I've got my hands on a bass

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dobro

dobro

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I'm in possession of an electric bass. I know that most people don't record bass through the amp, they go straight to disk. But my question is: just straight into the soundcard breakout box? No preamp?

Yeah, I know - this has been talked about before, and I haven't been paying attention... But how was I to know I'd actually be playing bass this year? :D
 
dobro,
As is the usual MO around here, I'm hitting you up with follow-up questions....:)

What kind of bass?
Active/passive pickups?
Active/passive electronics?

What kind of soundcard?

Queue
 
Yo DOBRO:

In addition to what Mr. Q said, I once had a fine bass player over for a visit and I wanted him to add bass to a tune I had finished on my MD8.

So, to avoid blowing my neighbors out of their condo, I used this neat little GK amp that I bought way back. The feature I like on this amp is that it has a by-pass of the speaker. So, I adjusted the volume, the bass signal went through the amp, no sound came out of the speaker but it was picked up by the MD8 and I further adjusted the input. Result? A very nice bass line. He was playing an electric bass of course, but I don't know all of the specifics of his ax.

Green Hornet


:D :D :p
 
Queue, you ask tough questions.

Let's see, the neck's straight, it's fun to play and it's heavy as fuck...

It's an Ibanez (Blazer Bass Series - Custom Made it says - ha!). Dunno bout pickups - there seems to be a double pickup for each string. But I don't understand about active/passive pickups or electronics.

Gadgetlabs soundcard with a breakout box which is powered by a wall wart.

GH, yeah it seems to me it'll need an amp too, but what about the powered break-out box for the soundcard? Will that do it?

All I ever played on this rig up to now was acoustic guitar...
 
Another question. I don't know about your soundcard. Does it have built-in preamps? If so then going directly into it would probably work fine even if your bass has passive electronics (depending on the quality of the preamps I guess) .

If your guitar needs a battery then you have active pickups, active EQ, or both. If it's active then presumably you'll get a stronger signal out of it, which should make going directly into the sound card a more viable option. My bass (MIM Jazz Deluxe V) has active EQ, but I prefer the sound I get from going through my ART Dual MP to what I get from going straight into the soundcard. Of course, I'm still using the SB Live! that came with my PC so that probably has a lot to do with that.

I ended up buying a POD while they still had the rebate and now I'm using that more than the ART for recording bass. Even though it's the guitar version, it works fine for my purposes.
 
Dobro, Direct in is a good way to go,however after reading "Behind The Glass" almost all of the eng/producers interviewed use DI and blend the miced amp signal with it for bottom end.I have tried it and it works well.There is a lot more fullness and bottom on the miced amp and a lot more attack and presence in the DI.

Monty,
 
like said already, if it has active pickups, you can go straight into the soundcard....if not a preamp or direct box is necessary......

my opinion is that active or not, use a pramp or direct box....also a must is some compression (especially for us bassist wanna-bes that should stick to guitar:D ).....

dont you have an Art and a Joe Meek....either one of those would be the shit.....the Joe Meek would be my personal preference, even if it is a little noisier.......
 
Use a pick, then progress to the Jaco style.

I'm sure you have some sort of pre you could plug the bass into.

Just do it! :) Least of your concerns are whether its a joe meek a blah blah blah, or a blah blah blah.

Although you do finger pick... you could do some awesome bass!
 
Thanks, everyone. Gidge - yeah, the Meek it is.

Emeric - yeah, I've been playing it finger-picking style, which means fingernail noise, but it's the best way for me to get the rhythm and the feel. I love the size and the feel of the strings vibrating when I play them - what a monster! Baaaaooooooow!

Vulcanofga - I'd like to try that combination approach, but amping's out of the question at the moment (I have no amp, but I do have neighbors).
 
Hi Guys,

Dobro: I seem to be in a similar position to you... I'm a guitarist (acoustic mainly), but I also play bass even though I don't own a bass amp. The bass is a fairly standard Epiphone model - passive pickups I think. I've tried to record it direct to disk but it just didn't work - it sounded crap. Then I bought a Joe Meek VC3Q and it sounded a LOT better - a very full tone with that nice belly-rumble when played back through my hi-fi speakers.

But, last tuesday, I bought a Johnson J-Station - it's so much easier to record direct to disk due to the bass amp models included. I can also use my Digital In (s/pdif) to produce a very quiet signal. And as for recording electric guitar - it's an absolute dream. They're going for half price in most places now (I bought mine for the equivalent of about 180 British Pounds) - due to the fact that they've been discontinued by Johnson. Johnson is owned by the Harman Music Group which also owns Digitech - so the Digitech Genesis 3 (which costs about twice the price) is basically replacing the Johnson J-Station.

Sorry, I've gone off on a tangent... While I'm here, I've got one question about recording the bass: Is it possible to make a bass played with a pick sound like a bass played with the fingers, e.g. by adjusting the EQ or whatever... I know, I could practice more...

S.
 
SeanF, I have a J-staion too and they are cool.

As to a picked bass sounding like fingers try using a felt bass pick $1.00 or a piece of cloth folded in a tiangle.You could also use a ..........yes a compressor and play with the attack time to slip a little bit of the transient.I'm not a bass player either and when "finger picking" I usually use my thumb I know it's not cool but it is more in line with my guitar playing position.

Monty,
 
Sean, it's NOT possible to make playing with a pick sound like playing fingerstyle. I play both, with a pick and with fingers only depending on the song.

If you can find a felt pick, they have less "click" attack than a regular nylon or plastic pick, and some players like them. Dunlop makes some that are good, but I mainly use the Dunlop Tortex .73 (bright yellow) and it works good for my Jazz Bass. A pick will give you a slightly brighter sound so reducing the treble a little bit on your J-station will de-empasize the attack/brightness.

Some bass players rag on others for playing with a pick. I can see advantages to both styles so I've chose to learn both ways. I like the tone better with fingers and it works better for mellower songs and where the bass is very exposed. I like the dynamics and aggressiveness of using a pick, especially when playing fast rock music. The attack transient from the pick can help it cut through a dense mix.

Way to go Dobro. I started on bass guitar about 18 months ago and it's really helped my sense of rythym and time. It's a fun instrument to play but it's also really frustrating sometimes.
 
For what its worth, depending on the tune, I use fingers near the bridge, or closer to the neck. I find playing near the bridge gives me a little more bite (and accuracy) when I need it. I'll have to check out the felt pick or whatever, that's an interesting idea. Although, like Wide Awake, I like the tone of fingers...and the feel.
 
I like the sound of a good bass player playing with fingers.I however just can't seem to get in the groove playing with fingers,I am going to keep practicing and I'm sure i'll get it.

Monty,
 
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