Recording bass tracks!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter rawk
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rawk

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Hey,
This may be a stupid question, but is it safe to plug my bass right into my 424? For some reason I seem to remeber someone telling me it wasn't a good idea, but now I'm unsure of who it was or if it was just another scary dream. Thanks.
 
There's no risk in it,but if you have a passive bass yo may have a hard time getting a strong enough signal onto tape.With an active bass,however,I would think that you should be able to get a hot enough level.
 
I used to input my passive bass directly into the TASCAM and did have problems getting a good level. Now I send it thru a compressor first then to the TASCAM and the problem is solved!
 
At the very least, you'll want to run a passive bass thru a DI box to match gain levels....

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
Ok... I'm not quite sure what a passive/active bass is. I just have a no-name bass guitar to work with.
 
Rawk,

Then it's probably passive. An active model requires a battery to power the electronics inside the guitar that regulate the tone and volume. They have more output, so you might be able to record them direct. My bass has active electronics; I record it through a compressor, which makes a night and day difference, and direct into the recorder - works great!

You won't hurt the 424 by plugging your bass directly into it, but if the signal is too low to record, try going through something that has gain first(like a compressor), or if you don't have one, try going into one of the mic inputs. I don't know how it will sound, but it should work.

Twist
 
If you have a bass amp they usually have a DI out that you can hook up to the tascam.
 
twist said:
Rawk,

You won't hurt the 424 by plugging your bass directly into it, but if the signal is too low to record, try going through something that has gain first(like a compressor), or if you don't have one, try going into one of the mic inputs. I don't know how it will sound, but it should work.

Twist
Click to expand...

But you will damage your Compressor doing what you're doing!
The 424 has a Pre-amp in it, while your Compressor DOES NOT.
I've seen guys burn up Comps doing what you're doing man-A Compressor comes AFTER The Preamp in a Chain-that's whay it's meant to go in an insert, or between a pair of Line Level devices (Such as patched between a Mixer output and a Tapedeck input...)
You really need a Dedicated Pre-amp to run before the Compressor.

What I suggest (because my brother was doing what you're doing with one of my dbx comps until I found out about it! Then I took my Comp back...) is get a Zoom 505 or 506 (whichever unit is the bass pedal-we got both of them) They go for around $60 bucks or so at Musician's (Un)Friend(ly).
It's well worth the money.

I thought the thing was a piece of junk at first, because it's so light, but the sounds you get out of it are great.

Also, The Bass version is better for guitar than the guitar unit is! The Bass version is just alot better pedal.

Tim
 
cool. Thank you all for your help. my friend has a zoom so I'll try that out.
 
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