sounds fat, deep, and full sounding.

 

[rob aylestone]

If you have an interface, a DI and a mic, you could try all three and pick the nicest sounding for the current project, rather than a general rule?

 

[spantini]

@rob aylestone - - you getting much use out of your "hofner" violin bass?

 

[spantini]

FWIW, I have tried to do a direct in on with my Tascam interface and it sounded somewhat lacking. So I put a mic in front of the speaker cab but it was uneven sounding to me. Suprisingly, the solution that I came up with was to pull out my old PODxt, set to a "Tweed Bassman" amp model, with about 4:1 compression ratio. It sounds fat, deep, and full sounding.

I've got a "59 Bassman" Tweed Fender sim, I could check that out. I've also got the Fender Bass Preamp which gets me very much in the ball park but distorts or gets muddy too easily - that's on it's own, I'm still experimenting with adding other processors to that chain.

 

[rob aylestone]

Actually I'm using it quite a bit - because it's light but sounds good, and my American Standard 5 string Jazz hasn't been out of it's case since last November. I just plug it into the interface - no DI and that is that. My fretted and fretless basses tend to just be plugged in and that is the 'sound'. In the band, I stopped using the big cab, then used the amp DI, then just a floor DI and that was fine. Volume on bass stays between half and full, and for most of my playing, it's on full, tone on full, and EQ wise, I add a little top and a little at the bottom - flat in the middle and that really is that.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

A bass player I work with uses a Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver. We get pretty good results from it.

I have a couple of Rapco ADB+8 DIs, which have a +8 dB option for a bit of clean gain. I find them to be as good as a Countryman in most cases.

General rule of thumb with DIs, use a passive on an active source and an active on a passive source (especially a piezoelectric pickup).