recording bass with a guitar pod

  • Thread starter Thread starter jboutelle
  • Start date Start date
J

jboutelle

New member
Hey all,

I'm new to home recording, and I'm thinking of getting a bass for recording bass tracks (so that the bass track sounds...uu...lower and stuff: currently I'm just using my E string ;->). I currently use a Pod 2.0 for recording guitar.

I don't want to go out and buy a bass pod, or try to mic a bass amp. Can I use my guitar Pod 2.0 and download a bass amp sound to it? I went to the line6 website but I only saw like 2 or three sounds in their "tone bank". I understand that line6 is just trying to make money, but I'm positive that the bass pod is just a pod in a dif't color box with different tones loaded onto it.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
I don't know the POD very well but I used to use the octave pedal setting to get an octive below my guitar for a bass sound..

You could also use a Keyboard if you have one handy.
Better yet buy a cheap bass!
 
jboutelle said:
Hey all,

I'm new to home recording, and I'm thinking of getting a bass for recording bass tracks (so that the bass track sounds...uu...lower and stuff: currently I'm just using my E string ;->). I currently use a Pod 2.0 for recording guitar.

I don't want to go out and buy a bass pod, or try to mic a bass amp. Can I use my guitar Pod 2.0 and download a bass amp sound to it? I went to the line6 website but I only saw like 2 or three sounds in their "tone bank". I understand that line6 is just trying to make money, but I'm positive that the bass pod is just a pod in a dif't color box with different tones loaded onto it.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
Click to expand...

I always just used the fender bassman setting on the pod for recording bass.
 
Both the Bassman and the Tube Preamp settings work pretty well for bass.

As far as beong able to "load a bass sound into it," the models on the device are what they are. You can't load other amp models into it unless you put in an entirely different EEPROM. The sounds you can download are only sets of settings -- effects and their parameters, amp models, cabinets, and EQ and level settings. Perhaps they should have included a few bass models too, but that would be at the expense of the number of guitar amp models.
 
I you can afford it definitely buy a bass. I did that two years ago and have been having a blast. In fact, I've hardly touched my guitar since buying it and I've been letting my friend do all the guitar work.

I used my POD 2 (2.3 actually, I requested the EEPROM upgrade) for bass for a while when I first got it. It was OK, but I eventually went back to the ART Tube MP I was using before that. It has no variety of tones in it, but I do like the tone and for only about $70-80 it's a realtively cheap solution, plus you'll have a starter mic preamp for when you buy a condensor mic (if you ahven't already).

I also bought a SansAmp Bass Driver DI ($169 IIRC) last winter and am LOVING it. I found that plugging first into the ART and then plugging that into the SABDDI is even better. I've also been trying some other combinations with mixed success, but that's the fun of it - trying something new.
 
I currently track bass guitar using the Guitar Pod with good results (a customized setting) but have recently demo-ed the Bass Pod through my recording setup. They are definitely not the same product. The bass sounds are far superior (with a little personalized tweaking) on Bass Pod. I'm saving up to buy it.
 
Definitely not the same. There are different programs in each. I own both a POD 2.0 and Bass POD. You can record bass thru the POD (guitar) but the sounds that come out of the bass POD (for Bass guitar) are far superior. Thru the guit POD they tend to be rather weak.
 
from line6 support

Thanks everybody! (especially for the fender bassman / tube pre-amp tip: I will try those models out first).

I emailed the same question to line6 support, and got back a similar answer: basically the amp models are fixed, the only thing that you can download onto a pod is different settings (eg the knobs twisted to different locations).

Here's the text of the email:

Subject
---------------------------------------------------------------
Can I load tones (from your website, for example) intended for the bass pod o...

Discussion Thread
---------------------------------------------------------------
Response (RICK KITCH) - 06/18/2003 10:18 AM
This would not work out since the amp model algorhythms in both the Pod and Bass Pod are completely different.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top