searching for that killer bass tone

B

bass331964

New member
I record tracks to an 8 track tascam (analog) I'm still trying to get that killer bass sound I get a great tone out of my rig which is a steinberger bass swr head two galien gruger cabinets (one 15 and four tens) my swr has a direct out and my bass has active electronics I've tried many combinations of miking cabinets using the direct out and going straight in to the board from my bass only once did I come close that was with a new set of strings I hate to change strings every time I'm going to record, right now most combinations end up too boomy any suggestions would be welcome
 
Yo BASS-BINGO:

I have had a couple of those analog 8 trackers and got some nice bass sounds from my DX-7 synth patches by just lowering the hi EQ a bit and boosting the low EQ a bit.

But, you are recording from the speakers which makes it harder to capture that sound you want without changing strings every time you record.

I had a good bass player stop at my studio a while back and I happened to have, in my vast collection, a GK speaker that has a plug that by-passes the speaker; so, I ran his bass plug into this neat feature and his bass sound went from the GK to the analog Tascam deck where I adjusted the levels. I usually do not mess too much with EQ until mixing down.

You don't need hardly any reverb for a bass line or a drum machine line.

If you're recording directly from speakers to mics, you will have to get some input from the engineers who contribute to this site.

Experiment by running your bass to the type of speaker/output I mentioned, or into a mic preamp and then into your 8 tracker.

Cheers,
Green Hornet
 
thanks for the info green H I havn't tried lowering the highs yet so I can experiment with that I don't have the speaker bypass option on my cabinets
 
How close are you putting your mics ... and what kind are you using?
If it's too boomy, try backing off your mics from the speaker a little bit. Get the mic placement right before you EQ to compensate.
 
Art Tube MP to the rescue!

I heard a lot of people loving the tone of using the Art Tube MP as a direct box for the bass. Plug the bass guitar into the Tube MP (of course, let the tube warm for a while first), then plug the Tube MP into a line level input on the 8 track. I never did this myself but I am going to be purchasing a Tube MP soon. What 8 track do you use? 688 or 488? I use a 688 myself.
 
I've got it pretty close I could try that I'm using a I'm using a electro voice pl5 for a mic I'm sure that could use some improvement also
I have a 488 by the way thanks for the suggestions guys
I was wondering should I forget the miking at all and just use direct and should I just use one track or two?
 
For definnig your low end and for more controll over it I would go direct only.
If your micing the amp your ambience can be adding to much low end resukting in a muddy unclear sound. By micing your amp you are probably adding a boomy sound.

Search around the 250-500Hz and cut if it's to boomy.
 
I used to mic a Hartke 3500 amp for years. I used a regular old guitar POD for bass last week and was truly amazed at the result. If you can borrow someones POD somtime, try it out.
 
I have an XLR out on my bass head which I use. Everyone told me I wouldnt like the sound as opposed to micing it or going through a DI box. But I don't like the sound with a mic or DI box.

but since you don't have that option:

Back off the mic a little bit, as the BigK said, and I would suggest a different mic (perhaps one with a bass roll off). You might just try a sm57 or something...
-nilbog
 
Perhaps backing the mic will help you but I doubt it.
with a close mic you get more controlled sound. Less ambience the more controlled and tight.

2 more small tips
Keep the bass amp on a chair and not on the floor - you'll get again more tighter and controlled sound.

Keep the mic centered on the speaker.
 
another suggestion

If the bass is to "boomy" there are a few things you can try. In addition to picking the cabs off the floor and backing the mic away, you can also move the cabs towards the center of the room. The closer you are to the vertical surfaces in the room the more bass you will end up with. The phenomenon is multiplied when the vertical surface is a corner. The other thing you can try is to just record the sound of the 10 inch speakers to a single track. Next, take the xlr or direct out from the head and record that simultaniously but to a separate track. Play around with the eq and compression once it is on tape.
best of luck,
jamie
 
Another thing you might try is to set the pickups on your bass so that the bridge pickup is louder than the neck,even if this isn't the sound you normally prefer,it will come across on the recording with more articulation of individual notes and less boominess no matter if you're micing the cabs or going direct.
 
great suggestions guys I have my neck pick up higher now so that is definitely one thing I can try and I have not tried just miking the tens either great guys I let you know the results
 
I did a lot of experimenting with all the suggestions you guys gave me I ended up moving the cabinets to the center of the room not sure how much that helped but it defineitly didn't hurt then I miked the ten inch speaker instead of the 15 which made a big difference and I also used the direct out off my head I cut the 240 frequency on both and cut the highs on the ten inch speaker worked well I will stick with this method from now on thanks again all
 
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