New bass for recording

S

StevenLindsey

New member
I'd like some of your opinions on a decent, fairly cheap bass for recording country-folk-rock sorta music. Not really heavy stuff. Mostly acoustic guitar driven. Probably will DI through an RNP or V-amp.

What about this Fender? Looks like a fair deal.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=bass/search/detail/base_pid/515201/

What does "active electronics" actually mean and is that beneficial for recording purposes?

I'm about to pull out the credit card. Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks.
 
StevenLindsey said:
I'd like some of your opinions on a decent, fairly cheap bass for recording country-folk-rock sorta music. Not really heavy stuff. Mostly acoustic guitar driven. Probably will DI through an RNP or V-amp.

What about this Fender? Looks like a fair deal.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=bass/search/detail/base_pid/515201/

What does "active electronics" actually mean and is that beneficial for recording purposes?

I'm about to pull out the credit card. Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks.
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Active electronics means that there is a preamplifier circuit built in that will require (typically) a 9V battery. Active electronics provide a bit more tone control and higher level than passive electronics.
 
Passive electronics implies you don't need a battery and the behaviour of your tone controls will be much different. Active controls typically give you 3 EQ bands where you can boost or cut.

Is it an advantage? It depends on the tone you're going for. The noiseless pickups will help to make cleaner recordings, but this bass will probably have a hard time coming up with the tone of a vintage Fender. You'll still be able to dial in quite a few different sounds with the active EQ, so it could still be a great bass if you're comfortable with playing it.


sl
 
Hey thanks a lot. I'm not really after any particular sound, I don't guess...like vintage Fender. Just a good solid, quiet bass with some tonal variety. Seems as if I've heard that active electronics was not really desirable for recording purposes. But I'm not really a bass man.....I know little about them. I just know the old Peavey T-20 I've been using (borrowed from a friend) is pretty lousy for recording. Kinda "farty" sounding if that makes sense. But even that may just be how I'm recording it. I've got to give the Peavey back. So, I'm shopping.

Could I possibly just need a regular old P bass or J bass? Which is more versatile for recording?
 
Whhhhooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Nelly!

I have searched and searched for a great recording bass, and have finally stumbled upon it.

I can't really verify the worthiness of an actual American made fender, but I can tell you...those Mexican made Fenders are not the way to go for DI recording. Now, I have updated some other equipment along the way, but I've tried a few basses in my day. Fender's and Peavey's mostly and I haven't been pleased at all; the bass lacked any punch or clarity. Currently, I'm recording with a Spectre bass, won off of ebay for $300 and it absolutely blows the crap out of everything else I have heard. I'd look for one of those. Honestly, I would take a breath before I brought out the plastic.

Me personally, I don't care for active pickups...at least not the active Pickups I've used.

Consider the Spectre man.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/517421/

6
 
StevenLindsey said:
Seems as if I've heard that active electronics was not really desirable for recording purposes.
Click to expand...

Why is that supposed to be? the reason I'm asking is because I bought an Ibanez GSR200 (my first and only bass, and the only one that I've ever recorded with, so I've got nothing else to compare it to) it has active electronics and I have to say, I've been a little dissapointed with the recorded sound I've been getting with it so far (albeit DI'ed through a mixer)
 
hmmmm that Spector looks pretty nice. I've just always heard that the Fenders were the best for recording. But..you hear lots of things. I will check into this.
 
Mr songwriter said:
Why is that supposed to be? the reason I'm asking is because I bought an Ibanez GSR200 (my first and only bass, and the only one that I've ever recorded with, so I've got nothing else to compare it to) it has active electronics and I have to say, I've been a little dissapointed with the recorded sound I've been getting with it so far (albeit DI'ed through a mixer)
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It has very little to do with having active electronics or not. Active garbage won't sound any better than passive garbage.

The big trick is choosing the bass that will get the sound that the music needs. Sometimes that is an old P-bass, sometimes it's a Rick 4001, sometimes it's a Spector.

I tend to favor active basses because I like having a piano string kind of sound.
 
StevenLindsey said:
Could I possibly just need a regular old P bass or J bass? Which is more versatile for recording?
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That's a hard question to answer. A regular old P bass is a very popular choice for a specific sound. Somewhere around agressive classic rock, if there is such a thing. J basses don't get you there, but they're more suitable for other things.

My own choice is the Music Man Stingray - huge, passive humbucking pickup with active electronics. It might be a bit out of your price range, and I'm not a big fan of the cheaper SUB Bass models.

Another thing to consider is the playability of the instrument. A nice P Bass might give you a great wall of tone, but it's a huge bass that might also prove to be cumbersome to play for some people. I'd listen to the folks talking about checking out Spector basses. I've also seen a few Warwick basses that didn't cost much more than a grand that looked pretty nice. I'd say go to a music store and check out a bunch of them. The right one should speak to you.

Also, I've played early Mexican made Fenders that were absolutely horrible, and more recent ones that were harder to distinguish from the American ones. There are a lot of them that would make a good base model for customizing if you're inclined to swap out pickups and such. Be sure to compare before you commit.

Good luck,


sl
 
Farview said:
Spector basses are my favorite as well. I didn't know they made them without active electronics. I know that the high dollar ones all have EMGs.
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Brain fart..sorry. They are active..EMG HZ's.

Regardless, the bass rocks.

6
 
Where I am, there isn't much in the way of "go play a bunch of them" and see which ones you like. We have two dinky stores here and I refuse to go in one of them again. We do have a used guitar place....may go check out some used ones. I'm not going to be real picky about a bass. I'll probably just buy one from reputation and hope for the best.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I've bought a number of things based on opinions here at HR. Haven't been really disappointed in any of it.
 
StevenLindsey said:
I'd like some of your opinions on a decent, fairly cheap bass for recording country-folk-rock sorta music. Not really heavy stuff. Mostly acoustic guitar driven. Probably will DI through an RNP or V-amp.

What about this Fender? Looks like a fair deal.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=bass/search/detail/base_pid/515201/
Click to expand...

I have the Squier P-Bass Special (passive p/u's) and find it to be a fairly versatile instrument that was very inexpensive. The combination P & J pickups let you dial in quite a few tones. My favorite bass I played when auditioning was the Fender Standard Jazz (smooth...), but I saved a few bucks on the Squier. If you can get to a music shop and try a few out, that would be best, as each block of wood will likely sound different. I don't think you'd be going wrong with the Fender at all, though I would get the passive rather than the active for recording purposes.
 
The most recorded bass guitar in history is the Fender Precision with passive split-coil pickup.

I'm sure a lot of the reason why is simple inertia: Because it's used so much, engineers are fully confident that they can get a good sound with minimal effort, therefore it gets used a lot, etc..

The Fender Jazz is also recorded a lot, but it has that noise-problem thing going on.

I have several basses. I have tried all of them in recordings, and the one which gets the nod 90% of the time is ... the 62 RI Precision. So, obviously, if I could only have one bass for recording, it would be the passive P.

You should be able to find a good American or Japanese one for five hundred or less.
 
I'm looking at the Fender "Aerodyne" Jazz bass. Japanese made. It's got the p/j pickups..passive. Looks pretty decent for $629. I can always swap out the pickups later if they're weak or noisy.

I'm still gonna go play some used ones to see if I can find a higher end bass at about the same price. Used won't bother me.
 
I've got a 5 string Fender Jazz bass with "noiseless" pickups in it (not sure, but I think they're stacked humbuckers... 2 pole pieces per string) It's quiet. It doesn't have the buzzing problems of the more traditional Jazz pickups, but it does change the tone a bit.

For recording a noisy axe that has "the tone", I'll usually find the direction that cuts the noise down the most. Sometimes it's south, sometimes southwest, etc...


sl
 
I got 25 bucks off at Musicians Friend on the Aerodyne 4 string Jazz. No interest and no payments til October next year. Heck, I can play it for a year, sell it, and pay it off and not be out much. Hope it's a decent bass. If the p/u's are too noisy, I'll just fire up my trusty old Behringer Denoiser. :D It's perfect for just such as that.
 
Got the Aerodyne Jazz. It sounds good. Records much better than the old Peavey. Dang good looking bass too. It's very light too.....would be easy on the old back for gigging. The pickups are quiet enough for recording but I'm getting some grounding hum when I'm not touching the strings or bridge. Plays easily too. Probably needs some setup work but it works ok now for what I needed it for.

For $600, I'd say it's not too bad. I give it an 8. Oh sorry... this ain't Harmony Central.
 
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